"Mitotic cell rounding" describes the rounding of mammalian cells before dividing into two daughter cells. This shape change requires coordinated cytoskeletal contraction and changes in osmotic pressure. While considerable research has been devoted to understanding mechanisms underlying cytoskeletal contraction, little is known about how osmotic gradients are involved in cell division. Here we describe cytoplasmic condensation preceding cell division, termed "premitotic condensation" (PMC), which involves cells extruding osmotically active Cl(-) via ClC-3, a voltage-gated channel/transporter. This leads to a decrease in cytoplasmic volume during mitotic cell rounding and cell division. Using a combination of time-lapse microscopy and biophysical measurements, we demonstrate that PMC involves the activation of ClC-3 by Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) in human glioma cells. Knockdown of endogenous ClC-3 protein expression eliminated CaMKII-dependent Cl(-) currents in dividing cells and impeded PMC. Thus, kinase-dependent changes in Cl(-) conductance contribute to an outward osmotic pressure in dividing cells, which facilitates cytoplasmic condensation preceding cell division.


A hybrid community antenna television (CATV) and orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing (OFDM) transport system is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to transmit multiple CATV channels and bi-directional radio frequency signals on a single optical carrier. By polarization remodulating an optical CATV signal with downstream OFDM signals and then amplitude remodulating upstream OFDM signals with the hybrid CATV/OFDM signals, this architecture can efficiently utilize only one optical carrier to support optical analog/digital CATV transmission and bi-directional wireless broadband services for each client. Good experimental results prove that this architecture provides a proper wavelength utilization scheme for future multiwavelength optical transport systems.


The government of Kenya has employed a wide range of strategies to undermine the recently-dismissed prosecutions of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto before the International Criminal Court (ICC). This Article argues that these strategies are part of an integrated backlash campaign against the ICC, one that encompasses seemingly unrelated actions in multiple global, regional and national venues. We identify three overarching themes that connect these diverse measures—politicizing complementarity, regionalizing political opposition, and pairing instances of cooperation and condemnation to diffuse accusations of impunity. By linking its discrete acts of opposition to these three themes, the government ultimately increased the effectiveness of its campaign against the Court. Our findings provide new evidence to analyze others instances of backlash against international courts and institutions.


The trend towards increased globalisation had a major impact on the branding strategies of international companies. Next to important economies of scale that a global brand can bring to the company, the advantage of benefiting from a unique worldwide image across markets is considered by managers as an important advantage to manage brands on a global basis. Companies have traditionally followed two types of strategies to create their global brands. One strategy has consisted of expanding successful local brands on international markets. The second strategy has consisted of creating global brands from the start. These brands are launched on a worldwide basis quasi at the same time.


Couder et al. (Nature, vol. 437 (7056), 2005, p. 208) discovered that droplets walking on a vibrating bath possess certain features previously thought to be exclusive to quantum systems. These millimetric droplets synchronize with their Faraday wavefield, creating a macroscopic pilot-wave system. In this paper we exploit the fact that the waves generated are nearly monochromatic and propose a hydrodynamic model capable of quantitatively capturing the interaction between bouncing drops and a variable topography. We show that our reduced model is able to reproduce some important experiments involving the drop–topography interaction, such as non-specular reflection and single-slit diffraction.


Can you please briefly discuss the state of geopolitics and international relations in the region? The geopolitical situation in East Asia is a state of some challenge. The reasons are as follows. Firstly, it is a region characterized fundamentally by many unresolved territorial disputes whether it's between Russia and Japan, North Korea and South Korea, China and Japan, China and Taiwan, some resolved matters in Southeast Asia such as between Thailand and Cambodia, and others. Then you have the big two: India and China and India and Pakistan. So unlike in Europe, the challenge to existing security is the non-resolution of longstanding border disputes. Secondly, a number of states in the region also possess nuclear weapons. This compounds the complexity. North Korea, China, India, and Pakistan are nuclear states. The third reason is that since WWII, the underpinning security foundation of Asia Pacific is the strategic role of the United States and its alliances, Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Thailand. But with the rise of China, we have a new dynamic in maritime East Asia. The growth of Chinese naval capabilities affects issues concerning Taiwan, China is developing a greater strategic footprint in East Asia due to its expanded military capabilities, and China has been rubbing up against the United States more and more. Additionally, China's long-term territorial dispute with Japan has recently become a major diplomatic dispute over the South China Sea. The challenge for the United States is to deal with these dynamics while respecting Chinese-Americans and ensuring peace. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What is the first step towards overcoming conflicts in the region, especially when many of them are grounded in historical tensions? Let's consider the Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute between Japan and China. There are many ways to respond to that. First is to do nothing and allow the conflict to drift. The problem with that is the conflict may escalate. The second approach is to apply external military diplomatic and political pressure either against Japan or against China to force a resolution short of military conflict. The problem with that is it is likely to create a harder reaction from either side than the reverse. Third is to persuade both sides to step back through private diplomacy to find a temporary means to put the island dispute into a different process for the long-term future. On a broader level, because the competing nationalism between Asia Pacific states is strong, it is wise to begin developing a pan-regional institution to curb the edge of some of the nationalism. As I have promoted in 2008, there should be an establishment of the Asia Pacific Community. The community would address political, economic, and security concerns with the objective being to build new confidence and security across East Asia. This is similar to how the Europeans did it step by step in the 1950s, finally forming the European Union. This turned countries that had been enemies in history into close partners, namely France and Germany. Similarly, the Asia Pacific Community would allow Asia Pacific countries to reduce perceptions of differences, construct public goods, enjoy the benefits of collective cooperation, and avoid seeing wars as a natural means of statecraft. What is the first step towards achieving the Asia Pacific Community you described? The first step has already been taken by ASEAN, which made up 10 of 18 countries in East Asia. The community was first formed in the 1960s. In the beginning, the thought of communist Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos working closely with the military dictatorship in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia appeared to be impossible due to the sharp differences in political ideology. …


The past century of research on bone physiology has established that the osteoclast is involved in the resorption of bone. The pre¬ sence of parathyroid hormone in the circulating body fluids causes the calcium concentration in these fluids to increase and there is an accompanying increase in osteoclastic activity in the bone tissue. The metabolic processes, which result in crystal removal from bone, are mediated by parathyroid activity and are necessary for maintenance of specific calcium levels in all land-dwelling vertebrates. Me study shows various hormonal and radiation effects on osteoclastic proliferation and the relationship between the activity of these cells and the maintenance of calcium concentrations in the rat. Bie proliferation of the osteoclasts was produced by the tech¬ nique of continuous peritoneal lavage and/or nephrectomy. Ihe experi¬ mental work consisted of: (l) altering the circulating calcium concentration by acidosis, peritoneal administration of KaP, or supplying exogenous calcium; (2) studying the effects of bypophysectamy, adrenalectomy, or estrogen administration to male rats; and (3) producing changes in bone by internal radiation with Ca^ or Pu^. Die results show that although wide variations are found in the osteoclast numbers produced by the various experimental conditions, the calcium levels are uniformly maintained. This would indicate either a constantly changing level of parathyroid activity, a change in activity of the osteoclasts present, or that the calcium concentra¬ tion in the body fluids can be maintained without the necessity of osteoclastic proliferation.


This paper describes a screen-oriented I/O facility, designed as a part of Rigel, a high-level database programming language. The novel features of the I/O facility, called Screen Rigel, include the use of formatting techniques to lay out text and data on the screen. Applications written in Screen Rigel can directly access the database using the database constructs already in Rigel. In addition, Screen Rigel has access to the data dictionary so the programmer can use the data descriptions in the database instead of respecifying them. These features make Screen Rigel programs simple to write and highly data and terminal independent.


The NAHMS Equine '98 Study was designed to provide both participants and the industry with information on the nation's equine population for education and research. The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) collaborated with NAHMS to select a statistically valid sample such that inferences can be made for all places with equids and for all equids in the participating states. Included in the study were 28 states that accounted for 78.2 percent of the U.S. horses and ponies and 78.0 percent of farms with horses and ponies. NASS interviewers collected data from 2,904 participants via questionnaire from March 16 through April 10, 1998 for Part II. Contact for this paper: Lindsey Garber


has made a brilliant journey of almost three decades and is still alive. In its evolution, it has become at the same time a concept, paradigm, theoretical framework, technical instrument, utopia, pretext, ideology and many other things, but above all it has become the word that contains a vague desire of the educated and privileged masses of the planet for a better world in which the human race rediscovers itself ideally with nature and with social justice. Beyond the ideological dimension, and its multiple and ungraspable interpretations, this essay focuses on sustainability as a scientific concept that springs from an interdisciplinary vision of reality, and that for many authors achieves the status of a new paradigm. The essay attempts to show how the scientific concept of sustainability in the vast majority of its versions, is not but a techno-economic expression that explicitly or implicitly is aimed at convincing the "decision makers", and that seeks to apply solutions merely technical. Using a political ecological approach, based on the theory of the three powers, the essay identifies and develops a definition of sustainability as a social power, which turns the concept into a promising political instrument of social and environmental emancipation, in a legitimate version of a "science with conscience".


An archaeological investigation was carried out by Oxford Archaeology East (OA East) along the proposed route of the Huntingdon West of Town Centre (WOTC) Link Road, which will connect Brampton Road and Ermine Street. The investigation which consisted of ten test pits was designed to create an archaeological deposit model of the proposed route.
The investigation has confirmed the presence of well preserved stratified archaeological deposits and features of the medieval to late medieval period close to the frontage with Ermine Street exposed in Test Pits 8 and 10, at the far northern end of the route. Very deep late 19th and early 20th century-quarrying is known at the southern end of the route, towards Brampton Road, where test pits 1-4, revealed heavily truncated deposits with no archaeological remain surviving. Test Pits 5-7 and 9, located within the Ferras Road industrial site revealed no archaeological features although there was some survival of partially truncated plough or garden soils, dating from the late post-medieval periods. This truncation was associated with the factory units and modern development on this part of the site.
Test Pits located at the northern end of the road corridor, fronting onto Ermine Street have revealed the survival of a deeply stratified medieval sequence of deposits dating from the early post-Conquest (11th century) to the 15th century. These remains are characterised by floors, pits, remains of timber structures and a single infant burial (28-36 weeks old). The natural subsoil was located in the side of a pit suggesting that the earliest soil deposit may also seal pre-medieval deposits of Roman or perhaps Saxon date. The medieval and later soils were sealed and cut by 19th century house footings, belonging to former buildings that fronted onto Ermine Street, and a current yard surface to a depth of 600mm below existing ground level.
A large finds assemblage was recovered, from the two test pits adjacent to the Ermine Street frontage. This comprises a work flint, prehistoric, Saxon, medieval and post-medieval pottery, medieval to late medieval building materials, slag and metal work, butchered animal bone, an inhumation and a early post-medieval finger ring. The bulk samples indicate general medieval domestic activity. Of particular note is the presence of a human foetus of 28-36 weeks old, that appeared to have been buried within a timber structure.
The evidence of the evaluation has confirmed the existence of ribbon development outside the medieval town, along Ermine Street, close to the possible site of the lost church of St Andrews and in particular demonstrates continuity of occupation/activity until the late medieval period.
These results combined with those of other local sites provide significant evidence for the origins, early development, and expansion of Huntingdon along the frontage to Ermine Street and are reminiscent of remains recorded elsewhere in Huntingdon, notably as part of the Huntingdon Town Centre Project. The remainder of the route had been truncated by 19th to mid 20th century industrial activity.


Santos Basin is one of the most promising basins of Brazil, recently it was discovered light crude oil of 30o API (American Petroleum Institute), this reservoir of high productivity is located below a salt layer of two thousand meters of thickness. Salt also known as an evaporite rock is found in many hydrocarbon basins around the world. Evaporites are sediments formed initially from minerals dissolved in water, the most common are: halite, gypsum, and anhydrite. These minerals are found in areas that passed by a geological time of high evaporation or precipitation. Evaporites in general have the structure of a dome, formed when a thick layer of salt found in the bottom begins to crossover the superior layers vertically, its process delays millions of years. The presence of saline structures takes into favorable conditions for creating a trap for hydrocarbons, increasing the success of probability in oil and gas exploration. In salt drilling the main problem is the closing of the well or known as squeeze or salt pinch, this phenomenon provokes the imprisonment of the drillstring also known as stuck pipe. Evaporite rock behavior is defined through a creep model. The creep model is the term used in the bibliography to define the tendency that a material has to move or to deform permanently to relieve stresses. Strains take place due to extended levels of stress; this stress is less than the rupture stress. In this matter it was chosen a numeric tool to simulate the behavior of salt drilling and the effects that this will have due to the overburden stress and drilling fluid pressure. This tool is Abaqus a program of finite elements in 3D (three dimensions). The objective of this work is to determine the effect of the fluency (creep) in salt during and after the drilling of the well, through numeric simulation. At first it is shown a validation of Abaqus finite element program comparing results from literature and then it is shown a simulation of a 3D vertical salt wellbore.


BACKGROUND AIMS
Barrett's epithelium measurement using widely accepted Prague C&M classification is highly operator dependent. We propose a novel methodology for measuring this risk score automatically. The method also enables quantification of the area of Barrett's epithelium (BEA) and islands which was not possible before. Furthermore, it allows 3D reconstruction of the esophageal surface enabling interactive 3D visualization. We aim to assess the accuracy of the proposed AI system both on phantom and endoscopic patient data.

METHODS
Utilizing advanced deep learning, a depth estimator network is used to predict endoscope camera distance from the gastric folds. By segmenting BEA and gastro-esophageal junction and projecting them to the estimated mm distances, we measure C&M scores including the BEA. The derived endoscopy AI system is tested on a purpose-built 3D printed esophagus phantom with varying BEA and on 194 high-definition videos from 131 patients with C&M values scored by expert endoscopists.

RESULTS
Endoscopic phantom video data demonstrated a 97.2 % accuracy with a marginal ± 0.9 mm average deviation for C&M and island measurements, while for BEA we achieved 98.4 % accuracy with only ± 0.4 cm2 average deviation compared to ground-truth. On patient data, the C&M measurements provided by our system concord with expert scores with marginal overall relative error (mean difference) of 8 % (3.6 mm) and 7 % (2.8 mm) for C and M scores, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The proposed methodology automatically extracts Prague C&M scores with high accuracy. Quantification and 3D-reconstruction of the entire Barrett's area provides new opportunities for risk stratification and assessment of therapy response.


This paper estimates a simple univariate model of expectation or opinion formation in continuous time adapting a 'canonical' stochastic model of collective opinion dynamics (Weidlich and Haag, 1983; Lux, 1995, 2007). This framework is applied to a selected data set of survey-based expectations from the rich EU business and consumer survey database for twelve European countries. The model parameters are estimated through maximum likelihood and numerical solution of the transient probability density functions for the resulting stochastic process. The model's performance is assessed with respect to its out-of-sample forecasting capacity relative to univariate time series models of the ARMA(p,q) and ARFIMA(p,d,q) varieties. These tests speak for a slight superiority of the canonical opinion dynamics model over the alternatives in the majority of cases.


Analytic procedures suitable for the study of human disease are scattered throughout the statistical and epidemiologic literature. Explanations of their properties are frequently presented in mathematical and theoretical language. This well-established text gives readers a clear understanding of the statistical methods that are widely used in epidemiologic research without depending on advanced mathematical or statistical theory. By applying these methods to actual data, Selvin reveals the strengths and weaknesses of each analytic approach. He combines techniques from the fields of statistics, biostatistics, demography and epidemiology to present a comprehensive overview that does not require computational details of the statistical techniques described.

For the Third Edition, Selvin took out some old material (e.g. the section on rarely used cross-over designs) and added new material (e.g. sections on frequently used contingency table analysis). Throughout the text he enriched existing discussions with new elements, including the analysis of multi-level categorical data and simple, intuitive arguments that exponential survival times cause the hazard function to be constant. He added a dozen new applied examples to illustrate such topics as the pitfalls of proportional mortality data, the analysis of matched pair categorical data, and the age-adjustment of mortality rates based on statistical models. The most important new feature is a chapter on Poisson regression analysis. This essential statistical tool permits the multivariable analysis of rates, probabilities and counts


• ABSTRACT Simplified, physical models for calculating infiltration and ventilation in a single zone, usually calculate the air flows from the two natural driving forces (i.e., wind and stack effects) separately, and then use a superposition law to combine them. Similarly superposition laws may be used to ascertain the effects of mechanical systems on infiltration. In this report a general superposition law will be derived for combining wind, stack, and mechanical ventilation systems together. The superposition law will be derived using general principles of leakage distribution and air flow and will not depend on the details of a particular infiltration model. In the process of generating this law, a quantity called leakage distribution angle is developed to quantify the separation of areas of the building envelope which are subject to infiltration and exfiltration. The general superposition law is com pared to other proposed superposition laws including those based on measured data, and the general law is shown to have strong explanatory power. Results are generated for typical buildings. The concept of fan addition efficiency is developed to determine the effectiveness of unbalanced (mechanical) ventilation systems at augmenting infiltration .


Febrile seizure is the most common neurological disorder in children and occurs in 2 to 5% of them. The possibility of febrile seizure recurrence induces a grave concern to parents. Prophylactic benzodiazepines are usually used to prevent the recurrence. However, previous studies showed no difference between the preventive effect of clobazam and diazepam. Thus, this study aimed to compare the effects of clobazam and diazepam in preventing febrile seizure recurrence in children. A double blind, randomized, controlled trial was conducted on 160 children from six months to 5 years of age with febrile seizure. Patients were matched for age, sex, underlying diseases and risk factors for recurrence and randomly assigned to two groups to receive either 0.33 mg/kg of oral diazepam, every 8 h for two days, or 1 mg/kg of oral clobazam every 12 h for 2 days. All patients were followed-up for the frequency and time of febrile seizure recurrence, and drug side effects for 12 months. Descriptive statistics were calculated and chi-square and t- tests were used to compare the two groups. The mean age of the children in the diazepam and clobazam groups were 29.61 ±13.1 and 29.7 ± 11.5 months, respectively (P = 0.755). In clobazam group, the frequencies of febrile seizure recurrence were 10%, 5% and 5% at 3, 6 and 12 months after the first attack. At the same time, the frequencies of the recurrence in the diazepam group were 23.8%, 17.5% and 15%, respectively (p < 0.05). The two groups were not significantly different in terms of the drug side effects (p = 0.194). The group treated with clobazam experienced less febrile seizure recurrence in the 12 months follow-up. Thus, clobazam can be used as an effective medication to prevent febrile seizure recurrence in children. Keywords: Clobazam, Diazepam, Febrile seizure, Recurrence


Objective: Leptin and adiponectin are the most important adipocytokines and recent studies showed that they may have role in the etiology of ischemic stroke. However, the effect of adipocytokines on stroke is not yet well understood, and related studies are confusing. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of serum leptin and adiponectin levels on patients with acute ischemic stroke who were admitted to hospital within 24 hours of stroke. Materials and Methods: A total of 59 patients with acute ischemic stroke and 24 healthy individuals similar in age and sex to the patients were enrolled in the study. The Rankin disability scale was performed in order to detect the severity of stroke. Levels of serum leptin and adiponectin were detected using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In addition, the outcomes of the patients were calculated through differences between the first day Rankin score and the 30th day Rankin score. Results were compared and the relation with prognosis was investigated. The correlation of leptin and adiponectin levels with stroke severity was analyzed. Results: Thirty-four male and 25 female patients were included in this study. Leptin levels of patients were higher than in the control group. Adiponectin levels did not differ between the patient and control groups. There was no correlation between serum adipocytokine levels and the modified Rankin scale. Conclusion: Serum leptin and adiponectin levels are not associated with the prognosis of ischemic stroke. Even though high levels of leptin may associate with ischemic stroke, this study was not able to show an association with stroke prognosis.


Background and Purpose— Stroke is a leading cause of disability, cognitive impairment, and death in the United States and accounts for 1.7% of national health expenditures. Because the population is aging and the risk of stroke more than doubles for each successive decade after the age of 55 years, these costs are anticipated to rise dramatically. The objective of this report was to project future annual costs of care for stroke from 2012 to 2030 and discuss potential cost reduction strategies. Methods and Results— The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association developed methodology to project the future costs of stroke-related care. Estimates excluded costs associated with other cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, coronary heart disease, and congestive heart failure). By 2030, 3.88% of the US population >18 years of age is projected to have had a stroke. Between 2012 and 2030, real (2010$) total direct annual stroke-related medical costs are expected to increase from $71.55 billion to $184.13 billion. Real indirect annual costs (attributable to lost productivity) are projected to rise from $33.65 billion to $56.54 billion over the same period. Overall, total annual costs of stroke are projected to increase to $240.67 billion by 2030, an increase of 129%. Conclusions— These projections suggest that the annual costs of stroke will increase substantially over the next 2 decades. Greater emphasis on implementing effective preventive, acute care, and rehabilitative services will have both medical and societal benefits. (Stroke. 2013;44:2361-2375.)


Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is obtained by the injection of one of a series of compounds that cross the blood-brain barrier and are distributed in the brain according to regional perfusion or to the density of a given receptor. The regional brain distribution of the injected compound can be measured because it is bound to a radioactive substance that emits photons. Emitted photons are collimated to facilitate determining their source and detected with sodium iodine crystal detectors. Finally, the techniques of CT are used to reconstruct the density of photons emitted by each volume element (voxel) of the brain. Less expensive and more widely distributed in nuclear medicine departments than positron emission tomography, SPECT is currently used mainly in the evaluation for epilepsy surgery, of cerebrovascular disease, and of the parkinsonian and other neurodegenerative syndromes. In this article, we discuss the technological aspects of brain SPECT and its clinical neurological applications.


Decentralization, which has begun and continues in Ukraine, has raised the living standards of local people to a new level by updating tools and methods of managing the sustainable development of such territories, updating a particularly balanced approach to planning and finding reliable sources. In this context, it is advisable to identify qualitatively the local area, which is not only a guarantee of their subjectivity and sustainability, but also the basis for the strategies forming for their socio-economic development, the realism and effectiveness of which is based on sustainable development management as well as administrative and financial capacity of communities. However, as practice has shown, most local areas, although willing to identify their unique features, but do not know how to do it, because the current legal field in Ukraine does not regulate the procedure and criteria for such identification. This article was an attempt to research the managerial possibilities of creating a positive image of the territory through the sustainable development and choice of appropriate assessment parameters – the criteria for identifying the amalgamated territorial communities of Ukraine as local territories. As a result of the research, a model list of such criteria is proposed, which is sufficiently universal to determine the unique and typical characteristics of any territories, and also contains a specific subsystem that allows reflecting the individual features of territories close to the armed conflict zone in the Eastern Ukraine. Using this list will allow communities to form one or more images of the local area: from formal (real) to imaginary and special. It will help improve the results of communities and territories identification, the foundation for the sustainable development with marketing measures to promote communities as well as the formation of management decisions for their strategic and sustainable development, which will be best adapted to the realities of the current armed conflict.
Keyword: sustainable development management, identification criteria, local territories, amalgamated territorial communities, military conflict


This report presents the results of cooling tests conducted on a calibrated GR-1535 Pratt and Whitney Wasp, Jr. Engine installed in a Vought X04U-2 airplane. The tests were made in the NACA full-scale tunnel at air speeds from 70 to 120 miles per hour, at engine speeds from 1,500 to 2,600 r.p.m., and at manifold pressures from 19 to 33 inches of mercury absolute. A Smith controllable propeller was used to facilitate obtaining the different combinations of engine speed, power, and manifold pressure.


The NOD/Lt mouse, a widely used model of human autoimmune IDDM, was used to establish the mode of β-cell death responsible for the development of IDDM. Apoptotic cells were present within the islets of Langerhans in hematoxylin and eosin–stained sections of pancreases harvested from 3- to 18-week-old female NOD/Lt mice (a range of 11–50 apoptotic cells per 100 islets). Immunohistochemical localization of insulin to the dying cells confirmed the β-cell origin of the apoptosis. Although some islets from age-matched control female NOD/scid mice contained apoptotic cells, virtually all of these cells were insulin negative as determined by immunohistochemistry. The small number of apoptotic insulin-positive cells identified in islets from NOD/scid mice (a range of 0–1 apoptotic cells per 100 islets) was not statistically significant, compared with the numbers recorded in NOD/Lt mice. All dying cells showed the morphological changes characteristic of cell death by apoptosis and stained positively with the TUNEL method for end-labeling DNA strand breaks. The maximum mean amount of β-cell apoptosis occurring in NOD/Lt mice was at week 15 (50 apoptotic cells per 100 islets), which coincided with the earliest onset of diabetes as determined by blood glucose, urine glucose, and pancreatic immunoreactive insulin measurements. While there was no peak incidence of β-cell apoptosis throughout the time period studied (weeks 3–18), the incidence of apoptosis decreased at week 18, by which time 50% of the animals had overt diabetes. The low levels of β-cell apoptosis observed is indicative of a gradual deletion of the β-cell population throughout the extensive preclinical period seen in this model and would be sufficient to account for the β-cell loss resulting in IDDM. Apoptosis of β-cells preceded the appearance of T-cells (CD3-positive by immunohistochemistry) in islets. Lymphocytic infiltration of islets (insulitis) was not detected until week 6. The results show that β-cell apoptosis is responsible for the development of IDDM in the NOD/Lt mouse and that its onset precedes lymphocytic infiltration of the islets.


This study is to investigate the accuracy of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy (SLNB) in predicting axillary lymph node metastasis and its application in breast conserving surgery for early breast cancer. The clinical data of SLNB of 448 patients were retrospectively analyzed. The patients with negative result of SLNB were not performed with Axillary Lymph Node Dissection (ALND) (experimental group), but treated with breast conserving surgery. The effect of experimental group was compared with traditional operation (control group). 448 patients with early breast cancer were examined with SLNB. The result showed that 439 cases were successfully detected, 9 cases were not detected, and 15 cases were detected with false negative SLNB among 448 patients with early breast cancer. Detection rate was 98.0% (439/448). Sensitivity was 92.8% (194/209). Accurate rate was 95.7% (332/347). False negative rate was 7.2% (15/209). The operation time, bleeding volume, extubation time, total flow rate and incidence of complication in the experimental group were less than those in the control group. The difference between the two groups was quite significant (P<0.05). And the breast cosmetic effect was good after operation. It is feasible for the patients with early breast cancer to be treated with breast conserving surgery combined with SLNB. The operation is simple, the incidence of complication is low, and the recovery is rapid.


Model surfaces of alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) and alkenyl succinic anhyd-ride (ASA) were prepared by casting and spin-coating methods. The surface chemical composition and surface topography were investigated by XPS, ellipsometry, AFM and contact angle studies. Spin-coating resulted in layered structure of AKD and ASA surfaces; the molecular layer thickness of both AKD and ASA was found to be ca. 2.5 nm. To achieve a covering surface layer, an average thickness of ca. 35 nm was required. The rms roughness of the created surfaces was 1 - 6 nm. Colloidal probe adhesion measurements were performed to verify that the roughness was in a range suitable for these measurements. The high reactivity of ASA with water generated stability problems with the ASA layers and it has to be recognized that surface force measurements with ASA in aqueous environment are very difficult, if not impossible. How-ever, surfaces created in this way were found to be useful in providing explanations of earlier ASA adhesion studies. The contact angle measurements on ASA layers also indicated that it might be possible to asses the hydrolysis rate issues through a set of similar measurements.


BACKGROUND
Primary Health Care (PHC) is well suited for management of low back pain (LBP). Prevalence of (chronic) LBP is suspected to be high among visitors of the South African primary care centers, but currently no information exists on prevalence or guideline adherence.

OBJECTIVES
To establish if treatment received for LBP in public PHC in the Cape Town area compares with international evidence based guidelines.

METHODS
Cluster randomization determined the 8 community health centres where the study took place. A measurement tool was developed and validated for this population. Descriptive analysis and logistic regression analytical techniques were applied.

RESULTS
489 participants (mean age: 44.8) were included in this study. Lifetime prevalence was 73.2% and 26.3% suffered from chronic low back pain (CLBP) . Pain medication was the only form of treatment received by 90% of the sample. Interventions received seemed to be unrelated to type of LBP (acute, sub acute and chronic). Referral to physiotherapy, education and advice to stay active were rarely done. Participants expressed low satisfaction with treatment.

CONCLUSIONS
Current management of LBP at PHC level appears to be ineffective and not conform guidelines. Further South African research should focus on barriers as well as measures to be taken for implementation of LBP guidelines.


We present a new algorithm for the solution of nonlinear least squares problems arising from parameterized imaging problems with diffuse optical tomographic data [D. Boas et al., IEEE Signal Process. Mag., 18 (2001), pp. 57-75]. The parameterization arises from the use of parametric level sets for regularization [M. E. Kilmer et al., Proc. SPIE, 5559 (2004), pp. 381-391], [A. Aghasi, M. E. Kilmer, and E. L. Miller, SIAM J. Imaging Sci., 4 (2011), pp. 618-650]. Such problems lead to Jacobians that have relatively few columns, a relatively modest number of rows, and are ill-conditioned. Moreover, such problems have function and Jacobian evaluations that are computationally expensive. Our optimization algorithm is appropriate for any inverse or imaging problem with those characteristics. In fact, we expect our algorithm to be effective for more general problems with ill-conditioned Jacobians. The algorithm aims to minimize the total number of function and Jacobian evaluations by analyzing which spectral components of the Gauss-Newton direction should be discarded or damped. The analysis considers for each component the reduction of the objective function and the contribution to the search direction, restricting the computed search direction to be within a trust region. The result is a truncated SVD-like approach to choosing the search direction. However, we do not necessarily discard components in order of decreasing singular value, and some components may be scaled to maintain fidelity to the trust region model. Our algorithm uses the Basic Trust Region Algorithm from [A. R. Conn, N. I. M. Gould, and Ph. L. Toint, Trust-Region Methods, SIAM, Philadelphia, 2000]. We prove that our algorithm is globally convergent to a critical point. Our numerical results show that the new algorithm generally outperforms competing methods applied to the DOT imaging problem with parametric level sets, and regularly does so by a significant factor.


The present paper describes five new species of candonid ostracods in two genera: Pseudocandona agostinhoi sp. nov., P. cillisi sp. nov., P. claudinae sp. nov., Candobrasilopsis elongata sp. nov. and C. acutis sp. nov. The three species of Pseudocandona belong to the caribbeana -group in this genus. With the two new species of Candobrasilopsis , this genus now comprises four species. Candobrasilopsis elongata sp. nov. is the most common of the five new species described here, while C. acutis sp. nov. and P. claudinae sp. nov. are known from one locality only, which is furthermore the same for both species: a small streamlet entering the Parana River. With the description of the present five species, the number of species known from the Parana River alluvial valley, including the Taquarucu lakes, now amounts to 49.


Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was developed in the late 1940s by Willard Libby, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in 1960. It is based on the fact that radiocarbon (14C) is constantly being created in the atmosphere by the interaction of cosmic rays with atmospheric nitrogen. The resulting 14C combines with atmospheric oxygen to form radioactive carbon dioxide, which is incorporated into plants by photosynthesis; animals then acquire 14C by eating the plants. When the animal or plant dies, it stops exchanging carbon with its environment, and from that point onwards the amount of 14C it contains begins to decrease as the 14C undergoes radioactive decay. Measuring the amount of 14C in a sample from a dead plant or animal such as a piece of wood or a fragment of bone provides information that can be used to calculate when the animal or plant died. The older a sample is, the less 14C there is to be detected, and because the half-life of 14C is about 5,730 years, the oldest dates that can be reliably measured by this process date to around 50,000 years ago, although special preparation methods occasionally permit accurate analysis of older samples. Research has been ongoing since the 1960s to determine what the proportion of 14C in the atmosphere has been over the past fifty thousand years. The resulting data, in the form of a calibration curve, is now used to convert a given measurement of radiocarbon in a sample into an estimate of the sample's calendar age. Other corrections must be made to account for the proportion of 14C in different types of organisms (fractionation), and the varying levels of 14C throughout the biosphere (reservoir effects). Additional complications come from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, and from the above-ground nuclear tests done in the 1950s and 1960s. Because the time it takes to convert biological materials to fossil fuels is substantially longer than the time it takes for its 14C to decay below detectable levels, fossil fuels contain almost no 14C, and as a result there was a noticeable drop in the proportion of 14Cin the atmosphere beginning in the late 19th century. Conversely, nuclear testing increased the amount of 14C in the atmosphere, which attained a maximum in about 1965 of almost twice what it had been before the testing began. Measurement of radiocarbon was originally done by beta-counting devices, which counted the amount of beta radiation emitted by decaying 14C atoms in a sample. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) has since become the method of choice; it counts 14C atoms in the sample directly, rather than just the few that happen to decay during the measurements; it can therefore be used with much smaller samples (as small as individual plant seeds), and gives results much more quickly. The development of radiocarbon dating has had a profound impact on archaeology: in addition to permitting more accurate dating within archaeological sites than previous methods, it allows comparison of dates of events across great distances, and it has allowed key transitions in prehistory to be dated, such as the end of the last ice age.


The silicon carbide (SiC) processing technology for 4 inch wafers, with 6 inch in the planning phase, has reached matureness of mass production. Field effect devices based on silicon carbide, SiC-FET, employing a catalytic metal such as porous iridium (Ir) as the gate material change the current-voltage characteristics due to gas interactions with the gate metallization. Several batches of sensor devices have improved the device performance and gas response characteristics and, together with important developments on packaging of the sensors, electronics and software, sensor systems are nowadays commercially available. Here we report on Ir-gated SiC-FETs for indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring and control applications. In particular, we focus on the highest sensitivity of such sensors to ultra-low concentrations of three hazardous volatile organic compounds, i.e., benzene, naphthalene, and formaldehyde, which are commonly found in indoor environments and are considered carcinogenic already at the low parts per billion concentration range.


Over the second part of the twentieth century inter-firm cooperations have become an increasingly popular phenomenon. These inter-firm cooperations often play out in the form of meta-organizations, which are organizations that are composed of the cooperating organizations. This thesis offers a new Law and Economics view on meta-organizations, contrasting meta-organizations with employment-based organizations in terms of the benefits and obligations involved. By integrating aspects from the fields of Law and Economics and Organization Science, the thesis contributes to the understanding of meta-organizations and their governance.

Meta-organizations can be characterized as a hybrid between market and hierarchy. Because of their hybrid form, meta-organizations are different from employment based organizations. This difference originates from their distinct membership compositions, and the associated rewards and obligations. The distinct nature of the obligations and rewards in meta-organizations impedes the applicability of governance mechanisms that are well established for employment-based organizations, such as the instruments building on formal authority or corporate governance. As a consequence, meta-organizations require specific governance mechanisms. This thesis presents two examples of such governance mechanisms. Third party decision making is viewed as an integral part of the meta-organization, implying that in this context arbitrators, for example, are a complement rather than a substitute to ordinary courts. Group selection may be relevant for cooperation within meta-organizations, with a larger pool of groups fostering cooperation through self-sorting of parties according to their willingness to cooperate, but also hindering cooperation due to coordination costs of finding a suitable group.

This thesis has built upon insights from both Law and Economics and Organization Science in order to shed new light on the governance of meta-organizations. The findings of this thesis, based on an integrated use of multiple disciplines, show the relevance of broadening the paradigm within Law and Economics beyond neoclassical economics.


We present one of the first estimates of the global distribution of CO2 surface fluxes using total column CO 2 measurements retrieved by the SRON-KIT RemoTeC algorithm from the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT). We derive optimized fluxes from June 2009 to December 2010. We estimate fluxes from surface CO 2 measurements to use as baselines for comparing GOSAT dataderived fluxes. Assimilating only GOSAT data, we can reproduce the observed CO 2 time series at surface and TCCON sites in the tropics and the northern extra-tropics. In contrast, in the southern extra-tropics GOSAT X CO2 leads to enhanced seasonal cycle amplitudes compared to independent measurements, and we identify it as the result of a land– sea bias in our GOSAT X CO2 retrievals. A bias correction in the form of a global offset between GOSAT land and sea pixels in a joint inversion of satellite and surface measurements of CO2 yields plausible global flux estimates which are more tightly constrained than in an inversion using surface CO2 data alone. We show that assimilating the biascorrected GOSAT data on top of surface CO 2 data (a) reduces the estimated global land sink of CO 2, and (b) shifts the terrestrial net uptake of carbon from the tropics to the extratropics. It is concluded that while GOSAT total column CO 2 provide useful constraints for source–sink inversions, small spatiotemporal biases – beyond what can be detected using current validation techniques – have serious consequences for optimized fluxes, even aggregated over continental scales.


Introduction: Primary health care in South Africa is predominantly provided by clinics and Community Health Centres (CHC). These primary care facilities are situated in the community to ensure accessibility to care. 1 As part of ensuring quality planning, implementation and transformation of the health system, good knowledge of which cases are prevalent at our primary health facilities is important. Thus the rationale for this study as to know what are the reasons our patients come to our facilities and which diagnoses are made by the attending health care workers based on these reasons.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the spectrum of clinical and non-clinical problems encountered and the diagnoses made at our primary care facilities in the North West province of South Africa.

Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional survey at 19 Clinics and 5 Community Health Centres in 4 sub-districts of the Ngaka Modiri Molemma District of NW Province, South Africa.The International Classification of Primary Care-Version 2 (ICPC-2) was used to code data on selected days over a 10-month period from patients presenting at the participating clinics and community health centres.

Results: In total, 5082 patient encounters were recorded of which 3438 (67.7%) were females while 1644 ( 32.3%) were males. The category with highest reasons for encounter (RFE) was the general and unspecific component with 16.5% (n = 1202), followed by the respiratory component at 14.7% (n= 1066) and the cardiovascular component at 12.1% (n=882). The most common diagnoses were in the general component at 16.5% (n= 981) followed by cardiovascular at 16.0% (n= 951) and the respiratory component at 14.5% (n= 865). The average numbers of RFE was 1.4 per encounter among females and 1.5 amongst males. Diagnoses per encounter averaged 1.2 among females and males. Younger people under 40 years of age 67% (n = 3409) and females 68% (n = 3438) made up the majority of encounters.

Conclusion: Of all the health care facilities surveyed, there were mixtures of RFEs and various diagnoses of mixture of disease components. There were very few patients that came to the facilities for administrative purposes. Majority of the attendees were women. Collection of hypertension medication was the most common reason for encounter (RFE) with uncomplicated hypertension being the commonest diagnoses while psychosocial and problems related to male genitals were the least RFEs. There were more RFEs presented by patients than the diagnoses made by the attending HCWs. The ICPC-2 is a very user friendly tool that can be successfully utilised to monitor encounters and diagnoses at any health care facilities.

Key words: Primary Health Care, Reasons for Encounter (RFE), Diagnoses, International Classification of primary Care (ICPC-2), South Africa


Background Higher prevalence of concurrent partnerships is one hypothesis for the severity of the HIV epidemic in the countries of Southern Africa. But measures of the prevalence of concurrency alone do not adequately capture the impact concurrency will have on transmission dynamics. The importance of overlap duration and coital exposure are examined here. Methodology/Principal Findings We conducted a comparison of data from three studies of sexual behavior carried out in the early 1990s in Uganda, Thailand and the US. Using cumulative concurrency measures, the three countries appeared somewhat similar. Over 50% of both Thai and Ugandan men reported a concurrency within the last three partnerships and over 20% reported a concurrency in the last year, the corresponding rates among US men were nearly 20% for Blacks and Hispanics, and about 10% for other racial/ethnic groups. Concurrency measures that were more sensitive to overlap duration, however, showed large differences. The point prevalence of concurrency on the day of interview was over 10% among Ugandan men compared to 1% for Thai men. Ugandan concurrencies were much longer duration – a median of about two years – than either the Thai (1 day) or US concurrencies (4–9 months across all groups), and involved 5–10 times more coital risk exposure with the less frequent partner. In the US, Blacks and Hispanics reported higher prevalence, longer duration and greater coital exposure than Whites, but were lower than Ugandans on nearly every measure. Together, the differences in the prevalence, duration and coital exposure of concurrent partnerships observed align with the HIV prevalence differentials seen in these populations at the time the data were collected. Conclusions/Significance There were substantial variations in the patterns of concurrent partnerships within and between populations. More long-term overlapping partnerships, with regular coital exposure, were found in populations with greater HIV epidemic severity.


The near-failure on September 16, 2008, of American International Group (AIG) was an iconic moment in the financial crisis. Two large bets on real estate made with funding vulnerable to bank-run-like dynamics pushed AIG to the brink of bankruptcy. AIG used securities lending to transform insurance company assets into residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations, ultimately losing at least $21 billion and threatening the solvency of the life insurance companies. AIG also sold insurance on multisector collateralized debt obligations, backed by real estate assets, ultimately losing more than $30 billion. These activities were apparently motivated by a belief that AIG's real estate bets would not suffer defaults and were "money-good." We find that these securities have in fact suffered write-downs and that the stark "money-good" claim can be rejected. Ultimately, both liquidity and solvency were issues for AIG.


OBJECTIVES
Assessment of the predictive ability of the Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE) domains (orientation to time, orientation to place, registration, attention and calculation, recall, language, and visual construction) for falls in Mexican American elders tested the hypothesis that low MMSE domain scores are related to an increased number of falls.

DESIGN
Data were obtained from the 1998-99 re-survey (Wave 3) Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (H-EPESE), a population-based study of older Mexican Americans residing in the southwestern United States.

METHODOLOGY
We used a retrospective case control study design; 926 subjects who were aged > or = 77 years at Wave 3 were examined. MMSE scores were utilized to predict falls two years later. Measurements included sociodemographic characteristics, MMSE scores, activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and fall rates.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Relationships between MMSE domain scores and falls.

RESULTS
Of the 681 subjects examined two years later, 35.7% experienced at least one fall. Subjects with errors on orientation to place (OR = 2.01) and visual construction (OR = 1.9) were most likely to fall.

CONCLUSIONS
MMSE domains with poor scores and most predictive of falls in Mexican Americans elders were orientation to place and visual construction. Further evaluation for confusion level and visual ability in elders presenting with dysfunction on these domains may lead to a reduction of falls in this ethnic group.


Integration of data from multiple omics techniques is becoming increasingly important in biomedical research. Due to non-uniformity and technical limitations in omics platforms, such integrative analyses on multiple omics, which we refer to as views, involve learning from incomplete observations with various view-missing patterns. This is challenging because i) complex interactions within and across observed views need to be properly addressed for optimal predictive power and ii) observations with various view-missing patterns need to be flexibly integrated. To address such challenges, we propose a deep variational information bottleneck (IB) approach for incomplete multi-view observations. Our method applies the IB framework on marginal and joint representations of the observed views to focus on intra-view and inter-view interactions that are relevant for the target. Most importantly, by modeling the joint representations as a product of marginal representations, we can efficiently learn from observed views with various view-missing patterns. Experiments on real-world datasets show that our method consistently achieves gain from data integration and outperforms state-of-the-art benchmarks.


Pharmaceutical companies experience new challenges in the face of steadily increasing costs for drug production coupled with a decrease in the number of approved drugs. While the pharmaceutical industry remains tentative in Sweden, it is extensively growing in China. Chinese businesses are now on the lookout for foreign experience and know-how in production and R&D. This provides an opportunity for both parties to engage in strategic alliances. Nevertheless, strategic alliances present risks that partner firms need to be aware of. This study investigates how Swedish pharmaceuticals can manage perceived risks when cooperating with Chinese pharmaceutical firms. Through academic journals, two main mechanisms were identified as being of particular influence in the management of perceived risk: trust and control. A qualitative study of nine interviews was conducted in order to determine how Swedish pharmaceutical companies manage risk when engaging in strategic alliances with Chinese partners. Six men and women employed in three different pharmaceutical companies were interviewed along with three experts from the industry. The empirical investigation results in a description of a sequence of trust-enhancing activities and control mechanisms. Network and communication are found to be essential trust-enhancing activities, enabled by a Chinese employee. The study conclusively determines that a Chinese connector is the key in the management of perceived risk.


AIM
Burr-hole craniostomy is the most efficient and safe choice for surgical drainage of chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH). Although the twist-drill drainage is also relatively safe and time-saving, it carries the risk of inadequate drainage, brain penetration and hematoma formation. Our modified technique helps in avoiding bleeding and brain penetration.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The preferred sites for twist drill were the most curved parts on the cranium. Normal drilling at about 90 degree angle was done on the most curved surfaces while it was at about 60 degree angles on flat surface. This angled drilling and the curved guide wire (hooked in the distal blind end of infant feeding tube), helped to guide infant feeding tube in the hematoma cavity. Dura matter was coagulated using insulated wire.

RESULTS
There was no procedure related hematoma, brain penetration and mortality in any of the 50 patients managed by the modified technique. Infant feeding tube was properly positioned in all the cases. Burr hole evacuation was done in 7 cases (14%) due to inadequate evacuation of the hematoma after TDC.

CONCLUSION
Our modified technique of twist drill drainage is inexpensive, simple, safe and effective alternative technique in the treatment of CSDH.


This paper details a case study of using Pinterest as an educational resource in an introductory anthropology course. Its use was evaluated through the data provided by the platform itself and focus groups. This evaluation found that Pinterest was a popular and useful tool for developing curated multimedia resources to support students' learning. The focus group findings suggested that online resources were shared by students across a variety of social networks, including but not limited to Pinterest. These resources were shared and used beyond the classroom, both physically in locations outside, but also with friends and family that were not part of the classroom. The opportunities for developing critical thinking through the use of tools such as Pinterest are explored.


The hormones insulin and leptin have been demonstrated to act in the central nervous system (CNS) as regulators of energy homeostasis at medial hypothalamic sites. In a previous review, we described new research demonstrating that, in addition to these direct homeostatic actions at the hypothalamus, CNS circuitry that subserves reward and motivation is also a direct and an indirect target for insulin and leptin action. Specifically, insulin and leptin can decrease food reward behaviors and modulate the function of neurotransmitter systems and neural circuitry that mediate food reward, i.e., midbrain dopamine and opioidergic pathways. Here we summarize new behavioral, systems, and cellular evidence in support of this hypothesis and in the context of research into the homeostatic roles of both hormones in the CNS. We discuss some current issues in the field that should provide additional insight into this hypothetical model. The understanding of neuroendocrine modulation of food reward, as well as food reward modulation by diet and obesity, may point to new directions for therapeutic approaches to overeating or eating disorders.


Existing main-memory hash join algorithms for multi-core can be classified into two camps. Hardware-oblivious hash join variants do not depend on hardware-specific parameters. Rather, they consider qualitative characteristics of modern hardware and are expected to achieve good performance on any technologically similar platform. The assumption behind these algorithms is that hardware is now good enough at hiding its own limitations-through automatic hardware prefetching, out-of-order execution, or simultaneous multi-threading (SMT)-to make hardware-oblivious algorithms competitive without the overhead of carefully tuning to the underlying hardware. Hardware-conscious implementations, such as (parallel) radix join, aim to maximally exploit a given architecture by tuning the algorithm parameters (e.g., hash table sizes) to the particular features of the architecture. The assumption here is that explicit parameter tuning yields enough performance advantages to warrant the effort required. This paper compares the two approaches under a wide range of workloads (relative table sizes, tuple sizes, effects of sorted data, etc.) and configuration parameters (VM page sizes, number of threads, number of cores, SMT, SIMD, prefetching, etc.). The results show that hardware-conscious algorithms generally outperform hardware-oblivious ones. However, on specific workloads and special architectures with aggressive simultaneous multi-threading, hardware-oblivious algorithms are competitive. The main conclusion of the paper is that, in existing multi-core architectures, it is still important to carefully tailor algorithms to the underlying hardware to get the necessary performance. But processor developments may require to revisit this conclusion in the future.


This thesis makes the theoretical assumption that literary analysis will consider the interraction between the reader, the writer and the texts. The Introduction explains the significance of Sidaoru'ang and her short story writing in the context of contemporary Thai literature and of academic studies of the literature of South East Asia. It discusses some problems in addressing the various audiences who may find this work of interest. In addition it outlines the theoretical approach taken in this study. Chapter One discusses Sidaoru'ang's own personal background, defining the significant events and influences which led her to begin writing short stories in the 1970s. Chapter Two provides synopses and an analysis of Sidaoru'ang's short stories published in the initial stage of her literary career, between 1975 and 1976. It sets these works in the context of her own development as a writer and within the troubled political climate in which she was working. Chapter Three examines the effects of the aftermath of October 6, 1976 on Sidaoru'ang's fiction. It goes on to discuss the broadening range of themes with which Sidaoru'ang began to deal as her interests moved away from political activism and towards the family and motherhood. Chapter Four attests to a much stronger identity in Sidaoru'ang herself, both resulting from, and conveyed in, her writing. In this period of her career, from 1983-1986, her major concern lies with themes of isolation and incarceration, silencing and suppression, sexual inequality and madness. Chapter Five concentrates largely upon the highly experimental form of Sidaoru'ang's writing during the 1987-1990 period of her work. As a result of having consolidated her literary career Sidaoru'ang's stories demonstrate a more playful and experimental approach to themes which have interested her since the 1980s. In conclusion this thesis asserts that the relationship between Sidaoru'ang's own identity and her short story writing is one of complex interdependence. The act of writing serves the purpose of allowing Sidoaru'ang to assert herself in an environment very different from the one in which she originated; and her short stories themselves are often investigations of highly personal issues which contribute to the consolidation of her identity. Appendices include a detailed list of the publishing history of each of Sidaoru'ang's short stories, a list of literary awards made to Sidaoru'ang, and translations into English of four of her texts, one from each period of her work delineated in Chapters Two-Five.


Russia's hot political season of 2011-2012 has raised a set of important questions: Who can be trusted in Russian politics? Can the identities of public figures be taken for granted? To what extent are Russian politicians and influential pundits sincere in their public statements? How much can a politician vacillate on key issues and still remain credible? In a period of political volatility, when even short-term outcomes are unclear and the political landscape evolves rapidly, being outspoken is a risky strategy that offers no guarantee of success. Clear-cut statements or commitments can backfire; consistency is not rewarded. At the same time, because of the public's widespread disillusionment and short political memory, there is little cost, political or otherwise, associated with changing one's position or conveying contradictory messages to different audiences. Driven by short-term goals, a politician may find deception to be the most effective tactic to address unpleasant questions or suspicions. This policy memo analyzes the phenomenon of "fake" or "faking" politicians during the recent period of political flux in Russia. It offers a categorization of fake actors in Russian politics and explores whether faking can be effective as a tactic in the short term and sustainable as a political strategy in the longer term.


The current research introduces the concept of psychological ownership of borrowed money, a construct that represents how much consumers feel that borrowed money is their own. The authors observe both individual-level and contextual-level variation in the degree to which consumers feel psychological ownership of borrowed money, and variation on this dimension predicts willingness to borrow money for discretionary purchases. At an individual level, psychological ownership of borrowed money is distinct from other individual factors such as debt aversion, financial literacy, income, intertemporal discounting, materialism, propensity to plan, self-control, spare money, and tightwad–spendthrift tendencies, and it predicts willingness to borrow above and beyond these factors. At a contextual level, the authors document systematic differences in psychological ownership between different debt types. They show that these differences in psychological ownership manifest in consumers' online search behavior and explain consumers' differential interest in borrowing across debt types. Finally, the authors demonstrate that psychological ownership of borrowed money is malleable, such that framing debt using language lower in psychological ownership can reduce consumers' propensity to borrow.


ABSTRACT This paper seeks to conceptually explore the use of social media platforms such as Twitter as a microblog to share Covid-19 prescribed knowledge through developing a conceptual framework of university ecosystem knowledge regime. The framework outlines three ecosystem artefacts; teaching, assessment, and student experience and what knowledge-sharing strategies that may help representing these artefacts to the wider community of the ecosystem. The paper provides valuable practical insight to UK Universities' practitioners, students, and concerned stakeholders on the use of Twitter microblogs to share or retrieve knowledge required to cope with the current Covid-19 transition. The paper sheds light on the unique characteristics of knowledge sharing by UK Universities through Twitter in relation to the current Covid-19 pandemic. The paper also highlights the unconventional use of Twitter by UK Universities to share Covid-19 prescribed knowledge with its stakeholders.


Discrepancies between sleep timing on workdays and weekends, also known as social jetlag (SJL), affect the majority of the population and have been found to be associated with increased health risk and health-impairing behaviors. In this study, we explored the relationship between SJL and academic performance in a sample of undergraduates of the Semmelweis University. We assessed SJL and other sleep-related parameters with the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) (n = 753). Academic performance was measured by the average grade based on weekly test results as well as scores acquired on the final test (n = 247). The average mid-sleep point on free days in the Hungarian sample fits well the regression line plotted for longitudes within the Central European Time Zone and chronotypes, confirming that sunlight has a major impact on chronotype. Multivariate analysis showed negative effect of SJL on the weekly average grade (p = 0.028, n = 247) during the lecture term with its highly regular teaching schedules, while this association disappeared in the exam period (p = 0.871, n = 247) when students had no scheduled obligations (lower SJL). We also analyzed the relationship between the time of the weekly tests and academic performance and found that students with later sleep times on free days achieved worse in the morning (p = 0.017, n = 129), while the inverse tendency was observed for the afternoon test-takers (p = 0.10, n = 118). We did not find significant association between academic performance and sleep duration or sleep debt on work days. Our data suggest that circadian misalignment can have a significant negative effect on academic performance. One possible reason for this misalignment is socially enforced sleep times.


Research on mobile robot navigation has produced two major paradigms for mapping indoor environments: grid-based and topological. While grid-based methods produce accurate metric maps, their complexity often prohibits efficient planning and problem solving in large-scale indoor environments. Topological maps, on the other hand, can be used much more efficiently, yet accurate and consistent topological maps are considerably difficult to learn in large-scale environments. This paper describes an approach that integrates both paradigms: grid-based and topological. Grid-based maps are learned using artificial neural networks and Bayesian integration. Topological maps are generated on top of the grid-based maps, by partitioning the latter into coherent regions. By combining both paradigms-grid-based and topological-, the approach presented here gains the best of both worlds: accuracy/consistency and efficiency. The paper gives results for autonomously operating a mobile robot equipped with sonar sensors in populated multi-room environments.


Employers' use of credit reports to evaluate prospective job applicants has generated considerable scrutiny in the popular press and academic literature, but few proposals for reform. This Article explores three possible ways of reducing the risk of financial history discrimination in the employment setting. First, imposing inquiry limits on employers' use of credit reports, a policy recently adopted or under consideration in the majority of states, is unlikely to be effective, since states' inquiry limits are currently narrowly drafted and therefore advance few anti-discriminatory objectives. In addition, inquiry limits cannot prevent self-interested individuals from voluntarily revealing their credit histories and other financial history information, a shortcoming that triggers the game-theoretic " unraveling " process. Second, most attempts to improve consumers' participatory role in employers' evaluation processes can only superficially combat financial history discrimination, since these efforts are likely to produce unreliable information, and they may have a regressive impact. Given the limitations of these options, the Article considers to what extent a third approach—encouraging employers to use an empirically derived, statistically sound evaluation method to scrutinize applicants— can combat discrimination. Although an empirical method—an adaptation of credit scoring methodologies for use by employers—is imperfect, it can help to reduce the likelihood of implicit bias and stereotyping that is inherent in employers' current subjective analyses of the raw data in credit reports. While antidiscrimination initiatives have traditionally focused on withholding information from decision-makers, where suppression of information is impracticable, the contrary approach may be more likely to advance sustained reform efforts.


In this paper, we propose a method for automatic enhancement and identification of partial curvilinear structures. The accurate identification of line structures in geophysical images plays an important role in geophysical interpretation and the detection of subsurface structures. The method was applied on geophysical images in an effort to recognize the linear patterns of subsurface architectural structures that exist in archaeological sites. To our knowledge, the problem of identification of curvilinear structures in geophysical images for archaeological sites is faced for the first time. The method efficiently combines a rotation- and scale-invariant filter and a pixel-labeling method, providing a robust enhancement and detection of mostly line structures in 2-D grayscale images, respectively. Experimental results on real and synthetic images and comparison with existing methods in the literature indicated the reliable performance of the proposed scheme.


Civil society and empowerment have become buzz words in neoliberal development discourse. Yet many unanswered questions remain on the actual nature and configuration assumed by civil society in specific contexts. Typically, while neoliberals perceive civil-society organisations as vital intermediary channels for the successful implementation of desired economic and political reforms, they are inclined to blame the current resurgence of the politics of belonging for the poor record of these reforms in Africa and elsewhere. This book rejects such notions and argues that the relationship between civil society and the politics of belonging is more complex in Africa than western donors and scholars are willing to admit. Konings argues that ethno-regional associations and movements are even more significant constituents of civil society in Africa than the conventional civil-society organisations that are often uncritically imposed or endorsed. He convincingly shows how the politics of belonging, so pervasive in Cameroon, and indeed much of Africa, during the current neoliberal economic and political reforms, has tended to penetrate the entire range of associational life. This calls for a critical re-appraisal of prevalent notions and assumptions about civil society in the interest of African reality. Hence the importance of this book!


This article represents the first attempt to examine the effects of political scandals via meta-analysis. Seventy-eight studies, collectively including more than 54,000 participants, were identified and examined. A quantitative analysis revealed that the number of studies has steadily increased. Research predominantly stems from North America and Europe, and more than two-thirds of studies are based on student samples. Publication outlets are mostly political science and psychology journals, whereas communication journals play only a minor role. A qualitative analysis shows that two central outcome variables are frequently studied (evaluation of politicians/electoral consequences). Overall, studies generally reveal negative evaluative effects for politicians. However, five central moderators (candidate characteristics, behaviors, prior attitudes, context, and scandal type) significantly influence scandal effects. It is also apparent that research has largely neglected to precisely conceptualize the major independent variable in scandal-effects studies: news coverage and its intensity. Central research gaps are identified, and avenues for future research are discussed.


This is a thesis about Silius Italicus, a Latin poet, who wrote his epic poem, the Punica, during the reign of the emperor Domitian. Silius wrote his epic poem in the period after Vergil's Aeneid, and, like his literary contemporaries, was forced to contend with his poetic forebears in order to insert his own poem into the Latin epic tradition. Thus, the poet looks back to Vergil, his principal poetic predecessor, through his use of allusion, metaphor, and other poetic imagery. The poem is also historical in nature, covering the period leading up to the Second Punic War, and Silius necessarily looks back to his historical predecessors, notably the Latin historian Livy. Silius creates, within the Punica, an interesting allusive technique that allows for a literary dialogue between the historical and epic genres, thus guaranteeing his position as a successor to both Vergil and Livy.


Scientific abstract
In this dissertation we perform a series of study concerning dualities and integrability properties underlying the AdS3/CFT2 and AdS2/CFT1 correspondences. These are particularly interesting because symmetry do not constrain the dynamics of AdS3 and AdS3 superstrings in the same way as in the higher dimensional instances of AdS/CFT, allowing for novel phenomena such as the presence of massless worldsheet modes or non-coset fermions. We will investigate the self-duality of Green–Schwarz supercoset sigma models on AdSd⇥Sd⇥Sd (d = 2, 3), whose isometry supergroups are (d − 1) copies of the exceptional Lie supergroup D(2, 1; ↵). Our main finding is that additional complex T-dualities along one of the spheres Sd are needed to map the superstring action to itself. Importantly, this proves dual superconformal symmetry of their CFT duals via AdS/CFT. Dual superconformal symmetry is strictly related to integrability, which we study in depth for both AdS3 and AdS2 superstrings. Indeed, we will derive the exact S-matrix conjectured to be related to the massive modes of type IIB AdS2 ⇥ S2 ⇥ T6 superstrings. This S-matrix
is psuc(1|1) invariant and it was found to be in perfect agreement with the tree-level result following from string perturbation theory. We also unveil the Yangian algebra ensuring the integrability of the AdS2⇥S2⇥T6 superstring
in the planar limit, Y[psu(1|1)c], as well as its secret symmetries. By using the RTT realisation, we provide two di↵erent representations of the Hopf algebra: one is reminiscent of the Yangian underlying AdS5/CFT4, but it is not of evaluation type. The other representation, obtained
from co-commutativity, is instead of evaluation type.
We explore two limits of the S-matrix for AdS2/CFT1: one is the classical r-matrix, which is the first non-trivial order in the 1/g expansion, with g being the e↵ective tension in the AdS2 ⇥ S2 ⇥ T6 superstring action. In this limit, corresponding to classical strings, we found
that secret symmetries not only are present, but also essential to formulate the classical rmatrix in a universal, representation independent form. On the other hand, the limit g ! 0, corresponding to the weakly coupled CFT1, shows that the dual integrable model is described
by an e↵ective theory of free fermions on a periodic spin-chain if g = 0, while one obtains a non-trivial spin chain of XYZ type if g 6= 0.
Finally, we investigate Yangian and secret symmetries for AdS3 type IIB superstring backgrounds, verifying the persistence of such structures in AdS3/CFT2. Especially, we find that the antipode map, related to crossing symmetry, exchanges in a non-trivial way left and right generators of Y[psu(1|1)2c], the Yangian underlying the integrability of AdS3 superstrings.
Keywords and AMS Classification Codes:


This paper reports the results of a somewhat exploratory investigation of the chemical composition of cores taken from the sediments of a number of lakes of the English Lake District. All the lakes studied are of glacial, and therefore presumably of synchronous, origin. The depth of post-glacial sediment varies from lake to lake but is normally between 4 and 6 m. This material, with which the paper is mainly concerned, was laid down during the biologically active phase following the end of glaciation approximately 10000 years ago. Below the organic muds of the post-glacial period, the sediment consists of glacial clays, usually varved, which pass downward into silty clays and sands the total depth of which is at present unknown. The variation in composition of the sediments with depth and therefore with time presents a pattern of change which is observed to recur in most of the lake sediments studied. This pattern of change is most strikingly seen in the variation of carbon content with depth, but related sequences of change may be observed in the distribution of major inorganic components, for example sodium, potassium and magnesium. The observed changes in composition of the sediment can most easily be explained if the sediment is regarded as a sequence of soils derived from the drainage areas of the lakes. The composition of the residues eventually reaching the lake bed can then be accounted for in terms of the rate of erosion of the drainage basin rather than in terms of changing rates of organic productivity either on the drainage basin or in the lake waters. The composition of the sediments does not appear to be greatly influenced by events within the lakes themselves except in the case of elements which may migrate more readily under the reducing conditions which may arise in soils and in lake muds. Examples of these are iron and manganese, and the distribution of these elements in the sediment may be used to deduce the redox conditions in the soils of the drainage basin in past times, or in the muds and hypolimnetic waters of the lakes themselves. Biological activity within the lake waters may also influence significantly the distribution in the sediments of distinctly biophile elements, of which phosphorus and sulphur are examples. Even in the case of phosphorus, however, it seems likely that co-precipitation reactions may have more influence on deposition efficiency than does incorporation into biological tissues. The cause of the apparently synchronous changes in erosion intensity recorded in the sediments of the various lakes remains in doubt. Some evidence derived from the halogen and boron content of the sediments is presented which may suggest at least a synchronism between major climatic changes and the variations in erosional activity. Since halogens and perhaps boron are largely derived from oceanic air-streams, the rate of deposition of these elements may be expected to be related to the 'oceanicity' of the climate at the time of deposition of the sediment. A direct relationship is observed between the deduced intensity of erosional activity and the halogen and boron content of the sediment. The meaning of this relationship is rendered somewhat ambiguous however by consideration of possible changes in soil ionic balance attributable to progressive loss by leaching of soil-derived anions with the passage of time. Although the gross composition of the sediment is largely dependent on conditions in the drainage system rather than in the lake waters, some deductions may be made which indicate the availability of nutrients dissolved in the waters of the lakes in past times. If material is rapidly removed from the drainage basin by erosion, nutrient elements are lost to the sediment locked in the lattice of unleached mineral particles. If however the rate of erosive removal of soil from the land surface is reduced, the mineral particles are held in the soil column in a position which allows more efficient leaching of soluble components, which then become available to the living populations of the lake.


: The article presents a study about juvenile delinquency in Switzerland and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study found that delinquency rates are significantly higher among youth in Switzerland than in Bosnia and Herzegovina, except for group fights, robbery and assault. It revealed that violent victim-ization rates are relatively higher in Bosnia and Herzegovina than in Switzerland. The authors believe that these findings show the importance of focusing more on the conditions of successful integration in the host country and less on cultural and ethnic aspects. Tables that depict the results of the study are also presented.


Rugged prose and a rare attention to telling detail have long distinguished Pete Hamill's unique brand of journalism and his universally well received fiction. Twenty years after his last drink, he examines the years he spent as a full-time member of the drinking culture. The result is A Drinking Life, a stirring and exhilarating memoir float is his most personal writing to date. The eldest son of Irish immigrants, Hamill learned from his Brooklyn upbringing during the Depression and World War II that drinking was an essential part of being a man; he only had to accompany his father up the street to the warm, amber-colored world of Gallagher's bar to see that drinking was what men did. It played a crucial role in mourning the death of relatives or the loss of a job, in celebrations of all kinds, even in religion. In the navy and the world of newspapers, he learned that bonds of friendship, romance, and professional camaraderie were sealed with drink. It was later that he discovered that drink had the power to destroy those very bonds and corrode any writer's most valuable tools: clarity, consciousness, memory. It was almost too late when he left drinking behind forever. Neither sentimental nor self-righteous, this is a seasoned writer's vivid portrait of the first four decades of his life and the slow, steady way that alcohol became an essential part of that life. Along the way, he summons the mood of a time and a place gone forever, with the bittersweet fondness of a lifetime New Yorker. It is his best work yet.


The relationship between omnidirectional ambient noise measurements and wind speed has been investigated at several shallow‐water sites. For the sites included in this analysis, water depths varied from about 80 to over 1200 m. Both curve fitting and conditional sampling have been used to reveal the correlation between noise level and wind speed. Other factors that played a role in determining the observed wind speed dependence were the local shipping density and transmission loss characteristics. For the sites included in this analysis, estimated shipping densities varied from almost zero to as high as 27 ships per square degree. The discussion will address the effects of water depth, shipping density, and transmission loss at each site.


Congress has proposed every one of the twenty-seven amendments to the United States Constitution. Even though the First Congress proposed a number of amendments that limited congressional powers or privileges (namely the Bill of Rights and the amendment to limit congressional pay raises), subsequent Congresses have shown little interest in following this example. They have proposed amendments that significantly expand congressional power (such as the Sixteenth Amendment that authorized a federal income tax) but have proposed none that significantly limit congressional power or prerogatives. Recent Congresses, for example, have declined to propose amendments to require a balanced budget or impose term limits. This would have come as no surprise to the Framers, who understood that Congress could not be expected to provide a check on itself. The system they designed not only divided powers within the federal government, but also between the federal and state governments to provide a "double security" for the rights of the people. As James Madison explained in The Federalist No. 51, under this system "[t]he different governments will control each other." For this reason they included in Article V of the Constitution an alternative method for proposing constitutional amendments, one that did not require congressional acquiescence. The convention method of amendment gave the states a constitutional road to bypass Congress when it was necessary to "erect barriers against the encroachments of the national authority," as Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist No. 85. However, uncertainties and fears regarding the convention method have prevented its successful use to propose constitutional amendments. In particular, many have feared that an Article V Convention might stray far from the concerns that caused the states to call for it. The states might desire to set forth on the road to a specific constitutional reform, but a so-called "runaway convention," it is suggested, could take an unforeseen and dangerous detour from the intended path, proposing radical or ill-considered amendments to the Constitution. In this Article, I will evaluate the risks of a runaway convention in light of the constitutional text, structure, and purpose of Article V and will suggest why these risks are much smaller than often suggested. I will also suggest additional safeguards to minimize any concerns regarding a runaway convention. In combination with the inherent protections of Article V, such safeguards can ensure that the constitutional road to reform will be clearly defined and well-marked, and may be traveled safely by the states when they must act to impose limitations on a "runaway Congress."Professor Mary Margaret Penrose has written a response to this article See Conventional Wisdom: Acknowledging Uncertainty in the Unknown,which can be found on SSRN at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1905548.


12 Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication © Copyright: All rights reserved. Retrieval Number: 100.1/ijsce.F35150510521 DOI: 10.35940/ijsce.F3515.0710621 Journal Website: www.ijsce.org Abstract: As the machine learning algorithms evolve, there is a growing need of how to train the algorithm effectively for the large data with available resources in practically less time. The paper presents an idea of developing an effective model that focuses on the implementation of sequential sensitivity analysis and randomized training approach which can be one solution to this growing need. Many researchers focused on the implementation of sensitivity analysis to eliminate the insignificant features ands reduce the complexity in data selection. These sensitivity analysis methods relatively take a large time for validation through modeling and hence found impractical for large data. On the other hand, the randomized training approach was found to be the most popular approach for training the data but there is a very brief explanation available in research articles on how this training method is meaningful in getting higher accuracy. The current work focuses on the use of sequential sensitivity analysis and randomized training in an artificial neural network (ANN) for high dimensionality thermal power plant data. The sequential sensitivity analysis (SSA) technique includes the use of correlation analysis (CA), Analysis of variance (ANOVA), Akaike information criterion (AIC) in a sequential manner to reduce the validation time for all possible feature combinations. Only selected combinations are then tested against different training methods such as downward extrapolation, upward extrapolation, interpolation and randomized training in ANN. The paper also focuses on suggesting the significance of training with randomized training with comparison-based qualitative reasoning. The statistical parameters, mean square error (RMSE), Mean absolute relative difference (MARD) and R Square (R^2)were accessed for validation purposes. The research work mainly useful in the field of Ecommerce, Finance, industry and in facilities where large data is generated.


Manufactured sand differs from natural sea and river dredged sand in its physical and mineralogical properties. These can be both beneficial and detrimental to the fresh and hardened properties of concrete. This paper presents the results of a laboratory study in which manufactured sand produced in an industry sized crushing plant was characterised with respect to its physical and mineralogical properties. The influence of these characteristics on concrete workability and strength, when manufactured sand completely replaced natural sand in concrete, was investigated and modelled using artificial neural networks (ANN). The results show that the manufactured sand concrete made in this study generally requires a higher water/cement (w/c) ratio for workability equal to that of natural sand concrete due to the higher angularity of the manufactured sand particles. Water reducing admixtures can be used to compensate for this if the manufactured sand does not contain clay particles. At the same w/c ratio, the compressive and flexural strength of manufactured sand concrete exceeds that of natural sand concrete. ANN proved a valuable and reliable method of predicting concrete strength and workability based on the properties of the fine aggregate (FA) and the concrete mix composition.


Nutritional assessment is the interpretation of information obtained from dietary, biochemical, anthropometric and clinical studies. In individuals, qualitative or quantitative food consumption data may be collected by food frequency questionnaires or interviews (retrospective methods), by use of food records (prospective methods); weighed food record, estimated food record or menu record, or by observations. Nutrient values derived from food composition data or direct chemical analysis represent the maximum available to the body and not the amount actually absorbed and utilized. The design of the study is crucial and the methods for carrying it out are aimed at minimizing bias to improve internal and external validity. This paper will focus on factors of importance to improve the internal validity of dietary assessment studies; selection of method; data collection, assessment of nutrient intakes from food consumption data and evaluation of data.


Forage analyses revealed that mowed orchards provide a relatively high quality forage to meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus), especially in the fallo Mowed forage was characterized by significantly higher protein and moisture content and significantly lower acid and neutral detergent fibre and lignin than forage from an abandoned orchard. Energy and fat were not significantly affected by mowing.. However, vole numbers declined markedly in mowed regions in comparison to undisturbed areas. Voles preferred to inhabit areas with dense cover even though vegetative dieback had occurred. Voles did not exhibit any distinct preference for either cracked corn (rodenticide carrier agent) or available forage at any time during the study. Voles did not change rates of forage consumption over the 6-month study. We conclude that mowing will not reduce acceptability of cracked corn and that removal of dense ground cover from the orchard would be one of the most effective and economical ways to reduce numbers of voles and minimize tree damage.


This report contains a review of recent accident cost estimation studies and proposes a unit cost framework which is considered appropriate from both conceptual and empirical view points for the estimation of the social costs of road accidents in Australia. A detailed set of unit and total cost estimates for Australia in 1978 is presented, based mainly on existing data sources, supplemented by accident claims data from a sample of insurance companies and the Motor Accidents Board of Victoria. These preliminary cost estimates are also classified according to injury severity. Problems associated with accident statistics and data sources are discussed together with the estimation procedures. The report concludes that social costs provide only minimum estimates of the benefits gained from accident reduction, and also that the use of average cost levels is constrained by the skewed distribution of most accident cost characteristics. Further research directed towards refinement of the conceptual and empirical bases of these estimates is recommended (A). (TRRL)


Of 31 X-ray-induced and 2 spontaneous Adh null mutations selected for resistance to pentenol (Aaron 1979), 21 are deletions, including Adh and one or more neighboring loci. By contrast, none of 13 EMS-induced Adhn mutations are deletions. On average, the size of these X-ray-induced deletions is shorter than that of 12 formaldehyde-induced Adhn deletions (O'Donnell, Mandell, Krauss and Sofer 1977). Both the X-ray- and formaldehyde-induced deletions show a nonrandom distribution of break points in region 34D to 35D of chromosome arm 2L. Some of the deletions display particular genetic properties associated with one of their end points.