Serendipity, a trigger of exciting yet unexpected discoveries, is an important but comparatively neglected factor in information seeking, research, and ideation. We suggest that serendipity can be facilitated through visualization. To explore this, we introduce the Bohemian Bookshelf, which aims to support serendipitous discoveries in the context of digital book collections. The Bohemian Bookshelf consists of five interlinked visualizations each offering a unique overview of the collection. It aims at encouraging serendipity by (1) offering multiple visual access points to the collection, (2) highlighting adjacencies between books, (3) providing flexible visual pathways for exploring the collection, (4) enticing curiosity through abstract, metaphorical, and visually distinct representations of books, and (5) enabling a playful approach to information exploration. A deployment at a library revealed that visitors embraced this approach of utilizing visualization to support open-ended explorations and serendipitous discoveries. This encourages future explorations into promoting serendipity through information visualization.


Introduction Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) is a well-recognised treatment in patients with systolic heart failure complicated by ventricular dyssychrony. However, there is limited evidence to support its use in patients with congenital heart disease and particularly those with univentricular hearts or systemic right ventricles (RV). In 2014, the PACES/HRS published a consensus statement recommending CRT in these populations. The indications in patients with univentricular hearts include ventricular EF of 35%, with QRS duration 150 ms in a LBBB or RBBB morphology (spontaneous or paced), ventricular dilatation and NYHA II-IV symptoms. In contrast, in patients with systemic RV, CRT is recommended if ejection fraction is <35% with RV dilatation, NYHA II-IV, RBBB, QRS duration >150 ms in non-paced and NYHA I-IV and >40% V-pacing in paced. Methods We performed a retrospective analysis for EF, QRS duration and NYHA status, from 203 patients with a Fontan circulation (univentricular) and 55 patients with congenitally corrected Transposition of the Great Arteries (ccTGA, systemic RV) under specialist Adult Congenital Heart disease (ACHD) follow-up to assess the suitability for CRT according to the guidelines. Results Table 1 shows data collected from both groups of patients. Univentricular functional data from the Fontan population was available for 194 patients. Only 5% had EF 35%. QRS duration was available for 190 patients and was 150ms in 3% and 47% of patients were NYHA II-IV. Ejection fraction data was available for 54 ccTGA patients and was 35% in 11%. QRS duration was 150ms in 26% and 31% were NYHA II-IV. In total, only two patients with Fontan circulation and only one from the ccTGA population qualified for CRT according to the current recommendations. One patient had CRT implanted in 2010 and is well to follow-up in NYHA II. Discussion We have assessed the suitability of CRT recommendations in a large pool of univentricular and systemic RV patients. We have identified very few candidates for CRT within this cohort. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to support CRT in ACHD setting. Furthermore, procedural and technical difficulties, potential complications including infection and associated morbidity and mortality, ventricular morphology, co-existent cardiac pathologies, the aetiology of ventricular dyssynchrony and cardiomyopathic disease per se also require specific consideration before CRT is recommended. Decision to implant CRT in univentricular ACHD patients is more complex than guidelines suggest and requires discussion in a combined ACHD electrophysiology multidisciplinary meeting involving the patient at all levels.Abstract 81 Table 1 Demographics, NYHA status, ejection fraction and QRS duration of univentricular and systemic right ventricular heart patients Univentricular Systemic Right Ventricle Demographics n=203 n=55 Mean age 22.2 43.6 Female gender (%) 99 (48.7) 29 (52.7) NYHA status Class I (%) 108 (53.2) 38 (69.1) Class II (%) 62 (30.5) 8 (14.5) Class III (%) 27 (13.3) 8 (14.5) Class IV (%) 6 (3.0) 1 (1.9) Ejection fraction 55% (%) 111 (57.5) 18 (33.3) 36%–54% (%) 73 (37.7) 30 (55.6) 35% (%) 10 (4.8) 6 (11.1) QRS duration 120 ms (%) 163 (85.7) 25 (50.0) 121–149 ms (%) 22 (11.5) 12 (24.0) 150 ms (%) 5 (2.8) 13 (26.0)


Fourteenth-century Cairo saw a movement towards abstract, geometric art. This movement reflected contemporary intellectual interests and represents the culmination of the ascendancy of Islamic philosophy over the humanist vocabulary of art. The thesis seeks explanations for the positive, i.e. for the forms which art actually took, rather than concentrating on prohibitive mechanisms. In architecture, the disappearance of stucco vegetal decoration may have been partly due to the effects of an outbreak of plague, but the main influences on contemporary art and architecture came from the esoteric habits of thought induced by sufism, alchemy and hermeticism, and from the dualist concerns of Islamic philosophy. The thesis discusses the continuity between sufism and Shī'ism, the history of sufism in Cairo as it affected art and architecture, concepts of the microcosm and the macrocosm, and theories of colour, substance and gilding. The thesis examines talismans and other esoteric material. It discusses architectural incorporata, presents a catalogue of Pharaonic material re-used in Islamic architecture, and argues that blocks bearing Pharaonic hieroglyphs represented Hermetic lore and, at entrances to buildings, paralleled the use of Pharaonic references at the beginning of esoteric manuscripts. The detailed discussion of architecture takes the form of an examination of a religious building, scrutinising the underlying principles of decoration and then moving on to specific elements such as the entrance and the mihrab. The thesis discusses, and dissents from, iconographic interpretations of architectural imagery. It attempts to evolve a terminology for discussion and concludes that 'mamluk' is inappropriate as a cultural term, since the influence of the individual patron on art and architecture was less innovative than the intellectual background of the period, and the dissociation of the patron from contemporary society has been over-estimated. It comes to the conclusion that 'an art of the bāṭin* would more effectively express the major influence on the art and architecture of fourteenthcentury Cairo.


Economics blogs represent a significant change in the way research on development economics is discussed and disseminated, yet little is known about the impact of this new medium. Using surveys of development researchers and practitioners, along with experimental and nonexperimental techniques, we try to quantify some of the blogs' effects. We find that links from blogs cause a striking increase in the number of abstract views and downloads of economics papers. Furthermore, blogging raises the profile of the blogger and changes readers' perceptions about his or her institution. Finally, we find some suggestive evidence that a blog can increase knowledge of the topics it covers for the average, but not the marginal, reader.


Green ash were grown with or without in-ground fabric bags and transplanted as bag-grown, balled-andburlapped, or as bareroot plants. Heights and stem diameters were measured for four growing seasons after transplanting. Roots were harvested and weighed upon termination of the study. There were no differences in average or total tree heights or stem diameters or in dry root weights regardless of harvest method.


In recent years, there has been growing interest in questions of gender, sexuality and space in geography and within this field of enquiry prostitution has been acknowledged as an important subject for geographical research. This article explores street prostitution in the Finnish context, where it has only been a widely known phenomenon since the 1990s. The subjective and intersubjective images attached to the issue will be interpreted through an analysis of two types of data: newspaper articles and in-depth interviews conducted among local residents and social workers. In addition to the subjective/intersubjective dimension, a narrative of the changing social geographies of prostitution will be reconstructed. The article focuses on the spatial strategies of women, (hetero)sexualization of the street and the process of 'othering'. In Finland the expanding sex industry caused a huge stir in the media because prior to the 1990s prostitution had played a largely invisible role in society. Due to economic and social changes in the 1990s, the notion of Finland as a homogenous welfare state began to break down, and marginal groups became more visible in public space. The change was so sudden that no political or cultural practices to deal with these issues had been established, as the article shows. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2002.


In laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), a focused laser pulse is used to ablate material from a surface and form a laser plasma that excites the vaporized material. Geometric factors, such as the distance between the sample and the focusing lens and the method of collecting the plasma light, can greatly influence the analytical results. To obtain the best quantitative results, one must consider this geometry. Here we report the results of an investigation of the effect of sampling geometry on LIBS measurements. Diagnostics include time-resolved spectroscopy and temporally and spectrally resolved imaging using an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF). Parameters investigated include the type of lens (cylindrical or spherical) used to focus the laser pulse onto the sample, the focal length of the lens (75 or 150 mm), the lens-to-sample distance (LTSD), the angle-of-incidence of the laser pulse onto the sample, and the method used to collect the plasma light (lens or fiber-optic bundle). From these studies, it was found that atomic emission intensities, plasma temperature, and mass of ablated material depend strongly on the LTSD for both types of lenses. For laser pulse energies above the breakdown threshold for air, these quantities exhibit symmetric behavior about an LTSD approximately equal to the back focal length for cylindrical lenses and asymmetric behavior for spherical lenses. For pulse energies below the air breakdown threshold, results obtained for both lenses display symmetric behavior. Detection limits and measurement precision for the elements Be, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Sr, determined with the use of 14 certified reference soils and stream sediments, were found to be independent of the lens used. Time-resolved images of the laser plasma show that at times >5 μs after plasma formation a cloud of emitting atoms extends significantly beyond the centrally located, visibly white, intense plasma core present at early times (<0.3 μs). It was determined that, by collecting light from the edges of the emitting cloud, one can record spectra using an ungated detector (no time resolution) that resemble closely the spectra obtained from a gated detector providing time-resolved detection. This result has implications in the development of less expensive LIBS detection systems.


We propose a novel method for signal processing of phase-modulated signals suitable for 100 G coherent systems. By exploiting a single semiconductor optical amplifier Mach-Zehnder interferometer, all-optical selective switching with simultaneous wavelength conversion of bursts of data in the original signal is demonstrated. The operation is suitable for dynamic wavelength routing and/or add/drop operation in multichannel coherent systems, thus enabling flexible network resources optimization. The operation has been demonstrated for single-channel single-polarization, dual-channel (DC) single-polarization, and DC polarization-multiplexed (PM) 28 GBaud quadrature phase shift key-modulated signals. By exploiting coherent detection strategy and digital signal processing, an error rate below 10-3 prior to forward error correction has been observed for all the experiments; the corresponding optical signal-to-noise ratio penalty has been measured to be almost negligible in the single-polarization case whereas a maximum penalty below 1.5 dB for the PM one is reported.


$P$ versus $NP$ is considered as one of the most important open problems in computer science. This consists in knowing the answer of the following question: Is $P$ equal to $NP$? The precise statement of the $P$ versus $NP$ problem was introduced independently by Stephen Cook and Leonid Levin. Since that date, all efforts to find a proof for this problem have failed. Another major complexity class is $\textit{P-Sel}$. $\textit{P-Sel}$ is the class of decision problems for which there is a polynomial time algorithm (called a selector) with the following property: Whenever it's given two instances, a $``yes"$ and a $``no"$ instance, the algorithm can always decide which is the $``yes"$ instance. It is known that if $NP$ is contained in $\textit{P-Sel}$, then $P = NP$. We consider the problem of computing the sum of the weighted densities of states of a Boolean formula in $3CNF$. Given a Boolean formula $\phi$ with $m$ clauses, the density of states $n(E)$ for some integer $0 \leq E \leq m$ counts the number of truth assignments that leave exactly $E$ clauses unsatisfied in $\phi$. The weighted density of states $m(E)$ is equal to $E \times n(E)$. The sum of the weighted densities of states of a Boolean formula in $3CNF$ with $m$ clauses is equal to $\sum_{E = 0}^{m} m(E)$. We prove that we can calculate the sum of the weighted densities of states in polynomial time. Given two Boolean formulas $\phi_{1}$ and $\phi_{2}$ in $3CNF$ with $n$ variables and $m$ clauses, the combinatorial optimization problem $\textit{SELECTOR-3SAT}$ consists in selecting the formula which is satisfiable, where every clause from $\phi_{1}$ and $\phi_{2}$ can be unsatisfied for some truth assignment. We assume that the formula that is satisfiable has the minimum sum of the weighted densities of states. In this way, we solve $\textit{SELECTOR-3SAT}$ with an exact polynomial time algorithm. We claim this problem is a selector of $3SAT$ and thus, $P = NP$.


Childhood disability is a major health shock that affects parents early in their working life. We estimate its impact on parents' career trajectories, their balance sheets, and major life decisions using detailed register data from Denmark. To identify the causal effect of childhood disability we use an event study approach, where we control for a rich set of pre-birth variables and focus on conditions that have no or weak associations with socioeconomic determinants. We find that having a child with a disability has strong negative impact on mothers' earnings. The effect is persistent and the wage penalty appears to grow over time. Fathers' earnings are also affected but the impact is notably smaller. We find that both parents are less likely to be employed in the long run and are less likely to ascend to top executive positions. The long-term structure of the household is also affected as subsequent fertility is lower and partnership dissolution is more common. Finally, despite this financial shock, long term net worth of families is not affected or may be positively affected, potentially due to help from government transfers and lower cost associated with having fewer other children, or due to a stronger savings motive for the long term care of the disabled child.


An Identification of Themes in The Charted Course of the Church in Education John Morrison Cannon Department of Communications Master of Arts This thesis operates under the assumption that the earliest form of mass communication is the religious sermon as recorded in the Bible. This thesis looks to Bormann, who used a sacred to secular approach and found similarities between Puritan sermons and the rhetoric of political speeches. This research reverses that order and moves from secular to sacred by looking first at well-known American speeches and then at landmark addresses to Seminary and Institutes of Religion teachers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—and specifically at Clark's The Charted Course of the Church in Education. This single sermon, delivered in 1938, continues to shape the Seminary and Institutes program after more than seven decades. With the opening of the first LDS Seminary in 1912, the foundations of the program were laid. Yet, each generation seemed to drift away from those foundations enough that a realignment was needed. In 1938, the constitution of Church education was given in the form of the Charted Course and it has served as the realigning document ever since. Subsequent realignments occurred in 1954, and 1963. Since 1976, the Charted Course has been referenced regularly, particularly during the annual Evening with a General Authority address to Seminary and Institute teachers and, consequently, since that time, no great drift has occurred that required another major realignment. Instead, the Charted Course is now used consistently to prevent drift, not only to correct it.


Background Targeted global efforts to improve survival of young adults need information on mortality trends; contributions from health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) are required. Methods and Findings This study aimed to explore changing trends in deaths among adolescents (15–19 years) and young adults (20–24 years), using census and verbal autopsy data in rural western Kenya using a HDSS. Mid-year population estimates were used to generate all-cause mortality rates per 100,000 population by age and gender, by communicable (CD) and non-communicable disease (NCD) causes. Linear trends from 2003 to 2009 were examined. In 2003, all-cause mortality rates of adolescents and young adults were 403 and 1,613 per 100,000 population, respectively, among females; and 217 and 716 per 100,000, respectively, among males. CD mortality rates among females and males 15–24 years were 500 and 191 per 100,000 (relative risk [RR] 2.6; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.7–4.0; p<0.001). NCD mortality rates in same aged females and males were similar (141 and 128 per 100,000, respectively; p = 0.76). By 2009, young adult female all-cause mortality rates fell 53% (χ2 for linear trend 30.4; p<0.001) and 61.5% among adolescent females (χ2 for linear trend 11.9; p<0.001). No significant CD mortality reductions occurred among males or for NCD mortality in either gender. By 2009, all-cause, CD, and NCD mortality rates were not significantly different between males and females, and among males, injuries equalled HIV as the top cause of death. Conclusions This study found significant reductions in adolescent and young adult female mortality rates, evidencing the effects of targeted public health programmes, however, all-cause and CD mortality rates among females remain alarmingly high. These data underscore the need to strengthen programmes and target strategies to reach both males and females, and to promote NCD as well as CD initiatives to reduce the mortality burden amongst both gender.


ABSTRACT The Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP) is a multinational scientific drilling effort to study the evolution, structure, and seismogenesis of the Alpine fault, New Zealand, via in situ measurements of fault rock properties. The second phase of drilling (DFDP‐2), undertaken in the Whataroa Valley in late 2014, was intended to intersect the Alpine fault at a depth of around 1 km. In conjunction with the drilling and on‐site science activities, a real‐time seismic monitoring scheme and traffic‐light response protocol were established to detect, locate, and if necessary respond to seismicity within 30 km of the drill site. This network was operated around the clock between late August 2014 and early January 2015, and we detected and located 493 earthquakes of M L  0.6–4.2. None of these earthquakes occurred within 3 km of the drill site, and nor did any of the seismicity detected require changes to drilling operations. The monitoring was undertaken using open‐source software operated by an international team of 16 seismologists (including eight postgraduate students) working in 7 institutions and 3 countries to provide rapid on‐ and off‐site manual checking and relocating of events. The team's standard response time between detection and final location was less than 30 min under normal background seismicity conditions and up to 1 hr during swarm activity and for low‐priority, distant (≥30  km epicentrally from the drill site) earthquakes. This article documents the methodology, infrastructure, protocols, outcomes, and key lessons of this monitoring.


ABSTRACT Celebrities endorsing veganism may exert social influence on consumers' attitude toward veganism and behavioral intention to become vegan. A between-subjects online experiment (N = 303) examined the effects of consumers' eating habits (meat eater versus non-meat eater) and celebrities' vegan identity (altruistic motivation versus egoistic motivation) on various outcomes of health communication about veganism. Results of statistical analyses revealed a significant multivariate main effect of consumers' eating habits on health consciousness, intention to spread electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) about veganism, and behavioral intention to become vegan. The results also reveal interaction effects between vegan celebrity endorsers' motivation and consumers' eating habits on health consciousness, intention to spread eWoM about veganism, and behavioral intention to become vegan. Additionally, moderating effects of source credibility, subjective norms, and identification with the vegan celebrity endorser were found. This study sheds some light on celebrity endorsements of veganism and effects of message framing on consumers' veganism-related attitude and behavioral intention.


ABSTRACT Conductive cables have always represented a source of noise in ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data. In some instances, commercially available GPR systems use data processing tools to reduce cable noise. Such processes seldom respect the amplitude fidelity of the signal. For the purpose of careful, quantitative amplitude measurements, use of the raw recorded data is a critical starting point for reliable interpretation of results. During subsequent processing, users can compensate for cable effects to varying degrees. To illustrate the issues inherent with cable noise, we show an example where cable movement during data acquisition generates deviations in reflection amplitude up to 19%. We then present the ramifications of these variations for quantitative data analysis. We conclude that precise cable handling can improve data quality and subsequent data interpretation. Our results are particularly pertinent for quantitative analysis and inversion of GPR data where precise amplitude information is...


The first part of this Thesis asks whether we can devise voting rules that allow strategic voters to express the intensity of their preferences. As opposed to the classical voting system (one person - one decision - one vote), we first propose a new voting system where agents are endowed with a fixed number of votes that can be distributed freely between a predetermined number of issues that have to be approved or dismissed. Its novelty, and appeal, relies on allowing voters to express the intensity of their preferences in a simple manner. This voting system is optimal in a well-defined sense: in a setting with two voters, two issues and uniform independent priors, Qualitative Voting Pareto dominates Majority Rule and, moreover, achieves the only ex-ante (incentive compatible) optimal allocation. The result also holds true with three voters as long as the valuations towards the issues differ sufficiently. Experimental evidence is provided supporting equilibrium predictions and showing that Qualitative Voting is better able to replicate the efficient outcome than Majority Rule. More generally in a setting with an arbitrary number of voters and issues, we show: (1) that a mechanism is implementable only if it does not undertake interpersonal comparisons of utility; (2) the impossibility of implementing strategy-proof mechanisms that are sensitive to the voters' intensities of preferences and satisfy the unanimity property. The second part of the Thesis studies the interaction between politicians' strategic behaveiour and voters' turnout decision: politicians diverge to motivate citizens to vote and they adapt their policies to the most sensitive voters -thus less sensitive voters abstain on the grounds of perceiving politicians being too similar. Moreover, citizens in central/moderate positions abstain. We find support for our predictions using NES data: (1) a perceived low difference between the Democratic and Republican parties tends to decrease a citizen's probability to vote and (2) moderate citizens vote less.


In this thesis, the need for the step by step transformation of industry towards sustainability is emphasized. This work involves looking at the Olive Oil Industry (OOI) from a systems perspective through the lens of Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD) and applying backcasting from a principled view of socio-ecological sustainability. A specific project is also looked at, the Integrated Waste Management Project (IWMP), which aims at contributing to the sustainability of this particular industry. The OOI was analysed through the ABCD methodology, a tool used in planning for SSD, and measures were drawn up to guide the industry's transformation. Following this analysis, the IWMP was examined within the context and results of the OOI research. Overall, the industry is transitioning and the IWMP is a good opportunity and contributor to the evolution of the Olive Oil Industry towards sustainability. At the same time, OOI and other industries would benefit greatly from embracing a systems perspective and a strategic approach for sustainable development.


Background Many new stroke trials are evaluating the utility of perfusion imaging for patient selection within certain time constraints. There is evidence that patients with a delayed (>12 h) clinical–diffusion mismatch have poor clinical outcomes. We present our experience utilizing perfusion imaging to triage patients for endovascular therapy irrespective of time constraints. Methods 53 patients were treated over the past 2 years utilizing presenting National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), anatomic imaging and perfusion information. Patients were excluded if they had a hemorrhage or significant completed stroke (>1/3 middle cerebral artery territory volume) on CT or cerebral blood volume maps. If perfusion imaging was limited, as in some basilar occlusion cases, then the clinical examination (NIHSS) was used. The median time to treatment from symptom onset of the patient cohort was then determined and patients were divided into two groups. Clinical outcomes were then documented and subgroup analysis was performed. Results The mean time to treatment was 10.36 h and the median was 6.13 h (range 1.75–72 h), suggesting several patients were treated far beyond 6 h. Utilizing a 6 h time point to identify two separate groups yielded 26 patients treated before 6 h and 27 patients treated more than 6 h from symptom onset. Angiographically, TIMI2 or better flow was restored 96% of the time. Patient outcomes in those treated less than 6 h compared with more than 6 h showed modified Rankin Score (mRS) of 0–2 in 36% and 37%, respectively, and mRS 0–3 in 56% and 52%, respectively. Conclusion Utilization of perfusion based techniques is a viable clinical strategy for identifying acute stroke patients for endovascular therapy. Clinical outcomes can be obtained that are similar to those of clinical trials, irrespective of time constraints in appropriately selected patients.


INTRODUCTION As economic growth slowed during the 1980s, governments in many countries began to reduce the size and scope of the public sector and to explore ways to strengthen the role and capacity of the private sector.(1) The preferred treatment for renewed economic development in rich and poor countries alike is lean public organizations and robust private firms (Moussios et al., 1990; World Bank, 1983). From Bamako to Washington, down-sizing, right-sizing, and privatizing policy measures have been advocated as cures to contain the cancerous growth of public bureaucracies. The focus is currently on training public managers to function in a reduced organism that is more dependent on private-sector partners. Injections of credit, technical assistance, and management training are to be provided to the private sector to stimulate growth and development; regulations that have bound the feet of organizations are to be loosened. Many Latin American countries have experienced severe economic difficulties and have begun the prescribed policy treatments. A capable managerial workforce is necessary for these policy interventions to succeed. Training of effective managers in both public and private sectors is needed to rekindle economic and political change (Collins and Wallis, 1990; Ozgediz, 1983). Yet in both the public and private sectors in developing countries, managerial capacity at all levels is in short supply (Kerrigan and Luke, 1987). It is important to understand the contributions of management education to the development of mid-level managerial capacity of both public and private sectors and their organizations. There are several implicit and unexamined assumptions about managerial education and retention, Several of these assumptions are: 1. Trainees will return to the public and private organizations from which they came, thereby increasing the managerial capacity of those sectors; 2. The reward preferences of public and private managers are different; and 3. Managerial education is a means to democratize managerial cadres in both public and private sectors by increasing the representation of women and lower-class managers. CENTRAL ISSUES To explore these assumptions, this study examines similarities and differences in intentions to return to former employers after completions of management training and motivations and background characteristics of trainees with prior work experience in both public and private sector organizations in Latin America. The issues surrounding each of these assumptions are discussed below. Is graduate management education contributing to the development of managerial capacity of both public agencies and private firms, or is it facilitating a brain drain from the public to the private sector? One purpose of the present study is to determine whether students from each sector plan on returning to the same organization and sector upon completion of their graduate studies. Enhanced managerial capacity of both public and private organizations is important for the success of these policy reforms. Yet, lack of commitment to the public sector and its organizations has been cited as a major problem in developing their managerial capacity. According to the World Bank (1983), in half of all developing countries, public-sector managers leave their organizations to work in the private sector. Perlman (1989) notes that top-level managers in Latin America move in and out of the public sector. If management education is facilitating a brain drain of these potential middle managers from the public to the private sector, capacity of public-sector agencies will suffer. In the private sector in developing countries, the issues of turnover and career mobility have received little attention. Yet, if foreign donors are investing in management education to increase management capability of specific organizations or sectors, these issues warrant closer attention and comparative analysis. …


The health care system in the United States has been called the best in the world, but many of its residents cannot afford or do not have access to adequate care. Health Disparities in the United States explores how socioeconomic status, race, and ethnic make-up affect health disparities; what the wide gulf in care and health outcomes means for the medical community, cultural subsets, and society at large; and how to address the issue effectively. Topics examined include:* The relationship between income and social status and health care and outcomes* The effect of race and ethnicity on health and the availability of care* Conscious, unconscious, and institutionalized bias in treatment options* How and when race and ethnicity should be taken into account in treating illness* Practical and practicable ideas for reducing health disparities Analyzing the complex web of social forces that influence health outcomes in the United States, this book is a vital teaching tool and a comprehensive reference for social science and medical professionals.


We study the impact of three-body forces on the response functions of cold neutron matter. These response functions are determined in the random phase approximation (RPA) from a residual interaction expressed in terms of Landau parameters. Special attention is paid to the non-central part, including all terms allowed by the relevant symmetries. Using Landau parameters derived from realistic nuclear two- and three-body forces grounded in chiral effective field theory, we find that the three-body term has a strong impact on the excited states of the system and in the static and long-wavelength limit of the response functions for which a new exact formula is established.


The paper addresses the problem of predictive maintenance in high power supply systems. According to FMECA (Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis) study key issues for power system reliability are the faults occurring in 3-phase high power transformers. With respect to the state of art where typically only thermal and electrical faults are monitored this work proposes a distributed network of measuring nodes where also vibration-based mechanical stress diagnostic is implemented. Mechanical degradation is tracked through multichannel vibration measures with sensitivity down to 0.5 mg and local processing in the transformed frequency (100 Hz-1 kHz) domain. A compact hardware-software implementing platform is also presented whose performances are assessed through experimental measurements on real high power transformers used in railway applications.


Southern old-time string band music, similar to what might be played today for a square dance, represents perhaps the earliest musical collaboration between African American and European American (often Scots-Irish) musicians. Unfortunately, the scarcity of commercial recordings of black old-time string bands and the paucity of performing bands since the 1930s has obscured this part of our musical heritage. This discogra-phy will highlight some of the important recordings and scholarship that do exist, and point to some current trends that may revitalize the black old-time string band tradition. Scots-Irish settlers in the Upland South brought the violin--more commonly called the fiddle in folk music--and many traditional fiddle tunes with them as they immigrated to the United States. African Americans brought an instrument modern players would recognize as the gourd banjo, along with their playing techniques, tunes, songs, and a variety of tuning methods. As Cecelia Conway documents in African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia: A Study of Folk Tradition, when musicians from these ethnic groups met in the Upland South, the elements of old-time string band music came together for the first time. (1) Musicians from both groups entertained audiences by playing music suitable for both listening and dancing. This could be done by a single musician, but playing in groups lightened the musical load for the individual musician, increased the volume of the music for the dancers, and, in many cases, proved to be more fun for all. In the interest of maintaining a clear focus, this essay deals with African American old-time string band dance music and does not examine groups whose recorded repertoire is primarily blues, ragtime, jazz, or folk song. It will thus leave unexamined whole genres of music that evolved out of the same early collaborations between white and black musicians. Also eliminated are many musicians who would have been quite capable of playing old-time string band music for a square dance or, as African Americans were once more likely to say, for a "frolic," but whose music falls outside of the specific stylistic tradition under consideration here. Some of these groups that certainly could be considered African American "string bands," in the broader sense, include the Mississippi Sheiks, Gus Cannon's various ensembles, the Cats and the Fiddle, and the Spirits of Rhythm. This limit is obviously artificial since some groups already discussed, such as the ensemble made up of Sid Hemphill, Lucius Smith, Will Head, and Alec Askew, sound less typical of modern old-time string band music than certain tracks by the more blues-influenced Mississippi Sheiks. An excellent introduction to a wide variety of African American musical styles, including solo banjo and several approaches to the string band, may be found on Deep River of Song: Black Appalachia (Rounder 11661-1823-2 [1999]). Jimmie Strothers performs a solo banjo version of the classic tune "Cripple Creek" that he recorded in 1936 while in prison in State Farm, Virginia. This recording also allows listeners to compare two traditional old-time string bands. The first, recorded in Campaign, Tennessee, in 1946 features Murphy Cribble on banjo, John Lusk on fiddle, and Albert York on guitar. The other, recorded in 1942 in Sledge, Mississippi, includes Sid Hemphill on fiddle and vocals, Lucius Smith on banjo, Will Head playing bass drum, and Alec Askew on guitar. What makes this band different, however, is that these musicians also play the traditional African American fife and drum music still performed in the hill country of Northeast Mississippi and represented on this disc by "Devil's Dream." Alan Lomax writes of this group that this area in the hills of Northeast Mississippi has sheltered ante-bellum black musical traditions as nowhere else in the South. Blind Sid Hemphill and his friends are now seen as representing the earliest Afro-American string band styles. …


A magnetic anomaly is produced when a rock unit has a magnetic contrast with a laterally adjacent rock unit. The cause of this magnetic contrast might be produced by a change in the magnetic susceptibility and/or magnetic remanence of the source bodies. After Vine and Matthews (1963) demonstrated that magnetic anomalies observed over ocean basins record a chronology of ocean floor generation, it was readily apparent that in some instances the genesis of a magnetic anomaly can be dominated by the remanence component. Surprisingly, few investigators have acknowledged that magnetic remanence can have a similar influence on continental magnetic anomalies. The incorporation of magnetic remanence data into a magnetic inversion scheme continues to present a major problem. In this note, we outline the problem and present some approaches that might be used to derive relevant remanence information.


It's been over 20 years since the academic discovery of momentum investing (Jegadeesh and Titman (1993), Asness (1994)), yet much confusion and debate remains regarding its efficacy and its use as a practical investment tool. In some cases "confusion and debate" is us attempting to be polite, as it is near impossible for informed practitioners and academics to still believe some of the myths uttered about momentum — but that impossibility is often belied by real world statements. In this article, we aim to clear up much of the confusion by documenting what we know about momentum and disproving many of the often-repeated myths. We highlight ten myths about momentum and refute them, using results from widely circulated academic papers and analysis from the simplest and best publicly available data.


In March 2013, 450 of the world's top engineers, scientists, economists, designers, artists, philosophers, policymakers, and, importantly, students, convened at the Institution of Engineering and Technology in London for the inaugural "Global Grand Challenges Summit." The international meeting was a joint effort of the US National Academy of Engineering, the UK Royal Academy of Engineering., and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The goal of the summit was to explore collaborative approaches for tackling global grand challenges, fostering a spirit of inter-disciplinary and international cooperation to meet the world's most pressing needs. The two-day conference was organized around six major themes: sustainability, health, education, enriching life, technology and growth, and resilience. The meeting was highlighted by several distinguished speakers, two of whom were particularly notable: on the first day, attendees were treated to a surprise visit and address from will.i.am, a philanthropist and musician, who spoke of the need to recruit young people to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics--but also the arts. He advocated for "STEAM" education over and above "STEM". On the second day, attendees were addressed by Bill Gates, co-founder and trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Gates discussed engineering solutions that would help the world's poorest people. The conference opened with a plenary address by Dr. J. Craig Venter, a trailblazing US biologist who was one of the first to sequence the human genome and the first to create a cell with a synthetic genome. Venter noted that modern societies are completely dependent on science for food, water, fuel, and medicines, and argued that the goal of humanity has always been to have control over nature. According to Venter, disruptive change will be needed to meet the food, water, and fuel demands of a growing world population. He called DNA the "software of life" and he proposed that synthetic life will be part of the solution to meeting global demands. Venter's plenary address led into a panel on sustainability which was headlined by Jeffrey Sachs, a US economist and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, best known for his book The End of Poverty. Sachs defined sustainable development as three interconnected dimensions of a healthy society: (1) economic prosperity and the end of extreme poverty; (2) social inclusion; and (3) environmental sustainability, underpinned by peace and good governance, both public and private. Sachs identified key technologies for sustainable development, including sustainable agriculture, sustainable cities, population stabilization, and digital technology in health, education, and materials. A fellow panelist, Calestous Juma, a renowned Kenyan scholar and Professor of the Practice of International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, presented a perspective on sustainable technology development from developing countries. Juma observed that Africa has demonstrated the capability to innovate in hardware and software, and that it is easier to introduce novel technologies in settings where no incumbent industries exist; this presents a unique advantage for innovators in the developing world and must be emphasized in policy discussions. A panel on healthcare followed the sustainability discussion. Among others, this panel featured Frances Arnold, a US scientist and engineer from the California Institute of Technology. Arnold argued that scientists and engineers must take inspiration from nature's solutions in order to invent technologies to meet global needs. …


In an age where many see screenwriters as the storytellers of the new century and everyone appears to be trying to write a screenplay, this book provides the frame work for you to write a great screenplay. It goes beyond the concerns of act structure and the merits of story-driven - as opposed to character-driven - screenplays to tackle the real complexities of writing a compelling screenplay. This new edition of "The Art and Science of Screenwriting" contains: the different layouts for film, television, documentary and corporate screenplays; a detailed analysis of what is required from a premise, an outline, a step outline, a treatment and a first draft; a simple stage by stage guide to the inevitable re-write; tips on finding an agent. This new approach to writing for film and television covers everything from finding an idea to writing a finished screenplay. The author's framework, A Creative Matrix, brings together all the elements of screenplay writing - from story, character, theme and dramatic structure to plot, genre, tone and style in an understandable way that is easy to follow. His analysis includes illustrating what compromises a good thriller, identifying the different types of sit-com, and showing the qualities of a screen romance that both works and convinces. The author uses examples from across European, American and World Cinema, as well as television, and this revised edition now contains a comprehensive index.


As roof and wall insulation have become standard practice in residential building design
and construction, the conditions in the subfloor cavity have gained relative importance to
a building's thermal performance. However, the modelling of the subfloor cavity is
considered a weak point in many building thermal performance software programs. Recent
research suggests that improvements to the subfloor model are crucial to improving the
accuracy of Australia's benchmark building thermal performance program, AccuRate.
Another recent study finds fault with the criteria that established the current standard for
subfloor ventilation design, questioning the subfloor's ability to maintain the subfloor
humidity below the design limit. These findings suggest the need for a review of the
subfloor thermal model.
As very little measured data on Australian subfloor conditions exist, this research seeks to
explore the subfloor conditions experimentally. This research investigates the subfloor
cavity climate of a small residential scale test cell for a period of over one year. Energy and
mass transfer relationships linking subfloor ventilation, ground evaporation and the
subfloor and outdoor climate conditions are explored theoretically and using observed
data. The observed data are compared to design limits, previous research findings and
AccuRate's predictions.
The relative humidity in the subfloor is found to exceed the ventilation design limit. The
conditions that lead to mould or decay are complex and when compared to these limits the
data are on the threshold of conditions thought to be conducive to deterioration.
The subfloor climate conditions are found to vary based on time elapsed since
construction. Between one year and five years after construction, the subfloor air
temperature, specific humidity and ground moisture evaporation rate are observed to drop
considerably. Though the relative humidity remains constant over this time, both the
energy and moisture in the subfloor are reduced, changing the role of the subfloor vents.
Whilst initially the net effect of the vents is to nearly always decrease both the moisture
and energy of the subfloor air, six years after construction the vents are shown to increase
moisture 24% of the time, and energy 35% of the time.
This shift in subfloor climate over time is found to affect the apparent accuracy of the
AccuRate subfloor model. Previous research, based on data collected one year after
construction, had shown that the observed subfloor temperature was several degrees
above AccuRate's predicted subfloor temperature. However, when considering data six
years after construction, this study finds that the observed and AccuRate temperatures are
more closely aligned.
These results emphasize the importance of building thermal performance research to
consider the time elapsed since building construction, as ground temperature and moisture
stabilization have a noticeable effect on the subfloor climate.


Species extinctions and the deterioration of other biodiversity features worldwide have led to the adoption of systematic conservation planning in many regions of the world. As a consequence, various software tools for conservation planning have been developed over the past twenty years. These tools implement algorithms designed to identify conservation area networks for the representation and persistence of biodiversity features. Budgetary, ethical, and other sociopolitical constraints dictate that the prioritized sites represent biodiversity with minimum impact on human interests. Planning tools are typically also used to satisfy these criteria. This chapter reviews both the concepts and technical choices that underlie the development of these tools. Conservation planning problems can be formulated as optimization problems, and we evaluate the suitability of different algorithms for their solution. Finally, we also review some key issues associated with the use of these tools, such as computational efficiency, the effectiveness of taxa and abiotic parameters at choosing surrogates for biodiversity, the process of setting explicit targets of representation for biodiversity surrogates, and biodiversity surrogates, conservation area networks, multicriteria analysis, reserve selection, software packages dealing with multiple criteria. The review concludes by identifying areas for future research, including the scheduling of conservation action over extensive time periods and incorporating data about site vulnerability. Copyright © 2006 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved.


© 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: Highlighting the need for a profound move towards desecularisation of Islamic scholarship, this conceptual paper aims to clarify the concept of causality from the Islamic marketing research perspective and extends a number of suggestions for improving theory building and hypothesis development in the field. Design/methodology/approach: The approach taken is largely conceptual. In addition, this study collates the stated hypotheses in the articles published in this journal in the past five years and analyses the structure of causal statements to uncover key tendencies. Findings: The review of historical and current views on causality indicates that most commentators agree that assuming the existence of the necessary connection between cause and effect is misleading. The Islamic traditions based on occasionalism and modern science agree that causal statements reflect, at best, probabilistic assumptions. Research limitations/implications: This paper offers a number of insights and recommendations for theory building and hypothesis development in Islamic marketing. By following the occasionalism perspective and the notion of Sunnah of Allah, researchers will be able to build methodologically coherent and genuine Islamic marketing knowledge. Practical implications: Correctly stated and tested hypotheses can be used by public policymakers to enforce effective consumer and market policies. Originality/value: This paper tackles a complex issue of causality in Islamic marketing research which has not hitherto been discussed well in the literature. This research is also a unique step towards developing pioneering avenues within the domain of Islamic marketing research methodology.


Description
The American College of Physicians (ACP) developed this guideline to present the evidence and provide clinical recommendations on the management of gout.

Methods
Using the ACP grading system, the committee based these recommendations on a systematic review of randomized, controlled trials; systematic reviews; and large observational studies published between January 2010 and March 2016. Clinical outcomes evaluated included pain, joint swelling and tenderness, activities of daily living, patient global assessment, recurrence, intermediate outcomes of serum urate levels, and harms.

Target Audience and Patient Population
The target audience for this guideline includes all clinicians, and the target patient population includes adults with acute or recurrent gout.

Recommendation 1
ACP recommends that clinicians choose corticosteroids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), or colchicine to treat patients with acute gout. (Grade: strong recommendation, high-quality evidence).

Recommendation 2
ACP recommends that clinicians use low-dose colchicine when using colchicine to treat acute gout. (Grade: strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence).

Recommendation 3
ACP recommends against initiating long-term urate-lowering therapy in most patients after a first gout attack or in patients with infrequent attacks. (Grade: strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence).

Recommendation 4
ACP recommends that clinicians discuss benefits, harms, costs, and individual preferences with patients before initiating urate-lowering therapy, including concomitant prophylaxis, in patients with recurrent gout attacks. (Grade: strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence).


Mice that express transgenes for human papillomavirus type 16 under a keratin 14 promoter (K14-HPV16 mice) develop cervical cancer when they are given 17b-estradiol chronically. We asked whether the antiestrogenic phytochemical indole-3-carbinol (I3C), found in cruciferous vegetables, administered at physiological doses, would prevent the cervicalvaginal cancer that is promoted in these mice by high doses of estrogen. We compared mice that were fed a control diet with those that were fed a diet supplemented with 2000 ppm I3C. In the group fed the control diet, at a dose of estradiol of 0.125 mg per 60-day release, 19 of 25 transgenic mice developed cervical-vaginal cancer within 6 months, and the remainder had dysplasia. Only 2 mice of 24 in the group fed the I3C supplemented diet developed cancer, and the remainder had dysplasia or hyperplasia. I3C reduced dysplasia in the nontransgenic mice. Similar results were obtained at a higher dose of estradiol (0.250 mg per 60-day release), and I3C helped to prevent morbidity associated with retention of fluid in the bladder that frequently occurred with the higher estradiol dose. Additionally, I3C appeared to reduce skin cancer in transgenic mice. These data indicate that I3C is a useful preventive for cervicalvaginal cancer and, possibly, other cancers with a papillomavirus component.


Iterative techniques are presented for two-dimensional inverse scattering from electrically large regions. The region is illuminated by transmitters with arbitrary profiles; this is an escalation in complexity from the line-source and the plane-wave excitations considered in many previous inverse-scattering studies. Imaging algorithms require an accurate and efficient forward model. Here a Gaussian-beam algorithm is utilized as a forward solver and is incorporated into an iterative-Born inversion scheme. General antenna profiles are incorporated into the algorithm by use of the matched-pursuits technique, by which the aperture fields are matched to the beam-tracing algorithm. Results are presented for several cases in which the simple Born approximation fails. Issues addressed include the types of profiles that can be successfully imaged, suitable antenna distributions, and the range of parameters over which the scheme is effective. Performance of the algorithm in the presence of noisy data is also tested.


The ability of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) to influence epithelial interleukin (IL)-8 responses to the intestinal bacterium Lactobacillus plantarum 299v was analyzed in the human HT-29 colonic epithelial cell line. In the absence of TNF-α, IL-8 mRNA expression was not detectable by Northern blot analysis in HT-29 cells alone or in HT-29 cells co-cultured with L. plantarum 299v. However, TNF-α induced IL-8 mRNA expression, and co-culture of TNF-α-treated HT-29 cells with L. plantarum 299v significantly increased IL-8 mRNA expression above levels induced by TNF-α alone in an adhesion-dependent manner. The increase in IL-8 mRNA expression was not observed in TNF-α-treated HT-29/L. plantarum 299v co-cultures using heat-killed lactobacllli or when L. plantarum adhesion was prevented using mannoside or a trans-well membrane. Paradoxically, IL-8 secretion was decreased in TNF-α-treated HT-29 cells with L. plantarum 299v relative to cells treated with TNF-α alone. TNF-α-mediated responsiveness to L. plantarum 299v was further investigated by analyzing expression of a coreceptor for bacterial cell wall products CD14. HT-29 cells expressed CD14 mRNA and cell-surface CD14; however, TNF-α did not alter CD14 mRNA or cell-surface expression, and blockade of CD14 with monoclonal antibody MY4 did not alter the IL-8 response to L. plantarum 299v in TNF-α-treated HT-29 cells. These results indicate that although TNF-α sensitizes HT-29 epithelial cells to intestinal lactobacilli, the bacteria exert a protective effect by downregulating IL-8 secretion.


Canadian municipalities are vulnerable to climate change risks, particularly in the form of extreme weather. Risk management demands public policies that share both the responsibility for risk reduction and the burden of costs with other levels of government and with non-governmental actors. What tools are available to municipalities seeking to share the growing risks associated with a changing climate? To what extent and how have these tools been employed in Canadian cities? With a focus on urban flooding, this paper systematically identifies and explains ways in which governments can share climate-related risks. It then evaluates whether and how these tools have been used in two major Canadian cities – Calgary, Alberta, and Toronto, Ontario – which have recently faced severe flooding, and are likely to experience more in the coming years. From this analysis, conclusions are drawn about the state of local climate risk management and how it might be improved.


In this paper, we examine the different layers of the relative surplus population in Argentina and the development of the Argentinian piquetero movement, which tried to establish an alliance between employed and unemployed workers. We highlight the potentialities and the limits of this initiative, especially regarding the organisation and integration of the different layers of the relative surplus population.


The East German industrial relations system was completely replaced by the transfer of the West German dual system of industrial relations after political Unification in 1990. Works councils emerged, the former socialist trade unions were taken over by their western counterparts, and West German labour law and regulations were implemented. The thesis focuses on the transformation of workplace relations, with special reference to the viewpoint of the workforce. It is argued that this approach, which has been so far neglected in the German literature, is necessary for a full understanding of the transformation processes. The study examines firstly workers' (both union and non-union members) perceptions of organisational changes and management, of their workfellows and their new collective representative machinery (works councils, union). Secondly, it analyses workers' reactions towards the establishment and functioning of the new interest institutions. This is done more specifically with regard to workers' inclination to participate in collective activities. By testing a selection of social psychological theories associated with the willingness to participate (theories of rational choice, of social identity, of frustration- aggression and of micro-mobilization), the core end product should be an understanding of who engages in collective activities in this specific cultural context and why. Furthermore, both dimensions, perceptions and reactions, are used to test the hypotheses of the literature that East German workers are strongly individualistic, instrumental and passive with regard to participation in collective activities; and that the newly established works councils and unions have not been successfully "institutionalised" from the viewpoint of the workforce. The empirical study is based on a case study of a privatised textile company (including qualitative and quantitative methods) and on a questionnaire survey of a sample of members of the textile union in East Germany in more than 50 companies. The main findings are that most workers seemed highly dissatisfied with the changes at their workplaces, had strong them-us feelings toward the management, believed in the value of unions and collectivism, and expressed a considerable willingness to participate in collective activities. The new interest institutions were accepted as being necessary, even though their current work was more critically evaluated. This supports the argument that works councils and union have been successfully "institutionalised" from the workers' perspective. The major result however is that workers were not characterized by a strong individualism in contrast to the widespread hypothesis of the literature. Yet, they were difficult to be classified as pure collectivists or pure individualists because many displayed mixed responses regarding different issues. They were equally difficult to classify as purely instrumental, identity- oriented or otherwise regarding collective activities. Thus, the perceived instrumentality of collective action and institutions, union identity, the perception of collective interests and the attribution of workplace problems all contributed to the prediction of individual participation in collective activities. No single examined theory provided a sufficient explanation on its own and they seemed to offer complementary rather than alternative explanations.


Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at high risk of HIV. Few data are available on MSM and HIV-related risk behaviors in West Africa. We aimed to describe risk behaviors and vulnerability among MSM in Abidjan, Cote d′Ivoire. We conducted a cross-sectional respondent-driven sampling survey with 601 MSM in 2011–2012. Sociodemographic and behavioural data as well as data related to emotional state and stigma were collected. Population estimates with 95% confidence intervals were produced. Survey weighted logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with inconsistent condom use in the prior 12 months. Most MSM were 24 years of age or younger (63.9%) and had attained at least primary education (84.4%). HIV risk behaviors such as low condom and water-based lubricant use, high numbers of male and female sex partners, and sex work were frequently reported as well as verbal, physical and sexual abuse. Inconsistent condom use during anal sex with a male partner in the prior 12 months was reported by 66.0% of the MSM and was positively associated with history of forced sex, alcohol consumption, having a regular partner and a casual partner, having bought sex, and self-perception of low HIV risk. MSM in Abidjan exhibit multiple and frequent HIV-related risk behaviors. To address those behaviours, a combination of individual but also structural interventions will be needed given the context of stigma, homophobia and violence.


The interferon (IFN)‐γ‐activated inhibitor of translation (GAIT) system directs transcript‐selective translational control of functionally related genes. In myeloid cells, IFN‐γ induces formation of a multiprotein GAIT complex that binds structural GAIT elements in the 3′‐untranslated regions (UTRs) of multiple inflammation‐related mRNAs, including ceruloplasmin and VEGF‐A, and represses their translation. The human GAIT complex is a heterotetramer containing glutamyl‐prolyl tRNA synthetase (EPRS), NS1‐associated protein 1 (NSAP1), ribosomal protein L13a (L13a), and glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). A network of IFN‐γ‐stimulated kinases regulates recruitment and assembly of GAIT complex constituents. Activation of cyclin‐dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5), mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), and S6K1 kinases induces EPRS release from its parental multiaminoacyl tRNA synthetase complex to join NSAP1 in a 'pre‐GAIT' complex. Subsequently, the DAPK‐ZIPK kinase axis phosphorylates L13a, inducing release from the 60S ribosomal subunit and binding to GAPDH. The subcomplexes join to form the functional GAIT complex. Each constituent has a distinct role in the GAIT system. EPRS binds the GAIT element in target mRNAs, NSAP1 negatively regulates mRNA binding, L13a binds eIF4G to block ribosome recruitment, and GAPDH shields L13a from proteasomal degradation. The GAIT system is susceptible to genetic and condition‐specific regulation. An N‐terminus EPRS truncate is a dominant‐negative inhibitor ensuring a 'translational trickle' of target transcripts. Also, hypoxia and oxidatively modified lipoproteins regulate GAIT activity. Mouse models exhibiting absent or genetically modified GAIT complex constituents are beginning to elucidate the physiological role of the GAIT system, particularly in the resolution of chronic inflammation. Finally, GAIT‐like systems in proto‐chordates suggests an evolutionarily conserved role of the pathway in innate immunity. WIREs RNA 2018, 9:e1441. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1441


This dissertation provides detailed information about the present scenario of retailing in India. It describes the highly fragmented retail environment in India and trends in selling through different retail formats. It examines the political,economical,social and technical factors affecting the growth in retail industry. It also highlights the opportunities and threats faced by the industry. Key issues such as globalisation in retail and foreign direct investment in India are analyzed in depth. It throws light on the costs and benefits associated with foreign direct investment. It explores the role of the Government of India in the industrys growth and the need for further reforms. The report concludes with the proposed strategies and reforms government should follow to boost up the retail sales.


Urbanization has substantially altered the earth's surface, and cities' impervious surfaces for anthropogenic activities often generate an urban heat island (UHI). This paper analyses the effects of the UHI in Bangalore, which in recent years has witnessed tremendous in-migration of people and expansion of infrastructure due to rapid growth of its information technology, biotechnology and manufacturing sectors. Temperature values extracted from the Landsat satellite's Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) thermal bands and a "Normalized Difference Vegetation Index" (NDVI) were used to ascertain the relationship between vegetation cover and temperature. Results indicate that the city core has a significantly lower mean temperature than the city's outgrowth zones. The presence of water bodies and vegetation in the city's core helped to maintain lower temperatures than those found in the city's outskirts, even though within the city core temperatures varied from 1 to 7° C within different land cover classes. The continued expansion of urban infrastructure and new, residential neighborhoods which lack vegetation seem to be contributing substantially to higher temperatures in the outgrowth zones.


The results of numerical modelling of the angular fluorescence distribution of the individual particles of a bioaerosol are compared with experimental data obtained by a flowthrough-optical method when studying particles of the protein ovalbumin, as well as of Bacillus subtilis spores. It is shown that the experimental data agree on the whole with the results of the model computations.


Previous studies have demonstrated a decreased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in individuals with various cancers, including nonmelanoma skin cancers (including squamous cell cancers and basal cell cancers). A new Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology & Venereology study finds that this inverse relationship also holds true for malignant melanoma. The study included patients aged 60-88 years with a clinic follow-up of at least 1 year and no diagnosis of AD or skin cancer at the beginning of the study. Of 1147 patients who were later diagnosed with malignant melanoma, 5 were diagnosed with subsequent AD. Of 2506 who were diagnosed with basal cell cancer, 5 had a subsequent AD diagnosis, and of 967 who were diagnosed with squamous cell cancer, only 1 had a subsequent AD diagnosis. After adjustments, a diagnosis of malignant melanoma was associated with a 61% reduced risk of developing AD. For basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, the reduced risks were 82% and 92%, respectively.


Abstract This paper empirically examines the link between the cost of sovereign borrowing and climate risk for 40 advanced and emerging economies. We find that vulnerability to the direct effects of climate change matters substantially more for sovereign borrowing costs than climate risk resilience. Moreover, the magnitude of the effect on bond yields is progressively higher for countries deemed highly vulnerable to climate change. Finally, a set of panel structural VAR models indicate that the reaction of bond yields to climate risk shocks become permanent after around 18 quarters, with high risk economies experiencing the largest permanent effects on yields.


Designing a 'living archive' that will enable new forms of circus performance to be realised is a complex and dynamic challenge. This paper discusses the methods and approaches used by the research team in the design of the Circus Oz Living Archive. Essential to this project has been the design of a responsive methodology that could embrace the diverse areas of knowledge and practice that have led to a design outcome that integrates the affordances of the circus with those of digital technologies. The term 'living archive' has been adopted as a means to articulate the dynamic nature of the archive. This is an archive that will always be evolving, not only because of the on going collection of content, but more importantly because the performance of the archive users will themselves become part of the archive collection.


Min was one of the earliest known Egyptian deities and his origins remain obscure but, because of his association with fertility and the kingship, he retained his importance from the Predynastic Period into the Roman era. Although his depiction as an ithyphallic, mummified male with a flail balanced above his raised right arm remained unaltered throughout, the overall iconography of Min did exhibit changes, notably with the introduction in the Sixth Dynasty of what is accepted as a lettuce plant resembling the modern Cos or Romaine cultivar of Lactuca sativa L. It is the association of Min with the lettuce plant that is the subject of this thesis. It is the received opinion in the literature that the plant was offered to Min, a fertility god, as an aphrodisiac. Apart from two seminal works that are over fifty years old, little research has been conducted into the association of Min with the lettuce. Much early research is in need of re-examination because of changes in social attitudes and research techniques and this the thesis seeks to redress. The aims of the research are to review the evidence for the lettuce plant in ancient Egypt and to re-examine the previously noted association of the god Min with a plant identified as lettuce.The study is primarily library and museum based and examines the history and nature of lettuce in ancient Egypt. The nature of 'aphrodisiac' is examined and the use of such substances in ancient Egypt is compared with modern usage. Min as a god of fertility is re-analysed and, finally, texts and Ptolemaic temple inscriptions are examined for evidence as to why and by whom lettuce was offered. The research results are applied to a study of Min as a god of fertility.The evidence indicates that lettuce was offered by the king to Min to ensure the fertility and regeneration of agriculture and of the king which would secure the continuation of his line and humanity. There is no evidence to suggest lettuce was offered as an aphrodisiac to increase the sexual desire of the god.


Conservation easements are increasingly popular. They protect undeveloped land by removing the development right from the landowner's "bundle of sticks" and giving it to the party holding the easement. These easements confer a public benefit by protecting undeveloped land, dedicating it to use as a park, or preserving its ecosystem services. The Internal Revenue Code (the Tax Code) recognizes the public benefit, offering tax incentives for their donation to qualified organizations. However, the public does not have a vehicle to enforce the easements' terms. Standing to enforce an easement is generally limited to the parties to the easement and, in some instances, the state attorneys general. This Note proposes a vehicle for collateral enforcement through the Tax Code. It proposes a citizen suit against the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for approving income tax deductions for conservation easements as a way to ensure an easement is beneficial to the public.


Breakthroughs in Medicinal Chemistry: New Targets and Mechanisms, New Drugs, New Hopes is a series of Editorials that is published on a biannual basis by the Editorial Board of the Medicinal Chemistry section of the journal Molecules [...].


Caching has recently attracted a lot of attention in the wireless communications community, as a means to cope with the increasing number of users consuming web content from mobile devices. Caching offers an opportunity for a win-win scenario: nearby content can improve the video streaming experience for the user, and free up valuable network resources for the operator. At the same time, recent works have shown that recommendations of popular content apps are responsible for a significant percentage of users requests. As a result, some very recent works have considered how to nudge recommendations to facilitate the network (e.g., increase cache hit rates). In this paper, we follow up on this line of work, and consider the problem of designing cache friendly recommendations for long viewing sessions; specifically, we attempt to answer two open questions in this context: (i) given that recommendation position affects user click rates, what is the impact on the performance of such network-friendly recommender solutions? (ii) can the resulting optimization problems be solved efficiently, when considering both sequences of dependent accesses (e.g., YouTube) and position preference? To this end, we propose a stochastic model that incorporates position-aware recommendations into a Markovian traversal model of the content catalog, and derive the average cost of a user session using absorbing Markov chain theory. We then formulate the optimization problem, and after a careful sequence of equivalent transformations show that it has a linear program equivalent and thus can be solved efficiently. Finally, we use a range of real datasets we collected to investigate the impact of position preference in recommendations on the proposed optimal algorithm. Our results suggest more than 30% improvement with respect to state-of-the-art methods.


The insufficient temporal resolution of imaging devices has made the analysis of very fast movements, such as those required to measure active muscle-tendon unit stiffness, difficult. Thus the relative contributions of tendon, aponeurosis, and fascicle to muscle-tendon unit compliance remain to be determined. The present study analyzed the dynamic interactions of fascicle, tendon, and aponeurosis in human gastrocnemius medialis during the first milliseconds of an ankle quick-release movement, using high-frame-rate ultrasonography (2,000 frames/s). Nine subjects performed the tests in random order at six levels of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) (30% to 80% of MVC). These tests were carried out with the ultrasound probe placed on the muscle belly and on the myotendinous junction. Tendon, muscle fascicle, and aponeurosis length changes were quantified in relation to shortening of the muscle-tendon unit during the first few milliseconds following the release. The tendon was the main contributor (around 72%) to the shortening of the muscle-tendon unit, whereas the muscle fascicle and aponeurosis contributions were 18% and 10%, respectively. Because these structures can be considered in series, the quantified contributions can be regarded as relative contributions to muscle-tendon compliance. These contributions were not modified with the level of MVC or the time range used for the analysis between 10 and 25 ms. The constant contribution of tendon, muscle fascicle, and aponeurosis to muscle-tendon unit compliance may help to simplify the mechanism of compliance regulation and to maintain the important role of tendons in enhancing work output and movement efficiency.


Electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) are observed at the magnetopause with distinct time scales. These ESWs are associated with asymmetric reconnection of the cold dense magnetosheath plasma with the hot tenuous magnetospheric plasma. The distinct time scales are shown to be due to ESWs moving at distinct speeds and having distinct length scales. The length scales are of order 5–50 Debye lengths, and the speeds range from ∼50 km s−1 to ∼1000 km s−1. The ESWs are observed near the reconnection separatrices. The observation of ESWs with distinct speeds suggests that multiple instabilities are occurring. The implications for reconnection at the magnetopause are discussed.


Renal tubular fluid in the distal nephron is supersaturated with calcium and oxalate ions that nucleate to form crystals of calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM), the most common crystal in renal stones. It is not known how these nascent crystals are retained in the nephron to form calculi in certain individuals. Recent studies from this laboratory indicate that COM crystals can bind within seconds to anionic, sialic acid-containing glycoproteins on the apical surface of kidney epithelial cells in culture, suggesting one mechanisms whereby crystals could be retained in the tubule. Adherence of crystals to renal epithelial cells is inhibited by specific urinary anions such as glycosaminoglycans, uropontin, nephrocalcin, and citrate, each of which binds to the crystalline surface. Thus competition for the crystal surface between soluble anions in tubular fluid and anions on the apical cell surface could determine whether or not a crystal binds to the cell. Once bound, crystals are quickly internalized by renal cells in culture; reorganization of the cytoskeleton, alterations in gene expression, and initiation of proliferation can then ensue. Each of these cellular events appears to be regulated by a different set of extracellular factors. Identification of molecules in tubular fluid and on the cell surface that modulate crystal-cell interactions, as well as their mechanism of action, appears critical for understanding the pathogenesis of nephrolithiasis.


Extensive research efforts in the last decade have been expended into understanding whether intranasal oxytocin may be an effective therapeutic in treating social communication impairments in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). After much hyped early findings, subsequent clinical trials of longer‐term administration have yielded more conservative and mixed evidence. However, it is still unclear at this stage whether these more disappointing findings reflect a true null effect or are mitigated by methodological differences masking true effects. In this review, we comprehensively evaluate the rationale for oxytocin as a therapeutic, evaluating evidence from randomized controlled trials, case reports, and open‐label studies of oxytocin administration in individuals with ASD. The evidence to date, including reviews of preregistered trials, suggests a number of critical considerations for the design and interpretation of research in this area. These include considering the choice of ASD outcome measures, dosing and nasal spray device issues, and participant selection. Despite these limitations in the field to date, there remains significant potential for oxytocin to ameliorate aspects of the persistent and debilitating social impairments in individuals with ASD. Given the considerable media hype around new treatments for ASD, as well as the needs of eager families, there is an urgent need for researchers to prioritise considering such factors when conducting well‐designed and controlled studies to further advance this field. Autism Res 2017, 10: 25–41. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The dramatic increase in demand for wireless Internet access has lead to the introduction of new wireless architectures and systems including 3G, Wi-Fi and WiMAX. 3G systems such as UMTS and CDMA2000 are leaning towards an all-IP architecture for transporting IP multimedia services, mainly due to its scalability and promising capability of inter-working heterogeneous wireless access networks. During the last ten years, substantial work has been done to understand the nature of wired IP traffic and it has been proven that IP traffic exhibits self-similar properties and burstiness over a large range of time scales. Recently, because of the large deployment of new wireless architectures, researchers have focused their attention towards understanding the nature of traffic carried by different wireless architecture and early studies have shown that wireless data traffic also exhibits strong long-range dependency. Thus, the classical tele-traffic theory based on a simple Markovian process cannot be used to evaluate the performance of wireless networks. Unfortunately, the area of understanding and modeling of different kinds of wireless traffic is still immature which constitutes a problem since it is crucial to guarantee tight bound QoS parameters to heterogeneous end users of the mobile Internet. In this paper, we make several contributions to the accurate modeling of wireless IP traffic by presenting a novel analytical model that takes into account four different classes of self-similar traffic. The model consists of four queues and is based on a G/M/1 queueing system. We analyze it on the basis of priority with no preemption and find exact packet delays. To date, no closed form expressions have been presented for G/M/1 with priority.


Subjective detailedness is the spontaneously perceived overall detailedness of an image. Cursory experience suggests that, for identical objective detailedness, subjective detailedness is higher in small than in large images. While previous studies hint towards a size-dependence of subjective detailedness, they are not conclusive regarding the magnitude, direction and robustness of the effect, in particular in natural images. Subjects performed a two-interval forced choice task, deciding which of a pair of images they perceived as more detailed. We used both natural images and random patterns. One of the images in each pair was scaled down to one third of the linear size of the other, but was otherwise identical. Objective detailedness was adjusted for each image individually via a low-pass filter and the point of subjective equivalence was determined. Depending on the type of image, subjects required the objective detailedness of the larger image to be 0.26-0.48 log units (median values) higher than that of the smaller image for perceiving the same subjective detailedness. This implies that, with equal objective detailedness, smaller images appear more detailed. Our results demonstrate that the effect is sizable and robust across most subjects and across repetitions. It is not readily explained by differences in contrast sensitivity, but may rather have its origin in visuo-cognitive strategies of image evaluation.


Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) constitutes all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for cultural or non-therapeutic reasons. The practice remains an extremely complex and culturally sensitive. It involves a broad spectrum of issues such as child health and human rights standards. FGM constitutes an unacceptable violation of the rights of the girl child and adult women to their natural sexuality. International human rights covenants underscore the obligations of the United Nations member States to ensure the protection and promotion of human rights, including the rights to non-discrimination, life and physical and mental integrity. Despite the outlawing of the practice in many countries, it is still prevalent in Africa. Various human rights instruments have the potentials to prevent, stop and eliminate the practice by holding perpetrators responsible and accountable.


This project worked with Aboriginal youth under the age of 25 – an age group that forms the majority of the Aboriginal population in Victoria and is among the highest users of mobile phones, actively engaging in social media and other online platforms. With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies, Aboriginal youth throughout Australia are increasingly using digital technologies, especially mobile phones and the internet, to produce and tell their stories in ways determined by them. This community report discusses the implementation of a pilot Digital Storytelling Workshop with young people and older community representatives associated with Bert Williams Aboriginal Youth Services in Melbourne. The workshop highlighted the importance of working with the Aboriginal community to find out how Aboriginal young people engage with digital technology. The outcomes from this workshop reveal that by expanding digital and medial literacy skills in culturally safe environments, this can support young people's potential to creatively use technology to build identity, affirm connections to culture and improve their capacity for positive self-representation.


The cell surface glycoprotein CD8 functions as a coreceptor with the TCR for interaction with MHC class I. The cocrystal structure of the CD8 alpha alpha-MHC complex showed that one CD8 Ig domain provided the majority of the contact with MHC class I and that residue R4 of that domain contacted the alpha2 domain of MHC class I. We previously showed by mutational analysis that this residue was critical for binding to MHC class I. To determine which of the Ig domains for the CD8 alpha beta heterodimer would make the most contact with class I MHC, we expressed single-chain or dimeric forms of CD8 on COS-7 cells and measured the adhesion of MHC class I positive cells. We found that when one of the R4 residues was mutated in a CD8 alpha alpha homodimer binding comparable to that of wild type was observed, whereas a double R4 mutant severely impaired binding. However, when mutant CD8 alpha (R4K) was coexpressed with wild-type CD8 beta, binding was not observed. These results support the model in which it is CD8 alpha, not CD8 beta, that is making the most of the contact with MHC class I, including the alpha 2 domain. In addition, they demonstrate that a single-chain form of CD8 alpha alpha can bind to MHC class I.


Abstract An entirely new process was discovered starting from M-doped glow discharge polymer (GDP) deposited by plasma polymerization1 (where M = Si or Ti) to make M-oxide shells. This process utilizing Si-GDP was developed to make large, uniform, thick-walled glass shells which are suitable for use in cryogenic layering experiments at LLNL and are unobtainable by the routinely utilized drop-tower method. We have found that in addition to controlling the geometry, the permeability and opacity may be controllable over very wide ranges by varying the processing conditions. Preliminary tests to determine the strength of SiO2 glass shells made by this process are consistent with that expected of pure silica glass.


Lower respiratory infections (LRIs) are estimated to cause approximately 4 million deaths each year, the majority in previously healthy young children from low-income countries. Bacterial pneumonias are likely to account for the major proportion of deaths but because accurate diagnosis is difficult, their precise contribution is difficult to estimate. Effective protection against two of the most important pathogens (H. influenzae type B and S. pneumoniae) is now available even for young infants. The high cost of these interventions is however likely to prohibit their use in areas likely to benefit most. Case management which can be effective at reducing mortality and which is relatively cheap at present is likely therefore to remain the principal means of tackling bacterial pneumonias globally. Antibiotic resistance to cheap drugs and possibly HIV infection pose a potentially enormous threat to this strategy with the prospect of an increasing global death toll with an even more inequitable distribution of disease as we begin the new century.


Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2011, 11:115–121 Purpose of review In 2009, an expert panel met to propose a WHO definition of asthma severity and control, and criteria for describing exacerbations and their severity, which would be globally applicable. This review addresses their findings in the context of recent literature, and assesses the usefulness of these definitions in children in particular. Recent findings Severe asthma was defined by the level of current clinical control and risks as: 'Uncontrolled asthma which can result in risk of frequent severe exacerbations (or death) and/or adverse reactions to medications and/or chronic morbidity (including impaired lung function or reduced lung growth in children)'. Severe asthma includes three groups, with different public health messages and challenges: untreated severe asthma, due to undiagnosed asthma or unavailability of therapy, difficult-to-treat severe asthma (due to adherence issues, inappropriate or incorrect use of medicines, environmental triggers or co-morbidity), and treatment-resistant severe asthma, including asthma for which control is not achieved despite the highest level of recommended treatment or asthma which is controlled only with the highest level of recommended treatment. Summary These definitions will enable more precise measurement of the burden of severe childhood asthma globally. International collaborations in epidemiological and mechanistic studies, and randomized controlled trials of treatment, will be facilitated. However, both pathophysiology and severity are influenced by a number of factors with wide global variation; international comparisons should be interpreted with caution.


Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) studies have been emphasized following
the problem faced in the application of chemical nitrogen fertilizer in wetland
rice cultivation. Among fertilizer inputs, nitrogen is the major limiting nutrient
for crop production. Besides energy intensive, chemical nitrogen fertilizer
also cause groundwater pollution. One of the approaches to alleviate this
problem is by isolating the beneficial rhizobacterial from wetland rice which
have the capability to fix nitrogen biologically and produce plant growth
hormones, indole-3-acetic acid (1M) in vitro.
The study consisted of three experiments. Experiment I was the isolation and
identification of rhizobacterial strains from paddy land and their reactions
toward several biochemical tests. Experiment II was the determination of 1M
production by the rhizobacterial using modified colorimetric methods. Experiment III was to determine the effects of 1M production by
rhizobacterial isolates on growth of rice variety MR 211, the colonization of these isolates on rice roots and nitrogenase activity of rhizobacteria through
Acetylene Reduction Assay.
From the isolation procedures, several strains of bacterial were isolated from
the rice rhizosphere. The population of these rhizobacterial ranged from 105
to 109 cfu/mL. By using Biolog Identification System, these rhizobacterial
have been identified as Corynebacterium spp., Proteus mirabilis and
Spirillum spp., which showed their unique characteristics to Gram staining,
pellicle formation, motility, starch hydrolysis, catalase, antibiotic test and
carbohydrate fermentation with different carbon sources.
The experimental results indicate that Corynebacterium spp., Proteus
mirabilis and Spirillum spp. were able to produce 1M in culture medium
supplemented with L-tryptophan as a precursor, which ranged between 1-10
J-lg/mL. The presence of precursor was essential for detection of 1M
production by the bacteria. 1M production increased in the presence of 0.1
mg/L, 10 mg/L and 100 mg/L of precursor.


The thesis presents a wide range of studies on carbon black and silica particulate reinforced rubbers. These include stress-strain, strain energy function, static and cyclic stress relaxation (stress softening), trouser test piece tearing and cyclic crack growth studies. The novel features of the work include the development of a simple strain energy function which is shown to represent the stress-strain behaviour of carbon black and silica filled rubbers up to strains of 100%. The numerical values of the constants in this function are shown to vary in a meaningful and systematic manner with the fraction of reinforcing filler and with the crosslink density. The cyclic stress relaxation studies are the first of their kind and demonstrate a significantly increased relaxation rate resulting from cycling in filled rubbers. The trouser tearing studies give some insight as to the materials and experimental variables that determine the type of tear growth and regime of tearing. The process of stress whitening around the tear tip during steady tearing in silica filled compounds provide the first opportunity to quantitatively relate the tearing energy to the hysteresis energy loss in a known volume of rubber at the tear tip. The cyclic crack growth studies show for the first time a systematic decrease in crack growth per cycle (dc/dn) at a given tearing energy as the carbon black filler content is systematically increased and as the crosslink density is decreased. A novel feature of the work is the demonstration of the effect of pre-strain in one direction on the cyclic growth rate of a crack in this direction when cyclically strained in a direction at right angles. The very large increase in dc/dn with increasing pre-strain is discussed in terms of pre-orientation of the rubber/carbon black structure.


In an academically competitive environment where other disciplines research IS-related phenomena, survival of the IS field hinges upon its ability to distinguish itself and provide insights that other disciplines are not poised to provide. We have survived as a distinctive field partly because of our superior understanding and knowledge of information systems, and because we are often the first at the scene for a new information technology. Problems, however, are not waiting for IS to solve them exclusively. Other disciplines can step in and unravel them if we don't. Discerning the core that defines the IS field, clarifying what makes the IS field unique, isolating the phenomena in which we have a competitive advantage vis-a-vis other disciplines, and identifying the areas where our understanding of a phenomenon is far superior to that of other disciplines would enhance the long-term viability and visibility of the IS discipline. The panelists explore various methods of identifying the core IS constructs and relationships that define their foundation of a theory of IS, argue why their starting point is an appropriate foundation for a theory of IS, discuss the next steps in elaboration of their theory,and identify critical studies to falsify or support their emerging theory.


We describe for the first time a current indigenous soil management system in West Africa, in which targeted waste deposition transforms highly weathered, nutrientand carbonpoor tropical soils into enduringly fertile, carbonrich black soils, hereafter "African Dark Earths" (AfD ). In comparisons between AfDE and adjacent soils (AS), AfDE store 200–300% more organic carbon and contain 2–26 times greater pyrogenic car-bon (PyC). PyC persists much longer in soil as compared with other types of organic carbon, making it important for longterm carbon storage and soil fertility. In contrast with the nutrientpoor and strongly acidic ( pH 4.3–5.3) AS , Af DE exhibit slightly acidic ( pH 5.6–6.4) conditions ideal for plant growth, 1.4–3.6 times greater cation exchange capacity, and 1.3–2.2 and 5–270 times more plantavailable nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. Anthropological investigations reveal that AfDE make a disproportionately large contribution (24%) to total farm household income despite its limited spatial extent. Radiocarbon (C) aging of PyC indicates the recent development of these soils (115–692 years before present). AfDE provide a model for improving the fertility of highly degraded soils in an environmentally and socially appropriate way, in resourcepoor and foodinsecure regions of the world. The method is also "climatesmart", as these soils sequester carbon and enhance the climatechange mitigation potential of carbonpoor tropical soils.


A Method to Enhance the Heat Transfer Mechanism in Metal Particle Porous Beds with Applicability to Paramagnetic Materials for Hydrogen Storage by Shahin Shafiee Major Advisor: Dr. Mary Helen McCay This research introduces a heat transfer enhancement method for porous beds of either ferromagnetic and paramagnetic materials. Throughout this work, it is shown that applying magnetic fields, not only enhances the heat transfer rate in particle beds but also improves hydrogenation properties of lanthanum nickel. The first section of the work is focused on heat transfer in iron oxide beds under magnetism. This stage studies effect of different magnetic field configurations and intensities on conduction improvement. The second phase of the work, studies the effect of utilizing magnetic fields on hydriding properties of a selected metal hydride. Experimentation has proven the positive effect (between 11 − 17 % depending on experimental configuration) of applying magnetic fields on both heat transfer rates in porous beds and hydrogen absorption in lanthanum nickel.