Euclid's Elements constitutes the earliest extant substantial presentation of a body of material in the axiomatico-deductive form. Through it the subject of geometry got permanently associated with axiomaticodeductive formulation which was then viewed as a method, so much so that the expression 'more geometrico' (the geometric way) became synonymous with axiomatico-deductive formulation. Thus arose the general belief, especially in methodological quarters, that Euclid's Elements and, in particular, Euclid's geometry were merely instances of the application of a previously thought out/discovered/known method, and, thus, that the axiomatico-deductive method existed prior to the axiomatico-deductive formulation of geometry. Using Euclid's Elements as my principal evidence, I want to suggest that the true state of affairs is the other way round. The axiomaticodeductive formulation of geometry emerged out of a successful attemptmost probably by some of Euclid's predecessors-to solve some geometrical problems. Once this was done, it was seen by these geometers and also, of course, by Euclid as an instrument of open-ended discovery. Only, then, could the germs of a method be seen in it. My view of the genesis of the axiomatic method emboldens me to suggest further that in general a method, which is something consciously conceived, arises as the result of reflection on an activity that is already being pursued 'intuitively'. Again, once the method is consciously conceived, it can engender new activity being pursued consciously in accordance with the method, i.e. methodically.


Decentralization projects in developing and transitional countries are typically accompanied by efforts to increase the own-revenue powers of local governments. Both the literature of fiscal federalism and the practices of donors and domestic reformers often see the strengthening these powers as critically important to the success of local government reform initiatives. The recent history of Albanian intergovernmental finance reform, however, suggests that there can be too much of a good thing: Placing the enhancement of local government tax powers at the center of decentralization projects can not only crowd out?theoretically and practically?critically important efforts to develop stable, predictable, and adequate transfer systems, but can also be politically self-blocking. In this paper, we use the Albanian case to illustrate why in developing countries with highly skewed tax bases there are good reasons to focus first on stabilizing transfer systems, and only secondarily on expanding local government own-revenue powers.


"The provisional, but vital, stages of making artworks; the fluid open-ended possibilities for their interpretation through display; the uncertain destinies that await all material artefacts, however precious – these often disconnected moments in the 'life story' of an art object are the topic of a new exhibition in Gallery North. Co-curated by Chris Dorsett and Sian Bowen from Paper Studio Northumbria, this exhibition explores not only how contemporary artists utilize the special properties of paper but also how the passage of paper-based artworks across studio tables and gallery walls can lead to an unknown 'after', a contingent world only tentatively related to the immediate concerns of viewing an exhibition. Paper Studio Northumbria (PSN) provides a unique facility nationally and internationally for the research, teaching and scholarship of paper in relation to fine art, conservation and archiving. Importantly it is a platform for an exchange of ideas that transforms the processes of making and exhibiting into research-rich activities. By providing tables as well as gallery walls the curators offer exhibition visitors artworks that can be shuffled, picked up, and examined in a manner that underlines the artefactual status of paper. The aim is to present a 'jumble' of ideas about the future of paper research. Gallery North's visitors are unlikely to behave as if they are at a jumble sale but our ambition is to stimulate the haphazard discoveries associated with this traditional method of trading second-hand goods. Imagine the wealth of ideas that might be rifled through and then re-used or recycled as a result of applying the notion of 'rummage' to PSN works of art." Chris Dorsett & Sian Bowen


Background: A substantial amount of aggressive life-prolonging treatments in the final stages of life has been reported for people with progressive life-shortening conditions. Monitoring appropriate and inappropriate end-of-life care is an important public health challenge and requires validated quality indicators. Aim: To develop indicators of appropriate and inappropriate end-of-life care for people with cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or Alzheimer's disease, measurable with population-level administrative data. Design: modified RAND/UCLA appropriateness method. Setting/participants: Potential indicators were identified by literature review and expert interviews and scored in a survey among three panels of experts (one for each disease group). Indicators for which no consensus was reached were taken into group discussions. Indicators with consensus among the experts were retained for the final quality indicator sets. Results: The final sets consist of 28 quality indicators for Alzheimer's disease, 26 quality indicators for cancer and 27 quality indicators for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The indicator sets measure aspects of aggressiveness of care, pain and symptom treatment, specialist palliative care, place of care and place of death and coordination and continuity of care. Conclusion: We developed a comprehensive set of quality indicators of appropriate and inappropriate end-of-life care in people with Alzheimer's disease, cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, to be used in population-level research. Our focus on administrative healthcare databases limits us to treatment and medication, excluding other important quality aspects such as communication, which can be monitored using complementary approaches. Nevertheless, our sets will enable an efficient comparison of healthcare providers, regions and countries in terms of their performance on appropriateness of end-of-life care.


Abstract ATP is released from the bladder mucosa in response to stretch, but the cell types responsible are unclear. Our aim was to isolate and characterize individual populations of urothelial, myofibroblast, and detrusor muscle cells in culture, and to examine agonist-stimulated ATP release. Using female pig bladders, urothelial cells were isolated from bladder mucosa following trypsin-digestion of the luminal surface. The underlying myofibroblast layer was dissected, minced, digested, and cultured until confluent (10–14 days). A similar protocol was used for muscle cells. Cultures were used for immunocytochemical staining and/or ATP release investigations. In urothelial cultures, immunoreactivity was present for the cytokeratin marker AE1/AE3 but not the contractile protein α -smooth muscle actin ( α -SMA) or the cytoskeletal filament vimentin. Neither myofibroblast nor muscle cell cultures stained for AE1/AE3. Myofibroblast cultures partially stained for α -SMA, whereas muscle cultures were 100% stained. Both myofibroblast and muscle stained for vimentin, however, they were morphologically distinct. Ultrastructural studies verified that the suburothelial layer of pig bladder contained abundant myofibroblasts, characterized by high densities of rough endoplasmic reticulum. Baseline ATP release was higher in urothelial and myofibroblast cultures, compared with muscle. ATP release was significantly stimulated by stretch in all three cell populations. Only urothelial cells released ATP in response to acid, and only muscle cells were stimulated by capsaicin. Tachykinins had no effect on ATP release. In conclusion, we have established a method for culture of three cell populations from porcine bladder, a well-known human bladder model, and shown that these are distinct morphologically, immunologically, and pharmacologically. ATP is released from the bladder mucosa in response to stretch, but the cell types responsible are unclear. Our aim was to isolate and characterize individual populations of urothelial, myofibroblast, and detrusor muscle cells in culture, and to examine agonist-stimulated ATP release. Using female pig bladders, urothelial cells were isolated from bladder mucosa following trypsin-digestion of the luminal surface. The underlying myofibroblast layer was dissected, minced, digested, and cultured until confluent (10–14 days). A similar protocol was used for muscle cells. Cultures were used for immunocytochemical staining and/orATP release investigations. In urothelial cultures, immunoreactivity was present for the cytokeratin marker AE1/AE3 but not the contractile protein α -smooth muscle actin ( α -SMA) or the cytoskeletal filament vimentin. Neither myofibroblast nor muscle cell cultures stained for AE1/AE3. Myofibroblast cultures partially stained for α -SMA, whereas muscle cultures were 100% stained. Both myofibroblast and muscle stained for vimentin, however, they were morphologically distinct. Ultrastructural studies verified that the suburothelial layer of pig bladder contained abundant myofibroblasts, characterized by high densities of rough endoplasmic reticulum. Baseline ATP release was higher in urothelial and myofibroblast cultures, compared with muscle.ATP release was significantly stimulated by stretch in all three cell populations. Only urothelial cells released ATP in response to acid, and only muscle cells were stimulated by capsaicin.Tachykinins had no effect on ATP release. In conclusion, we have established a method for culture of three cell populations from porcine bladder, a well-known human bladder model, and shown that these are distinct morphologically, immunologically, and pharmacologically.


In this paper we propose a novel method that provides contrastive explanations justifying the classification of an input by a black box classifier such as a deep neural network. Given an input we find what should be %necessarily and minimally and sufficiently present (viz. important object pixels in an image) to justify its classification and analogously what should be minimally and necessarily \emph{absent} (viz. certain background pixels). We argue that such explanations are natural for humans and are used commonly in domains such as health care and criminology. What is minimally but critically \emph{absent} is an important part of an explanation, which to the best of our knowledge, has not been explicitly identified by current explanation methods that explain predictions of neural networks. We validate our approach on three real datasets obtained from diverse domains; namely, a handwritten digits dataset MNIST, a large procurement fraud dataset and a brain activity strength dataset. In all three cases, we witness the power of our approach in generating precise explanations that are also easy for human experts to understand and evaluate.


We present a declarative authorization language that strikes a careful balance between syntactic and semantic simplicity, policy expressiveness, and execution efficiency. The syntax is close to natural language, and the semantics consists of just three deduction rules. The language can express many common policy idioms using constraints, controlled delegation, recursive predicates, and negated queries. We describe an execution strategy based on translation to datalog with constraints, and table-based resolution. We show that this execution strategy is sound, complete, and always terminates, despite recursion and negation, as long as simple syntactic conditions are met.


Abstract We use a Global Positioning System (GPS) to unravel the complex geodynamics of the Azores Triple Junction where tectonic and volcanic activities coexist. The temporal analysis of densely distributed continuous GPS data on São Miguel for the period 2008–13 provides an improved understanding of interactions between present-day plate boundary kinematics and volcanic deformation. We find a high-strain-rate (0.28 ppm a–1) zone between Congro and Furnas, which accommodates about 50% of the Eurasian–Nubian plate spreading as predicted by the MORVEL plate angular velocity model. The seismic unrest of Fogo–Congro (2011–12) shows a strong similarity with the Matsushiro (Japan) earthquake swarm (1965–66) and the Campi Flegrei (Italy) volcanic unrest (1969–72 and 1982–85), in that an edifice-scale inflation associated with intense high-frequency earthquakes and inflation–deflation reversals coincided with a sharp drop in seismicity. We propose the following hypothesis for the Fogo unrest: (1) the primary inflation source beneath Fogo promotes lateral diffusion of fluids that is selectively guided by existing cracks/fissures formed from regional extension; (2) an influx of fluids increases pressure in cracks/fissures and generates lower-frequency earthquakes; and (3) discharge of fluids causes pressure decrease and dilatancy recovery (i.e. seismic quiescence).


Geophysical down-hole surveys can be used to measure the small strain dynamic properties of soils by the effects these properties have on wave propagation. The relevant effects include amplitude decay (corrected for beam divergence) and velocity dispersion. In this paper, down-hole data collected during the GeoInstitute's Denver 2000 field day are presented and analyzed as a Kelvin-Voigt solid. Findings for these unsaturated soils include viscous damping and stiffness which differ significantly for shear and compressional waves. A strong viscous damping is observed in compression, but weak damping is presented in shear. Lumped parameter constitutive models are discussed which mathematically represent the soil dynamics. It appears that, in the case of unsaturated soils, the relatively low level of viscous damping in shear may be explained by the low mass of the air in the pores. That is, it is difficult for inertial decoupling to occur between the soil frame and the pore fluid when the pore fluid (air) is of such low density. Thus, a pore fluid in coupled motion with the frame can not produce significant viscous drag. On the other hand, large viscous damping is observed for compressional waves. This larger damping may be due to the larger relative motions between air and frame which can be forced by compression of the frame matrix. These observations may be relevant in areas such as the design of driven piles and the estimation of potential for damages from vibrations due to construction.


Fully convolutional neural networks (FCNs) have shown outstanding performance in many dense labeling problems. One key pillar of these successes is mining relevant information from features in convolutional layers. However, how to better aggregate multi-level convolutional feature maps for salient object detection is underexplored. In this work, we present Amulet, a generic aggregating multi-level convolutional feature framework for salient object detection. Our framework first integrates multi-level feature maps into multiple resolutions, which simultaneously incorporate coarse semantics and fine details. Then it adaptively learns to combine these feature maps at each resolution and predict saliency maps with the combined features. Finally, the predicted results are efficiently fused to generate the final saliency map. In addition, to achieve accurate boundary inference and semantic enhancement, edge-aware feature maps in low-level layers and the predicted results of low resolution features are recursively embedded into the learning framework. By aggregating multi-level convolutional features in this efficient and flexible manner, the proposed saliency model provides accurate salient object labeling. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate that our method performs favorably against state-of-the-art approaches in terms of near all compared evaluation metrics.


Product line engineering (PLE) is one of the recent and effective reuse approaches, and it consists of two processes; framework engineering and application engineering. Framework engineering is to model and realize a core asset, which represents common functionality, and quality attributes in a target domain, and application engineering is to generate a target product by instantiating the core asset. Hence, a core asset is a key element of PLE, and the quality of core assets largely determines the overall quality of products. Although numerous PLE methodologies have been introduced, it is still unclear what should be the elements of a core asset and how the core asset should be instantiated for each application. That is, the overall process and instructions of instantiating core assets have not been studied enough. In this paper, we first define a meta model of core assets, propose a process of instantiation, and define its instructions on how to carry out each activity in practice. We believe that the proposed meta model and the process framework can effectively be used in developing core asset and applications in practice.


The studies on personal relationships differ by the large diversity of the topics touched, methodological and theoretical approaches, empirical results and significant differences in practical value of discovered ideas and developed methods. The important gap is found among these studies though. This gap lies in construction of strict and holistic psychological models of relationships as well as in structure modeling of ways of their research and interpretation. Also the problem of oppositions in the structure of relationships and their processes and effects of realization poses very rarely in studies of relationships. It makes difficult to understand the collision of relationships, resources of their development and conditions of regress. The multidimensional and contradictory ties of relationships with culture, which define their axiological character, are among the unexplored issues. Subjective treatment of oppositions influences the dynamics of cognition, ethical, esthetic, creative, reflective activity of personality in culture and in communication with other people. The analytical models, oriented to explication of these oppositions of relationships, are scarce among the tools of analysis of relationships in personal diagnostics, counseling and psychotherapy. The grounding of new points of view on the role of oppositions in life formation of axiological relationships, on elaboration of multivariate theoretical and hermeneutical models of analysis of relationships' oppositions, on approbation and validation of models in the practice of individual cases, focused on detection of potentials of relationships' development are needed in the perspective of evolution of psychological knowledge about personal relationships. The authors offer their own way to solve these tasks.


High-temperature coatings for superalloys can be divided into three categories: Two of them, diffusion and overlay coatings, are both used to protect a system from oxidation and corrosion. The third type, thermal barrier coatings, protects the substrate from thermal degradation. All types of coatings are designed to avoid direct contact between a hot gas or detrimental components from the environment and the base metal alloy. The aim is to enhance the lifetime of high temperature applications, which is otherwise often limited by corrosion or thermal degradation. In this chapter, the different coatings and their durability are discussed, which ideally matches the aging process of the substrate underneath. Besides the corrosive attack the coatings must also often be able to withstand certain mechanical and thermal mechanical loads as well as erosion. Nevertheless, all coatings have a limited thickness and get consumed in service. Therefore it is essential to understand and choose coatings that show slow degrada‐ tion mechanisms.


Computer games represent a significant software application domain for innovative research in software engineering techniques and technologies. Game developers, whether focusing on entertainment-market opportunities or game-based applications in non-entertainment domains, thus share a common interest with software engineers and developers on how to best engineer game software. Featuring contributions from leading experts in software engineering, the book provides a comprehensive introduction to computer game software development that includes its history as well as emerging research on the interaction between these two traditionally distinct fields. An ideal reference for software engineers, developers, and researchers, this book explores game programming and development from a software engineering perspective. It introduces the latest research in computer game software engineering (CGSE) and covers topics such as HALO (Highly Addictive, socially Optimized) software engineering, multi-player outdoor smartphone games, gamifying sports software, and artificial intelligence in games. The book explores the use of games in software engineering education extensively. It also covers game software requirements engineering, game software architecture and design approaches, game software testing and usability assessment, game development frameworks and reusability techniques, and game scalability infrastructure, including support for mobile devices and web-based services.


Taking as its basis 15 interviews with actors, coaches, directors, and producers, this work explores the difficulties and rewards of being an actor today. Those interviewed address the artistic challenges and practical difficulties of a career in acting, and present an open interchange of ideas about acting technique, training, and careers. The conversations provide varying viewpoints, allowing the reader to make his or her own comparisons and conclusions. The American theatre and film of the late-eighties to mid-nineties are also chronicled; a time of expansion and changing opportunity within the industry. The interviewees are; Stella Adler; Harold Baldridge; Tanya Berezin; Andre Bishop; Robert Brustein; Ellen Burstyn; Robert Falls; Marilyn Fried; Spalding Gray; Henry House; Scott MacCauley, Austin Pendleton; Neil Pepe; Juliet Taylor; and Nela Wagman.


The viability of solar power is currently limited by the expense and processing limitations of existing inorganic technology. Organic semiconductors offer the possibility of scalable, economically appealing solar cell technologies. Quinacridone is a promising material which has recently been shown to have electronic properties comparable to the fully π-conjugated, but structurally similar pentacene, while remaining chemically stable in air. In order to better understand the potential of quinacridone as a candidate material for viable, next generation solar cells we have fabricated a number of thin-film samples and device structures and characterized them by a suite of optical and electronic tests. Absorbance and temperature-dependent photoluminescence studies were used as a probe to investigate the electronic states of vapor deposited quinacridone thin films, finding exciton binding energies consistent with excitonic states delocalized across several molecules. Impedance spectroscopy measurements were used to measure the temperature-dependent photoconductivity of Gold : Quinacridone : Gold MSM structures, finding that quinacridone is almost an order of magnitude more conductive under laser illumination. Diode structures of ITO:PEDOT:Quinacridone:Al were fabricated to measure the IV characteristics under light and dark conditions, as well as the transient photocurrent and photovoltage. These studies confirmed that the light current generation of the diodes was not limited by charge transfer state lifetimes, as charge extraction occurs on a much faster time scale. However, we found that the low mobility of our quinacridone thin films, caused by their low crystalline order, decreased the probability of exciton dissociation, limiting the production of usable power.


The amount of methane bubbles rising from the bottom of Lake Kinneret was quantified by using a dual‐beam echo sounder. Both echo‐counting (EC) and echo integration (EI) techniques were implemented. Bubbles can confound the identification of fish targets because their acoustic sizes strongly overlap. Analysis of vertical changes in densities in the anoxic hypolimnion (with no fish) indicated that multiple targets were most abundant near the bottom, which caused an essential bias of bubble density estimates by EC. EI was a reliable tool for assessment of bubble density near the bottom. In the upper part of the water column, both techniques provided similar estimates of density of targets (mainly bubbles) because they were measured between dense fish schools during the daytime. The mean acoustic size of rising bubbles decreased in the hypolimnion but increased in the epilimnion, suggesting change in the relative importance of factors controlling gas volume. In summer and fall 2001, the bubbles became predominant echo‐reflecting objects in the epilimnion. Temporal and spatial changes in bubble densities were highly heterogeneous, suggesting strong variability in factors affecting the gas ebullition. This variability should be taken into consideration when attempting to quantify the methane ebullition and assessing fish abundance in aquatic systems.


Information is of utmost importance in the operation of every market, including, recently emerged, on-line markets for products and services. Market participants utilize available and relevant information to decide upon their actions and improve their welfare by trading and consuming resources. An important component of all information that market participants utilize, is information that pertains directly to the products and services that are traded. Indeed, it has been claimed that the real economic impact of the Internet goes well beyond online sales: The World Wide Web offers an unprecedented opportunity to product manufacturers and service providers to thoroughly and to cost-effectively inform consumers about the details of new service and product offerings, regardless of whether the sales take place over physical or electronic channels.
This dissertation focuses on the mechanism by which sellers decide what information about their products to make available, and how, as it is believed to hold the key to understanding product information dissemination in the Internet.
My thesis is that, often, producers of products and services lack the incentive to provide comprehensive and in-depth product information, which results in the phenomenon of less than perfect product information being furnished in Internet markets. I call this phenomenon the Information Deficit of the market. Analytical results suggest that while electronic markets give consumers the ability to search for available products and services with unprecedented speed and efficiency, a perfect product information regime is unattainable.
This dissertation introduces analytical models for the study of product information dissemination in Internet markets. The models' central results can be used to explain real world phenomena (such as the Information Deficit phenomenon) that seem to contradict the theoretical results available in the field today. Moreover, the analysis of the role of product information reveals that higher consumer information endowment in electronic markets asymmetrically favors different classes of consumers and different types of products and services. An important result is that higher consumer information endowment asymmetrically favors differentiated and premium product offerings over their mass-market counterparts. This fact will likely have profound implications for the types of products that will dominate tomorrows markets.
Furthermore, I demonstrate that a market for product information can partly correct the inefficiencies caused by imperfect information and predict that product information will begin to be traded, once an appropriate micro-transaction payment scheme becomes available. Towards this goal, I present a new business model for the operation of product and price comparison web sites. In the proposed business model, the quality of the information disseminated by sellers is connected with a monetary payment that induces better information in terms of relevance, timeliness, ease of use and overall quality.


The technological cooperation activities among enterprises, universities and research institutes are considered be necessary for accessing complementary technological resources and improving the technology innovation capability. One of the important approaches to cooperation is constructing cooperation innovation alliance. But cooperation innovation alliances are risky. How to choose the right partners and improve the efficiency of cooperation innovation is the question many enterprises concerned with. So the decision-making model of partner selection in cooperation innovation alliance is proposed in this paper, and an index system is set up. It is a fuzzy multiple attribute decision-making problems. And then a fuzzy multiple index decision-making method basing on TOPSIS is proposed. Finally, an example is shown in detail.


We present MLSUM, the first large-scale MultiLingual SUMmarization dataset. Obtained from online newspapers, it contains 1.5M+ article/summary pairs in five different languages -- namely, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish. Together with English newspapers from the popular CNN/Daily mail dataset, the collected data form a large scale multilingual dataset which can enable new research directions for the text summarization community. We report cross-lingual comparative analyses based on state-of-the-art systems. These highlight existing biases which motivate the use of a multi-lingual dataset.


Attribute-based query offers an intuitive way of image retrieval, in which users can describe the intended search targets with understandable attributes. In this paper, we develop a general and powerful framework to solve this problem by leveraging a large pool of weak attributes comprised of automatic classifier scores or other mid-level representations that can be easily acquired with little or no human labor. We extend the existing retrieval model of modeling dependency within query attributes to modeling dependency of query attributes on a large pool of weak attributes, which is more expressive and scalable. To efficiently learn such a large dependency model without overfitting, we further propose a semi-supervised graphical model to map each multiattribute query to a subset of weak attributes. Through extensive experiments over several attribute benchmarks, we demonstrate consistent and significant performance improvements over the state-of-the-art techniques. In addition, we compile the largest multi-attribute image retrieval dateset to date, including 126 fully labeled query attributes and 6,000 weak attributes of 0.26 million images.


Childhood maltreatment increases the risk of subsequent depression, anxiety and alcohol abuse, but the rate of resilient victims is unknown. Here, we investigated the rate of victims that do not suffer from clinical levels of these problems after severe maltreatment in a population-based sample of 10980 adult participants. Compared to men, women reported more severe emotional and sexual abuse, as well as more severe emotional neglect. For both genders, severe emotional abuse (OR = 3.80 [2.22, 6.52]); severe physical abuse (OR = 3.97 [1.72, 9.16]); severe emotional neglect (OR = 3.36 [1.73, 6.54]); and severe physical neglect (OR = 11.90 [2.66, 53.22]) were associated with depression and anxiety while only severe physical abuse (OR = 3.40 [1.28, 9.03]) was associated with alcohol abuse. Looking at men and women separately, severe emotional abuse (OR = 6.05 [1.62, 22.60] in men; OR = 3.74 [2.06, 6.81] in women) and severe physical abuse (OR = 6.05 [1.62, 22.60] in men; OR = 3.03 [0.99, 9.33] in women) were associated with clinical levels of depression and anxiety. In addition, in women, severe sexual abuse (OR = 2.40 [1.10, 5.21]), emotional neglect (OR = 4.78 [2.40, 9.56]), and severe physical neglect (OR = 9.86 [1.99, 48.93]) were associated with clinical levels of depression and anxiety. Severe emotional abuse in men (OR = 3.86 [0.96, 15.48]) and severe physical abuse in women (OR = 5.18 [1.48, 18.12]) were associated with alcohol abuse. Concerning resilience, the majority of severely maltreated participants did not report clinically significant levels of depression or anxiety (72%), or alcohol abuse (93%) in adulthood. Although the majority of severely abused or neglected individuals did not show clinical levels of depression, anxiety or alcohol use, severe childhood maltreatment increased the risk for showing clinical levels of psychopathology in adulthood.


The aims of the study were to investigate the impact of The 101s parent training program: the nationally honored program in the US for promoting a child's brain and social-emotional development with positive discipline, on Thai parenting skills and preschoolers' executive function (EF) skills. The sample was 27 parents and their 3-5-year-old preschoolers in the intervention group in which the parents received the 101s training program and 27 parents and their 3-5-year-old preschoolers in the control group in which the parents received no training. A series of MANCOVA was performed to compare the significant differences in mean scores on parenting practices and EF skills between the sample in the intervention and control groups. A bivariate correlation was also utilized to evaluate the significant correlations between the parenting practices and preschoolers' EF skills. The findings showed the significantly positive impact of the 101s parent training program on the parenting practices and preschoolers' EF skills. The implication, limitations, and suggestions are discussed.


In this paper, the background, evolution, basic meaning, clinical application and the detail operating procedures of the differential insertion depth in filiform needle acupuncture were discussed based on the classical expositions of the Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine. It is believed that the differential insertion depth reflects the basic idea of expelling the evil Qi from the body in the application of traditional acupuncture. Since the site of evil invasion has different shades, the position of evil Qi and correct differentiation has become the operation key points of needle insertion. Apart from this, the Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine has further associated the clinical application of filiform needle insertion depth with the seasonal change of Yin and Yang, the body built of the patients, the nature of the diseases, the heat or cold pathogenic factors of the illness, the excess and deficiency of the patient, and the reinforcing and reducing function of acupuncture. These elaborations have greatly enriched the basic content of acupuncture and laid a systematic theoretical foundation of filiform needle operation. The differential insertion depth in acupuncture has its specific meaning, the emphasis of insertion depth of filiform needle with its differentiated clinical implication exemplifies the perceptual thinking features of traditional acupuncture and typical reveals the uniqueness of Chinese civilization.


While entrepreneurship may be driven by personal interests and lifestyle choices, entrepreneurial actions are not only economically driven opportunity-searching processes but also enactments of social transformation that may or may not lead to socioeconomic benefits. We advance that exploring these entrepreneurial processes can inform a theory of the firm that may explain how socioeconomic processes shape the socioeconomic environment of communities while serving individuals. This article discusses several understandings of the firm, as theorized in extant literature. Guided by these different conceptualizations, we present a case study of an artist and artisan cluster in Western Massachusetts to demonstrate various understandings of entrepreneurial processes. By way of conclusion, we develop the idea of the firm as a geographically embedded relational understanding aiding entrepreneurs to achieve personal goals while coconstructing their local environment.


Uncertainty in the strength of natural material, such as timber, is considerably higher than man-made construction materials which are produced through controlled and precise manufacturing processes. Adopting a classical deterministic design approach, designer usually employs high factor of safety to incorporate this material strength uncertainty in design; an approach that can lead to overdesigned structures with unpredictable performance. This paper, firstly, presents the evaluation of the performance of classical design method against nondeterministic design technique. The nondeterministic design is carried out with Monte Carlo technique in order to estimate failure rates corresponding to the adopted factors of safety utilized in the classical design. It is shown that increase in factor of safety does not necessarily yield a reliable design. Secondly, two methods of reinforcement, namely, Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP) and Steel Reinforced Polymers (SRP), are investigated in this study. The uncertainty in the strength of reinforced timber is also quantified and modeled. It is shown that reinforcement of timber has a two-fold effect on its strength, namely, enhanced strength and reduced uncertainties, directly leading to reduction in the overall cost of the structure.


Purpose
To harmonize the eligibility criteria and radiologic disease assessment definitions in clinical trials of adjuvant therapy for renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Method
On November 28, 2017, US-based experts in RCC clinical trials, including medical oncologists, urologic oncologists, regulators, biostatisticians, radiologists, and patient advocates, convened at a public workshop to discuss eligibility for trial entry and radiologic criteria for assessing disease recurrence in adjuvant trials in RCC. Multiple virtual meetings were conducted to address the issues identified at the workshop.

Results
The key workshop conclusions for adjuvant RCC therapy clinical trials were as follows. First, patients with non-clear cell RCC could be routinely included, preferably in an independent cohort. Second, patients with T3-4, N+M0, and microscopic R1 RCC tumors may gain the greatest advantages from adjuvant therapy. Third, trials of agents not excreted by the kidney should not exclude patients with severe renal insufficiency. Fourth, therapy can begin 4 to 16 weeks after the surgical procedure. Fifth, patients undergoing radical or partial nephrectomy should be equally eligible. Sixth, patients with microscopically positive soft tissue or vascular margins without gross residual or radiologic disease may be included in trials. Seventh, all suspicious regional lymph nodes should be fully resected. Eighth, computed tomography should be performed within 4 weeks before trial enrollment; for patients with renal insufficiency who cannot undergo computed tomography with contrast, noncontrast chest computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of the abdomen and pelvis with gadolinium should be performed. Ninth, when feasible, biopsy should be undertaken to identify any malignant disease. Tenth, when biopsy is not feasible, a uniform approach should be used to evaluate indeterminate radiologic findings to identify what constitutes no evidence of disease at trial entry and what constitutes radiologic evidence of disease. Eleventh, a uniform approach for establishing the date of recurrence should be included in any trial design. Twelfth, patient perspectives on the use of placebo, conditions for unblinding, and research biopsies should be considered carefully during the conduct of an adjuvant trial.

Conclusions and Relevance
The discussions suggested that a uniform approach to eligibility criteria and radiologic disease assessment will lead to more consistently interpretable trial results in the adjuvant RCC therapy setting.


The objectives of this Thesis are to describe the complex manufacturing setup faced by a case company, CandyCo, and to develop suggestions for the case company to increase control and throughput in the factory. CandyCo operates in the confectionery industry and offers several types of products. The motivation for the study for the company's part is to analyze and improve its mixed-component candy bag production. Mixed-component bags are products which contain various types of components, i.e. candies, as opposed to just one type. The production process is analyzed using the Theory of constraints (TOC) –framework. The bottleneck in the production process has been defined as being in the mixing-packaging phase. The Thesis adds to the existing pool of studies on complexity as well as to the pool of case studies using TOC to improve performance. The methods used in this Thesis could be applied by companies facing similar challenges in similar industries, e.g. the snack food industry. The production process at CandyCo was modeled using the flowchart method. The throughput of the bottleneck resource was analyzed based on the data provided by the case company using Microsoft Excel. The two key analysis techniques were based on TOC: offloading and idle time analysis. The Thesis examines, if offloading possibilities for the bottleneck resource exist and also if the bottleneck resource is ever idle. To determine the root causes for idle time, root cause analysis alongside the five-why method were used. A small simulation model was also built to illustrate the effects of reducing idle time in the bottleneck on throughput and inventory. Finally, the company was involved in generating and assessing improvement ideas for the factory based on initial suggestions. The analysis revealed that there were offloading possibilities in the bottleneck: around 14% of the end products, i.e. candy bags, handled by the bottleneck were single-component products. This means that the mixing resource of the bottleneck was used to handle components that do not require mixing. The idle time analysis revealed that the bottleneck was idle 52% of the time. 22% of the year was spent on waiting time, of which most consistent of either personnel or component shortages. Together with CandyCo's staff, ideas were generated to reduce component and personnel shortages. The theoretical result of the Thesis is that the underlying principles of TOC remain sound and applicable in the modern manufacturing environment. The managerial implication is that using TOC-techniques, factory throughput can be increased using small investments and changes in the way things are done instead of resorting to heavy investments in machinery.


Parsing volumetric computed tomography (CT) into 10 or more salient organs simultaneously is a challenging task with many applications such as personalized scan planning and dose reporting. In the clinic, pre-scan data can come in the form of very low dose volumes acquired just prior to the primary scan or from an existing primary scan. To localize organs in such diverse data, we propose a new learning based framework that we call hierarchical pictorial structures (HPS) which builds multiple levels of models in a tree-like hierarchy that mirrors the natural decomposition of human anatomy from gross structures to finer structures. Each node of our hierarchical model learns (1) the local appearance and shape of structures, and (2) a generative global model that learns probabilistic, structural arrangement. Our main contribution is twofold. First we embed the pictorial structures approach in a hierarchical framework which reduces test time image interpretation and allows for the incorporation of additional geometric constraints that robustly guide model fitting in the presence of noise. Second we guide our HPS framework with the probabilistic cost maps extracted using random decision forests using volumetric 3D HOG features which makes our model fast to train and fast to apply to novel test data and posses a high degree of invariance to shape distortion and imaging artifacts. All steps require approximate 3 mins to compute and all organs are located with suitably high accuracy for our clinical applications such as personalized scan planning for radiation dose reduction. We assess our method using a database of volumetric CT scans from 81 subjects with widely varying age and pathology and with simulated ultra-low dose cadaver pre-scan data.


Mobile web usage is exploding. Soon, more web browsing will take place on phones and tablets than PCs. Your business needs a mobile strategy, but where do you start? Head First Mobile Web shows how to use the web tech- nology youre already familiar with to make sites and apps that work on any device of any size. Put your JavaScript, CSS media query, and HTML5 skills to work, and then optimize your site to perform its best in the demanding mobile market. Along the way, youll discover how to adapt your business strategy to target specific devices.Navigate the increasingly complex mobile landscape Take both technical and strategic approaches to mobile web design Use the latest development techniquesincluding Responsive Web Design and server-side device detection with WURFL Learn quickly through images, puzzles, stories, and quizzes We think your time is too valuable to waste struggling with new concepts. Using the latest research in cognitive science and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory learning experience, Head First Mobile Web uses a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep.


Recent experimental investigations have widened the understanding of metal dusting significantly. Microscopic observations have been used to dissect dusting mechanisms. Iron dusts by growing a cementite surface scale, which catalyses graphite nucleation and growth. The resulting volume expansion leads to cementite disintegration. Cementite formation on iron can be suppressed by alloying with germanium. Nonetheless, dusting occurs via the direct growth of graphite into the metal, producing nanoparticles of ferrite. This process is faster, because carbon diffusion is more rapid in α‐Fe than in Fe3C. Austenitic materials cannot form cementite, and dust via formation of graphite at external surfaces and interior grain boundaries. The coke deposit consists of carbon nanotubes with austenite particles at their tips, or graphite particles encapsulating austenite. TEM studies demonstrate the inward growth of graphite within the metal interior. It is therefore concluded that the dusting mechanism of austenitic materials like high alloy Cr–Ni steels and Ni base materials is one of graphite nucleation and growth within the near surface metal. In all alloys examined, both ferritic and austenitic, the principal mass transfer process is inward diffusion of carbon. Alloying iron with nickel leads to a transformation from one mechanism with carbide formation to the other without. Copper alloying in nickel and high nickel content stainless steels strongly suppresses graphite nucleation, as does also an intermetallic Ni–Sn phase, thereby reducing greatly the overall dusting rate. A surface layer of intermetallic Ni–Sn Fe‐base materials facilitates the formation of a Fe3SnC surface scale which also prevents coking and metal dusting. Current understanding of the roles of temperature, gas composition and surface oxides on dusting rates are summarised. Finally, protection against metal dusting by coatings is discussed in terms of their effects on catalysis of carbon deposition, and on protective oxide formation.


In fields like data mining and natural language processing, design contests have been successfully used to advance the state of the art. Such contests offer an opportunity to bring the excitement and challenges of protocol design---one of the core intellectual elements of research and practice in networked systems---to a broader group of potential contributors, whose ideas may prove important. Moreover, it may lead to an increase in the number of students, especially undergraduates or those learning via online courses, interested in pursuing a career in the field.
 We describe the creation of the infrastructure and our experience with a protocol design contest conducted in MIT's graduate Computer Networks class. This contest involved the design and evaluation of a congestion-control protocol for paths traversing cellular wireless networks. One key to the success of a design contest is an unambiguous, measurable objective to compare protocols. In practice, protocol design is the art of trading off conflicting goals with each other, but in this contest, we specified that the goal was to maximize $\log(\mbox{throughput}/\mbox{delay})$. This goal is a good match for applications such as video streaming or videoconferencing that care about high throughput and low interactive delays.
 Some students produced protocols whose performance was better than published protocols tackling similar goals. Furthermore, the convex hull of the set of all student protocols traced out a tradeoff curve in the throughput-delay space, providing useful insights into the entire space of possible protocols. We found that student protocols diverged in performance between the training and testing traces, indicating that some students had overtrained ("overfitted") their protocols to the training trace. Our conclusion is that, if designed properly, such contests could benefit networking research by making new proposals more easily reproducible and amenable to such "gamification," improve networked systems, and provide an avenue for outreach.


To operate in the real world robots must deal with errors in control and sensing. Achieving goals despite these errors requires complex motion planning and plan monitoring. We present a reduced version of the general problem and a complete planner that solves it in polynomial time. The basic concept underlying this planner is that of a landmark. Within the field of influence of a landmark, robot control and sensing are perfect. Outside any such field control is imperfect and sensing is null. In order to make sure that the above assumptions hold, we may have to specifically engineer the robot workspace. Thus, for the first time, workspace engineering is seen as a means to make planning problems tractable. The planner was implemented and experimental results are presented. An interesting feature of the planner is that it always returns a universal plan in the form of a collection of reaction rules. This plan can be used even when the input problem has no guaranteed solution, or when unexpected events occur during plan execution.


AIM: To establish whether infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) contributed to the development of coronary artery lesions in a six year old child with an aneurysm and stenoses of the coronary arteries and suspected Kawasaki disease. METHODS: Postmortem paraffin wax sections of the coronary artery and myocardium were examined by in situ hybridisation for expression of EBER-1 (EBV-encoded RNA-1). Positive controls consisted of an EBV positive case of Hodgkin disease and a case of posttransplantation lymphoma. RESULTS: No EBER-1 positive cells were identified in either myocardium or walls of the coronary artery. CONCLUSIONS: Although EBV has been implicated in the aetiology of Kawasaki disease and development of coronary artery lesions, this process was not confirmed in this patient. It is likely that an unusual immunological reaction to a primary EBV infection with suspected deregulation of T helper cell activity leads to severe coronary artery damage in early childhood.


This thesis consists of four papers, of which paper 1 and 4 are co-written with Mikael Bask. Paper [1] implements chartists trading in a sticky-price monetary model for determining the exchange rate. It is demonstrated that chartists cause the exchange rate to "overshoot the overshooting equilibrium" of a sticky-price monetary model. Chartists base their trading on a short-long moving average. The importance of technical trading depends inversely on the time horizon in currency trade. The exchange rate's perfect foresight path near long-run equilibrium is derived and it is demonstrated that the shorter the time horizon, the greater the exchange rate overshooting. The aim of Paper [2] is to see how the dynamics of the basic target zone model changes when chartists and fundamentalists are introduced. Chartists use technical trading and the relative importance of technical and fundamental analyses depend on the time horizon in currency trade. The model also includes realignment expectations, which increase with the weight of chartists. The introduction of chartists may significantly reduce and reverse, the so-called "honeymoon effect" of a fully credible target zone. Further, chartists may cause the correlation between the exchange rate and the instantaneous interest rate differential to become either positive or negative. Using a chartist-fundamentalist set-up, Paper [3] derives the effects on the current exchange rate of central bank intervention. Fundamentalists have rational expectations and chartists use so called support and resistance levels in their trading. This technique results in chartists having both bandwagon expectations and regressive expectations. Chartists may enhance or suppress the effect of intervention depending on their expectations. The results indicate that a chartist channel exists. The aim of Paper [4] is threefold; (i) to investigate if there is a unique rational expectations equilibrium (REE) in a new Keynesian macroeconomic model augmented with technical trading, (ii), to investigate if the unique REE is adaptively learnable and, (iii), to investigate if this unique and adaptively learnable REE is desirable in an inflation rate targeting regime. The monetary authority is using a Taylor rule when setting the interest rate. A main conclusion is that a robust Taylor rule implies that the monetary authority should increase (decrease) the interest rate when the CPI inflation rate increases (decreases) and when the currency gets stronger (weaker).


Maize was domesticated from teosinte in Mexico some 7,000 to 10,000 years ago and quickly spread through the Americas. It has become one of the most important crops at a local and global level. Two types, Northern Flint corn and Southern Dent corns provided the basis of the genetic background of modern maize hybrids. The development of hybrids, first double-cross and later single-cross hybrids, along with a transition to high input farming provided huge yield increases, which have continued to improve with improving technology. Increase in maize production also caused a rise in Western corn Rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte). As maize cultivation increased it spread from Eastern Colorado into Nebraska in the 50's, Indiana by the 70's and the East coast by the 90's, and even Europe in 1992. A broadcast soil application of organochlorine insecticides was a common control tactic beginning in the late 40s. By 1959 control failures were noted and resistance spread with the concurrent corn rootworm range expansion. Resistance spread into areas where organochlorine insecticides had never been used. New modes of action were adopted and, more importantly, new management practices reducing selective pressure. In 2003 Bt traits for rootworm control were released, but by 2009 resistance was documented. The Western corn rootworm has proven highly adaptable to control measures, including rotation. Many challenges face agriculture in the future including water use, soil degradation, pest and disease control issues, and stagnant yield potentials. Despite these challenges, a great deal of technological advances such as precision agriculture, improved molecular techniques, and better adoption and implementation of Integrated Pest Management will provide effective tools for addressing these challenges. Addressing the challenges of the future is not an issue of technology. Maize is more than a commodity; it has been and continues to be an essential part of our culture. The objective of this work is to illustrate that addressing the human dimension of these challenges will be crucial to addressing the current and future issues in agricultural production. Two separate examples of how this is being addressed are discussed.


Cellular metabolic state can serve as a biomarker to indicate the differentiation potential of stem cells into other specialized cell lineages. In this study, two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (2P-FLIM) was applied to determine the fluorescence lifetime and the amounts of the auto-fluorescent metabolic co-factor reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) to elucidate the cellular metabolism of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation processes. 2P-FLIM provides the free to protein-bound NADH ratio which can serve as the indicator of cellular metabolic state. We measured NADH fluorescence lifetime at 0, 7, and 14 days after hMSCs were induced for either osteogenesis or adipogenesis. In both cases, the average fluorescence lifetime increased significantly at day 14 (P < 0.001), while the ratio of free to protein-bound NADH ratio decreased significantly in 7- days (P < 0.001) and 14-days (P < 0.001). Thus, our results indicated a higher metabolic rate in both osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation processes when compared with undifferentiated hMSCs. This approach may be further utilized to study proliferation efficiency and differentiation potential of stem cells into other specialized cell lineages.


West Germany after the Second World War was a country in shock : estranged from its recent history, and adrift from the rest of Europe. This proved to be fertile ground for a generation of musicians who, from the 1960s onwards, would develop the experimental sounds that became known as Krautrock. Faust, Neu !, Cluster, Ash Ra Tempel, Amon Düül Il, Can, Kraftwerk — the influence of these groups upon popular music is incalculable. Future Days is an in-depth study of the music and the groups who made it.


In the present study, an optical fiber sensor using pristine DNA and metal ion-modified DNA (M-DNA) double-crossover (DX) lattices was fabricated for detecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the range of their threshold limit values (TLVs). The selective incorporation of metal ions, such as cobalt ions (Co2+), with appropriate concentrations into the DNA DX lattice has to be considered since excess metal ions can be bound nonspecifically and degrade the functions of the M-DNA DX lattices. The peak intensity of light reflected from a Co2+-modified DNA (Co-DNA) DX lattice was observed to be about 32% greater than that from the pristine DNA DX lattice in the presence of a relatively high 11 897 ppm concentration of the VOC methanol, and was also observed to be greater in the presence of 95 to 475 ppm methanol. The change in the intensity of the reflected light due to the VOC interaction with the pristine DNA and the Co-DNA lattices corresponded to the differences in surface morphology visualized by atomic force microscopy and the differences in intensities from Raman spectroscopy.


1. Plasma catecholamine and dopamine β-hydroxylase (DβH) amounts were measured in a series of patients with proven phaeochromocytoma and compared with those of a group with essential hypertension. 2. Circulating catecholamine amounts were greatly elevated in phaeochromocytoma but plasma DβH was not significantly raised. 3. There was a significant correlation between plasma noradrenaline and DβH in individuals with essential hypertension but not with phaeochromocytoma. 4. The relative deficiency of DβH secretion in phaeochromocytoma indicates that the mechanism of release of catecholamines from these tumours does not involve the normal exocytosis of catecholamine storage vesicles. This supports the hypothesis that the primary defect responsible for the hypertension is excessive synthesis of catecholamines that bypass the normal storage and secretion mechanisms and diffuse into the circulation.


Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Streptococcus, GAS) is an important human commensal that occasionally causes localized infections and less frequently causes severe invasive disease with high mortality rates. How GAS regulates expression of factors used to colonize the host and avoid immune responses remains poorly understood. Intercellular communication is an important means by which bacteria coordinate gene expression to defend against host assaults and competing bacteria, yet no conserved cell-to-cell signaling system has been elucidated in GAS. Encoded within the GAS genome are four rgg-like genes, two of which (rgg2 and rgg3) have no previously described function. We tested the hypothesis that rgg2 or rgg3 rely on extracellular peptides to control target-gene regulation. We found that Rgg2 and Rgg3 together tightly regulate two linked genes encoding new peptide pheromones. Rgg2 activates transcription of and is required for full induction of the pheromone genes, while Rgg3 plays an antagonistic role and represses pheromone expression. The active pheromone signals, termed SHP2 and SHP3, are short and hydrophobic (DI[I/L]IIVGG), and, though highly similar in sequence, their ability to disrupt Rgg3-DNA complexes were observed to be different, indicating that specificity and differential activation of promoters are characteristics of the Rgg2/3 regulatory circuit. SHP-pheromone signaling requires an intact oligopeptide permease (opp) and a metalloprotease (eep), supporting the model that pro-peptides are secreted, processed to the mature form, and subsequently imported to the cytoplasm to interact directly with the Rgg receptors. At least one consequence of pheromone stimulation of the Rgg2/3 pathway is increased biogenesis of biofilms, which counteracts negative regulation of biofilms by RopB (Rgg1). These data provide the first demonstration that Rgg-dependent quorum sensing functions in GAS and substantiate the role that Rggs play as peptide receptors across the Firmicute phylum. Funding: The work was funded by a grant from the NIH R00GM80539 and the Hans Vahlteich Award. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.


In drawing on recent advances in international and comparative political economy, this paper argues that diverging paths of institutional development among emerging market democracies are driven by the Transnational Integration Regimes (TIRs), in which a country is embedded. TIRs are more than trade agreements, aid projects, or harmonization systems and should be viewed as development programs. To date, research on the role of international factors shaping local institutional development has done little to move beyond references to markets and hegemonic hierarchies as the main mechanisms of change, compliance, and commitment. This work is largely based on a depoliticized view of institutional change, and overlooks the growing literature on the evolution of regulative capitalism and the diverse patterns of transnationalizing the modern state. By integrating this latter work into our analysis, we show how TIRs differ less in terms of their incentives and largess and more in terms of their emphasis on building institutional capacities and ability to merge monitoring and learning at both the national and supranational levels. We develop a comparative framework to show these systematic differences through an analysis of the impact of the EU Accession Process on postcommunist countries and NAFTA on Mexico.


Gordey Yastrebov - Senior Research Fellow, Laboratory for Comparative Analysis of Post-Socialist Development, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: email@example.com Bessudnov - Research Fellow, Centre for Advanced Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Pinskaya - Leading Research Fellow, Centre of Social and Economic School Development, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Kosaretsky - Director, Center of Social and Economic School Development, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Address: 20, Myasnitskaya st., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation.The authors discuss a conceptual framework of educational results' contextualization, that is of account taken when formulating education policy of the fact of differentiating schools according to pupils' social and economic characteristics, as well as according to the schools' physical and human resources. There is an extensive literature review in the article where the authors analyze in detail foreign and national hands-on experiences of account taken of territory factors in educational inequality studies. In Russia the basic problem that didn't let to work out an accurate and differential estimate of territory development at the level of municipal units until quite recently was an absence of the corresponding statistics. In 2011 the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) for the first time opened access to a database with information from municipal units' statistical passports. The authors analyze how differences in educational results between Russian schools are connected to their differences in 1) social and economic characteristics of pupils and their families; 2) physical and human resources; 3) certain territory development indicators depending on where the schools are situated. The authors used data from social passports collected during surveys in schools of the Moscow and the Yaroslav regions in 2011-2012, as well as municipal statistics data which enable to estimate a level of social and economic deprivation in settlements of different types on the basis of a limited set of indicators. In the statistical analysis a two-level regression model was used. A multilevel analysis enables first of all to find out how variables measured at the level of both schools and settlements are connected to an average mark for Unified state exam; in the second place it enables to check if a nature of connection between variables measured at the level of schools and the average mark for USE depends on characteristics of the settlements (by means of interaction effects); and in the third place it enables to estimate to what extent a connection between characteristics of schools and the average mark for USE in different settlements is different (by means of the so-called random effects). The analysis results make it possible to state that the academic progress determined on the basis of aver age marks for Russian language and Mathematics USE is indeed consistently different in schools with 1) different social structure and 2) different physical and human resources. A level of territory deprivation in itself does not influence educational results: typically poor training outcomes that are observed for example in country schools can be explained by resource scarcity and their specific social structure characteristics.


Dr. William Roberts from the Baylor Cardiovascular Institute at Baylor University moderated the topic "Percutaneous Aortic Valve Implantation" with Drs. Robert Bonow from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and Paul Grayburn from Baylor University participating. The discussion focused primarily on: (1) identifying patient candidates for operative aortic valve replacement or percutaneous transcatheter valve implantation, (2) the use of MRI and echocardiography to distinguish valve types, (3) surgical techniques including mini-sternotomy, (4) the experience of interventional cardiologists and surgeons at large centers, and (5) the use of the transapical approach. (Med Roundtable Cardiovasc Ed. 2010;1(4):215-219) ©2010 FoxP2 Media, LLC


The polymer/clay nanocomposites have been studied for several years yet. Weak attention has been given to poly(VinylChloride)/clay nanocomposites, although PVC is the best known and the most widely used vinyl plastics. This paper focuses to the clay volume optimalization at compositions based on soft PVC. Different clay content was used to find out the optimum between properties, filling grade and level of exfoliation. Modified type of clay, Cloisite 30B, and unmodified type of clay, Cloisite Na, were employed as the inorganic phase. In the first case the clay gives good exfoliation degree and in the second case the degree of exfoliation is very low. These two systems were select due to better understanding the role of clay content and exfoliation degree in relation to the final properties of polymer/clay nancomposites. Clay volume differs from 0 to 40 %. In case of Cloisite 30B composition with clay content 0 20 % was prepared due to thermal stability of mixing systems. As the intercalation and co-intercalation agent was used low molecular plasticizer dioctyphthalate (DOP). The melt intercalation method was used for PVC/clay nanocomposite preparation. All intercalates and cointercalates were reached at 80 °C in laboratory mixer Thermomix. For mixture compounding, the KOkneader was chosen. The morphology of investigated materials was studied by XRD and TEM. The final composition properties were characterized by tensile stress and strain, dynamical thermo-mechanical analysis and by barrier properties. It was observed, that relative value of complex modulus /E*/ is growing rapidly with increasing temperature. The enhancement is more intensive for materials based on Cloisite 30B.


A molecular study was undertaken to detect Theileria ovis, Theileria lestoquardi and Theileria annulata in sheep and tick vectors. Investigation was conducted from 2010 to 2011 in the south of Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran. A total of 150 blood samples were collected from 30 different sheep flocks. In addition, ixodid ticks were sampled from the same flocks. The stained blood smears were microscopically examined for the presence of piroplasms and a semi-nested polymerase chain reaction-restriction (PCR) was used for subsequent molecular speciation. Salivary glands were isolated from the ticks and subsequently analysed by semi-nested PCR. polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to differentiate between T. lestoquardi and T. annulata from PCR-positive samples. Theileria species infection was microscopically detected in 18.6% of blood smears. The presence of T. ovis and T. lestoquardi or T. annulata was detected by semi-nested PCR in 58.6% and 6.6% of blood samples respectively. In total, 169 ixodid ticks were collected from different areas of the province. The most prevalent ticks were Rhipicephalus turanicus (n = 155; 91.7% of the total), followed by Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum (n = 8; 4.7%) and Hyalomma marginatum turanicum (n = 6; 3.5%). From an organ pooling of 33 ticks, three pools of salivary glands from R. turanicus were positive for Theileria species by semi-nested PCR. Of the three R. turanicus samples testing positive for Theileria species, two (6.1%) were positive for T. ovis and one (3.0%) for T. lestoquardi or T.annulata. Amongst the 11 PCR-positive samples for T. lestoquardi or T. annulata, 10 were positive for T. lestoquardi and one sample was positive for both T. lestoquardi and T. annulata using PCR-RFLP. The results also demonstrated that PCR-RFLP could be used for the detection of T. ovis. Based on the results, it can be concluded that T. ovis has a higher prevalence than T. lestoquardi, and that R. turanicus could be a possible vector for T. ovis and T. lestoquardi. Finally, the PCR-RFLP based on Msp1 restriction enzyme is a simple method for differentiation of Theileria species in sheep and ixodid ticks.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine employee satisfaction with an employer-imposed compressed workweek (CWW) schedule within a US municipality (City).

Design/methodology/approach

The study utilizes an employee survey (n=779) to test factors related to employee satisfaction with the CWW, a four-day, ten-hours/day workweek (4/10 schedule).

Findings

Employee satisfaction with the schedule is influenced by previous 4/10 pilot experience, work schedule preference, and happiness with the 4/10 schedule's implementation. Additionally, sick leave figures and survey results regarding informal substitute work schedules suggest that worker fatigue may limit the overall organizational value of the 4/10 schedule.

Research limitations/implications

The study is opportunistic in nature and therefore constrained by the City's HR Department concerns for survey length and respondent anonymity. This meant an inability to collect demographic data or to utilize validated scales.

Practical implications

Analysis suggests that the potential work-life benefits of flexible work schedules may not apply equally to employer-imposed vs employee-chosen compressed work schedules. Further, CWWs engender greater fatigue despite employee satisfaction, an issue managers should consider when weighing schedule costs and benefits.

Originality/value

The study highlights the importance of employee choice in conceptualizing flexibility and for capturing CWW benefits, namely: an initiative's voluntary or involuntary nature should be considered when determining whether it is likely to be beneficial for employees.


Over the last decade, a new idea challenging the classical self-non-self viewpoint has become popular amongst immunologists. It is called the Danger Theory. In this conceptual paper, we look at this theory from the perspective of Artificial Immune System practitioners. An overview of the Danger Theory is presented with particular emphasis on analogies in the Artificial Immune Systems world. A number of potential application areas are then used to provide a framing for a critical assessment of the concept, and its relevance for Artificial Immune Systems.


As markets deepen and interest elasticities increase it is optimal for emerging markets to shift towards an interest rate instrument since continuing monetization of the economy implies money demand shocks are large. In an extension of the classic instrument choice problem to the case of frequent supply shocks, it is shown the variance of output is lower with the interest rate rather than a monetary aggregate as instrument, if the interest elasticity of aggregate demand is negative, and the interest elasticity of money demand is high or low. It is necessary to design an appropriate monetary policy response to supply shocks. An evaluation of India's monetary policy procedures and of the recent fine-tuning of the liquidity adjustment facility finds them to be in tune with these first principles and in the direction of international best practices. But a survey of country experiences and procedures, and some aspects of the Indian context suggest further improvements.


Pathological glomerulus classification plays a key role in the diagnosis of nephropathy. As the difference between different subcategories is subtle, doctors often refer to slides from different staining methods to make decisions. However, creating correspondence across various stains is labor-intensive, bringing major difficulties in collecting data and training a vision-based algorithm to assist nephropathy diagnosis.This paper provides an alternative solution for integrating multi-stained visual cues for glomerulus classification. Our approach, named generator-to-classifier (G2C), is a twostage framework. Given an input image from a specified stain, several generators are first applied to estimate its appearances in other staining methods, and a classifier follows to combine visual cues from different stains for prediction (whether it is pathological, or which type of pathology it has). We optimize these two stages in a joint manner. To provide a reasonable initialization, we pre-train the generators in an unlabeled reference set under an unpaired image-to-image translation task, and then fine-tune them together with the classifier.We conduct experiments on a glomerulus type classification dataset collected by ourselves (there are no publicly available datasets for this purpose). Although joint optimization slightly harms the authenticity of the generated patches, it boosts classification performance, suggesting more effective visual cues are extracted in an automatic way. We also transfer our model to a public dataset for breast cancer classification, and outperform the state-of-the-arts significantly.


The Space Geodesy Programme of the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) is actively engaged in improving the African Earth and Ocean Monitoring Network (sub-project 1.1 of Inkaba yeAfrica) by installing geodetic, oceanographic and geophysics stations across the Sub-Saharan region and Southern ocean. This forms part of the drive to monitor different geophysical parameters via denser networks and with increasing accuracies, so as to better our understanding of the Earth system. The instruments being deployed include Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) stations, tide-gauges, seismic stations and meteorological units. There are four main space geodetic techniques collocated at HartRAO, making it a fiducial site in Africa. These techniques are GNSS, Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS). It is important to ensure that all the collected raw scientific data as well as the derived data products are accessible in a user-friendly manner. Additionally, a new data management system needs to be implemented at HartRAO in order to ensure data integrity. This paper focuses on the implementation of a GNSS data management system. The automated system for the pre-processing and post-processing of GNSS data and other derived products are presented. The data products are then visualized utilizing an interactive web-based map. These scientific products are important in understanding processes that occur on planet Earth such as plate motion, crustal deformation and weather patterns. The implementation of this data management system will facilitate the monitoring of these processes.


Often, when I describe the use of an active-learning approach (1–3), my colleagues ask what size class is appropriate for this format. One of us has used this method in a class of over 200 students, but we would use the same format no matter what the class size. We think active learning is better than lecturing even for very large classes; the details of how the class is run might have to vary (e.g., how groups are formed), but otherwise it would be the same. When thinking about the effectiveness—or lack thereof—of lecturing, especially in a very large class, an anecdote by the late Neil A. Campbell, the author of a very popular introductory biology textbook, comes to mind. To paraphrase, Neil was giving a lecture to a large class and became concerned because no one seemed to be following what he was saying. Then it occurred to him that the problem might be that no one could hear him, as he was not using a microphone. So, he paused, faced the class and asked, "Is there anyone who cannot hear what I am saying?" A young man at the very back of the room stood up and shouted back, "Yeah, I haven't been able to hear a single thing you've said." At that point, a young woman in the front row stood up, turned around and replied to her classmate, "I'll trade places with you!"


OBJECTIVES
Previous studies on mortality and the incidence of cancer among workers at primary aluminum smelters have produced conclusive results indicating an elevated risk of bladder cancer. An increased risk of lung cancer has also been reported several times. The objective of this study was to examine mortality and the incidence of cancer at a Swedish aluminum smelter when different neighboring reference populations were used to evaluate any relationships to the length of employment.

METHODS
A historical cohort--comprised of 2264 male nonoffice workers employed from 1942 on and tracked up to the year 2000--was examined. With the use of three reference populations for mortality and four for cancer incidence, standardized mortality and incidence ratios were calculated, together with hazard ratios derived from Cox regression models.

RESULTS
This study showed an excess risk of mortality due to chronic obstructive lung disease, mental disorders, and diseases of the digestive system among the short-term workers. An elevated risk of cancer was found for the lungs, central nervous system, and esophagus. The highest lung cancer risk was observed for the workers employed for > or = 10 years in the factory when they were compared with the reference group from northern Sweden (standardized incidence ratio 1.99, 95% confidence ratio 1.21-3.07).

CONCLUSIONS
The results support previous studies that demonstrated an excess risk of lung cancer, but, in contrast to the results of most studies, cancer of the central nervous system was also elevated. This study did not, however, verify an association between this type of exposure and cancer of the urinary organs.


What supports students to develop their conceptual understanding? Taking part in focus groups helped the Years 9 and 10 Maori and Pasifika students in this study to focus on understanding the concepts underpinning social studies units, rather than the content. Discussions between students in the focus groups resulted in the students clarifying their understandings and gave formative information to the teacher to help plan next steps.


IMPORTANCE
Readmission to the hospital can lead to poorer patient outcomes and increased health care costs. The effect of occupational therapy interventions for adult hospitalized patients on readmission rates has not been previously evaluated.

OBJECTIVE
To systematically examine the published literature to determine the effects of occupational therapy interventions for adult hospitalized patients on readmission rates.

DATA SOURCES
Systematic search of five electronic databases was performed from database inception until May 2020, supplemented by citation and reference list searches. Study Selection and Data Collection: This review is reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and was registered prospectively; methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Downs and Black checklist. Meta-analyses were conducted with clinically homogeneous data; the overall body of evidence was graded for quality.

FINDINGS
Meta-analysis of 7 studies with 16,718 participants provided low-quality evidence that 1-mo readmission rates were reduced when adult patients hospitalized for general medical and surgical care received additional occupational therapy interventions compared with standard care. Subgroup analysis of 4 studies provided moderate-quality evidence that interventions focusing on the transition from hospital to the community were effective in reducing 1-mo readmissions to hospitals compared with standard care.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Occupational therapy interventions can be effective in reducing readmissions among some adult hospitalized patient populations, including those admitted for surgery or management of acute medical conditions, with stronger evidence to support transitional care interventions. What This Article Adds: Occupational therapy interventions can be effective in reducing readmissions among adult hospitalized patients. There is a continued need for occupational therapy practitioners to understand their value and contribution to reducing avoidable readmissions to hospitals.


BACKGROUND
Psychological risk factors such as anxiety and depression have been associated with coronary heart disease (CHD). Stress can have an impact on the risk factors for the disease, such as high blood pressure (BP), physical inactivity and being overweight.

AIMS
Examine the effect of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program on symptoms of anxiety and depression, perceived stress, BP and body mass index (BMI) in patients with CHD.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN
Intervention was carried out at an Outpatient clinic. Parallel group - MBSR group; and treatment-as-usual group (TAU) - randomized control design with pre- (baseline), post-intervention and follow-up assessments was adopted.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Thirty male patients, age range (30-65 years) with CHD were randomly allocated to either group. The therapeutic program comprised of eight weekly sessions of structured MBSR intervention for the MBSR group and one health education session for the TAU group. Regular medical intervention and monthly consultations with the cardiologist were consistent for both groups. The main outcome measures were: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Perceived Stress Scale (perceived stress), BP and BMI.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Independent sample t-tests, chi square test and paired sample t-test were used.

RESULTS
All patients completed intervention in the MBSR group. Significant reduction was observed in symptoms of anxiety and depression, perceived stress, BP and BMI in patients of the MBSR group after the completion of intervention assessment. At 3-month follow-up, therapeutic gains were maintained in patients of the MBSR group.

CONCLUSION
The MBSR program is effective in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression, perceived stress, BP and BMI in patients with CHD.


A critical role is elucidated for destruction of a metabolic cofactor in neuronal degeneration. Axons are programmed to self-destruct under certain conditions that occur during development, stress, or disease states. Gerdts et al. outline a biochemical mechanism that controls such axon degeneration. Expression of versions of SARM1 (sterile alpha and TIR motif–constraining 1) that could be activated or inhibited in cells revealed that activation of SARM1 was necessary and sufficient to cause axon destruction in cultured mouse neurons. SARM1-mediated destruction was associated with depletion of the metabolic cofactor NAD+ from cells. J. Gerdts, E. J. Brace, Y. Sasaki, A. DiAntonio, J. Milbrandt, SARM1 activation triggers axon degeneration locally via NAD+ destruction. Science 348, 453–457 (2015). [Abstract] [Full Text]


There is no question of the need for advocacy within pharmacy and the health professions. Collective voices need to be heard, and those for whom pharmacists provide care and services need others to advocate for them simply because they have no voice in many discussions. Currently in pharmacy and the wider health professions, there are many points of contention and debate. This is not a new phenomenon; it has existed for decades. In 2010, the American Pharmacists Association and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (1) collaborated on a discussion paper that suggests that the rapid expansion of pharmacy schools' satellite campuses and the increasing class sizes enrolled in pharmacy colleges and schools needs to be thoughtfully reconsidered. Voices within the academy have also called for careful consideration of expansion plans for programs. These arguments are juxtaposed with suggestions that there are too many health care institutions or affiliated clinics in North America, some of which are an easy stroll across the street from one another. Some believe there are too many pharmacy organizations as well, all of which were under one umbrella before being split up decades ago. The point of this editorial is not to take sides in the debate over supply of health professionals and services or to criticize any entity, but rather to lament the lack of cohesion among all affinity groups in advocating for one special interest above all else: the graduates of pharmacy education programs. Regardless of vested interests, all pharmacy educators should hold the practice options available to graduates and future graduates in the highest importance of all that we represent, advocate for, or suggest allegiance to. Other Professions Filling the Expanding Need for Physician Extender Services Nurse practitioners (NP) and physician assistants (PA) have worked hard to take advantage of the tenets behind much of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed in 2010. Despite political posturing, many provisions of this health reform legislation have been implemented and experts believe that many of the preventive health services components put in play by this legislation will not be reversed in the future regardless of the fate of the overall Act. In mid-December 2011, the components dealing with payment and service provision for preventive obesity counseling and services imbedded in the legislation began to be operationalized for enrollees of Medicare. Physician extenders will provide many of these and other types of future needed services. Our previous research (2,3) found that consumers are willing to use physician extenders (eg, NPs) when seeking care for acute conditions requiring medical care services. Many if not all of these retail clinic-based physician extenders are located within pharmacies. There are numerous opportunities for professional collaboration between pharmacists and other physician extenders (NPs and PAs). The health professions striving to avail the opportunities presented by disruptive innovations such as retail clinic and the increasing demand for primary health care services do not need to do so at the expense of each other. There are tremendous opportunities for outreach and collaborative efforts, many in place already, that need expansion for the benefit of all--most importantly the patients served. These professions (NPs, PAs) have achieved tremendous success by working within and across their specific professional associations, practitioner groups, and health professional schools, and with colleagues to advocate for the benefits of PA- and NP-provided health care services. This has not been achieved without tremendous organizational and collaborative synergy uniting segments within these professions that may not always agree with all aspects of what disparate affinity groups might advocate for. These processes have been documented extensively in the literature, and most certainly provide blueprints for the pharmacy profession's future advocacy and cooperation with physician extender groups and physicians. …


Introduction: The effects of exercise training on GLUT4 protein expression have been examined in several studies whereas those of aerobic training along with the use of plant extracts on muscle GLUT4 protein expression are unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of aerobic training and Pistacia athlantica extract on GLUT4 protein expression and glycogen level in the gastrocnemius muscle of diabetic rats. Materials and Methods: Forty-male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups: Healthy control, diabetic control, diabetic+aerobic training, diabetic+extract and diabetic+aerobic training+extract. The program included six weeks of aerobic training on the treadmill. Forty eight hours after last session of training and consumption the extract, the rats were anesthetized and gastrocnemius muscle was isolated for measurement of glycogen levels and GLUT4 protein expression. Data was analyzed by using one-way ANOVA test (P<0.05). Results: GLUT4 protein expression and glycogen levels in gastrocnemius muscle in diabetic+aerobic training+extract group were significantly higher than in the diabetic control group (P values 0.001, 0.02 respectively), whereas these variables in the aerobic training and the Pistacia athlantica extract perse groups did not change compared to the diabetic control group. Conclusions: It seems that Pistacia athlantica extract along with specific exercises, compared to utilization of each of strategies perse, are more effective in increasing glucose transporter proteins and possibly improving insulin function.


The impression of being locked up in the world of illness, hospitals and medicine is part of what adolescents experience while undergoing treatment for cancer. This impression is exacerbated when they receive high-dose chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant in protective isolation. Confinement combines with and exasperates all aspects of their experience of cancer, especially the perturbation of their relationship with their body (which becomes strange or unfamiliar) and with others (withdrawal, flight, excessive demands, anger), of their sense of identity, difficulties in formulating and expressing their ideas, fear of thinking. Their parents are also upset. In order to help these adolescents live through this phase of their treatment and this confinement without being destabilized and, subsequently, to rid themselves of its psychical repercussions, psychoanalysts need to be sufficiently aware of the reality of this experience so that they can work on the elements of which it is composed and not on a rough definition of what it is and what phantasms it evokes. We describe first the elements involved in these treatments then the landmarks which can guide the psychoanalyst in these particularly difficult and complex situations.


Cells isolated from patients with ataxia telangiectasia are exquisitely sensitive to ionizing radiation. Kinase inhibitors of ATM, the gene mutated in ataxia telangiectasia, can sensitize tumor cells to radiation therapy, but concern that inhibiting ATM in normal tissues will also increase normal tissue toxicity from radiation has limited their clinical application. Endothelial cell damage can contribute to the development of long-term side effects after radiation therapy, but the role of endothelial cell death in tumor response to radiation therapy remains controversial. Here, we developed dual recombinase technology using both FlpO and Cre recombinases to generate primary sarcomas in mice with endothelial cell-specific deletion of Atm to determine whether loss of Atm in endothelial cells sensitizes tumors and normal tissues to radiation. Although deletion of Atm in proliferating tumor endothelial cells enhanced the response of sarcomas to radiation, Atm deletion in quiescent endothelial cells of the heart did not sensitize mice to radiation-induced myocardial necrosis. Blocking cell cycle progression reversed the effect of Atm loss on tumor endothelial cell radiosensitivity. These results indicate that endothelial cells must progress through the cell cycle in order to be radiosensitized by Atm deletion.


In the absence of analytical methods, the half-lives of biological activity of pesticides can be estimated by bioassays. To determine the half-lives of biological acivity of pesticides to fish, static bioassays were conducted in the laboratory with ten different formulations of pesticides using Labeo rohita as a bio-indicator. The half-lives of biological activity for ten different pesticides in soft water at pH 7.5 and 27░C, ranged from 4.6 days to 11.8 days. The half-life of biological activity of Sumithion 50% EC was only 4.6 days. In contrast, Dimecron 50% EC degraded very slowly and its half-life of biological activity on L. rohita was about 11.8 days. Sumithion 50% EC, Padan 50% SP, EPN 45% EC, Diazinon 40% EC and Diazinon 10 G degraded in less than five to seven days indicating that these pesticides are desirable for rice-fish culture. Contamination by pesticides with long-term residual toxicity in waters may eventually cause high levels of fish mortality.


The Australian Institute of Criminology was commissioned by the New South Wales Police to undertake a pilot study to monitor injuries that occurred in police custody. The purpose of the study was to determine the feasibility and utility of such a routine data collection process. This report presents the findings of the feasibility study, which involved an analysis of data gathered from the NSW Computerised operational policing system (COPS) over a 19-month period from 1 November 2001 until 30 June 2003. The study finds that a total of 260 detainees were injured during the custody process during this period, and presents an analysis of demographic and associated characteristics of those injured and characteristics of the injury incidents. The pilot study demonstrates that it is possible to monitor injuries occurring in police custody and determine the nature and extent of these injuries. The monitoring system is invaluable from a research perspective in terms of increasing knowledge and understanding of the custody process, and is also of great benefit to NSW Police as a performance monitoring system. The report also includes recommendations on ways of improving and simplifying the process.


The manipulation of the subpulse number, pulse delay, and pulse energy distribution of an ultrafast laser enables electron dynamics control by changing absorptions, excitations, ionizations, and recombinations of electrons, which can result in smaller, cleaner, and more controllable structures. This letter experimentally reveals that ablation sizes and recasts can be controlled by shaping femtosecond pulse trains to adjust transient localized electron dynamics, material properties, and corresponding phase change mechanisms.


Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) commonly arises from islet b cell failure and insulin resistance. Here, we examined the sensitivity of key islet-enriched transcription factors to oxidative stress, a condition associated with b cell dysfunction in both type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and T2DM. Hydrogen peroxide treatment of b cell lines induced cytoplasmic translocation of MAFA and NKX6.1. In parallel, the ability of nuclear PDX1 to bind endogenous target gene promoters was also dramatically reduced, whereas the activity of other key b cell transcriptional regulators was unaffected. MAFA levels were reduced, followed by a reduction in NKX6.1 upon development of hyperglycemia in db/db mice, a T2DM model. Transgenic expression of the glutathione peroxidase-1 antioxidant enzyme (GPX1) in db/db islet b cells restored nuclear MAFA, nuclear NKX6.1, and b cell function in vivo. Notably, the selective decrease in MAFA, NKX6.1, and PDX1 expression was found in human T2DM islets. MAFB, a MAFA-related transcription factor expressed in human b cells, was also severely compromised. We propose that MAFA, MAFB, NKX6.1, and PDX1 activity provides a gauge of islet b cell function, with loss of MAFA (and/or MAFB) representing an early indicator of b cell inactivity and the subsequent deficit of more impactful NKX6.1 (and/or PDX1) resulting in overt dysfunction associated with T2DM. Research Article Metabolism