Nature has long served as a rich source of structurally diverse small organic molecules with medicinally relevant biological activities. Despite the historical success of these so-called natural products, the enthusiasm of big pharma to explore these compounds as leads in drug design has waxed and waned. A major contributor to this is their often inherent structural complexity. Such compounds are difficult (often impossible) to access synthetically, a hurdle that can stifle lead development and hinder sustainable large-scale production of promising leads for clinical evaluation. However, in recent years, an emerging synergy between synthetic biology and natural product chemistry offers the potential for a renaissance in our ability to access natural products for drug discovery and development. Advances in genome sequencing, bioinformatics and the maturing of heterologous expression platforms are increasing, enabling the study, and ultimately, the manipulation of plant biosynthetic pathways.
 The triterpenes are one of the most structurally diverse families of natural products and arguably one of the most underrepresented in the clinic. The plant kingdom is the richest source of triterpene diversity, with >20,000 triterpenes reported so far. Transient expression of genes for candidate enzymes and pathways in amenable plant species is emerging as a powerful and rapid means of investigating and harnessing the plant enzymes involved in generating this diversity. Such platforms also have the potential to serve as production systems in their own right, with the possibility of upscaling these discoveries into commercially useful products using the same overall basic procedure. Ultimately, the carbon source for generation of high-value compounds in plants is photosynthesis. Therefore, we could, with the help of plants, be producing new medicines out of sunlight and 'thin air' in green factories in the not too distant future.


The intellectual elite in nineteenth century Iran gradually found the opportunity to become familiar with a new concept of freedom. Their discovery of this new meaning was less the result of abstract philosophical reflections and more the consequence of the observation of European social and individual lifestyles. They realized that Westerners ( farangiyān ) lived free from many restraints while in Iran such restraints, according to a long-lasting cultural and political tradition, had been unquestionably regarded as necessary conditions to preserve order and security and to provide happiness in this world and the afterlife. A number of the Iranian elite came to believe that Europeans, free from these restraints, were successful in building ordered societies, decent and secure citizenship, powerful and lawful states, and ultimately, developed countries; on the contrary, lack of this freedom had left Iranians as unfortunate and insecure subjects in a disordered society with an army defeated at the hands of "infidels" in the two Russo-Persian wars (1803-1813 and 1826-1828), in a critically weakened country ruled by an arbitrary state. This research aims to examine the various aspects of this new awareness through studying Iranian travelogues and reformist writings of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in order to argue that the concept of freedom was understood in the horizon of the question of decline.


Resources and services are accessible in pervasive computing environments from anywhere and at any time. Also, due to ever-changing nature of such environments, the identity of users is unknown. However, users must be able to access the required resources based on their contexts. These and other similar complexities necessitate dynamic and context-aware access control models for such environments. In other words, an efficient access control model for pervasive computing environments should be aware of context information. Changes in context information imply some changes in the users' authorities. Accordingly, an access control model for a pervasive computing environment should control all accesses of unknown users to the resources based upon the participating context information, i.e., contexts of the users, resources and the environment. In this paper, a new context-aware access control model is proposed for pervasive computing environments. Contexts are classified into long-term contexts (which do not change during a session) and short-term contexts (which their steady-state period is less than an average time of a session). The model assigns roles to a user dynamically at the beginning of their sessions considering the long-term contexts. However, during a session the active permission set of the assigned roles are determined based on the short-term context conditions. Formal specification of the proposed model as well as the proposed architecture are presented in this paper. Furthermore, by presenting a real case study, it is shown that the model is applicable, decidable, and dynamic. Expressiveness and complexity of the model is also evaluated.


State and federal courts increasingly are being confronted with prosecutors moving the court to consider prior convictions in American Indian tribal courts during the sentencing phase, and sometimes earlier. If the conviction being introduced occurred in state or federal court, the instant court would be obligated to give full faith and credit to that conviction. But if the prior conviction occurred in a tribal court, state and federal courts are often confronted with unforeseen complexities. This paper is intended to parse through much of the political baggage associated with recognizing tribal court convictions. To be frank, the law is unsettled, leaving little guidance for state and federal judges in these cases, while at the same time granting enormous discretion to judges on the questions involved. The first part of this paper will provide a quick overview of the constitutional status of Indian tribes and tribal courts, as well providing a basic but sufficient introduction to relevant principles of federal Indian law. The second part will offer a summary of criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country and, in particular, what role tribes play – and how well they play it. The third part offers a short description of the key cases in the field, as well as relevant federal and state statutes, and state court rules. It also offers a short normative argument on the question of what state and federal court judges who are confronted with prior tribal court convictions should look for in these cases, especially where the defendants convicted in tribal court are not represented by counsel.


The simulation of run-off in an alpine catchment area equipped with complex hydropower schemes is presented by the help of an especially developed tool, called Routing System, which can combine hydrological modelling and operation of hydraulic elements. In the hydrological forecasting tool tridimensional rainfall, temperature and evapotranspiration distributions are taken into account for simulating the dominant hydrological processes, as glacier melt, snow pack constitution and melt, soil infiltration and run-off. The advantage of this object-oriented modelling tool is the integration of routing in rivers as well as hydraulic structures such as water intakes, reservoirs, turbines, gates and valves. The model allows simulating the operating mode of complex storage hydropower plants and its impacts on the downstream river system for different scenarios, taking into account natural and anthropogenic influences. The paper presents the modelling of the complex Oberhasli hydropower scheme, probably one of the most complex one in Switzerland. The development and calibration of the hydrological model is explained. First results are shown at the example of the flood event of 2005. The effect of the existing reservoirs and their management on flood routing is highlighted.


One approach to delivering cost-effective healthcare requires the identification of patients as individuals or subpopulations that are more likely to respond to an appropriate dose and/or schedule of a therapeutic agent, or as subpopulations that are less likely to develop an adverse event (i.e., personalized or stratified medicine). Biomarkers that identify therapeutically relevant variations in human biology are often only uncovered in the later stage of drug development. In this article, the Industry Pharmacogenomics Working Group provides, for regulatory consideration, its perspective on the rationale for the conduct of what is commonly referred to as the prospective-retrospective analysis (PRA) of biomarkers. Reflecting on published proposals and materials presented by the US FDA, a decision tree for generating robust scientific data from samples collected from an already conducted trial to allow PRA is presented. The primary utility of the PRA is to define a process that provides robust scientific evidence for decision-making in situations where it is not necessary, nor practical or ethical to conduct a new prospective clinical study.


A new species of laevicaudatan branchiopods, L ynceus insularis sp. nov., is described. It is reported from five sinkholes (dolines) in the southern part of New Caledonia. Lynceus insularis sp. nov. is closest to Lynceus species from Australia, but can be separated from these on the basis of clasper morphology and the form of the lamina abdominalis. Lynceus insularis sp. nov. is the first record of a remote insular endemic laevicaudatan. The habitats of the species may be threatened due to hydrological changes, reduction of water supply, acidification of fresh water, invasive species, and/or mining activities in the vicinity.


The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) has been widely adopted since its initial release in 2001. Initially developed as a means to federate access to diverse e-print archives through metadata harvesting and aggregation, the protocol has demonstrated its potential usefulness to a broad range of communities. Two years out from the release of the stable production version of the protocol (2.0), there are many interesting developments within the OAI community. Communities of interest have begun to use the protocol to aggregate metadata relative to their needs. The development of a registry of OAI data providers with browsing and searching capabilities as well as accessibility to machine processing is helping to provide a scalable solution to the question of who is providing what via the OAI protocol. Work is progressing on the technical infrastructure for extending the OAI protocol beyond the traditional harvesting structure. However, serious challenges, particularly for service providers, still exist. This article provides an overview of the current OAI environment and speculates on future directions for the protocol and OAI community.


This thesis presents an aggregated econometric model of the world shipping markets. The model distinguishes between dry cargo and tankers and also between the a) freight market, b) second hand market for ships, C) shipbuilding market, d) scrap market. Chapters 1,2 of the thesis examine the history of shipping in the last 100 years or so, analyse the cyclical behaviour of the industry, and consider past theoretical attempts at modelling the shipping markets. It is argued that the structure of existing models of the shipping industry is theoretically flawed In its treatment of the demand for new and second hand ships as well as in the treatment of expectations. Chapter 3 presents a 'new' theoretical model of the behaviour of shipping markets that attempts to remedy these defects. Novel features of this theory are the assumption of 'rational expectations' in shipping markets as well as the treatment of new and second-hand ships as assets, the portfolio demand for which varies with the own expected return relative to the return on other assets. Econometric versions of the theoretical model are estimated from post World War II annual data, separately for the dry cargo and tanker sectors In chapters 4, S. The two models are linked In chapter 6 and the models are used In order to simulate the dynamic response of the shipping markets to anticipated and unanticipated external shocks. A crucial role in the adjustment process is played by the forward looking speculative positions of investors in the second hand and newbuilding markets. Chapter 7 tests the assumption of the rational expectations hypothesis in the shipping markets by examining the evidence from the freight futures, time charter and new building markets. The stochastic behaviour of these variables is examined and statistical tests are performed in order to Investigate the extent to which this Is considered to be consistent -with the efficient markets / rational expectations hypothesis. The results are somewhat mixed. Chapter 8 illustrates how the model can be used for real world forecasting purposes and scenario planning.


Through the prism of Northern Ireland, this article explores the function of existing and proposed archives within societies emerging from conflict, and highlights their potential in adding complexity to understanding conflict and challenging dominant narratives. The article outlines how, despite progress since the Northern Ireland peace accord in 1998, efforts to deal with the past and human rights violations have been piecemeal and politically contested. In the absence of a comprehensive approach to the past, testimony gathering, initiated 'unofficially' at a community level, has provided opportunities for individuals' experiences of the conflict to be documented and acknowledged. The recent Stormont House Agreement (2014) seeks to establish an Oral History Archive as a central repository for individuals to 'share experiences and narratives related to the Troubles'. The article discusses the challenges in developing this 'official' archive, and the problem of reconciling competing historical narratives of the past. This is contrasted against the growth in bottom-up 'storytelling' or testimony work. The article argues for supplementing the official process with wider testimony gathering processes directed by and located within community contexts. It is argued that the deliberate juxtaposition of contrasting horizontal or inter-community narratives held by different local parties may allow for the emergence of a more complex and inclusive narrative of the past, rather than attempts to impose a shared vertical narrative, which is subject to either further contestation or uncomfortable compromise.


We investigate a multilayer perceptron (MLP) based hierarchical approach for task adaptation in automatic speech recognition. The system consists of two MLP classifiers in tandem. A well-trained MLP available off-the-shelf is used at the first stage of the hierarchy. A second MLP is trained on the posterior features estimated by the first, but with a long temporal context of around 130 ms. By using an MLP trained on 232 hours of conversational telephone speech, the hierarchical adaptation approach yields a word error rate of 1.8% on the 600-word Phonebook isolated word recognition task. This compares favorably to the error rate of 4% obtained by the conventional single MLP based system trained with the same amount of Phonebook data that is used for adaptation. The proposed adaptation scheme also benefits from the ability of the second MLP to model the temporal information in the posterior features.


Summary: Leaf ecoanatomy of trees and shrubs from Chacoan Occidental and Serrano Districts (Argentina). The objective of this work was to evaluate foliar micrographic parameters to deepen our understanding of the plant-environment relationships, contributing to new technologies to preserve the forests of this area. Leaf material of specimens collected in chacoan biogeographic province with subtropical and dry climatic conditions, and from species growing in template and humid conditions were studied to compare leaf structure variations. Epidermal cells, stomata and trichomes by unit of area (mm-2), types of mesophyll, sclerenchymatic tissue and distribution were analyzed. These characters are affected by intraspecific and environmental factors. The main xeromorphic traits were: presence of epicuticular waxes, striate cuticle, sunken stomata with peristomatal ridges, epidermis bi or pluristratified and/or hypodermis, whole palisade or bilateral mesophyll with palisade tissue direct toward both epidermis, and presence of sclerenchyma. Some species like: Celtis ehrenbergiana, C. iguanaea, Jodina rhombifolia, Lycium cestroides, and Parkinsonia aculeata, exhibit from xeromorphic (e.g. amphistomatic and equifacial leaves) to mesomorphic characters (e.g. hypostomatic and bifacial leaves) with some hydromorphic features such as absence of sclerenchyma.


Log-linear models are widely used probability models for statistical pattern recognition. Typically, log-linear models are trained according to a convex criterion. In recent years, the interest in log-linear models has greatly increased. The optimization of log-linear model parameters is costly and therefore an important topic, in particular for large-scale applications. Different optimization algorithms have been evaluated empirically in many papers. In this work, we analyze the optimization problem analytically and show that the training of log-linear models can be highly ill-conditioned. We verify our findings on two handwriting tasks. By making use of our convergence analysis, we obtain good results on a large-scale continuous handwriting recognition task with a simple and generic approach.


At the heart of Victorian culture was the local weekly newspaper. More popular than books, more widely read than the London papers, the local press was a national phenomenon. This book redraws the Victorian cultural map, shifting our focus away from one centre, London, and towards the many centres of the provinces. It offers a new paradigm in which place, and a sense of place, are vital to the histories of the newspaper, reading and publishing.

Hobbs offers new perspectives on the nineteenth century from an enormous yet neglected body of literature: the hundreds of local newspapers published and read across England. He reveals the people, processes and networks behind the publishing, maintaining a unique focus on readers and what they did with the local paper as individuals, families and communities. Case studies and an unusual mix of quantitative and qualitative evidence show that the vast majority of readers preferred the local paper, because it was about them and the places they loved.

A Fleet Street in Every Town positions the local paper at the centre of debates on Victorian newspapers, periodicals, reading and publishing. It reorientates our view of the Victorian press away from metropolitan high culture and parliamentary politics, and towards the places where most people lived, loved and read. This is an essential book for anybody interested in nineteenth-century print culture, journalism and reading.


Summary
A new species of malaria parasite, Plasmodium youngi, is described from the Malayan whitehanded gibbon, Hylobates lar lar. The parasite is tertian in periodicity and produces quite severe infections in the type host with peak parasite densities higher than 100,000 per cmm. The young trophozoites are characterized by the frequent occurrence of double or multiple chromatin. Ameboidicity is great and "tenue" forms are seen frequently. Stippling of the Schuffner type is produced but there is no erythrocyte enlargement at any stage. In the older trophozoites and the younger schizonts there is frequently an accessory chromatin granule at the border of the parasite or extruded into the host erythrocyte. The mature schizont has 12 to 20 (average 14) merozoites which are randomly arranged. Pigment consists of dark, yellowish-brown, discrete granules and is moderate in amount.
Two other species of gibbon were found to be susceptible but the rhesus monkey was not. Anopheles maculatus is somewhat susceptible to infection to the oocyst stage, but sporozoites failed to develop in the mosquitoes studied.


The aim of this report is to provide an assessment of the economic impacts of introducing a Citizen's Basic Income (CBI) in Scotland.It has been prepared by researchers at the Fraser of Allander Institute at the University of Strathclyde, Manchester Metropolitan University and IPPR Scotland. In order to capture a realistic picture of the reality of a CBI in Scotland, we look at both the payment of the CBI itself, and the increase in tax that would be required to pay for it. The assessment of how it may impact upon the economy is then put together by quantifying both the direct impact on people's incomes and, based on available evidence, the range of possible decisions and behaviours that may follow.


Computing the partition function is a key inference task in many graphical models. In this paper, we propose a dynamic importance sampling scheme that provides anytime finite-sample bounds for the partition function. Our algorithm balances the advantages of the three major inference strategies, heuristic search, variational bounds, and Monte Carlo methods, blending sampling with search to refine a variationally defined proposal. Our algorithm combines and generalizes recent work on anytime search and probabilistic bounds of the partition function. By using an intelligently chosen weighted average over the samples, we construct an unbiased estimator of the partition function with strong finite-sample confidence intervals that inherit both the rapid early improvement rate of sampling and the long-term benefits of an improved proposal from search. This gives significantly improved anytime behavior, and more flexible trade-offs between memory, time, and solution quality. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach empirically on real-world problem instances taken from recent UAI competitions.


In this paper, I focus on the disputes arising in regions of discourse in which bare sentences with predicates of personal taste occur. After I introduce, in the first section, the distinction between the disputes arising in regions of discourse concerning objective matters of fact and those arising in regions of discourse about subjective matters of personal taste, I present, in the second section, the solutions which the main semantic theories have offered to the puzzle of faultless disagreement. In the third and the fourth section of the paper, I discuss the proposal advocated by truth perspectivalism, according to which the disputes concerning matters of personal taste constitute faultless disagreements. After I present the solution proposed by Kölbel to an argument whose conclusion establishes that no disagreement can be faultless, I show that this solution presents major disadvantages for truth perspectivalism. These disadvantages highlight the fact that the disputes concerning matters of personal taste, as they are construed in truth perspectivalism, do not constitute authentic examples of faultless disagreements, and that the coherence of the semantic program which truth perspectivalism advocates, with regard to sentences from regions of discourse about matters of personal taste, must be put in doubt.


Sun drying is the most popular method used by the Malaysian smallholders to dry
cocoa beans during the harvesting season. However, various limitations have been
associated with this traditional practice particularly due to unpredictable weather
conditions. The sun dryer is usually without any means of protection in the event of
rain unless labour is available to look after the dryer. In situations where no other
alternatives of natural drying are available, the smallholders will either continue
using the sun dryer or sell wet beans at a lower price.
This study was carried out to develop a small-scale solar dryer to provide an
additional option to the smallholders in cocoa drying. The concept of direct solar
drying was adopted where the product is dried inside a transparent enclosure using
direct sunlight. Overall dimension of the solar dryer prototype measured 1565 mm x
912 mm x 1375 mm (L x W x H). Most of the structural components were
constructed using 'Chengal' hard wood. The side panels and drying platform were
constructed from plywood and transparent Ultra Violet Stabilised Polyethylene film
was used to form the enclosure.Air enters through the perforated platform (about 15% perforation) and the side air gaps (measuring 1365 mm x 40 mm) and the humid
air exits through the apertures (measuring 159 mm x 1565 mm) at the apex. Two
removable windows (measuring 1565 mm x 600 mm) were made at both sides of the
dryer to facilitate loading, unloading and mixing. Individual part of the prototype
was connected using bolts, nuts and screws to ease assembling and dismantling on
farm. The total material cost of construction for a unit of solar dryer was RM 156.76.
Quality of the dried cocoa beans was assessed in terms of acidity (pH and titratable
acidity), degree of fermentation (cut test and fermentation index), surface mould,
odour and sensory evaluation. The performance of the solar dryers was also assessed
in terms of bean moisture content reduction, bed and air temperatures. Two trials
were carried out to determine the effect of loading on solar drying and to compare
between the solar dryer and sun dryer. From the studies, the solar dryer is
recommended to the smallholders for 20 kg wet beans using perforated drying
platform. The performance of the solar dryer and quality of the beans showed no
significant difference (p>0.05) as compared to sun drying. This would be an added
advantage to the smallholders as protection of the beans could be achieved through
solar drying.
Based on the recommendation, the solar dryer was able to produce beans with good
external appearance, extremely light in surface mould, high in degree of fermentation
and acceptable in terms of odour and sensory evaluations. The drying period was
shorter at this loading (20 kg) which could eliminate the risk of mould growth due to
prolong drying and the beans temperatures were well below the limit detrimental to
the quality.


Mobile robots need to know the terrain in which they are moving for path planning and obstacle avoidance. This paper proposes the combination of a bio-inspired, redundancy-suppressing dynamic vision sensor (DVS) with a pulsed line laser to allow fast terrain reconstruction. A stable laser stripe extraction is achieved by exploiting the sensor's ability to capture the temporal dynamics in a scene. An adaptive temporal filter for the sensor output allows a reliable reconstruction of 3D terrain surfaces. Laser stripe extractions up to pulsing frequencies of 500 Hz were achieved using a line laser of 3 mW at a distance of 45 cm using an event-based algorithm that exploits the sparseness of the sensor output. As a proof of concept, unstructured rapid prototype terrain samples have been successfully reconstructed with an accuracy of 2 mm.


The article reviews previous research and present knowledge of the Olynthus mill and attempts to portray its history. The geographical distribution of the device and the regional diversity of subtypes are emphasized. The device varies in shape of hopper and upper stone, method of attachment of lever to upper stone, and in striation patterns. The Olynthus mill originated in the eastern Mediterranean and was diffused westward by Greek settlers but did not penetrate regions where the rotary hand mill already existed, for example, Spain and northern France. The meeting of the two techniques probably led to the development of the Pompeian donkey mill. The rotary hand mill was spread eastward by Roman legions, finally replacing the Olynthus mill in the east.


Special attention should be given to subcutaneous thigh fat accrual and its impact on the amount of skeletal muscle blood flow and accumulation when using different initial restrictive pressure (IRP) during blood flow restriction (BFR) training. Due to different patterns of fat distribution and deposition in males and females, it is important to test the effects of subcutaneous fat on tissue oxygenation and lactate production during exercises with BFR. PURPOSE: The present study investigated the importance of thigh subcutaneous fat as a variable that may be associated with affecting the magnitude of initial pressure (tightness of cuffs before inflation with air) on skeletal muscle tissue oxygen saturation and lactate between males and females. METHODS: Twenty healthy volunteers, 10 males (25 ± 4.83 yr) and 10 females (20.7 ± 1.06 yr), performed exercises with an IRP of 40mmHg. The following procedures were performed in order: a) subcutaneous fat thickness, b) pre-maximal isometric force (MVC), c) 4 sets (1 × 30 reps and 3 × 15 reps) of dynamic knee extension exercises performed at 20% MVC, d) post-MVC. Skeletal muscle tissue oxygen saturation was continuously monitored before, during, and after exercises with near-infrared spectroscopy placed to a mark that was made at 50% on the line from the anterior superior iliac spine to the superior part of the patella. Plasma lactate levels were assessed prior to, in between the first and second set, immediately after post MVC, 5min-post, 10 min-post, and 20 min-post. RESULTS: Thigh subcutaneous fat thickness was significantly greater in females than males (p<0.01). Tissue oxygenation significantly decreased (p<0.03) throughout exercise in both genders with an observed significant time × gender interaction (p<0.01). Both male and females responded to the BFR similarly with a significant decrease (p<0.01) in peak force production from pre to post exercise, while plasma lactate levels significantly differed (p<0.01) throughout the exercise with no time × gender interaction (p<0.3). CONCLUSION: The observed gender difference in tissue oxygenation in response to BFR with an IRP of 40mmHg underline the necessity for future studies to consider subcutaneous fat as a variable to influence the magnitude of physiological adaptations between genders and adjust the IRP accordingly.


Carl's story was part of an interview that I did a few years ago. Carl was raised to believe that caring means love, so I wanted to present Carl's tale as a love story and to honour his take on this. I used a condensed version of part of the interview text and programmes generally available on PCs as well as materials easily accessible on the net. Carl is the adult son of Polly, who tells part of her story in: [ http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=7691556004778341975&hl=en-GB ]


As part of a European LIFE ArtWET project, two on‐site buffer zones, an artificial wetland and a forest plot, are being evaluated for their capacity to mitigate pesticide pollution. As treatment efficiency is highly dependent on the systems' hydrology, the present work focuses on the watershed and both systems' hydrological functioning. The design strategy involved limited inlet flow rates to 70 L s−1: 99% of watershed outlet flow rates were lower than this limit. Approximately half of the flows of greatest concern passed through the artificial wetland, whereas the forest only received 2% of these flows. A tracer experiment was conducted under a low steady flow rate while little vegetation was present in the artificial wetland. A water dye tracer (sulforhodamine B, SB) and two molecules of contrasting properties, uranine (Ur, photodegrading) and isoproturon (mobile and only slightly sorptive, IPU) were injected. Dilution, sorption, and photodegradation were observed. The forest plot, which presented a high organic matter content, showed more sorption (IPU, SB) but lower photodecay (Ur) than did the artificial wetland. Total IPU losses in the forest buffer were high (79%). In the artificial wetland, 30% IPU losses were found, whereas a 66.5‐h mean retention time was determined and good hydraulic efficiency (0.55) was calculated. Few dead zones and short‐circuits were found, suggesting good hydrological functioning. Implementing buffer zones in subsurface pipe‐drained watersheds actively participates in the reduction of pesticide transfer to natural water bodies.


Although endothelial dysfunction, defined as abnormal vasoreactivity, is a common early finding in individuals with type 2 diabetes, the endothelium has not been known to regulate metabolism. As PPARgamma, a transcriptional regulator of energy balance, is expressed in endothelial cells, we set out to investigate the role of endothelial cell PPARgamma in metabolism using mice that lack PPARgamma in the endothelium and BM (gammaEC/BM-KO). When gammaEC/BM-KO mice were fed a high-fat diet, they had decreased adiposity and increased insulin sensitivity compared with control mice, despite increased serum FFA and triglyceride (TG) levels. After fasting or olive oil gavage, gammaEC/BM-KO mice exhibited significant dyslipidemia and failed to respond to the FFA and TG lowering effects of the PPARgamma agonist rosiglitazone. BM transplantation studies, which reconstituted hematopoietic PPARgamma, established that these metabolic phenotypes were due to endothelial PPARgamma deficiency. We further found that the impairment in TG-rich lipoprotein metabolism in gammaEC/BM-KO mice was associated with fatty acid-mediated lipoprotein lipase inhibition and changes in a PPARgamma-regulated endothelial cell transcriptional program. Despite their metabolic improvements, high-fat diet-fed gammaEC/BM-KO mice had impaired vasoreactivity. Taken together, these data suggest that PPARgamma in the endothelium integrates metabolic and vascular responses and may contribute to the effects of PPARgamma agonists, thus expanding what endothelial function and dysfunction may entail.


The mid second millennium BC material record of the southern Aegean shows evidence
of strong Cretan influence. This phenomenon has traditionally been seen in terms of
'Minoanisation', but the nature and degree of Cretan influence, and the
process/processes by which it was spread and adopted, have been widely debated. This
thesis addresses the question of 'Minoanisation' through a study of the adoption of
Cretan technologies in the wider southern Aegean: principally, weaving technology.
By the early Late Bronze Age, Cretan-style discoid loom weights had appeared at a
number of settlements across the southern Aegean. In most cases, this represents not
only the adoption of a particular type of loom weight, but also the introduction of a new
weaving technology: the use of the warp-weighted loom. The evidence for, and the
implications of, the adoption of this new technology is examined. Drawing upon recent
advances in textile experimental archaeology, the types of textiles that are likely to have
been produced at a range of sites both on Crete itself and in the wider southern Aegean
are discussed, and the likely nature and scale of textile production at the various
settlements is assessed.
A consideration of the evidence for the timing and extent of the adoption of Cretan
weaving technology in the light of additional evidence for the adoption of other Cretan
technologies is used to gain insight into the potential social and economic strategies
engaged in by various groups across the southern Aegean, as well as the motivations
that may have driven the adoption and adaptation of Cretan cultural traits and
accompanying behaviours. By examining how technological skills and techniques are
learned and considering possible mechanisms for the transmission of such technical
knowledge and know-how, new perspectives can be proposed concerning the processes
through which Cretan techniques were taken up and imitated abroad.


There is great interest beginning to be shown in conducting polymers, such as polypyrrole (PPy), for use in the area of drug delivery systems. The main aim of the project was to produce PPy containing antischistosomal compounds and to study their release under electrochemical control. Schistosomiasis is the second most prevalent typical disease in the world, affecting millions of people, the majority of whom are young children. Once affected, parasites live inside the body, causing several terrible symptomatic diseases, such as hepatic fibrosis, ascites and granuloma formation.
Antischistosomal compounds investigated for incorporation were niclosamide, niclosamide ethanolamine salt (NES), praziquantel and trichlorfon. All these, apart from NES, were found be to electrochemically inactive in the potential window used to prepare PPy. The conducting polymer grown in the presence of niclosamide was found to have quite different topography to that electrodeposited in its absence, as indicated by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies, however, did not show any peaks associated with niclosamide. This, together with the very poor solubility of niclosamide in a range of electrolytes (e.g., aqueous Na2SO4 (0.1 mol dm-3); tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate, TBABF4 (0.01 mol dm-3) / acetonitrile; TBABF4 (0.01 mol dm-3) / methanol) suggested that niclosamide was not a suitable candidate for incorporation into this conducting polymer. Nucleation and growth behaviour (chronoamperometry) showed that the presence of praziquantel and trichlorfon in the electrolyte did not,alter PPy formation. Light microscopy and SEM investigations showed that no changes in film topography occured when these two drugs were added to the electrolyte. PPy was found to be electrodeposited at the surface of reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) electrodes and did not penetrate far into the bulk of the material. Thicker films (7 – 11 μm) and slightly greater penetration was achieved by stepping the potential to +800 mV vs. SCE for 15 min, rather than using potential cycling.
Subsequent studies were focused on trichlorfon due to its solubility in aqueous systems and hence greater promise for use in delivery devices to be used in aquatic systems. The
presence of trichlorfon in PPy was not evidenced from Fourier-transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) investigations, although this was probably due to the low concentration of the compound, since it was detected by XPS. These studies showed that one trichlorfon molecule was incorporated for every 765 pyrrole units when RVC was used as the substrate, and for every 103 pyrrole units when ITO glass was used. The former substrate has a much larger surface area, however, and so more trichlorfon overall will be incorporated than for PPy on ITO. XPS also showed that one sulphate anion was detected for every 4.6 to 6.4 pyrrole units. Trichlorfon release from PPy was successfully followed by GCMS, where ca. twice as much trichlorfon was released when the PPy/trichlorfon/RVC electrode was held at -300 mV vs. SCE compared to open circuit conditions (no applied potential). At -400 mV vs. SCE, a similar amount of trichlorfon (6.43 μmol) was released after just 60 min compared to that released at -300 mV vs. SCE after 24 h (6.93 μmol). When the potential was too negative (-500 mV vs. SCE), a reduced amount of trichlorfon (4.72 μmol) was released after 60 min compared to the film at -400 mV vs. SCE (6.43 μmol), although it was greater than that released at -300 mV vs. SCE (2.87 μmol) and with no applied potential (1.09 μmol). Thus, trichlorfon was successfully incorporated into PPy and could be released in a controlled fashion by varying the potential. The PPy/trichlorfon/RVC system showed promise for
the construction of delivery devices for controlled release of trichlorfon, potentially for use in vivo or in aquatic environments.
The last part of the work used computational chemistry techniques to investigate growing conducting polymer chains. Density functional theory (DFT) was used to calculate the unpaired π-electron spin density distribution of oligopyrrole and oligothiophene radical cations using VWN, BLYP and B3LYP functionals. For the oligomers investigated, α,α'-linkages were maintained, which preserve conjugation and hence conductivity. Pendant monomer units, however, joined via α,β'-linkages along the linear chain, were also predicted. The frequency of these pendent groups was dependent on the functional used, with more accurate B3LYP calculations suggesting a higher frequency than those performed using VWN. The time required to perform DFT calculations on long-chain oligomers (ca. 10 monomer units) was still practicable using the high-level B3LYP functional owing to the use of parallel processing. Since the frequency of pendant monomer units along the chain was dependent on the functional used, calculations using the B3LYP functional are recommended over more rapid computations using the VWN functional.


It is clear that Australian governments will provide assistance to farmers in drought, which is a rational political judgement supported by recent survey work suggesting strongly the pervasive existence among voters of agrarian sentiment. In this context, a reasonable question relates to what forms of assistance are most equitable for taxpayers and also have desirable properties for farm businesses. In this study it is argued that traditional and current approaches to drought assistance are not equitable and do not provide sufficient protection to farmers from default and thus insolvency risk. But there is an instrument available to government which can be designed to minimise taxpayer subsidies while at the same time delivering insurance for farmers against default: a Revenue Contingent Loan (RCL). Following the principles inherent in the Higher Education Contribution Scheme, a RCL is financial assistance repaid contingent on a farm's capacity to pay, meaning that loan defaults can be avoided. We model the revenue streams associated with a hypothetical loan of this type and illustrate the advantages for a farm business of these kinds of debt.


Co-decorated Cu alloy, a potential material for use in syngas conversion based on less expensive Cu metal, can efficiently promote the formation of C2 oxygenates and ethanol. Herein, the mechanisms of C2 oxygenate and ethanol formation from syngas on Co-decorated Cu alloy catalyst have been investigated to probe into the role of Co and Cu and identify the catalytic selectivity of Cu catalysts toward C2 oxygenates and ethanol. DFT calculations with microkinetic modeling have been performed, and the Co-decorated Cu alloy catalyst is modeled using Co-doped Cu(211) surface. Our results suggest that CO initial adsorption and activation occur at the Cu sites of Co-doped Cu(211). CO prefers to be hydrogenated to CHO at the Cu site, and subsequently, CHO species at the Cu site easily migrate to the most stable Co–Cu mixed site. Starting from CHO species adsorbed at the Co–Cu mixed site, CH2 and CH3 species are the most favorable CHx monomers formed via H-assisted CHxO (x = 2, 3) dissociation, which are more favorable than CH3OH formation both thermodynamically and dynamically, suggesting that the CoCu(211) surface can provide more CHx resources for C–C chain formation. Further, starting from CH2 and CH3 species, ethanol is formed by CO insertion into CH2 and CH3 to CH2CO and CH3CO, respectively; subsequently, CH2CO and CH3CO are successively hydrogenated to ethanol via CH2CHO, CH3CHO and CH3CH2O intermediates. Based on microkinetic modeling, the CoCu(211) surface is highly selective for ethanol rather than methanol and methane. Moreover, the function of Cu is to provide the undissociated CO/CHO at the Cu sites; Co promotes CHx formation by accelerating the C–O bond cleavage of CHxO species, and the synergetic effect of Co and Cu facilitates C–C chain formation, which is typical of a "dual-site" mechanism. Thus, the synergetic effects between the active Co and Cu sites promote the formation of C2 oxygenates and ethanol; the productivity and selectivity of ethanol over the Co-decorated Cu-based catalyst can be improved compared to that of the pure Cu catalyst. In addition, we believe that the insight derived from this study can be valuable for the design of other types of Cu-based catalysts involved in C2 oxygenate synthesis from syngas.


MIS literature has not addressed the measurement of customer information satisfaction in electronic commerce. Current models for measuring user information satisfaction (UIS) and end-user computing satisfaction (EUCS) are perceived as inapplicable as they are targeted primarily towards either conventional data processing or the end-user computing environment. This study develops a comprehensive model and instrument for measuring customer information satisfaction (CIS) for web sites that market digital products and services. This paper first discusses the concepts and definitions of customer information satisfaction from the literature. We summarize our findings in a theoretical framework. Based on this framework, we develop a measurement instrument to measure customer information satisfaction. The procedures used in generating items, collecting data, and purifying a multiple-item scale are described. We have carefully examined evidences of reliability, content validity, criterion-related validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and nomological validity by analyzing data from a quota sample of 520 adult respondents. The norms of the instrument are then developed, and the potential applications for practitioners and researchers are explored. Finally, we conclude this study by discussing limitations and potential future research. We hope that our CIS instrument can be used by other researchers to develop and test Internet marketing and EC theories in the future.


Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus are major prokaryotic primary producers in the oligotrophic oceans that may be affected by the climate-related increases in nitrogen fixation and subsequent phosphorus (P) limitation in some parts of the oceans. Evidence that Prochlorococcus populations in the North Pacific subtropical gyre (NPSG) have increased over the past decades, possibly due to having a competitive advantage under conditions of P limitation, suggests aspects of their P physiology that are important for dictating their in situ success. Here, we compared the physiology of P acquisition and response to P stress (indicated by alkaline phosphatase activity, APA) among isolates of Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus representing different genotypic clades within the marine picophytoplankton lineage (sensu Urbach et al. 1998: J Mol Evol 46:188-201). The 2 Synechococcus isolates examined (WH 8102 and WH 7803) can utilize a wide variety of organic P sources. Of the 3 Prochlorococcus isolates examined, only the HLI genotype, MED4, is capable of growth on a variety of organic P sources. Under conditions of P starvation the 2 Synechococcus strains and Prochlorococcus MED4 exhibit significant increases in APA, above their measurable constitutive activities. The genomes of the Synechococcus strains and Prochlorococcus MED4 indicate the presence of many P-uptake and -regulatory genes required under conditions of P stress, including the phoA gene that encodes for an alkaline phosphatase enzyme. The other isolates of Prochloro- coccus, HLII MIT 9312 and LLIV MIT 9313, have distinctly different P-stress responses. MIT 9312, which contains the same P-uptake and -regulatory genes as MED4, except for psip1 and ptrA, has no constitutive APA, but does exhibit measurable, albeit very low, activity when P starved. MIT 9313, which lacks phoA and a functional phosphate-sensing histidine kinase gene, phoR, exhibits low constitutive activity that decreases when the cells become P-starved. These results show variability in P utilization and in P-stress response between the 2 genera of marine unicellular cyanobacteria, and marked differences among Prochlorococcus genotypes, implying that only certain eco/genotypes of these marine cyanobacteria will have an ecological advantage under conditions of P limitation in the oceans. This further points to the critical need to continue developing genotypic- or cell-specific tools to assess the response of the picophytoplankton community to large-scale changes in nutrient conditions in the oceans.


The structural and functional abnormalities of the tumor vasculature generate regions of elevated interstitial fluid pressure and aberrant flow shear stress within the tumor microenvironment. While research has shown that the hydrodynamics of the tumor vasculature reduce transport and uptake of therapeutic agents, the underlying mechanisms by which fluid forces regulate vascular organization are not well known. Understanding the reciprocal interaction between tumor and endothelial cells to mediate angiogenesis, and the role of flow shear stress on this process, may offer insight into the design of improved therapeutic strategies to control vascularized tumors. Instrumental to this is the development of physiologically relevant models that enable tumor-endothelial co-culture under dynamic conditions. By integrating tissue-engineering strategies with cancer biology, micro-scale fluid mechanics, and optical flow diagnostics, the goal of this research was to develop a 3D in vitro microfluidic culture model to investigate tumor-endothelial cross talk under physiologically relevant flow shear stress. This objective was motivated by early findings demonstrating a contact-independent, paracrine-mediated mechanism by which endothelial cells enhance tumor-expressed angiogenic factors during 2D, static co-culture. The 3D tumor vascular model consists of a central microchannel embedded within a type I collagen hydrogel, through which a range of normal (4 dyn/cm 2 ), low (1 dyn/cm 2 ) and high (10 dyn/cm 2 ) microvascular wall shear stresses (WSS) were introduced. Endothelial cells lining the microchannel lumen form a confluent endothelium across which soluble growth factors are exchanged with tumor cells in the gel. Microscopic particle image velocimetry (μ-PIV) was integrated within the model to enable noninvasive optical measurement of velocity profiles and quantification of WSS, which were then correlated with angiogenic potential. Results demonstrate that endothelial permeability decreases as a function of increasing WSS, while co-culture with tumor cells increases permeability. This response is likely due to shear stress-mediated endothelial cell alignment and tumor-VEGF-induced permeability. In addition, high WSS (10 dyn/cm 2 ) significantly down-regulates tumor-expressed angiogenic factors, suggesting flow shear stress-mediates endothelial cross talk with surrounding tumor cells.


The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of integrating Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) technology on middle school mathematics achievement in an urban school. Propensity score matching was used to create a comparable control group in order to isolate the effects of IWB technology on mathematics achievement. An initial experimental group (n = 716) of ethnically diverse urban students receiving IWB instruction was matched to a control population (n = 856) based on propensity scores generated from demographic and ability data. Student achievement data were analyzed with 2 × 4 ANOVA to access treatment main effects and the effects of demographic variables such as gender, ethnicity, and ability. Ethnicity was a significant moderator of the effects. Specifically, a positive effect size was observed for White students, and the achievement gap was also reduced for Hispanic students. Implications for mathematics pedagogy with an IWB are provided based on these conclusions.


This paper seeks to explore how cellular phones (cell phones/mobiles) have influenced and impacted social interactions and interpersonal relationships. There have been a number of suggested theories and studies that have been contributed to the rising popularity and commonality of cell phones as to how they are affecting the way individuals are interacting in society. Some of these include, a change in the concept of time and space (Fortunati, 2002), lack of face-to-face interaction (Thompson and Cupples, 2008), the maintenance of relationships, social absences, and social dependency (Reid and Reid, 2004). In addition to these ideas, it has also been suggested that the use of cell phones has had a negative affect on social relationships, grammar, and increased social anxiety (Tully, 2003). This article is available in Perspectives: https://scholars.unh.edu/perspectives/vol1/iss1/4


ABSTRACT The analysis examines the genesis of the Lippman-Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah's Prize in Applied Jewish Wisdom (AJW) that was first awarded in 2016. The foundation invented both the phrase AJW and the prize to highlight the qualities of Jewish content being employed by promising educators and activists in the "Jewish innovation ecosystem." This paper traces the emergence of the term in the writing of the foundation, and then delves in the sorting process undertaken by the foundation to determine the prize winners. AJW functions as a "boundary object." The Prize is a means of constituting AJW. The development of AJW positions the foundation to be able to claim "philanthropic authority" regarding a domain it wants to cultivate and champion. It is a way for LKFLT to assert its voice in the Jewish innovation sector and articulate a new rationale beyond simply funding innovation for its own sake.


"Tees" shows the work of 80 of the most creative t-shirt designers around the world. The book asks revealing questions of the creators, including what their inspirations are, whether they wear their own designs, the printing techniques they use, how they work and more, to reveal a complete picture of their approach to t-shirt making. Designs are included from t-shirt studios that exclusively make t-shirts and from established designers who also produce t-shirts as a sideline. Most sell their shirts online and in-store while a few create more experimental work just for personal use. Contact details for purchases are given. With photographs of the designers wearing their own work, numerous artworks, and many different styles and themes, "Tees" reflects what is going on in t-shirt land today. A special limited edition is also available with a t-shirt featuring a unique collage of designs provided by artists in the book. Large - 9781856696395. Small - 9781856696388.


Excessive drying shrinkage is one of the major issues of concern for longevity and reduced strength performance of concrete structures. It can cause the formation of cracks in the concrete. This research aims to improve the autogenous self-healing capacity of traditional Portland cement (PC) systems, adding expansive minerals such as reactive magnesium oxide (MgO) in terms of drying shrinkage crack healing. Two different reactive grades (high 'N50'and moderately high '92–200') of MgO were added with PC. Cracks were induced in the samples with restraining end prisms through natural drying shrinkage over 28 days after casting. Samples were then cured under water for 28 and 56 days, and self-healing capacity was investigated in terms of mechanical strength recovery, crack sealing efficiency and improvement in durability. Finally, microstructures of the healing materials were investigated using FT-IR, XRD, and SEM-EDX. Overall N50 mixes show higher expansion and drying shrinkage compared to 92–200 mixes. Autogenous self-healing performance of the MgO containing samples were much higher compared to control (only PC) mixes. Cracks up to 500 μm were sealed in most MgO containing samples after 28 days. In the microstructural investigations, highly expansive Mg-rich hydro-carbonate bridges were found along with traditional calcium-based, self-healing compounds (calcite, portlandite, calcium silicate hydrates and ettringite).


In Mandarin Chinese, gradable adjectives map the properties of the arguments into abstract representations. The intensifiers can modify gradable adjectives. Hen, an intensifier, is widely used in Mandarin Chinese. There are plenty of the gradable adjectives, but it is difficult to build a distinctive standard. Mandarin Chinese lacks the standard methods to evaluate whether an adjective is a gradable adjective. This thesis introduces two tests for the distinctive standard, including the hen test and the comparison test. The hen test is to test whether hen can modify an adjective. The comparison test is to test whether an adjective can be used in a comparative form. If one adjective has at least one hit in one test, it means that the evaluated adjective can pass this test. This thesis argues that all gradable adjectives have to pass the two tests. The center for Chinese linguistics corpus CCL (2016) is used to identify the gradable adjectives in Mandarin Chinese. If an adjective has at least one hit in the query result of each test, the corresponding adjective can be treated as a gradable adjective. The analysis of the gradable adjectives is controversial in Mandarin. The problem is data evidence of the gradable adjectives. Most of the previous analyses argued that the bare gradable adjectives as main predicates are not allowed. It is indeed allowed in Mandarin in the data collection, when the argument is known to the speaker and the listener. Those analyses had been built based on the ungrammatical bare gradable adjectives. In order to build an analysis for the gradable adjectives and hen, this thesis proposes two puzzles. The two puzzles include the puzzle of the bare gradable adjectives as main predicates and the reading puzzle. This thesis finds that the bare gradable adjectives as main predicates exist in Mandarin Chinese. They are allowed in Mandarin when the argument is specific. The reading puzzle is that the bare gradable adjectives are the positive reading or the comparative reading. The reading of the gradable adjectives is controversial, because the gradable adjectives can express the same meaning with the positive form or the explicit comparative form. The reading of the gradable adjectives is positive if there is no explicit comparison. The comparative reading should have an explicit comparative morphology or an explicit comparative context.


Intellectual Property (IP) scholarship is generally concerned with how innovation policy impacts social welfare by providing appropriate incentives for innovation. But lately, the question of who participates in IP creation — with an eye to distributive justice as well as social welfare more broadly — has been getting more attention. Most scholars writing in this vein acknowledge IP's shortcomings in achieving proportionate participation and representation across socioeconomic, race, and gender lines. But many argue that in spite of these flaws, IP regimes can advance distributive justice by giving the poor and other members of disadvantaged groups opportunities to accumulate wealth and improve their position in society. Yet the aspiration some hold out for IP as this particular type of tool for distributive justice is, unfortunately, unlikely to be realized, because it overlooks how poverty impacts creative decision-making. A large and growing body of psychological research shows that poverty changes the decision-making of those experiencing it. This Article argues that in fact, poverty makes it very difficult to think and act in ways that bring about the creative advances meaningful IP participation requires. IP is thus inherently limited as a mechanism for escaping poverty. Poverty's impact on creative thinking and action also has wide-ranging implications for innovation theory and policy that reach beyond specific demographic groups. This Article explores how the psychology of poverty intersects with IP, and in doing so, makes four main contributions to the literature. First, it calls into question the feasibility of scholarly calls for IP to act as a mechanism for empowering the poor. Second, it offers an additional, novel explanation for why we see lower levels of IP participation among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Third, it argues that IP scholars need to start looking beyond incentives in their quest to optimize socially beneficial innovation. While IP's dominant utilitarian theory posits that IP provides needed incentives to innovate, what the account fails to consider is the possibility that some otherwise willing participants are unable to respond to these incentives. Finally, in offering policy recommendations, it turns IP scholars' current thinking about IP and distributive justice on its head. While these scholars argue that IP — a mechanism traditionally used to spur innovation — should be used to achieve distributive justice, this Article proposes that policies more directly aimed at attaining distributive justice will not only be more effective, but should also help promote innovation.


Earthworm Lumbricus rubellus and worms necklace have many advantages likes easy maintenance management, short production cycle, benefit many sectors, as well as market demand and current earthworms prices. The aim of earthworm farming were creating new business opportunities with relatively little capital, and developing entrepreneurial spirit of students. Earthworms cultivated with a medium of cow manure that have halfly decomposed. Effective method of cultivation was done for increasing the production of earthworms, preventing of seeds deficiency, and simplifying of harvesting method. Cultivation begun with preparation of the cage, growing medium of worms, earthworms starter purchasing. After that, the market survey was done by approaching the farmer store, bait shop, the seller of ornamental plants and other earthworms farmer. It was done to determine the product marketing opportunities and the right marketing strategy. Then the products were sold to the stores that had been surveyed before. Proceeds from saling the products that had achieved from earthworms was around 123 kg, 480 pcs of vermicompost, and 20 liters of liquid fertilizer. Total income earned up to Rp 13.295.000.00. The value of R / C ratio was 1.56 effort. This value indicated that the business was viable. Keywords : Earthworms, Marketing, Product


Although ageism is an acknowledged form of discrimination in employment (Snape & Redman, 2003; Taylor &
Walker, 1998), compared to other discriminatory behaviours such as racism and sexism, relatively little research
has been undertaken in this area. However, age discrimination in employment is not uncommon. A report on
ageism by Age Concern England revealed that more people (29%) had suffered from age discrimination, than
any other form of discrimination (Tasiopoulou & Abrams, 2006). Age discrimination is also prevalent in New
Zealand (McGregor, 2001; Wilson, Parker, & Kan, 2007), and increases with increased numbers of older
workers in the labour force (Wilson et al.). While some business managers appear positive about older workers
(Davey, 2008), the views of New Zealand hospitality managers on ageism are not yet known.
Older workers appear to be particularly disadvantaged in the labour force due to stereotypical views (Harris,
1990). Hospitality businesses are reliant on a young workforce (McNair, Flynn, & Dutton, 2007; Whiteford &
Nolan, 2007) and much of the industry is style obsessed, particularly designer bars, boutique hotels and
celebrity-chef restaurants. Aesthetic labour (work that values the way employees look) is a common feature of
hospitality work (Nickson, Warhurst, Cullen, & Watt, 2003), and working hours are often long and unsociable.
It therefore seems no surprise that the industry prefers young workers (McNair et al., 2007; Slonaker, Wendt, &
Baker, 2007).
This study aims to identify attitudes to the employment of older people, defined as those aged 50 and over, in
the British and New Zealand hospitality industry. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the New Zealand
interviews, summarising industry's views on employing older workers from both managers' and employees'
perspectives. Early indications are that personality, team fit, and attitude are significantly greater influences on
recruitment than age.


Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) were put on the market more than 50 years ago. They were not believed to enter biological systems or to be biologically active and it came as a big surprise when they were found in wildlife. Later, they were found in humans and are now ubiquitously present in many populations. It is of concern but we still do not know how serious the potential health problems are.


This paper investigates the relation between insider trading and the likelihood of insolvency with a specific focus on the directors' sale and purchase transactions preceding insolvency. We use a unique data set on directors' dealings in 474 non-financial UK firms, of which 117 filed for insolvency, over the period 2000–2010. We show that the directors of insolvent firms increase their purchase transactions significantly as the insolvency approaches. The results also reveal a significant relation between three different measures of insider trading activity and the likelihood of insolvency, which is observed to be positive only during the last six-month trading period. The relation is negative for the earlier trading periods. While the earlier purchase transactions appear to be motivated by superior information held by insiders, the purchase trades closer to the insolvency date are possibly initiated by directors' motives to influence the market's perception of the firm in an attempt to avert or delay insolvency.


We compare measurements of integrated water vapour (IWV) over a subarctic site (Kiruna, Northern Sweden) from five different sensors and retrieval methods: Radiosondes,
Global Positioning System (GPS), ground-based Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, groundbased microwave radiometer, and satellite-based microwave radiometer (AMSU-B). Additionally, we compare also to ERA-Interim model reanalysis data. GPS-based IWV data have the highest temporal coverage and resolution and are chosen as reference data set. All datasets agree reasonably well, but the ground-based microwave instrument only if the
data are cloud-filtered. We also address two issues that are
general for such intercomparison studies, the impact of different lower altitude limits for the IWV integration, and the impact of representativeness error. We develop methods for correcting for the former, and estimating the random error contribution of the latter. A literature survey reveals that reported systematic differences between different techniques are study-dependent and show no overall consistent pattern. Further improving the absolute accuracy of IWV measurements and providing climate-quality time series therefore remain challenging problems.


This paper reviews the literature on the economics of supported employment. By comparing results from research conducted prior to, and after, 2000, several important findings were identified. The first was that individuals with disabilities fare better financially from working in the community than in sheltered workshops, regardless of their disability. This is especially true given that the relative wages earned by supported employees have increased 31.2% since the 1980s while the wages earned by sheltered employees have decreased 40.6% during the same period. Further, supported employment appears to be more cost-effective than sheltered workshops over the entire "employment cycle" and returns a net benefit to taxpayers.


Large-scale datasets may contain significant proportions of noisy (incorrect) class labels, and it is well-known that modern deep neural networks (DNNs) poorly generalize from such noisy training datasets. To mitigate the issue, we propose a novel inference method, termed Robust Generative classifier (RoG), applicable to any discriminative (e.g., softmax) neural classifier pre-trained on noisy datasets. In particular, we induce a generative classifier on top of hidden feature spaces of the pre-trained DNNs, for obtaining a more robust decision boundary. By estimating the parameters of generative classifier using the minimum covariance determinant estimator, we significantly improve the classification accuracy with neither re-training of the deep model nor changing its architectures. With the assumption of Gaussian distribution for features, we prove that RoG generalizes better than baselines under noisy labels. Finally, we propose the ensemble version of RoG to improve its performance by investigating the layer-wise characteristics of DNNs. Our extensive experimental results demonstrate the superiority of RoG given different learning models optimized by several training techniques to handle diverse scenarios of noisy labels.


1. Infusions of Dextran 40 induced a pronounced fall in the plasma concentration of cholesterol, in the absence of marked changes in plasma volume. Similar falls occurred in the plasma concentrations of phospholipids, triglyceride and low density lipoprotein. It was further observed that the return to normal was slow, and at 15 days was still incomplete. 2. Lipoprotein turnover studies failed to demonstrate altered rates of catabolism or evidence for altered synthetic rates. They were better interpreted in terms of redistribution from the plasma to the rest of the extracellular fluid, although there was no indication as to its exact site.


The long-standing debate about the purpose and role of business firms has recently regained momentum. Business firms face growing pressure to pursue social goals and benefit corporation statutes proliferate across many U.S. states. This trend is largely based on the idea that firms increase long-term shareholder value when they contribute (or appear to contribute) to society. Contrary to this trend, this Article argues that the pressing issue is whether policies to create social impact actually generate value for third-party beneficiaries—rather than for shareholders. Because it is difficult to measure social impact with precision, the design of legal forms for firms that pursue social missions should incorporate organizational structures that generate both the incentives and competence to pursue such missions effectively. Specifically, firms that have a commitment to transacting with different types of disadvantaged groups demonstrate these attributes and should thus serve as the basis for designing legal forms.

While firms with such a commitment may be created using a variety of control and contractual mechanisms, the related transaction costs tend to be very high. This Article develops a social enterprise legal form that draws on the legal regime for community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and European legal forms for work-integration social enterprises (WISEs). This form would certify to investors, consumers, and governments that designated firms have a commitment as social enterprises. By obviating the need for costly social impact measurement, this form would facilitate the provision of subsidy-donations to social enterprises from multiple groups, particularly investors (through below-market investment) and consumers (via premiums over market prices). Thus, this social enterprise form would be to altruistic investors and consumers what the nonprofit form is to donors.

Moreover, the proposal could facilitate the flow of investments by foundations in social enterprises (known as program-related investments, "PRIs") because it would help foundations verify the social impact of their investees. In addition, by giving subsidy-providers greater assurance that social enterprises pursue social missions effectively, the proposed legal form could facilitate public markets for social enterprises.


This article examines contemporary Hebrew dystopic novels
in which ecological issues play a critical role, reflecting an increasing
preoccupation of Israeli culture and society with the environment. The
literary turn to dystopia is not new, but whereas Israeli dystopias published
in the 1980s–1990s focused mainly on military apocalyptic visions,
current novels combine these national anxieties with ecological dangers,
following present-day trends in American literature and cinema. These
contemporary dystopias either conjoin a national crises with an ecological
disaster as the source of the catastrophe or represent environmental
recklessness as evidence of moral corruption, linking ecological and
social injustice to the emergence of a Jewish theocracy. Offering an ecocritical
reading of these novels, the article pinpoints the American cultural
influence on the narratives. This thematic shift in Hebrew fiction, I
argue, reflects a rising environmental awareness and positions literature
as a major arena in which these issues are raised.


A standard assumption in the modelling of epidemic dynamics is that the population of interest is well mixed, and that no clusters of metapopulations exist. The well-known and oft-used SIR model, arguably the most important compartmental model in theoretical epidemiology, assumes that the disease being modelled is strongly immunizing, directly transmitted and has a well-defined period of infection, in addition to these population mixing assumptions. Childhood infections, such as measles, are prime examples of diseases that fit the SIR-like mechanism. These infections have been well studied for many systems with large, well-mixed populations with endemic infection. Here, we consider a setting where populations are small and isolated. The dynamics of infection are driven by stochastic extinction–recolonization events, producing large, sudden and short-lived epidemics before rapidly dying out from a lack of susceptible hosts. Using a TSIR model, we fit prevaccination measles incidence and demographic data in Bornholm, the Faroe Islands and four districts of Iceland, between 1901 and 1965. The datasets for each of these countries suffer from different levels of data heterogeneity and sparsity. We explore the potential for prediction of this model: given historical incidence data and up-to-date demographic information, and knowing that a new epidemic has just begun, can we predict how large it will be? We show that, despite a lack of significant seasonality in the incidence of measles cases, and potentially severe heterogeneity at the population level, we are able to estimate the size of upcoming epidemics, conditioned on the first time step, to within reasonable confidence. Our results have potential implications for possible control measures for the early stages of new epidemics in small populations.


Thermal Energy Storage (TES) is one of the techniques that can be used to store the solar energy for a longer period of time. Aim of this project is to design and develop a thermal energy storage system that is used with a substance called phase change material (PCM) as a storage media. Part of this project objective, a Parabolic Tough Collector (PTC) is integrated with the TES tank and it acts as a source of solar energy. The TES tank is designed with a copper coil as a heat exchanger in a cylindrical Perspex container. In the container, the PCM is filled in and around the copper coil. The hot/cold water is flowing through the coil as the heat transfer to the PCM is occurring due to the temperature differences. Moreover, the testing of the TES tank is conducted at outdoor environment to observe the phase change and then analyze the parameters involved. The testing is conducted at two different flow rates i.e. at 60 liters/h and 20 liters/h. As a conclusion, water flow rate of 60 lit/h shows a better time of charging and discharging of PCM in comparison to flow rate of 20 lit/h. The TES tank is able to charge the PCM till it completely solidifies within 75 minutes and discharged it (liquid to solid) within 50 minutes with an average heat flux of 559.9 w/m2.


In this paper, we develop an agent-based multi-layered interbank network model based on a sample of large EU banks. The model allows for taking a more holistic approach to interbank contagion than is standard in the literature. A key finding of the paper is that there are non-negligible non-linearities in the propagation of shocks to individual banks when taking into account that banks are related to each other in various market segments. In a nutshell, the contagion effects when considering the shock propagation simultaneously across multiple layers of interbank networks can be substantially larger than the sum of the contagion-induced losses when considering the network layers individually. In addition, a bank 'systemic importance' measure based on the multi-layered network model is developed and is shown to outperform standard network centrality indicators.


In medical 3D-from-2D reconstruction, the goal is to reliably reproduce three-dimensional anatomical structures from two-dimensional data like x-ray images. State of the art approaches compare a real, clinical x-ray to a high number of virtual x-ray images, which are generated from deformable 3D models. It is assumed that a deformed model represents the anatomy depicted in the clinical x-ray image, if an adequate match between its virtual x-ray and the clinical data is found. The accurate simulation of x-ray attenuation in 3D models thus plays a critical role in the 3D-from-2D reconstruction process. This work presents several fast and precise methods to generate x-ray images from statistical volumetric models, which are enriched with density information (Statistical Shape and Intensity Models, SSIMs). Previous approaches are adapted such that the x-ray attenuation is simulated entirely on graphics processing units (GPUs). Moreover, a novel method is proposed that efficiently integrates both model deformation as well as x-ray simulation into a single, GPU-accelerated operation. The presented algorithms accurately project higher order attenuation distributions, allowing flexible modeling of density within individual cells of the SSIM. Based on the OpenGL interface, a prototypical GPU implementation is provided that demonstrates the high performance of the discussed approaches.


This paper follows the changing fortunes of Chomsky's search for a pedigree in the history of Western thought during the late 1960s. Having achieved a unique position of supremacy in the theory of syntax and having exploited that position far beyond the narrow circles of professional syntacticians, he felt the need to shore up his theory with the authority of history. It is shown that this attempt, resulting mainly in his Cartesian Linguistics of 1966, was widely, and rightly, judged to be a radical failure, even though it led to a sudden revival of interest in the history of linguistics. Ironically, the very upswing in historical studies caused by Cartesian Linguistics ended up showing that the real pedigree belongs to Generative Semantics, developed by the same 'angry young men' Chomsky was so bent on destroying.


A novel hybrid surface micromachined segmented mirror array is described. This device is capable of scaling to large apertures for correcting time-varying aberrations in laser applications. Each mirror is composed of bottom electrode, support part, and mirror plate, in which a T-shaped beam structure is used to support the mirror plate. It can provide mirror with vertical movement and rotation around two horizontal axes. The test results show that the maximum deflection along the vertical direction of the mirror plate is 2 microns, while the rotation angles around x and y axes are +-2.3 deg. and +-1.45 deg., respectively.


The operation of buildings consumes a considerable amount of energy worldwide. Rising energy costs and the desire to reduce greenhouse emissions mean the desire to improve energy efficiency is becoming increasingly strong. Energy audits provide a structured method of analysing energy consumption at a facility in order to understand how energy is being consumed and thereby make intelligent decisions on how to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption.

This dissertation provides a review of the practical application of an energy audit to the Canmore Nordic Centre, a cross country ski training and recreation facility located in the province of Alberta, Canada.

The audit process is first placed in context through a literature review of building energy trends, the relevance of energy efficiency, energy auditing methods and a number of case studies of energy efficiency measure implemented in similar facilities. A method of auditing the particular facility is developed, the results of the audit presented and the implications of the results to wider sector and other findings discussed.

The energy audit identified 38 specific efficiency measures that have the potential to save 3692 GJ of energy annually, saving $31,400 in energy costs and 325 tonnes CO2e per year. The facility was found to be relatively inefficient and as such the majority of savings could be made by optimising the existing systems at low cost. Estimated capital costs were $22,600 with a simple payback period of 0.7 years. Additional recommendations include conducting a detailed audit of the compressed air system, the recommissioning of two buildings, ongoing monitoring of individual building energy consumption and updating HVAC maintenance plans.


Fuhrmann syndrome and the Al-Awadi/Raas-Rothschild/Schinzel phocomelia syndrome are considered to be distinct limb-malformation disorders characterized by various degrees of limb aplasia/hypoplasia and joint dysplasia in humans. In families with these syndromes, we found homozygous missense mutations in the dorsoventral-patterning gene WNT7A and confirmed their functional significance in retroviral-mediated transfection of chicken mesenchyme cell cultures and developing limbs. The results suggest that a partial loss of WNT7A function causes Fuhrmann syndrome (and a phenotype similar to mouse Wnt7a knockout), whereas the more-severe limb truncation phenotypes observed in Al-Awadi/Raas-Rothschild/Schinzel phocomelia syndrome result from null mutations (and cause a phenotype similar to mouse Shh knockout). These findings illustrate the specific and conserved importance of WNT7A in multiple aspects of vertebrate limb development.


There has been a growing interest in understanding how contemplative practices affect brain functional organization. However, most studies have restricted their exploration to predefined networks. Furthermore, scientific comparisons of different contemplative traditions are largely lacking. Here we explored differences in whole brain resting state functional connectivity between experienced yoga practitioners, experienced meditators, and matched controls. Analyses were repeated in an independent sample of experienced meditators and matched controls. Analyses utilizing Network-Based Statistics (Zalesky et al., 2010) revealed difference components for yoga practitioners > controls and meditators > controls in which the right caudate was a central node. Follow up analyses revealed that yoga practitioners and meditators had significantly greater degree centrality in the caudate than controls. This greater degree centrality was not driven by single connections but by greater connectivity between the caudate and numerous brain regions. Findings of greater caudate connectivity in meditators than in controls was replicated in an independent dataset. These findings suggest that yoga and meditation practitioners have stronger functional connectivity within basal ganglia cortico-thalamic feedback loops than non-practitioners. Although we could not provide evidence for its mechanistic role, this greater connectivity might be related to the often reported effects of meditation and yoga on behavioral flexibility, mental health, and well-being.


Introduction: High blood pressure is recognized as a leading risk factor for
stroke and death in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA). While many studies have
examined the role of established risk factors such as obesity and salt
consumption, less is known about other factors, such as infection, that could
be of particular importance in sSA. Ambulatory blood pressure measurement
has emerged as the optimal method in recent years in Western settings, but
there has been limited use to date in sSA. This work presents the results of a
study investigating whether malaria, which is widespread in sSA could
contribute to the development of high blood pressure using ambulatory
measurements.
Methods: Preliminary work involved determining the prevalence of
hypertension in Kilifi, Kenya and examining the population-level effects of
using ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) for diagnosing
hypertension. A literature review outlining the basis of the malaria-high blood
pressure hypothesis and the Mendelian randomization method for testing the
hypothesis was conducted. Sickle cell trait and alpha (+) thalassemia were
chosen as instrumental variables to represent malaria exposure because they
protect against malaria. Two studies were performed in Nairobi, Kenya among
the same cohort to confirm that sickle-cell trait and alpha-thalassemia do not
influence blood pressure in the absence of malaria and were therefore valid
instrumental variables to test the malaria-high blood pressure hypothesis in
Kilifi where there is malaria transmission. A Mendelian randomization study
was then conducted in Kilifi, Kenya where 24-hour blood pressure and arterial
4
stiffness indices were compared in individuals with and without sickle cell trait
and alpha thalassemia.
Results: The prevalence of hypertension in Kilifi, a rural area, was found to
be as high as in urban areas of Kenya despite the low frequency of classical
risk factors such as obesity and excessive salt consumption. Use of
ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for diagnosing hypertension was found
to improve the accuracy of detection of high blood pressure.
Neither Sickle-cell trait (SCT) nor alpha+ thalassemia influenced blood
pressure or arterial stiffness indices among adolescents that had been lifelong
residents of Nairobi, where there is no malaria transmission. Among
individuals that had been lifelong residents of Kilifi, Kenya where there has
been on-going malaria transmission, blood pressure was found to be lower
among individuals with SCT, which protects against malaria episodes
compared to those without SCT. The difference in BP by SCT status was
larger in women than in men. There were no significant differences in arterial
stiffness based on SCT status.
Conclusion: This work suggests that malaria contributes to the burden of
hypertension in sSA, and the control of malaria may lead to a reduction in
blood pressure in this group. Future work should focus on confirming the
findings using alternative study designs such as examining blood pressure in
cohorts born before and after complete malaria elimination in parts of the
world where this has been achieved. Subsequent work would involve
delineating the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in malaria induced
BP elevation with a view to generating new drugs to control hypertension.


Anchor Link Prediction (ALP) across heterogeneous networks plays a pivotal role in inter-network applications. The difficulty of anchor link prediction in heterogeneous networks lies in how to consider the factors affecting nodes alignment comprehensively. In recent years, predicting anchor links based on network embedding has become the main trend. For heterogeneous networks, previous anchor link prediction methods first integrate various types of nodes associated with a user node to obtain a fusion embedding vector from global perspective, and then predict anchor links based on the similarity between fusion vectors corresponding with different user nodes. However, the fusion vector ignores effects of the local type information on user nodes alignment. To address the challenge, we propose a novel type-aware anchor link prediction across heterogeneous networks (TALP), which models the effect of type information and fusion information on user nodes alignment from local and global perspective simultaneously. TALP can solve the network embedding and type-aware alignment under a unified optimization framework based on a two-layer graph attention architecture. Through extensive experiments on real heterogeneous network datasets, we demonstrate that TALP significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.


This paper starts with a discussion of the open challenges in the SLAM problem. In our opinion they can be grouped in two main and distinct areas: convergence of the built map and computation requirement for real world application. To deal with the previous problems, a solution in the stochastic map framework based on the concept of the relative map is proposed. The idea consists in introducing a map state, which only contains quantities invariant under shift and rotation and to carry out the estimation of this relative map in an optimal way. This is a possible way in order to have a decoupling between the robot motion and the landmark estimation and therefore not to rely the landmark estimation on the unmodeled error sources of the robot motion. Moreover, the proposed solution scales linearly with the number of landmark allowing real-time application. Experimental results, carried out on a real platform, show the better performance of this method with respect to the joint vehicle-landmark approach (absolute map filter) when the odometry is affected by undetected systematic errors or by large or unmodeled non-systematic errors.


Policy-based management (PBM) has been considered as a promising approach for design and enforcement of access management policies for distributed systems. The increasing shift toward federated information sharing in the organizational landscape, however, calls for revisiting current PBM approaches to satisfy the unique security requirements of the federated paradigm. This presents a twofold challenge for the design of a PBM approach, where, on the one hand, the policy must incorporate the access management needs of the individual systems, while, on the other hand, the policies across multiple systems must be designed in such a manner that they can be uniformly developed, deployed, and integrated within the federated system. In this paper, we analyze the impact of security management challenges on policy design and formulate a policy engineering methodology based on principles of software engineering to develop a PBM solution for federated systems. We present X-FEDERATE, a policy engineering framework for federated access management using an extension of the well-known role-based access control (RBAC) model. Our framework consists of an XML-based policy specification language, its UML-based meta-model, and an enforcement architecture. We provide a comparison of our framework with related approaches and highlight its significance for federated access management. The paper also presents a federation protocol and discusses a prototype of our framework that implements the protocol in a federated digital library environment


Recent work on China's accession to the World Trade Organizations pays little attention to the wave of reforms in China in the 1980s and 1990s. These reforms created the preconditions for accession and strongly influenced its outcomes. The preeminence of processing trade at the time of accession sharply reduced the impact of accession-related tariff reductions on exports and set the stage for China's increases in domestic value added and reduction in China's involvement in global production sharing since that time. The assessment in this paper, based on export data and simulation results on the ex ante accession-related effects on export volumes in the literature, finds that the accession must have increased China's real export growth by at most 6 percentage points between 1997 and 2005. This effect is substantial, but not as large as suggested by the difference between the pre- and post-accession export growth rates in the four years before and after accession. This is because the influence of cyclical fluctuations related to the Asian financial crisis and the U.S. dot-com crash dampened export growth in the period before accession in 2001 and accelerated it afterward.


Progressive interstitial fibrosis accompanied by loss of renal tubules and interstitial capillaries typifies all progressive renal diseases. Dynamic and complex, the process evidently overlaps with matrix remodeling; it may even be reversible. The interstitial fibrous tissue comprises several normal and novel matrix proteins, proteoglycans, and glycoproteins. Interstitial myofibroblasts are a major site of matrix protein overproduction, although resident fibroblasts, tubular cells, and inflammatory cells may contribute. Inadequate matrix degradation also appears to contribute to the fibrogenic process. Two protease cascades, the metalloproteinases and the plasminogen activator/ plasmin family of serine proteases, are implicated in the turnover of interstitial matrix proteins; upregulated expression of protease inhibitors has been observed in each. Increased tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 levels suggest that the intrinsic renal activity of the metalloproteinases and serine proteases are inhibited while matrix proteins accumulate in the interstitium. Several signals that may direct the interstitial fibrogenic process have been identified, but not yet proved to cause it. Upregulated expression of transforming growth factor beta-1, the proteotypic fibrogenic cytokine, has been observed in experimental and human models; it probably does not act alone. There may be supportive roles for platelet-derived growth factor, interleukin-1, basic fibroblast growth factor, angiotensin II, and endothelin-1. Although it is not known why interstitial fibrosis compromises renal function, atrophy of renal tubules may be pivotal. Ischemic necrosis and/or apoptosis may generate nonfunctioning atubular and sclerotic glomeruli. Future studies must delineate the molecular basis of the differences between renal repair and renal destruction by fibrosis, two processes that share many common features.


OBJECTIVES
This study compares the occupational role profile of a large sample of community-living persons without disabilities with the profile of a population of patients with psychosocial or physical disabilities and suggests areas of occupational therapy intervention.

METHODS
The Role Checklist was used to compare the roles of 1,020 community-living persons without disabilities with the roles of 292 adults with physical or psychosocial disabilities. Specifically, community-living persons were matched to the entire patient group, a group of patients with psychosocial dysfunction, and a group of patients with physical dysfunction to compare the groups in terms of their past, present, and future role profiles and the value they assigned to those roles.

RESULTS
There were significant differences in the types of roles identified. In general, the patients identified involvement in fewer present roles than the community-living persons. Differences between the two groups also appeared in the identification of future roles and value of those roles.

CONCLUSIONS
Roles appear to be affected by disability, whether physical or psychosocial in nature. If role participation is seen as part of the occupational functioning of the person, occupational therapy needs to address this area.


This review is focused on the present status of X-ray crystallography and its impact on chemistry and the life sciences. The discovery of the DNA double-helix structure from a fibre X-ray diagram in 1953 marked the last century, whereas the human genome project (to be completed in the year 2003, the 50-th anniversary of Crick's and Watson's discovery) and the proteomics will open the new millennium. The crystal structure determinations of very complex biological assemblies such as viruses and ribosomes illustrate the power of contemporary X-ray structure analysis. The historical background is given, which touches on some of the important steps from the early days of the discovery of X-rays. The advanced and new methods and technologies of the modern era, such as third-generation synchrotrons, sensitive area detectors, up-to date computer technologies with computer graphics, cryo-techniques, micro-crystallization methods, and genetic engineering, all contributing to the development of X-ray crystallography, are evaluated in separate paragraphs. Some examples that illustrate the power of the methods are selected from the contemporary research in the field. Systematics of known crystal structures of small molecules and macromolecules and their assemblies collected over the years has developed our perception of the nature of the chemical bond, and the interactions between atoms and molecules, which determine the chemical, physical, and biological properties. This fundamental knowledge enables structure and property predictions, useful in many branches of science and technology. A method, starting with the structure of table salt, has developed into a very fine tool for looking into complex living systems. Time-resolved crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy are capable of recording biological events and they inform us about the dynamics of enzymes and living cell activities. In combination with bioinformatics, very fast events, recorded experimentally or proposed theoretically, can be interpreted by the methods of molecular dynamics simulations. The vivid interplay of ideas coming from different scientific fields and technologies has led to capital discoveries, which have opened roads to new disciplines, such as molecular genetics and molecular medicine. These two branches, in particular, enriched by findings on DNA and protein structures, can provide efficient therapies for many diseases, health prevention, and reduce ageing problems. Our views on the nature of the chemical bond have been revised and our horizons will be extended and clearer in the years to come. Applying an ethical approach in science, humanity will learn how to improve the quality of life all over the world.