These notes are based on lectures serving the advanced graduate education of the Delta Institute of Theoretical Physics in the Netherlands in autumn 2021. The goal is to explain in a language that can be understood by non-specialists very recent advances in quantum information and especially string theory suggesting the existence of entirely new forms of matter. These are metallic states characterized by an extremely dense many body entanglement, requiring the supremacy of the quantum computer to be completely enumerated. The holographic duality discovered in string theory appears to be a mathematical machinery capable of computing observable properties of such matter, suggesting the presence of universal general principles governing its phenomenology. The case is developing that these principles may well apply to the highly mysterious physical properties observed in the high temperature superconductors and other strongly interacting electron systems of condensed matter physics.


A new method to simulate turbulent phase is investigated in this paper. The goal of this method is to be able to simulate very long exposure times as well as time evolving turbulence conditions. But contrary to existing methods, our method allows to simulate such effects without using the whole memory space required by the simulated exposure time, making it particularly suited to the simulation of adaptive optics systems for very large apertures telescopes.


Despite the many thousands of dictionary words at our disposal, our language can be dismayingly inadequate. How many times have you searched for a word that means just what you want it to but failed to find anything suitable anywhere? Most of us, it turns out, lead lives rife with experiences, people, and things that have no names. At least, they lacked names until now. Word Fugitives comes to the rescue, supplying hundreds of inspired words coined or redefined to meet everyday needs. For instance, wouldn't it be handy to have a word for the momentary confusion people experience when they hear a cell phone ringing and wonder whether it's theirs? (How about fauxcellarm, phonundrum, or pandephonium?) Or what about a word for offspring who are adults? (Try unchildren or offsprung.) Or a word for the irrational fear when you're throwing a party that no one will show up? (That might be guestlessness, empty-fest syndrome, or fete-alism.) This mind- and vocabulary-expanding book grew out -- way out -- of Barbara Wallraff's popular column in The Atlantic Monthly. Brimming with irresistible diversions and pop quizzes; illuminated by contributions and commentary from authors, linguists, and leading language authorities; and enlivened by pleas for help from people whose words have yet to be found, Word Fugitives will captivate and inspire anyone who ever struggles to describe the world that he or she, or they, or thon (thon? see page 141) lives in.


This section is meant to be a mutual effort. If you find an article you think should be abstracted in this section, do not be bashful—submit it for consideration to Kenneth V. Iserson care of CQ. If you do not like the editorial comments, this will give you an opportunity to respond in the letters section. Your input is desired and anticipated.


Today type 2 diabetes is a common disease with a worldwide prevalence of 8.3%. The disease is characterised by hyperglycaemia which is a result of insufficient insulin secretion from the beta-cells in the pancreatic islets as well as an insulin resistance seen in the target tissues. Type 2 diabetes is a multifactorial disease with genetic, epigenetic and environmental background.
In study I we investigated the role of sex-specific DNA methylation in pancreatic islets from human organ donors. We found DNA methylation differences between the sexes for the average DNA methylation on the X chromosome, as well as site specific differences on both the X chromosome as well as the autosomes. We could also connect some of these differences to changes in gene expression and insulin secretion.
In study II we studied a specific gene, GLP1R, which is involved in the incretin effects seen on the pancreatic beta-cells. Using human pancreatic islets, we found correlations between DNA methylation of a specific site in the GLP1R promoter and gene expression of the same gene as well as with HbA1c and BMI. Furthermore, DNA methylation of the same site was also differentially methylated in FACS sorted human alpha- and beta-cells.
In study III we studied the role palmitate on human pancreatic islets. We treated the human islets in control media or media enriched with palmitate for 48 hours. We found a decreased glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in human islets treated with palmitate compared to controls, but no increase in apoptosis. Also we found differences of gene expression between groups as well as DNA methylation differences in genomic regions and specific genes.
In Study IV we investigated the role of high glucose on the human pancreatic islets and therefor treated the islets with either control medium or high glucose medium. We found that insulin secretion was perturbed in islets treated with high glucose compared to controls. Furthermore, we found gene expression differences of eight genes, with five of them also having DNA methylation differences.
In conclusion we find signs that sex, palmitate and high glucose treatment affect gene expression, DNA methylation and in some cases also beta-cell function in human pancreatic islets. Furthermore we find indications of that DNA methylation of the GLP1R promoter might affect gene expression and might be connected to HbA1c and obesity.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of caffeine on several components of time perception in an attention-demanding task. Review of the current literature shows that the rhythm of the brain's internal clock, controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is believed to mediate the perception of short durations, is sensitive to a variety of stimuli including stimulants. This study expands on previous research on the effect of caffeine on prospective time estimation by having participants estimate multiple short durations while completing a cognitively complex time estimation task involving math. The study included a moderate dose caffeine condition and a placebo condition. Previous findings have shown that a moderate dose of caffeine, coupled with a relatively complex information-processing task, limits individuals' ability to allocate cognitive resources necessary for accessing the internal clock (Gruber & Block, 2005). It was hypothesized that with a more complex cognitive task, participants given caffeine would make shorter temporal predictions than those given a placebo. Contrary to expectations, the results suggest that a 200mg dose of caffeine does not have an impact on an individual's ability to accurately estimate short durations of time while completing an attention-demanding task. Limitations to these findings are discussed and although the results were counter to the hypotheses, they help to provide scaffolding for future research investigating similar effects of caffeine on the ability to accurately estimate


As an international informatics contest, or challenge, Bebras has started the second decade of its existence. The contest attracts more and more countries every year, recently there have been over 40 participating countries. From a single contest-focused annual event Bebras developed to a multifunctional challenge and an activities-based educational community building model. This paper aims to introduce the Bebras model using ten years of observations in implementing the contest in different countries. The model is essentially based on democratic and inclusive education values. Systematic literature review of research papers concerning Bebras activities has made an integral background for this model. The model is represented both at international and national levels and consists of several components where the development of Bebras tasks has taken a very significant role. Reasoning on innovated learning informatics and strengthening computational thinking by utilising carefully selected informatics concepts is discussed as well.


The idea that food insecurity can be resolved by increasing the presence of supermarkets has been gaining traction in African cities and has recently gained political traction in Africa. This paper interrogates the potential value and risks associated with the adoption of the discourse of the food desert in the African context. The paper draws on findings from a households survey, neighborhoods-scale food retail mapping and surveys, and city-wide supermarket mapping conducted in Cape Town (South Africa), Kisumu (Kenya), and Kitwe (Zambia). Following a discussion of why the concept is gaining traction, the paper identifies false assumptions associated with the food desert framing in Africa, namely: supermarkets provide better access to healthier food, low-income areas have poor access to healthy food; and food security can be reduced to economic and physical accessibility. The paper concludes that although the food desert concept may be valuable for African researchers to provoke debates about systemic inequality, the food desert policy narrative should be rejected as it is ill-informed by the lived experiences of food insecurity in African cities and may promote policy interventions that erode rather than enhance the capacity of the food system to meet the food security needs of African urbanites.


Abstract Purpose: To validate the activities and participation (d) codes of two age-specific brief International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) core sets for school-aged children with cerebral palsy (CP), using national dataset of the child version of the Functioning Scale of the Disability Evaluation System (FUNDES) in Taiwan. Methods: Students with CP aged 6–17.9 years (n = 546) in the national dataset were analyzed. Items of the child version of the FUNDES were linked to the ICF d-codes and matched to two brief ICF core sets for CP. The restriction rate of the linked d-codes were calculated. Random Forest regression was applied to select the important linked d-codes for predicting school participation frequency. Results: The vast majority of the content of the Taiwanese dataset was covered by two core sets. The matched d-codes represent high restriction rates (80%) and most were important for predicting school participation. One important code, d740 (formal relationships, such as relationship with teachers), identified in this study were not included in two ICF core sets. Conclusions: Two brief ICF core sets for CP capture the majority of relevant functional information collected by the child version of the FUNDES. Some additional codes not covered in the international ICF core sets should be considered for inclusion in the revised Taiwanese version. Implications for rehabilitation Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of severe physical disability in childhood. ICF core sets for CP promote a comprehensive assessment and service provision. To ensure applicability, ICF core sets for CP were validated in Taiwan using the child and youth national dataset of the child version of the Functioning Scale of the Disability Evaluation System. This study shows content validity and proposes new ICF codes additions for the Taiwanese version. Among top five ICF-based predictors for school participation frequency, four of them were consistent in both children and youth groups as d310–d350 (basic communication), d750 (informal social relationships), d820 (school education), and d710–d720, d880 and d920 (social play), which could be taken into consideration in clinical application.


Senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid‐laden cerebral vessels are characteristic features in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The principal component of amyloid in senile plaque and amyloid‐laden cerebral vessels is β‐amyloid (Aβ), a peptide proteolytically derived from a large amyloid precursor protein (APP). To date, several alternatively spliced human APP transcripts have been described. Here, we report the identification of a novel alternative splicing isoform of the human APP gene, APP639, which excludes exon 2 as well as exons 7 and 8. RT‐PCR and Southern blot analysis show that APP639 mRNA is expressed in many human fetal tissues. In contrast, the APP639 transcript is hardly detected in the aged human cerebral cortex from both pathologically confirmed sporadic AD cases and nondemented controls. However, APP639 mRNA exists in the adult human liver. Western blot analysis shows that the protein product produced from the APP639 cDNA could be recognized by the APP antibody, and it does lack the exon 2 coding region. These results suggest that APP639, a novel alternative splicing isoform of human APP gene, does exist in human tissues in vivo.


A continual debate surrounds the effectiveness of agile software development practices. Some organizations adopt agile practices to become more competitive, improve processes, and reduce costs. Other organizations are skeptical about whether agile development is beneficial. Large organizations face an additional challenge in integrating agile practices with existing standards and business processes. To examine the effects of agile development practices in large organizations, we review and integrate scientific literature and theory on agile software development. We further organize our theory and observations into a framework with guidelines for large organizations considering agile methodologies. Based on this framework, we present recommendations that suggest ways large organizations with established processes can successfully implement agile practices. Our analysis of the literature and theory provides new insight for researchers of agile software development and assists practitioners in determining how to adopt agile development in their organizations.


Report of a meeting of the Tectonic Studies Group held at the University of Cambridge on 21 May 1983. About 70 geologists and geophysicists from Britain, France, Holland and Spain met to discuss the tectonic evolution of the Pyrenees and surrounding areas. Twenty short talks and 12 posters were presented and the meeting closed with a two-hour 'round table' discussion. Hercynian geology and Alpine overprinting Vielzeuf referred to lower crustal granulites of probable Hercynian age along the North Pyrenean Fault. Zircon age determinations for these rocks are in progress. In the Aston Massif, Vissers described the progressive folding and transposition of a steep early schistosity (suprastructure) into a relatively flat-lying attitude (infrastructure) with increasing metamorphic grade. The refolding accompanied low-pressure metamorphism and probably resulted from tectonic doming during granite emplacement. Similar low-pressure metamorphic rocks and granite petrogenesis in the Trois Seigneurs Massif were discussed in a poster by Wickham. Although comparatively few participants spoke on Hercynian orogenesis, it appears to have been characterized by unusually high heat flow and intense plutonic activity; the tectonic setting of the area at this time remains obscure. Andrews, Austin and Colwill described high strains measured on pyrite-cube pressure-shadows in the Llavorsi syncline. These indicate up to 10 km of Hercynian S-directed thrust movement in this area. A similar reverse displacement with a dextral component on mylonites along the Merens Fault was described by McCaig and Miller. 39Ar-40Ar dating clearly shows this movement to be of Alpine age, and probably <70 Ma, although excess argon


Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is used for a large array of applications, ranging from chemical characterization to oil drilling to medical imaging. In these fields NMR is used as an investigational tool, but new techniques and applications are continuously being developed as well. The latter is also the subject of this thesis. After an introduction to NMR theory, it focuses on the development of new methodologies for two separate areas of investigation: the metabolism of brain glycogen and hyperpolarization via dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP). Brain glycogen is the main storage form of glucose in the brain. However, because it is present in much lower concentrations in the brain than in other tissues, the significance of this storage and other roles are subject to debate. To better understand the roles of brain glycogen, it is important to quantify its metabolic parameters. The only currently available method to detect brain glycogen in vivo is 13C NMR spectroscopy. Incorporation of 13C-labeled glucose is necessary to allow glycogen measurement, but might be affected by changes in the turnover between glucose and glycogen. We therefore established a protocol to measure the glycogen absolute concentration in the rat brain by eliminating label turnover as a variable. The approach is based on establishing an increased, constant 13C isotopic enrichment (IE). 13C-glucose infusion is then performed at this IE of brain glycogen. As glycogen IE cannot be assessed in vivo, we validated that it can be inferred from the N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) IE in vivo: after [1-13C]-glucose ingestion, glycogen IE was 2.2 ± 0.1 times that of NAA. Glycogen concentration measured in vivo by 13C NMR (5.8 ± 0.7 µmol/g) was in excellent agreement with post-mortem biochemistry (6.4 ± 0.6 µmol/g). A second glycogen NMR protocol was then implemented to measure concentration and turnover simultaneously. After reaching isotopic steady state for glycogen C1 using [1-13C]-glucose administration, [1,6-13C2]-glucose was infused such that isotopic steady state was maintained at the C1 position, but the C6 position reflected 13C label incorporation. To overcome the large chemical shift displacement error between the C1 and C6 resonances of glycogen, 2D gradient-based localization using the Fourier series window approach was implemented. The glycogen concentration of 5.1 ± 1.6 µmol/g measured from the C1 position was in excellent agreement with concomitant biochemical determinations, while glycogen turnover measured from the rate of label incorporation into the C6 position of glycogen in the α-chloralose anesthetized rat was 0.7 µmol/g/h. The contrast agent Omniscan was added to a formic acid-filled glass reference sphere in the abovementioned protocols in order to shorten its T1 relaxation time and to accelerate the calibration procedure it is used in; therefore it was established that Omniscan in pure 13C formic acid has a relaxivity of 2.9 mM-1s-1. The study was expanded, and the relaxivity of several commercially available gadolinium (Gd)-based contrast agents was determined for X-nuclei resonances with long intrinsic relaxation times. The relaxivity of Omniscan on the glutamate C1 and C5 in aqueous solution was 0.5 mM-1s-1. These relaxivities allow the preparation of solutions with a predetermined short 13C T1. Another isotope with a long relaxation time is lithium-6 (6Li). Lithium is an ion that is widely used in psychotherapy, and 6Li has an intrinsic relaxation time on the order of several minutes, which was strongly affected by the contrast agents. Its relaxivity ranged from 0.1 mM-1s-1 for Omniscan to 0.3 for Magnevist, whereas the relaxivity of Gd-DOTP was 11 mM-1s-1. Overall, these experiments suggested that the presence of submicromolar contrast agent concentrations should be detectable, provided sufficient sensitivity is available, such as that afforded by hyperpolarization. This submicromolar contrast agent concentration detection was demonstrated in a subsequent study: first it was established that lithium-6 can be readily hyperpolarized through DNP within 30 min while retaining a long polarization relaxation time on the order of a minute. The shortening of this relaxation time was used for the detection of 500 nM contrast agent in vitro. Hyperpolarized lithium-6 was then administered to the rat, where its signal retained a relaxation time on the order of 70 s in vivo. Localization experiments implied that the lithium signal originated from within the brain and that it was detectable up to 5 min after administration. Next, 1.5 µM of contrast agent was injected in the rat, and its effect on previously injected hyperpolarized lithium-6 was successfully quantified. It was concluded that the detection of submicromolar contrast agent concentrations using hyperpolarized NMR nuclei such as 6Li may provide a novel avenue for molecular imaging. In a separate set of of experiments, hyperpolarization through DNP was applied to 15N-labeled choline, 13C-labeled bicarbonate and 13C-labeled acetate. All three metabolites were successfully polarized and were detected both in vitro and in vivo.


Abstract The timing and extent of ocean oxygenation is controversial. Proterozoic sulphur isotope datasets often show marked fluctuations over small stratigraphic intervals, suggesting that oceanic sulphate concentrations were much lower than modern values. A large accumulation of Neoproterozoic sulphate (>8 million tonnes preserved), as stratiform barite rock, is located in the Grampian Highlands near Aberfeldy. Diagenetic/metamorphic alteration has caused pronounced δ34S variations near bed margins. This aside, barite throughout the deposits shows a narrow range in δ34S, mean 36±1.5‰. We infer that this is representative of contemporaneous seawater sulphate, and that δ34Sseawater was constant during deposition of a stratigraphical thickness >250 m of mostly fine-grained clastic sediments. Uniformity of δ34Sseawater during barite precipitation, even in thick (>10 m) beds and with the co-occurrence of abundant sulphides incorporating bacteriogenically reduced sulphur, implies no limit to availability of seawater sulphate during hydrothermal exhalative events. Our data, combined with previous δ34S research on Dalradian metasediments, suggest a stability, abundance and constancy of ocean sulphate in the Neoproterozoic. This contrasts with isotopic data using trace sulphate in limestones. It appears that, around the time of the Marinoan glaciation (c. 635 Ma), the ocean, although stratified at least locally, comprised a substantial reservoir of sulphate-bearing oxygenated seawater.


There is substantial evidence from preclinical data that the antitumor cytotoxicity of selected chemotherapeutic agents either alone or combined with radiation can be enhanced by appropriate heat exposure (40–44 °C) of cells or tumor tissues. Based upon these results the integration of hyperthermia as an additional treatment modality, given simultaneously with systemic chemotherapy or in combination with radiochemotherapy, is currently tested at the clinic. Regional hyperthermia combined with chemotherapy or radiochemotherapy showed impressive results (phase II studies) at clinical relevant temperatures in locally advanced tumors of different entities in terms of objective response rate, local tumor control and relapse-free survival. Clinical protocols of well-designed phase III trials on combined treatment modalities integrating hyperthermia are rather limited but for some tumors confirm its clinical benefit. In general, the clinical approach to use hyperthermia has gained much more interest within in the field of medical oncology. One of the major reason is the substantial technical improvements made with the available commercial equipment for local or regional heating, especially in case of deep-seated lesions or systemic heating. Further testing of the potential of hyperthermia combined with chemotherapy or radiochemotherapy in prospective randomized trials are warranted. At this time, hyperthermia as an adjunct to conventional treatment strategies is recommended in the setting of clinical protocols. The results of prospective trials should answer the question for which types of local advanced or metastatic tumors hyperthermia becomes standard as part of a multimodal treatment strategy.


The introduction of the National Longitudinal Survey of the Youth (NLSY) 1979 and 1997 cohorts made Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT) score data widely available and has thus dramatically increased its use in academic research. However, there is strong evidence that a wide variety of background factors, such as poverty status, race, and parent's education level, affect AFQT score. Human capital theory, in conjunction with the pathways framework, suggests that these background factors have both direct and indirect effects on AFQT score. The focus of this research is measuring some of the important direct and indirect pathways through which background factors affect AFQT score. The purpose of measuring these pathways is to identify the effects that some background factors have on AFQT score, thus elucidating how AFQT score is determined by some background factors.


Gender discrimination is addressed differently under Article 14 ECHR and EU primary and secondary legal provisions. This is no wonder, since the role and scope of non-discrimination law in both legal orders are not the same, and since the scope of jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice applying those provisions differ drastically as well. While this observation is not new, the potential discrepancy between the two non-discrimination regimes and the two Courts case law constitutes an increasing concern for national authorities and individuals in the 27 European Union (EU) Member States. As a result, gender discrimination is one of the many facets of the current human rights competition raging between the two European organisations, but also of the recent judicial attempts at minimising potential conflicts through mutual borrowings. The present article starts by identifying and comparing the role and scope, as well as the various material and procedural constitutive elements of the two regimes of non-discrimination on grounds of gender. The author argues for a greater systematisation of the two regimes before fruitful borrowings can take place or else the latter will jeopardise the overall coherence of the law on gender discrimination and the specificities in each of the two regimes. The article also argues that EU accession to the ECHR will not, as it is often argued, threaten the specificity of EU anti-discrimination law, but on the contrary enhance the complementarity between EU social law and European human rights law more generally.


In this research note, we join the debate between Van Dyke, Kappelman, and Prybutok, and Pitt, Watson, and Kavan pertaining to the conceptual and empirical relevance of SERVQUAL as a measure of IS service quality. Adopting arguments from marketing, Van Dyke et al. (1997) question the SERVQUAL gap measurement approach, the interpretation and operationalization of the SERVQUAL expectation construct, and the reliability and validity of SERVQUAL dimensionality. In a response to those arguments, Pitt et al. (1997) defend their previous work (1995) in a point-by- point counterargument that suggests that the marginal empirical benefit of a perceptual-based (SERVPERF) service quality measure does not justify the loss of managerial diagnostic capabilities found in a gap measure. While siding with many of the positions taken by Pitt et al., we attempt to add value to the debate by presenting discrepancies we have with the two other research teams and by suggesting alternative approaches to resolve, or at least alleviate, problems associated with SERVQUAL. We believe that the theoretical superiority of an alternative IS service quality measure should be backed by empirical evidence in the IS context, hence, answering some of the criticism Van Dyke et al. and by offering a construct valid version of the IS-adapted SERVQUAL. From a pragmatic viewpoint, we believe that the justification of using SERVQUAL's gap measure should be driven by more effective ways to utilize expectations in IS service management. To this end, we introduce the newer Parasuraman et al. (1994b) measures, the concept of a "zone of tolerance" for expectation management and an illustration of its practical use in an IS setting. Overall, we attempt to set the direction of where we think this debate should lead the IS field, namely, toward practical and timely IS service quality measures.


Some scientists of "Anthropogenic Global Warming" (AGW), such as M. T. Boy Koff, A. M. McCright et al., claim that the increase in atmosphere of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) coming from anthropogenic burning fossil fuels will cause a rising of air temperature that, in a few decades, will create severe uncountable problems for mankind and the biosphere. On the contrary, other scientists who support the thesis of "Not Anthropogenic Global Warming" (NAGW), the so-called "skeptics", such as L. Weinstain, N. Scafetta et al., affirm that the increase of CO2 coming from the various human activities will not be able to increase air temperature in the atmosphere in such a way as to cause dangerous consequences for the biosphere. For "skeptics" the rising of temperature in the atmosphere is caused mainly by a natural mechanism of the planetary system and other natural causes not strictly connected with anthropogenic activities. Moreover, they rely on theories based on the thermodynamic and physicalchemical equilibrium on the Earth's atmosphere and based on the variation of both CO2 concentration and air temperatures down the ages. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that both AGW and "skeptics" scientists, when analyzing the different problems caused to mankind and the biosphere were referring to only one of the two sides of the same medal. Based on this concept, the paper investigates:  the changes on the increase of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere both in a human and in a geological scale of time;  the most convincing theories that justify the "skeptics'" statements;  the negative effects of rising CO2 concentration in the human scale of time.


This work is a powerful demonstration of how historical analysis can be brought to bear on the study of strategic issues, and, conversely, how strategic thinking can help drive historical research. Based largely on newly released American archives, History and Strategy focuses on the twenty years following World War II. By bridging the sizable gap between the intellectual world of historians and that of strategists and political scientists, the essays here present a fresh and unified view of how to explore international politics in the nuclear era. The book begins with an overview of strategic thought in America from 1952 through 1966 and ends with a discussion of "making sense" of the nuclear age. Trachtenberg reevaluates the immediate causes of World War I, studies the impact of the shifting nuclear balance on American strategy in the early 1950s, examines the relationship between the nuclearization of NATO and U.S.-West European relations, and looks at the Berlin and the Cuban crises. He shows throughout that there are startling discoveries to be made about events that seem to have been thoroughly investigated.


Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant tumour of bone. Currently, despite treatment with multi-agent chemotherapy and limb salvage surgery, the five-year survival rate for osteosarcoma remains at 70%. The pathogenesis of osteosarcoma is complex and involves alterations in cellular apoptosis, adhesion, migration, invasion and molecular signalling. Research most recently has focused on the molecular basis of the disease with the goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets. To this end, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been identified to play a role in sarcomagenesis. MSC transfor - mation may give rise to tumours, whereas interactions of MSCs with osteosarcoma cells in the tumour microenvironment may cause increased cell proliferation. This is in stark contrast to the role of MSCs as a promising source for tissue repair and regeneration. In order to utilize MSCs for biological reconstruction in the setting of osteosarcoma, further research is necessary to delineate the role of MSCs in osteosarcoma transformation and progression. Further studies defining the role of MSCs in osteosarcoma pathogenesis are required prior to studies of therapeutic safety and efficacy.


We have developed a CMOS-compatible Silicon-on-Insulator photonic platform featuring active components such as pi- n and photoconductive (MIM) Ge-on-Si detectors, p-i-n ring and Mach-Zehnder modulators, and traveling-wave modulators based on a p-n junction driven by an RF transmission line. We have characterized the yield and uniformity of the performance through automated cross-wafer testing, demonstrating that our process is reliable and scalable. The entire platform is capable of more than 40 GB/s data rate. Fabricated at the IME/A-STAR foundry in Singapore, it is available to the worldwide community through OpSIS, a successful multi-project wafer service based at the University of Delaware. After exposing the design, fabrication and performance of the most advanced platform components, we present our newest results obtained after the first public run. These include low loss passives (Y-junctions: 0.28 dB; waveguide crossings: 0.18 dB and cross-talk -41±2 dB; non-uniform grating couplers: 3.2±0.2 dB). All these components were tested across full 8" wafers and exhibited remarkable uniformity. The active devices were improved from the previous design kit to exhibit 3dB bandwidths ranging from 30 GHz (modulators) to 58 GHz (detectors). We also present new packaging services available to OpSIS users: vertical fiber coupling and edge coupling.


Digital equipment such as computers, telecommunication systems and instruments use microprocessors that operate at high frequencies allowing them to carry out millions or even billions of operations per second. A disturbance in the electrical supply lasting just a few milliseconds can affect thousands or millions of basic operations. The result may be malfunctioning and loss of data with dangerous or costly consequences (e.g. loss of production). That is why many loads, called sensitive or critical loads, require a supply that is protected. Many manufacturers of sensitive equipment specify very strict tolerances, much stricter than those in the distribution system for the supply of their equipment, one example being Computer Business Equipment Manufacturers Association for computer equipment against distribution system disturbances. The design of this uninterrupted power supply (UPS) for personal computer (PC) is necessitated due to a need for enhanced portability in the design of personal computer desktop workstations. Apart from its original functionality as a backup source of power, this design incorporates the unit within the system unit casing, thereby reducing the number of system components available. Also, the embedding of this unit removes the untidiness of connecting wires and makes the whole computer act like a laptop. Not to be left out is the choice of a microcontroller as an important part of the circuitry. This has eliminated the weight and space-consuming components that make up an original design. The singular use of this microcontroller places the UPS under the class of an advanced technology device.


Abstract Raised intracranial pressure is a feature of cerebral malaria in children living in Africa. We investigated specific clinical optic disc features of papilledema to establish their prognostic significance in this encephalopathy. We developed a classification of acute papilledema and tested it against disease outcome. Kenyan children admitted with severe falciparum malaria (cerebral or impaired consciousness) underwent dilated fundal examination using direct and indirect ophthalmoscopy. Clinical features of the optic disc were systematically recorded and compared to the child's outcome. Poor outcome defined as death or neurological impairment on discharge was used to construct and test a clinical classification of papilledema. Forty-five children were examined (26 cerebral malaria, 17 severe malaria with an impaired conscious level or prostration) of whom seven had a poor outcome (three died, four had residual neurological impairment). Loss of the optic disc cup and marked optic disc elevation were significantly correlated with a poor outcome (P < 0.05). Increasing severity in the proposed classification of acute papilledema was positively correlated with a poor outcome (P < 0.05, chi-square test for trend). Loss of the optic disc cup and marked elevation of the optic disc head appear to be correlated with poor outcome in children with severe malaria whereas the presence of dilated veins suggests a good outcome. The proposed classification of acute papilledema is useful as a prognostic indicator and may be applicable to other encephalopathies with raised intracranial pressure.


Editors' introduction Renouf's contribution, like those of Scott and Berber Sardinha, uses Corpus Linguistics (CL) techniques, analysing large amounts of text by computer. The focus in her paper is on the identification of signals of semantic relations. Thus the frame "or, more exactly" might signal a general-particular relationship in "we stopped by the side of a lake, or, more exactly a loch". Lake is more general (a superordinate) than loch (a hyponym of lake ). Renouf's endeavour was to trace signals like "more exactly" in large text databases, looking at and teasing out the meaning relations which crop up. Her work thus complements Jordan's analysis of Basis-Assessment in this volume, using quite different methods. At the same time, she attempts to find out how good a match may be made between lexical signal and meaning — it is quite possible in language that one form might carry numerous functions (and conversely that the same meaning relation can be realised by numerous forms). This implies a need to pin down the meanings identified. The context underlying this work is that of the influential work of Cruse (1986), which takes a non-CL view of meaning, heavily dependent on logic, and the notion of contextual normality by which Cruse means the test a near-native speaker or native speaker may make, as to whether a given string like "notable events such as a solar eclipse" seems normal. This is by no means a straightforward decision. Thus in (1) notable events such as meeting the President (2) notable events such as drinking tea the degree of contextual normality would vary in rather unpredictable ways, depending on whether or not one regularly drank tea or worked in the President's office. The approach Renouf takes is to examine large numbers of texts using a computer, to see instead what forms are actually attested. In so doing, she finds that Cruse's neat and logical patterns do not seem to be as neatly reflected in the evidence of large numbers of examples from newspaper text. These two methods are not really a simple matter of pre-CL and post-CL, nor are they alternatives, in our view. For a start, the notion of "attested" examples in Linguistics is not new at all, and much early work before computers went into collecting slips of paper with heard or read examples of words. Perhaps the best known example is the many thousands of slips collected by innumerable contributors, for the construction of the Oxford English Dictionary. Second, we would argue that to use CL techniques does not constitute a new Linguistics, any more than using a spade constitutes "Spade Gardening". It is merely a matter of accessing resources. Third, it is not possible to use CL techniques without recourse to one's intuitions, e.g. as to what is contextually normal. A CL method is only able to identify positive hits: when one finds numerous examples of a given string of words, one may conclude that it must be contextually normal. If one finds one only, one does not know whether it is a joke or nonce construction or is just rather unusual; and if the string is not found even in a large database, that in itself does not guarantee that it would be contextually abnormal, since new contextually normal strings can be created at any time. Renouf's paper thus shows that lexical semantics needs insights from logic and intuitions of contextual normality, together with CL methods enabling access to large numbers of examples.


The toxins of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have shown great potential in the control of harmful insects affecting human health and agriculture, used as the main biological agent for the formulation of bioinsecticides due to its specificity to target different insects' orders. This has led Bt-based products to become the best-selling biological insecticides in the world since the genes encoding insecticidal proteins have been successfully used in novel insecticidal formulation, genetically engineered (GE) crops, and development of transgenic rice that produce insecticidal toxins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis . It has been proven that insecticidal activity of Bt protein crystals can prolong their toxicity in shelf life or field under specific conditions, and this can improve the use of special strains and formulations to control insect vectors of diseases. Bt toxins have shown well-documented toxicity against lepidopterans, coleopterans, hemipterans, dipterans, nematodes, Rhabditida and human cancer cells of various origins. These crystal toxins may be responsible for other novel biological properties suggesting a pluripotential nature with different specificities.


In our personal lives, the fact of our consciousness – in other words, the fact that we have experiences, such as hearing sounds or seeing colours – is a central aspect of existence. In contrast, science seems to, get on very well without taking explicit note of consciousness at all. Is this because consciousness genuinely does not need be taken into account in the understanding of the natural world, or is it because current science, as a result of some selectivity in its methodology, is effectively blind to the role of consciousness? There has been a considerable growth in interest in the subject in recent years, its status having changed from that of a dubious fringe subject to one that is more or less acceptable for a scientist to work on.


This study examined the temporal and spatial patterns of carbon storage in an island-city by evaluation of soils across the entire urban and mangrove forests areas during dry, rainy and norths seasons of 2013–2014. The ecosystem service (mitigation of climatic change) was quantified and mapped on a wide scale in Carmen Island, Campeche, Mexico by using geo-statistics methods. Carbon sequestration rate and several important physicochemical parameters on a wide scale in the city were determined at 30 cm depth, which is the most relevant depth affected by land management practices. An evident seasonal pattern was observed for organic carbon, exhibiting its highest levels at the beginning of the dry season. In addition, a geographical distribution analysis identified mangrove and flooded sites as those zones in which carbon storage was higher, concluding that hydrogeology and dominant vegetation were the factors with a greater influence on carbon storage rate. Carbon storage rate obtained in this work (1.07 Kg C m-2 yr-1) was comparable with those obtained for isolated and forested wetlands in others regions of the world. This study is the first in the region that provides a high-resolution map of soil carbon stocks in a mixed and complex frame where an important urban zone and mangrove forest co-exist.


In the field of 3D Human Performance Capture, a high-quality 3D scan of the performer is rigged and skinned to an animatable 3D template mesh that is subsequently fitted to the captured performance's RGB-D data. Template fitting is accomplished via solving for the template's pose parameters that better explain the performance data at each recorded frame. In this paper, we challenge open implementations of zeroth-order optimizers to solve the template fitting problem in a human performance capture dataset. The objective function that we employ approximates, the otherwise costly to evaluate, 3D RMS hausdorff distance between the animated template and the 3D mesh reconstructed from the depth data (target mesh) at an individual recorded frame. We distinguish and benchmark the optimizers, in three different real-world scenarios, two of which are based on the geometric proximity of the template to the target in individual frames, while in the third one we fit the template sequentially to all target frames of the recorded sequence. Conclusions of this work can serve as a reference for future optimizer implementations and our findings can server as a baseline for future multi-objective optimization approaches. We make part of our benchmark and experiment setup publicly available (https://github.com/VCL3D/nevergrad, https://github.com/VCL3D/PerformanceCapture/releases/).


U.S. and European Union regulators have agreed to recognize each other's inspection reports of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. The decision is expected to help FDA and EU drug inspectors avoid duplicating inspections. It's also expected to lower inspection costs and help regulators focus resources in parts of the world where the risk of unsafe drugs is the greatest. The agreement comes after nearly three years of collaboration between FDA and EU inspectors to assess the risks and benefits of relying on foreign inspections of drug manufacturing facilities. Congress gave FDA the authority to use foreign drug inspection reports in 2012 with the passage of the FDA Safety & Innovation Act. The law allows FDA to recognize foreign inspections as long as those inspections meet U.S. requirements. "The Mutual Recognition Agreement is an important step in working collaboratively and strategically with key partners to help ensure that American patients have access to


In celebration of the launch of a journal in India that will be dedicated to the advancement of the notion of scientific temper, it is apt to reflect on the possibilities of the impact that such a notion is likely to have once introduced in countries other than in India. In a country like South Africa, which has its historical, emotional as well as political links with India established through the ideas of great statesmen such as Mahatma Gandhi, one finds similarities as well as differences in its historical development and post-liberation governance practices. A striking communality is that both countries were subjugated to British colonial rule. Both countries went through post-colonial changes that required new governance structures subject to new regulations and policies. New governance choices were made as result of visionary indigenous leaders keen to provide policies appropriate to serve the indigenous society. As a result the new policies were infused with each country's respective cultural worldviews and histories. One similarity of action between the two countries is the idealised protection of people's indigenous knowledge systems. A striking difference, however, is the national efforts to protect people's knowledge, identified as 'scientific temper' in India, and the wide ranging, culturally embedded perception of people's inability of being 'rational' in Africa with the resultant disregard for African knowledge systems. This paper will explore this socio-political divide created through the subconscious 'acceptance' of people's apparent inability of being 'rational' in Africa against the endorsement of a nation's ability of 'being rational' through a constitutional obligation towards maintaining scientific temper in India.


Today's technologies for storing data have vexing limitations: Dynamic random access memory chips only retain data for short times, hard disk drives are slow relative to processor speed, and "flash" memory (like that in digital cameras) is expensive. Researchers are thus searching for a fast, inexpensive memory technology that retains data even when the power is off. As [Scott][1] discusses in his Perspective, the search has identified several interesting avenues that are being actively pursued. But the real-world challenges are severe, and proponents of nonvolatile memory need to take a hard look at the practical realities before declaring success.

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/304/5667/62


We Boys Together: Teenagers in Love before Girl-Craziness by Jeffrey P. Dennis. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2007, x + 283 pp. For decades adults and adolescents have assumed that when boys reach puberty their hormones begin to flood their bodies and induce in them a form of insanity that has been called "girl craziness." We now question the assumption in this phrase that the lust of teenage boys is always heterosexual, and we see the normative work the pirrase "girl craziness" accomplishes in our culture, erasing homosexual desire and the whole range of complex desires a teenager is capable of feeling. Still, American popular culture-television, film, music, advertising, journalism, fiction-continues its portrayals of "girl crazy" teenage boys. Dennis wants us to see that this was not always so. The author's central argument is that in American popular culture from about 1900 to the end of World War II, a range of popular culture texts including teen fiction, film, serials, comic books, popular journalism, radio shows, and even high school yearbooks employed formulaic narratives and images for and about teenage boys engaged in "homoromantic," not "heteroromantic," relationships. Girl craziness in that period was seen as infantile or effeminate. Instead, boys "were encouraged to form intimate passionate bonds with other boys or with men, romantic friendships, or homoromances" (p. ix). These relationships were more intense, intimate, and exclusive than "ordinary same-sex friendships," but the homoerotic gaze in these representations never crossed the line into homosexual acts. Dennis wants to know why these homoromance narratives flourished when they did and why they all but disappeared by the end of World War II. He understands that "hetero-mania" (p. 1) is an ideological construct, and he aims to show the ideological work of that construct. In his survey of popular culture texts constructing the homoromantic formula, Dennis detects three main types. The Boys Next Door tend to be white, s mall-town, Protestant, and wholesome. The Lost Boys, in contrast, tend to be of immigrant stock, urban, working class, sometimes crude, and often Catholic. The Adventure Boys use the world as their playground, and they often introduce the orientalist desire for the exotic other. Running through these types is an absence of heterosexual interest. Girls appear in these homoromances, but they are not the objects of the boys' erotic gaze. Paradoxically, notes Dennis, pre-teens in the texts from 1900 to World War II sometimes have heterosexual obsessions, but during this period the "girl crazy" teenage boy was "framed as deviant" (p. 11). Dennis asks the excellent question, "Whose interests did the homoromantic narrative serve?" One group was the largely closeted gay writers, actors, producers, and directors who were adept at presenting coded homoerotic films and novels. Another group was the "homosocial public sphere" that could be an audience for these narratives . And a third interest would have been shared by many-a fear of the feminization of American culture in the early twentieth century. Dennis devotes separate chapters to each of the three types of boy. The Boy Next Door appears early in series novels (beginning with Horatio Alger) read in large quantities by boys from 1880 to 1930. Dennis explores the film version of this type by tracing in some detail the careers of Jackie Cooper and Freddy Bartholomew. A strength of Dennis's book is that he does close readings of many "B-movies" that film critics and culture critics usually ignore. His reading of Tom Brown's School Days (1940), for example, makes me want to look again at that film. He also offers an interesting, extended discussion of the immensely popular Hardy Boys novels (first published in 1937), explaining how a homoromance between two brothers solves any suggestion that homoromances lead to actual homosex. The Lost Boys are familiar figures from both the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when teeming hordes of urban, immigrant "street Arabs" stimulated discussions of juvenile delinquency and the creation of youth organizations like the Boy Scouts. …


Objective: Atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance (AUS/FLUS) are indeterminate lesions with malignancy incidence of 5-15%. We evaluate the role of thyroid ultrasound in predicting malignancy in Bethesda type III nodules, and thus suggest management guidelines in these nodules.
Method: Patient with Bethesda type III nodules were subjected to high resolution ultrasonography of neck. The features analysed while performing US examination are size, site, echogenicity (solid, cystic), margins (circumscribed, micro lobular, irregular), calcification (micro, macro or egg shell) and shape of the lesion. On the basis of ultrasound these nodules were categorized into probably benign or suspicious of malignancy. All these patients were subjected to surgery and final histopathological report were compared with ultrasonography features.
Results: The positive predictive value of ultrasonogram in predicting malignancy in Bethesda type-III nodules is 84.2%, while specificity of ultrasonogram is 90.9% and sensitivity in predicting malignancy is 80%.
Conclusion: When the USG features are suggestive of benign lesion then a repeat USG guided FNAC may be considered and when the USG features are suggestive of malignant lesion then a repeat FNA is unnecessary and a definitive surgery should be considered.


This chapter considers how the digital game Minecraft has both enabled and benefited from various Web 2.0 practices. I begin with an explanation of the concept of Web 2.0 and then consider how that concept applies to the space of digital games. I then look at Minecraft specifically. As I explain, Minecraft's surprise success as an "indie" game is largely attributable to the ways in which it draws upon amateur creativity. I conclude the chapter by suggesting that more games like Minecraft may be socially desirable, but noting that current intellectual property laws discourage the creation of these sorts of games.


For forensic accountants and lawyers, E-discovery is essential to support findings in order to prosecute organizations that are in violation with US, EU or national regulations. For instance, the EU aims to reduce all forms of corruption at every level, in all EU countries and institutions and even outside the EU. It also aims to prevent fraud by setting up EU anti fraud offices and actively investigates and prosecutes violations of competition regulations. This position paper proposes to address the application of intelligent language processing to the field of e- discovery to improve the quality of review and discovery. The focus will be on semantic search, combining data-driven search technology with explicit structured knowledge through the extraction of aspects, topics, entities, events and relationships from unstructured information based on email messages and postings on discussion forum.


Purpose Homeobox (HOX) genes are essential developmental regulators that should normally be in the silenced state in an adult brain. The aberrant expression of HOX genes has been associated with the prognosis of many cancer types, including glioblastoma (GBM). This study examined the identity and role of HOX genes affecting GBM prognosis and treatment resistance. Materials and Methods The full series of HOX genes of five pairs of initial and recurrent human GBM samples were screened by microarray analysis to determine the most plausible candidate responsible for GBM prognosis. Another 20 newly diagnosed GBM samples were used for prognostic validation. In vitro experiments were performed to confirm the role of HOX in treatment resistance. Mediators involved in HOX gene regulation were searched using differentially expressed gene analysis, gene set enrichment tests, and network analysis. Results The underexpression of HOXA11 was identified as a consistent signature for a poor prognosis among the HOX genes. The overall survival of the GBM patients indicated a significantly favorable prognosis in patients with high HOXA11 expression (31±15.3 months) compared to the prognoses in thosewith low HOXA11 expression (18±7.3 months, p=0.03). When HOXA11 was suppressed in the GBM cell lines, the anticancer effect of radiotherapy and/or temozolomide declined. In addition, five candidate mediators (TGFBR2, CRIM1, TXNIP, DPYSL2, and CRMP1) that may confer an oncologic effect after HOXA11 suppression were identified. Conclusion The treatment resistance induced by the underexpression of HOXA11 can contribute to a poor prognosis in GBM. Further investigation will be needed to confirm the value of HOXA11 as a potential target for overcoming the treatment resistance by developing chemo- or radiosensitizers.


A synthesis has been developed, providing nucleotide dimers comprising natural or unnatural nucleoside residues. A ribonucleoside 5′-phosphorimidazolide is added to a nucleoside adsorbed on montmorillonite at neutral pH with the absence of protecting groups. Approximately, 30% of the imidazolide is converted into each 2′-5′ dimer and 3′-5′ dimer with the rest hydrolyzed to the 5′-monophosphate. Experiments with many combinations have suggested the limits to which this method may be applied, including heterochiral and chimeric syntheses. This greener chemistry has enabled the synthesis of dimers from activated nucleotides themselves, activated nucleotides with nucleosides, and activated nucleotides with nucleotide 5′-monophosphates. Both homo- and heterochiral combinations of reagents have been tried. The montmorillonite-catalyzed oligomerization of 5′-activated nucleotides leads to oligomers up to 50 residues in length (Huang & Ferris, 2007) using the excellent catalyst Volclay®. However, all oligomers must necessarily begin as dimers, so we considered it important to study in detail the formation of these products under prebiotic conditions. Then, a meaningful comparison could be drawn between our syntheses and the formation of long oligomers that is part of our studies of the origins of life. In the synthesis of trimers from these dimers, we looked for alternative synthetic methods via a 5′-phosphate dimer with activated nucleotides as well as 5′-hydroxy nucleotide dimers with the same reactant. The method has shown promise in targeting trimer synthesis and the procedure lends itself to the development of combinatorial libraries. The use of enzymatic hydrolysis has played a crucial role in this work, facilitating product identity across the spectrum of products prepared. The yields of the corresponding homochiral and heterochiral dimers from A and U will require careful modeling of the reactants in their interactions with both the clay and one another to locate the source of the similarities and differences. The lack of reactivity of arabino- and xylo-nucleosides also poses interesting structural, modeling, and origins of life issues. Results with clays that catalyze long oligomer formation only poorly reveal that they too catalyze these dimer syntheses, albeit less well than Volclay.®


Radiance and irradiance caching are efficient global illumination algorithms based on interpolating indirect illumination from a sparse set of cached values. In this paper we propose an adaptive algorithm for guiding spatial density of the cached values in radiance and irradiance caching. The density is adapted to the rate of change of indirect illumination in order to avoid visible interpolation artifacts and produce smooth interpolated illumination. In addition, we discuss some practical problems arising in the implementation of radiance and irradiance caching, and propose techniques for solving those problems. Namely, the neighbor clamping heuristic is proposed as a robust means for detecting small sources of indirect illumination and for dealing with problems caused by ray leaking through small gaps between adjacent polygons.


This dataset contains data related to the paper:
"Regional diversity in experiences of Cohesion Policy: the cases of Emilia-Romagna and Calabria".
The dataset is made up of 5 files:
2 files consist in transcripts of interviews to practitioners, beneficiaries and targets of the Cohesion Policy projects in the Italian selected case‐study regions. Interviewees are asked to provide their views and perceptions on the multilevel governance system, on the communication activities of the Operational Programmes and on the effectiveness of Cohesion Policy.
2 files consist in tables showing the overview of political elections, the turnover of involved practitioners and the ROPs financial implementation in the two Italian case‐study regions.
1 file consist in a table showing the regional indicators on socio-economic cohesion.
A readme file is included.


This work introduces a framework for the creation and analysis of efficient gaits for legged systems based on the exploitation of natural dynamics. It summarizes the theory behind hybrid dynamic modeling, the identification of optimal periodic motions with single shooting and direct collocation, and the analysis of first order stability. Three examples introduce various aspects of gait creation and analysis: a stability study of a passive dynamic walker determines the ideal position of the leg's center of mass, the cost of transportation is minimized for a prismatic monopod hopper based on series elastic actuators, and a basic controller is created for the model of a bounding robot. The presented tools and examples are freely available at


Cold-water coral reefs have been neglected in calculations of global carbonate production. We present the first calculations of the amount of CaCO 3 produced by cold-water corals on the Norwegian Shelf in postglacial time, showing that the reef-building Lophelia pertusa in Norwegian waters contributes ∼54–188 g/m 2 / yr locally, or 0.03–0.38 g/m 2 /yr averaged over the entire shelf. These estimates indicate that cold-water reef CaCO 3 flux is 4%– 12% of the tropical reefs. A first tentative global estimate indicates that cold-water coral CaCO 3 production could add >1% to the total marine CaCO 3 production. The spatial and temporal evolution of cold-water reefs, and thus their influence on atmospheric CO 2 , is difficult to reconstruct, but factors that dominantly influence the rate of coral growth include sea-level and oceanographic changes, submarine slides, and anthropogenic activity. The results show that other shelf and slope environments should be assessed in a similar manner to further constrain and evaluate the global CaCO 3 production by cold-water corals and their possible contribution to the CaCO 3 budget.


The abs‐normal form (ANF) is a compact algebraic representation for piecewise linear functions. These functions can be used to approximate piecewise smooth functions and contain valuable information about the nonsmoothness of the investigated function. The information helps to define step directions within general Newton methods that obey the structure of the original function and typically yield better convergence. However, the computation of the generalized Newton directions requires the solution of a piecewise linear equation in ANF. It was observed that the ANF can become very large, even for simple functions. Hence, if a solver is based on the ANF and uses the (Schur‐complement) matrices of the explicit ANF representation, it has to be considered computationally expensive. In this paper, we will address this question and present the first (almost) matrix‐free versions of some solver for ANFs. The theoretical discussion is supported by some numerical run‐time experiments.


ABSTRACT: In this article we investigate a philosophical problem for normative business ethics theory suggested by a phenomenon that contemporary psychologists call "bounded ethicality," which can be identified with the putative fact that well-intentioned people, constrained by psychological limitations, make ethical choices inconsistent with their own ethical beliefs and commitments. When one combines the idea that bounded ethicality is pervasive with the idea that a person morally ought to do something only if she can, it raises a doubt about the practical relevance of the moral principles that business ethics theory prescribes. We call this doubt the Radical Behavioral Challenge. It consists in the idea that people cannot generally conform to the normative ethical principles that business ethics theorists prescribe, and that these principles are therefore practically irrelevant. We answer the Radical Behavioral Challenge and explore normative implications of our answer.


The goal of the work was to address the role of higher order nuclear architecture
in the functional regulation of endogenous genes and transgenes in different species.
In the first part of the work, 3D distance measurements were performed to analyze
in WT flies and in different transgenic lines of Drosophila melanogaster (Cavalli and Paro, 1998; Zink and Paro, 1995) the nuclear localization of endogenous genes and
transgenic constructs containing the Polycomb Response Element (PRE) Fab-7 relative to the nuclear periphery and heterochromatin. Transgenic constructs containing the Fab-7 element and three endogenous genes, Abd-B, sd, and Ubx, were first analyzed at their inactive state. The results showed that they were preferentially associated with
the nuclear periphery and did not display specific associations with heterochromatin.
The localization of the transgenic Fab-7 element was further analyzed at different
states of activity. Activation of the transgenic Fab-7 element resulted in frequent (up to ~50%) association with the boundary of the heterochromatic domain. The percentages of such associations were tissue- and fl y line-dependent. Further investigations of the boundary of heterochromatin showed that this region has a complex organization, where euchromatic sites enriched in the active form of RNA pol II and trimH3K4, sites enriched in dimH3K4 and Pc-binding sites, as well as pericentromeric satellite DNA are exposed and juxtaposed towards each other. The concentration and specific architecture of such sites at the boundary of heterochromatin might help to maintain
the equilibrium between activation and repression at this boundary. This specific
environment might be favourable for maintaining PREs in the active state.
I also investigated in three transgenic lines whether endogenous and transgenic
copies of the Fab-7 element interact physically, using 3D distance measurements.
In five tissues analyzed, no pairing between endogenous and transgenic copies
of the Fab-7 element was observed. Also enhancement of Pc-mediated silencing
did not induce pairing. Additionally, the general organization of Pc-binding sites was
addressed in six larval tissues. We used different methods of microscopy and image
analyses to count the numbers of Pc foci in nuclei from these tissues. Our data did not
indicate clustering of Pc-binding sites and formation of so called "Pc bodies". However,
corresponding analyses are not without problems at the current stage of methodology
and results must be interpreted carefully. Together with the results of previously
published studies, which investigated pairing between PREs (Bantignies et al., 2003; Vazquez et al., 2006), my data demonstrated that such pairing is a highly tissue-specific phenomenon and is likely not involved in the regulation of PREs in various tissues. Activity-related positioning of transgenes was also addressed in transgenic porcine cell lines (Hofmann et al., 2003). Results of 2D erosion analyses showed that the LV-PGK transgene was associated with the nuclear periphery in its inactive state, while it occupied more interior positions in its active state. This corresponds to my results obtained with transgenic Drosophila lines. My data also suggested that the active LV-PGK construct might be associated with heterochromatin in one case. However, further experiments would be necessary to confirm such associations. The results obtained with Drosophila and porcine cells suggested conserved mechanisms for tethering inactive loci to the nuclear periphery. These were further addressed using the human CFTR locus as a model, which is closely associated with the nuclear periphery in its inactive state (Zink et al., 2004). The question was
addressed whether Tpr, a protein associated with the nuclear basket, plays a role in
the perinuclear localization of the inactive CFTR locus. CFTR showed a high degree of association with the nuclear periphery in control cells in accordance with previous data (Zink et al., 2004). After knock-down of Tpr via RNAi CFTR displayed a more interior positioning. This suggests that Tpr is involved in the organization of inactive gene loci
at the nuclear periphery. Moreover, since Drosophila Tpr has a high level of homology
to the mammalian Tpr (Zimowska et al., 1997) and as it has been shown that the yeast Tpr homologs Mlp1 and Mlp2 are involved in tethering of inactive loci to the nuclear periphery in yeast cells (Galy et al., 2000), it is possible that Tpr is a part of a conserved mechanism anchoring inactive loci to the nuclear periphery in eukaryotic cells.


Substantial uncertainties exist in the current knowledge of aerosol-cloud-precipitation relationships and stem from the complicated interactions among the atmospheric constituents. We use a straightforward statistical method, the regression analysis technique, to examine the aerosol-cloud-precipitation relationships from satellite observational data sets, including the aqua moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol and cloud products and the tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM) precipitation rate. Furthermore, the conventional MODIS aerosol product is combined with the Deep Blue algorithm product to reconstruct a complete global map of aerosol optical depth. Numerical simulations using the latest version of the community earth system model (CESM) are also carried out. Globally, distinct statistically significant relationships between aerosol optical depth, cloud fraction, and precipitation rate are obtained over both land and ocean. Signals agreeing with the first and second indirect effects of aerosols are detected, but other factors are likely contributors. The modeling results are found to generally agree with satellite observations, but the model usually overestimates the aerosol-cloud-precipitation relationship. An increasing trend in cloud fraction with the increase of aerosol optical depth (AOD) over ocean regions is found in the observations, while the reverse is true in the model simulation. It is mostly consistent that the model and observation both show a negative relationship between AOD and precipitation rate over land and a positive relationship over ocean.


Background: The default mode interference hypothesis (Sonuga-Barke & Castellanos, 2007) predicts (1) the attenuation of very low frequency oscillations (VLFO; e.g., .05 Hz) in brain activity within the default mode network during the transition from rest to task, and (2) that failures to attenuate in this way will lead to an increased likelihood of periodic attention lapses that are synchronized to the VLFO pattern. Here, we tested these predictions using DC-EEG recordings within and outside of a previously identified network of electrode locations hypothesized to reflect DMN activity (i.e., S3 network; Helps et al., 2008). Method: 24 young adults (mean age 22.3 years; 8 male), sampled to include a wide range of ADHD symptoms, took part in a study of rest to task transitions. Two conditions were compared: 5 min of rest (eyes open) and a 10-min simple 2-choice RT task with a relatively high sampling rate (ISI 1 s). DC-EEG was recorded during both conditions, and the low-frequency spectrum was decomposed and measures of the power within specific bands extracted. Results: Shift from rest to task led to an attenuation of VLFO activity within the S3 network which was inversely associated with ADHD symptoms. RT during task also showed a VLFO signature. During task there was a small but significant degree of synchronization between EEG and RT in the VLFO band. Attenuators showed a lower degree of synchrony than nonattenuators. Discussion: The results provide some initial EEG-based support for the default mode interference hypothesis and suggest that failure to attenuate VLFO in the S3 network is associated with higher synchrony between low-frequency brain activity and RT fluctuations during a simple RT task. Although significant, the effects were small and future research should employ tasks with a higher sampling rate to increase the possibility of extracting robust and stable signals.


Momordica charantia L. belongs to the family Curcubitaceae and it is very common in many Brazilian regions. The plant is a liana with flowers and yellow fruits that present red seeds when are ripe. Popularly known as "melão-de-sãocaetano", "melão amargo" or "cabaço-amargo", it possesses many uses: antidiabetic, antihelmintic, antmicrobial, anticancerigenous and antioxidant. The phytochemical prospection of the fresh and dried leaves extracts showed the presence of different classes of secondary metabolites, as flavonoids, alkaloids and tannins, that have demonstrated antimicrobial action. Fresh and dried leaves presented significantly antimicrobial activity against all bacterial strains tested, specially Escherichia coli. Ethyl acetate fractions were effective against Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus. The modulatory activity was significative too


The improvement of wheat through breeding has relied strongly on the use of genetic material from related wild and domesticated grass species. The 1RS chromosome arm from rye was introgressed into wheat and crossed into many wheat lines, as it improves yield and fungal disease resistance. Pm8 is a powdery mildew resistance gene on 1RS which, after widespread agricultural cultivation, is now widely overcome by adapted mildew races. Here we show by homology-based cloning and subsequent physical and genetic mapping that Pm8 is the rye orthologue of the Pm3 allelic series of mildew resistance genes in wheat. The cloned gene was functionally validated as Pm8 by transient, single-cell expression analysis and stable transformation. Sequence analysis revealed a complex mosaic of ancient haplotypes among Pm3- and Pm8-like genes from different members of the Triticeae. These results show that the two genes have evolved independently after the divergence of the species 7.5 million years ago and kept their function in mildew resistance. During this long time span the co-evolving pathogens have not overcome these genes, which is in strong contrast to the breakdown of Pm8 resistance since its introduction into commercial wheat 70 years ago. Sequence comparison revealed that evolutionary pressure acted on the same subdomains and sequence features of the two orthologous genes. This suggests that they recognize directly or indirectly the same pathogen effectors that have been conserved in the powdery mildews of wheat and rye.


This article sets contemporary challenges to good water governance in South Africa within an important historical context. While it is correct to say that 'the world water crisis is a crisis of governance', it is problematic to assume that all states can follow a similar path toward environmentally sustainable, economically efficient and socially equitable water resources governance and management. The nexus of decision-making power varies within and beyond states, and over time. Gramsci (1971) describes this as the "constellation of social forces". Where this constellation of social forces achieves consensus, a 'historic bloc' is said to emerge giving rise to a particular state form. The South African state form has varied greatly over several centuries, giving rise to various historic blocs. The resulting body of laws and policies and the varied forms of infrastructure that were developed to harness water for multiple social practices over time constitute a complex political ecological terrain not easily amenable to oversimplified frameworks for good water governance. This article outlines the role of water in the history of South Africa's multiple state forms. It shows that over time, water policy, law and institutions came to reflect the increasingly complex needs of multiple actors (agriculture, mining, industry, cities, the newly enfranchised) represented by different state forms and their characteristic political regimes: the Dutch East India Company; the British Empire; the Union of South Africa; the apartheid and post-apartheid republics. Authoritarian, semi-authoritarian and democratic state forms have all used central-state power to serve particular interests. Through time, this constellation of social forces has widened until, today, the state has taken upon itself the task of providing "some water for all forever" (slogan of the Department of Water Affairs). As this article suggests, despite the difficult challenges presented by a mostly arid climate, this means 'adding in' the water demand of millions of people, but not 'allocating out' those privileged under other constellations of social forces as they contribute most substantially to economic growth. The implication, therefore, is a modified hydraulic mission involving significant new infrastructure and, in all likelihood, inter-basin transfers from beyond South Africa's borders.


Here is the most telling fact: you wish to possess me. Here is another fact: I loved you and let you think you could. When Irene America discovers that her husband, Gil, has been reading her diary, she begins a secret Blue Notebook, as much the truth about her life and her marriage as the Red Diary - hidden where he can find it - is a manipulative farce. Alternating between these two records, complemented by unflinching third-person narration, "Shadow Tag" is an eerily gripping read. When the novel opens, Irene is resuming work on her doctoral thesis about George Catlin, the nineteenth century painter whose Native American subjects often regarded his portraits with suspicious wonder. Gil, who gained notoriety as an artist through his emotionally revealing portraits of his wife - work that is adoring, sensual, and humiliating, even shocking - realises that his fear of losing Irene may force him to create the defining work of his career. Meanwhile, Irene and Gil fight to keep up appearances for their three children: fourteen-year-old genius Florian, who escapes his family's unravelling with joints and a stolen bottle of wine; Riel, their only daughter, an eleven-year-old feverishly planning to preserve her family, no matter what disaster strikes; and, sweet kindergartener Stoney, who was born, his parents come to realise, at the beginning of the end. As her home increasingly becomes a place of violence and secrets, and she drifts into alcoholism, Irene moves to end her marriage. But her attachment to Gil is filled with shadowy need and delicious ironies. In brilliantly controlled prose, "Shadow Tag" fearlessly explores the complex nature of love, the fluid boundaries of identity, and one family's struggle for survival and redemption.


It appears that there are employers who believe that Generation Y employees are often problematic. The technology, mass marketing, political times, and pop-culture in which Generation Y have grown up has ensured they have appreciably different ambitions and world views to previous generations. This paper reports the results of a study examining tourism and hospitality employer views of Generation Y employees and how some employers are attempting to draw upon the strengths of these workers. Focus groups with, and interviews of employers in Coffs Harbour, Cairns, South East Queensland, Sydney and Port Douglas were used to gain an understanding of employer views. The focus groups and interviews indicated that a sizeable number of tourism and hospitality managers believe Generation Y's beliefs in the types of work that they should be doing in their formative years in the workplace is a substantial problem for their organisations. However, a minority group of employers identified Generation Y's attitudes to work as an opportunity to tap into their strengths and to connect with their potential customer base. A number of iconic Generation Y cultural 'tools' have been adopted by this more visionary group of tourism and hospitality employers and are being used for recruitment and retention.


Abstract:  Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been highlighted as a means toward effective conservation of coral reefs. New strategies are required to more effectively select MPA locations and increase the pace of their implementation. Many criteria exist to design MPA networks, but generally, it is recommended that networks conserve a diversity of species selected for, among other attributes, their representativeness, rarity, or endemicity. Because knowledge of species' spatial distribution remains scarce, efficient surrogates are urgently needed. We used five different levels of habitat maps and six spatial scales of analysis to identify under which circumstances habitat data used to design MPA networks for Wallis Island provided better representation of species than random choice alone. Protected‐area site selections were derived from a rarity–complementarity algorithm. Habitat surrogacy was tested for commercial fish species, all fish species, commercially harvested invertebrates, corals, and algae species. Efficiency of habitat surrogacy varied by species group, type of habitat map, and spatial scale of analysis. Maps with the highest habitat thematic complexity provided better surrogates than simpler maps and were more robust to changes in spatial scales. Surrogates were most efficient for commercial fishes, corals, and algae but not for commercial invertebrates. Conversely, other measurements of species‐habitat associations, such as richness congruence and composition similarities provided weak results. We provide, in part, a habitat‐mapping methodology for designation of MPAs for Pacific Ocean islands that are characterized by habitat zonations similar to Wallis. Given the increasing availability and affordability of space‐borne imagery to map habitats, our approach could appreciably facilitate and improve current approaches to coral reef conservation and enhance MPA implementation.


Abstract
Since the mature egg is the pathogenic unit in schistosomiasis, sterilizing agents. by inhibiting egg-laying, should be therapeutic. The effects on Schistosoma mansoni of sterilization by X-radiation were studied in vivo, in mice, and in vitro. After the hepatic shift of adult S. mansoni produced by potassium antimony tartrate (PAT), the livers of mice were irradiated with 1,500 r. The worm and egg burdens, the survival times of the mice, and the morphology of the recovered worms, indicated that X-radiation at this dose had no effect. Groups of adult worms were exposed to various doses of X-ray in vitro and subsequently maintained in a medium consisting of 90% Medium No. 199 and 10% calf serum. Death from irradiation began 2 weeks after exposure. The LD50 was 68,000 r for males, and 59,000 r for females. As compared with nonirradiated controls, the rate of oviposition was inhibited 50% by 14,400 r and 90% by 100,000 r. The dose used in vivo inhibited egg-laying in vitro by only 4%. Sterilization of adults was measured indirectly by comparing the number of fertilized eggs (those maturing to the miracidial stage) laid after different X-ray doses with those laid by nonirradiated worms. Adults were sterilized 50, 90, and 100%, by 350, 1,000, and 5,000 r, respectively. The dose used in vivo was 92.5% sterilizing in vitro. The dose of X-rays used in vivo could neither sterilize adults nor inhibit egg-laying. However, by inhibiting the maturation of eggs, it should have extended the lives of the treated animals. Lack of efficacy in vivo may have been due to administering X-radiation too late in the course of the disease.


Engineering the climate via Solar Radiation Management (SRM) is increasingly considered as a component of future climate policies. We study the strategic incentives for countries to choose the level of SRM at different times in the future, accounting for the regionally uneven effect of SRM on climate variables, heterogeneous preferences of countries for the state of the global climate, and climate change adjusted GDP growth rates. We find that even though some countries would have significant gains from realizing their individually preferred level of SRM, the economic incentives for many countries are not sufficient to consider unilateral SRM implementation to be beneficial. In contrast, several countries have strong incentives to join coalitions to prevent that too much SRM is applied. The likely scenario is that a coalition will set a level of SRM close to the global efficient level.


Carbonates are characterized by low oil recovery due to their positive surface charge and consequent high affinity to negatively charged crude oil, rendering them to a state of mixed-to-oil wettability. In order to understand the rock/brine/oil interactions and their effect on potential-determining-ions (PDIs) adsorption/desorption during engineered water injection is needed for realistic and representative estimations of oil recovery. Therefore, this study reveals a novel approach to capture various interactions and better predict the effect of PDIs adsorption/desorption as well as concentrations of various ionic species in the effluent using Phreeqc. In this work, we determined adsorption/desorption of PDIs for the first time using surface complexation reactions and then we validated our results with experimental data from the literature. Our results showed that the presence of PDIs and their respective adsorption/desorption results in surface charge decrease and increase in pH. Also, this study found that ionic adsorption depends on ionic strength and species activity where calcium adsorption remained constant while magnesium and sulfate adsorptions varied with ionic strength. Moreover, magnesium ion was found to be the most sensitive ionic species to temperature as opposed to calcium and sulfate ions. In addition, sulfate spiking and dilution might decrease sulfate adsorption since the sulfate starts reacting with magnesium and forming complexes. Additionally, deionized water resulted in the highest charge decrease and pH increase with related incremental oil recovery. The adsorption/desorption of ions is case-dependent and thus, the findings cannot be generalized.


Jane Fallon, bestselling author of "Getting Rid of Matthew", returns with "The Ugly Sister". When it comes to genes life's a lottery...As Abi would the first to know. She has spent her life in the shadow of her stunningly beautiful, glamorous older sister Cleo. Headhunted as model when she was sixteen, Cleo has been all but lost to Abi for the last twenty years, with only a fleeting visit or brief email to connect them. So when Abi is invited to spend the summer in Cleo's large London home with her sister's perfect family, she can't bring herself to say no. Despite serious misgivings. Maybe Cleo is finally as keen as Abi to regain the closeness they shared in their youth? But Abi is in for a shock. Soon she is left caring for her two young, bored and very spoilt nieces and handsome, unhappy brother-in-law - while Cleo plainly has other things on her mind. As Abi moves into her sister's life, a cuckoo in the nest, she wrestles with uncomfortable feelings. Could having beauty, wealth and fame lead to more unhappiness than not having them? Who in the family really is the ugly sister? The bestselling author of R&J selection "Getting Rid of Matthew" returns with a tale of two sisters. Praise for Jane Fallon: "Intelligent, edgy and witty". ("Glamour"). "Smart, sassy and dark". ("Heat"). Jane Fallon is the multi-award-winning television producer behind shows such as "This Life", "Teachers" and "20 Things to Do before You're 30". Her previous novels are "Getting Rid of Matthew", "Foursome" and "Got You Back".


We have periodically (25ms on - 25ms off) illuminated lysozyme crystals with 0.4 THz radiation and simultaneously monitored their X-ray diffraction intensity in order to study non-thermal structural changes in the protein. In this work we analyze the X-ray scaled and unmerged diffraction intensity observations using a multivariate Bayesian model in order to improve the accuracy of the intensity estimates. The diffraction intensity pairs of the illuminated and non-illuminated state show a predominantly positive correlation. The correlation decreases with increasing resolution suggesting that finer slicing and faster sampling of the rocking curve may further improve the accuracy and effect size of structure factor amplitude differences, making the interpretation of structural changes more straightforward. The improved analysis retains the most important structural features described previously (in helix 3) and provide addition details about the B-factor changes close to the substrate binding site.


Ferroelectric (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O3 capacitors were fabricated using chemical solution deposition with Al:ZnO (AZO) top electrodes that were deposited using pulsed laser deposition (PLD), where the oxygen pressure was varied systematically. The oxygen pressure during deposition of the AZO layer affected the surface morphology of the AZO top electrodes, as well as the ferroelectric properties of the capacitors. As the oxygen pressure increased, the AZO grains gradually appeared clearer in the SEM images, indicating less dense stacking, and the polarisation–voltage hysteresis loops expanded horizontally. The largest values of remnant polarisation and coercive voltage were obtained at 10 Pa. Appropriate ferroelectric properties were obtained for oxygen pressures in the range of 0.5–2.0 Pa. The hydrogen degradation resistance during annealing in 3% H2 200°C and 1 Torr was independent of oxygen pressure during PLD.


This study employs stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and two-stage DEA approaches to predict firm technical efficiency and analyse an inefficiency effects model. Aggregate translog stochastic frontier production functions are estimated under the SFA approach using an unbalanced panel data of 178 Thai manufacturing enterprises listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), covering the period 2000 to 2008. The maximumlikelihood Tobit model is used to conduct the second-stage of the two-stage DEA model to investigate the relationship between technical inefficiency and environmental variables. Both parametric and non-parametric approaches are found to produce consistent results. The empirical evidence from both approaches highlight that Thai listed manufacturing firms had been operating under decreasing returns to scale over the period 2000 to 2008. The SFA approach reports that technical progress decreased over time, and relied on labour input. Both estimation approaches suggest that leverage (financial constraints), executive remuneration, managerial ownership, exports, some types of listed firms (i.e., family-owned firm and foreign-owned firm), and firm size have a negative (positive) and significant effect on technical inefficiency (technical efficiency). The empirical results obtained from both approaches also suggest that liquidity, external financing, and research & development (R&D) have a significantly positive (negative) effect on technical inefficiency (technical efficiency)


This conference is called "Strategies for Moving Ahead." I would like to address the pillars of the title, documentation and conservation, and examine some different models than are usually found in the literature on documentation, conservation, and revitalization that provide strategies, under appropriate circumstances, for moving ahead. In early discussions of language documentation, the recording of language is generally the primary goal, with work with communities taking a secondary role. There has been increasing emphasis on community more recently, with language and linguistics continuing to be at the centre in discussions of this extended view of documentation. Communities are often interested in language conservation, with revitalization frequently part of a broader goal of community development, sustainability, and growth. Where the linguistic notion of documentation fits the community goals is not always clear. In this talk, I would like to describe two projects that I have been involved with that have such goals, and look at the role that linguistics plays. One project, Ciimaan ('canoe' in Anishinaabemowin), is run out of the University of Toronto, and was designed as an urban learning community for participants to become bi-cultural navigators. Ciimaan provides an opportunity to develop transferable job and leadership skills while teaching, learning, and promoting Anishinaabemowin through culturally-based activities and community projects. What role might a linguist play in such a project that is motivated by goals of creating community? The program, while focused on language, did not engage the skills that a linguist has to offer at the start, but those skills have come to be regarded as critical to the overall conception of the project. The second project, the Deline Knowledge Project, has been going on in Deline, Northwest Territories, Canada for some time. This project is broadly concerned with traditional knowledge and self government. Language is one important interest, and there has been extensive work done on recording, archiving, transcription of stories, as well as work with youth on valuing cultural knowledge, including language. As this a community-driven project has evolved, participants have become increasingly interested in developing dictionaries, in literacy, in language variation, and in other areas where linguists have a contribution to make, and have sought education in linguistics. This was not the starting point, but, as with Ciimaan, linguistics has come to be a critical piece of the work of rethinking community governance. In these cases, language plays an essential role in ongoing work on efforts to strengthen the community. In both cases, the starting point has been community rather than language and language documentation. The role of linguistic work has emerged from other priorities, being one piece of a complex, with the linguist part of a team of academic and community researchers working together to move ahead, and contributions to language understanding often arising in rather indirect ways.


Three new Masdevallia species are described, illustrated and compared with similar species. A brief taxonomic discussion is held about the justification for describing the new taxa as Masdevallia and not as belonging to any of the recently proposed segregated genera. The first species is most similar to M. rimarimaalba but differs in having a more tubular flower and a narrower lip, the second species is similar to M. dudleyi and M. nunezii but differs in the richly pubescent sepals, and the third species is distinguished from other similar and multiflowered Masdevallia species by the rugose lip


In today's medicine, arguably the main objective is to provide the highest possible quality of medical care to patients. The provision of high-quality medical care is usually associated with the patients being monitored within medical establishments by specialist practitioners. However, there is a considerable number of medical conditions for which expert medical personnel is limited, or patients may be forced to be away from such experts for long periods of time. One of the most common cases where patients are forced to stay away from expert medical help for long periods of time is that of people suffering from spinal injury. Spinal injury affects tens of millions of people around the world, and has very severe consequences to patients; these include paralysis (of legs and, possibly, arms as well), loss of sensation, incontinence, etc. However, the medical centres around the world that can provide specialised care to such patients is very small, and they are concentrated in a very small number of areas around the globe. Therefore, providing efficient, quality care to patients suffering from spinal injury is a very important issue in the medical community. This observation has led us to the design and development of a Decision Support System that will act as a consultation and caring tool for such patients. The resulting system, called Dimitra-PRO, is based on probabilistic tools (more specifically, Bayesian Networks) to deliver a diagnosis about the possible conditions such patients may suffer from, given the symptoms they exhibit. Prior information is extracted from all possible sources of domain knowledge (literature, questioning experts and personal experience), and is modelled appropriately. In the context of this work, an important breakthrough in the applicability of Bayesian Networks (BNs) in real-world scenarios has also been made. So far, BNs have limited support for representing continuous random variables; if any are used, they are required to follow a Gaussian distribution in order to perform exact inference in a BN, otherwise discretisation is applied. In this thesis, we show that it is now possible to use any function that can be used as probability distribution function for nodes, without applying any kind of approximation, to perform exact inference in Bayesian Networks containing a random mixture of discrete and continuous nodes. BNs are now capable of modelling dependencies between discrete and continuous variables without the need to apply discretisation for continuous variables. By applying this paradigm in the case of Dimitra-PRO, it is experimentally demonstrated that the proposed method for representing continuous random variables in BNs outperforms discretisation of these nodes, thus enabling us to deliver a more accurate prognosis about the patients' condition-which, in turn, satisfies our demand for providing the highest possible quality of care to them.