Abstract Generative linguistics has long been concerned with the linguistic competence of the "ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogeneous speech-community, who knows its language perfectly" (Chomsky 1965: 3). Research in formal-linguistics-based second language acquisition takes as its starting point the second language (L2) speaker's underlying mental representation. Here the factors of interest are influence of the learner's native language and, in generative SLA, the operation of innate linguistic mechanisms (Universal Grammar). Similar to methodology in formal syntax, lxSLA adopts techniques such as grammaticality judgment, comprehension and perception tasks supplementing spontaneously produced oral data. While there may be individual differences in oral production, tasks that tap learners' mental representations reveal commonalities across learners from a given native language background with the same amount/ type of exposure and age of initial L2 exposure. When it comes to phonology, age has long been a central factor with numerous comparative studies showing younger learners far outperforming older learners (see Piske et al. 2001). This paper discusses a case of possible non-acquisition by L2 children who had had considerable exposure to the L2. Children's non-acquisition is only apparent, and this allows us to consider the value of lxSLA methodology on the one hand, and and raises issues about what might be lacking in the current socio-SLA paradigm, on the other. We argue that only when we return to the cooperation that marked its birth in the 1960s will we have a comprehensive picture of SLA.


The identification of distinct user roles is an important theme in social media research. However, for Enterprise Social Networks (ESN), the use of social media within organisations, research identifying such roles is still lacking. Yet, understanding user roles, in particular regarding their knowledge contributions and communication behaviour, might usefully support companies in managing critical knowledge resources. Against this backdrop, in this research-in-progress paper we derive 16 metrics characterising the participation behaviour, message content and structural position of ESN users of an Australian professional services firm. Based on a factor analysis, we identify four distinct dimensions of ESN user behaviour: Contribution & networking, information provision, contact dispersion and invisible usage. With this research we contribute to the literature by transferring concepts and methods of organisation science and social media research to an ESN context. Further, our approach forms the basis for the identification of different types of knowledge actors, which might ultimately help to improve organisational knowledge transparency.


Acetabular fractures are quite challenging injuries for the orthopedic surgeon due to low incidence and the deep and complex anatomy. A 61 y old man fell from a single-storey house and sustained a right acetabular fracture and cartilage wear. The dual-column was fixed with cannulated screw fixation via anterior ilioinguinal approach and received second surgery of open reduction and pelvic reconstructive steel plate internal fixation. His hip pain was worsened and the diagnosis was traumatic arthritis. Artificial total hip replacement of the right hip was carried out using a posterolateral approach. Our experience with this case indicates that artificial total hip replacement may need to be considered in cases with dual-column acetabular fracture and cartilage wear.


One of the most cited books in physics of all time, Quantum Computation and Quantum Information remains the best textbook in this exciting field of science. This 10th anniversary edition includes an introduction from the authors setting the work in context. This comprehensive textbook describes such remarkable effects as fast quantum algorithms, quantum teleportation, quantum cryptography and quantum error-correction. Quantum mechanics and computer science are introduced before moving on to describe what a quantum computer is, how it can be used to solve problems faster than 'classical' computers and its real-world implementation. It concludes with an in-depth treatment of quantum information. Containing a wealth of figures and exercises, this well-known textbook is ideal for courses on the subject, and will interest beginning graduate students and researchers in physics, computer science, mathematics, and electrical engineering.


Successive episodes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection represent a unique natural rechallenge experiment to define correlates of long-term protective immunity and inform vaccine development. We applied a systems immunology approach to characterize longitudinal changes in the peripheral blood transcriptomic signatures in eight subjects who spontaneously resolved two successive HCV infections. Furthermore, we compared these signatures with those induced by an HCV T cell-based vaccine regimen. We identified a plasma cell transcriptomic signature during early acute HCV reinfection. This signature was absent in primary infection and following HCV vaccine boost. Spontaneous resolution of HCV reinfection was associated with rapid expansion of glycoprotein E2-specifc memory B cells in three subjects and transient increase in E2-specific neutralizing antibodies in six subjects. Concurrently, there was an increase in the breadth and magnitude of HCV-specific T cells in 7 out of 8 subjects. These results suggest a cooperative role for both antibodies and T cells in clearance of HCV reinfection and support the development of next generation HCV vaccines targeting these two arms of the immune system.


The attitude of companies towards the use of debt depends on many factors that can be generally called corporate debt policy. This paper deals with the debt policy of companies in Czech Republic, focusing on the factors affecting the appropriate amount of debt and their debt policy in general. The aim of this contribution is to reveal the dominant factors affecting companies in their debt policy decisions and to analyse the possible impact of the selected classifying factors on the firms' responses. The findings of this article are based on the data from the questionnaire survey conducted in 2016 and the subsequent statistical analysis of the responses. The most important factors affecting appropriate amount of debt proved to be financial flexibility and volatility of earnings and cash flows. For deciding on debt policy, the most important factor was insufficiency of internal funds. Statistical analysis revealed several differences in response to debt-policy questions according to the legal form of business, the industrial sector, the company size, and the origin of capital.


Drawing on four years' worth of faculty and student surveys as well as interviews with Mason faculty, we explore how faculty who teach in Mason's active learning classrooms (ALCs) come to take advantage of the space to engage their students in active learning. Surveys show that both students and faculty report that activities we identify as interactive occur with high frequency in those learning spaces, though not evenly across all of the classroom spaces. Students and faculty also self-report higher levels of engagement in ALCs as compared to traditional classrooms. Interviews with faculty, including faculty teaching for the first time in the new classrooms in Peterson Hall, help reveal the range of factors that make it more likely that faculty will use pedagogical strategies that support active learning--including their prior exposure to examples of active learning pedagogy, their beliefs about the efficacy and relevance of those pedagogies, their overall flexibility as teachers, and their own past experiences using active learning strategies.


Noncoding genetic variation in the locus encoding for the Wnt signaling effector TCF7L2 remains the strongest genetic determinant of type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk in humans. This association raises the hypothesis that disease variants alter the quantitative, spatial, and/or temporal expression patterns of this gene. Understanding the mechanisms by which TCF7L2 and Wnt signaling regulate glucose metabolism may reveal novel insights into the pathogenesis of T2D, as well as highlight cellular and genetic pathways amenable to becoming novel therapeutic targets. Therefore, a large body of work has emerged over the past 4 years describing previously unknown glucose metabolism roles of TCF7L2.

Curiously, most of this work has focused on TCF7L2 actions in pancreatic β-cells, despite evidence that canonical Wnt signaling is not active in adult β-cells (1). The extensive evaluation of TCF7L2 actions or Wnt signaling effects in β-cells have resulted in contradictory findings at the molecular (2,3), cellular (1,4), and whole-animal physiology levels (5–7). Particularly difficult to reconcile is the incongruence of data showing that the presumed diabetogenic effects of TCF7L2 in β-cells, such as a blunted glucose-stimulated insulin secretion response, arises from reducing TCF7L2 expression (3,8). In contrast, evidence from human genetics and genomics studies suggests the risk alleles associated with T2D lead to increased expression of TCF7L2 (2,9–11), a notion recently confirmed by mouse models harboring germline null alleles …


Many isolates of Escherichia coli carrying blaOXA-48 referred to Public Health England's national reference laboratory during 2014 and 2015 shared similar pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profiles, despite coming from patients in multiple different hospitals and regions. Whole genome sequencing on an Illumina platform revealed that these belonged to sequence type (ST) 38. The OXA-48 gene is usually carried on a 62 kb IncL/M plasmid (pOXA48a), but those belonging to this ST appeared either to lack plasmid elements or to have only a partial complement. Two isolates, one belonging to a main cluster sharing identical PFGE profiles and the other having a distinct profile, were further sequenced on a minION. The long reads provided by the nanopore sequencing technology facilitated assembly of a much larger contig around the blaOXA-48 region, showing that both isolates shared a similar arrangement, with a plasmid fragment containing blaOXA-48 flanked by IS1R elements integrated into the chromosome, although the length of the plasmid fragment and the insertion site differed between the two isolates. That belonging to the main cluster contained a 21.9 kb Tn6237 insert, as previously described in E. coli EC-15 from Lebanon, but in a different insertion site. PCR mapping indicated that a further 14/31 representatives of this cluster also contained this insert in the same insertion site, with most of the remainder differing only by having additional E. coli sequence on one side of the insertion. This sub-cluster of ST38 was found from 25 different hospital laboratories, suggesting widespread distribution of a successful type.


Cities are experimenting with a range of policy and regulatory tools to reduce energy use in the building sector as a pathway to substantial carbon emission reductions. Increasingly, cities are turning to policies that reduce information asymmetries and knowledge gaps through data transparency, focusing on existing buildings and the potential to achieve up to 50% energy savings through retrofit adoption. These include energy disclosure - or benchmarking - ordinances and, more recently, mandatory energy audit requirements. While energy benchmarking is a relatively low-cost mandate, energy audits impose non-trivial costs in terms of capital and time for building owners. The question we explore here is whether mandatory energy audits lead to reduced energy consumption over time. We collect detailed energy use and building attribute data from 2011 to 2016 for approximately 4,000 buildings in New York City and integrate with a unique dataset of mandatory energy audit reports for a randomly selected sample conducted in 2013 and 2014. We use non-parametric statistical tests and Bayesian regression to evaluate the impact of energy audits on building energy performance, compared to a control group of matched buildings not subject to the audit requirement. We find that mandatory energy audits have a modest negative impact on energy consumption, consistent with savings expected from low-cost energy conservation measures and retro-commissioning activities. The result reinforces the hypothesis that audits, by themselves, create an insufficient incentive to invest in energy efficiency upgrades at the scale needed to meet city carbon reduction goals.


"Pigmentocracies"--the fruit of the multiyear Project on Ethnicity and Race in Latin America (PERLA)--is a richly revealing analysis of contemporary attitudes toward ethnicity and race in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, four of Latin America's most populous nations. Based on extensive, original sociological and anthropological data generated by PERLA, this landmark study analyzes ethnoracial classification, inequality, and discrimination, as well as public opinion about Afro-descended and indigenous social movements and policies that foster greater social inclusiveness, all set within an ethnoracial history of each country. A once-in-a-generation examination of contemporary ethnicity, this book promises to contribute in significant ways to policymaking and public opinion in Latin America. Edward Telles, PERLA's principal investigator, explains that profound historical and political forces, including multiculturalism, have helped to shape the formation of ethnic identities and the nature of social relations within and across nations. One of "Pigmentocracies"'s many important conclusions is that unequal social and economic status is at least as much a function of skin color as of ethnoracial identification. Investigators also found high rates of discrimination by color and ethnicity widely reported by both targets "and" witnesses. Still, substantial support across countries was found for multicultural-affirmative policies--a notable result given that in much of modern Latin America race and ethnicity have been downplayed or ignored as key factors despite their importance for earlier nation-building.


We consider time-space fractional reaction diffusion equations in two dimensions. This equation is obtained from the standard reaction diffusion equation by replacing the first order time derivative with the Caputo fractional derivative, and the second order space derivatives with the fractional Laplacian. Using the matrix transfer technique proposed by Ilic, Liu, Turner and Anh [Fract. Calc. Appl. Anal., 9:333--349, 2006] and the numerical solution strategy used by Yang, Turner, Liu, and Ilic [SIAM J. Scientific Computing, 33:1159--1180, 2011], the solution of the time-space fractional reaction diffusion equations in two dimensions can be written in terms of a matrix function vector product $f( A ) b $ at each time step, where $ A $ is an approximate matrix representation of the standard Laplacian. We use the finite volume method over unstructured triangular meshes to generate the matrix $ A $, which is therefore non-symmetric. However, the standard Lanczos method for approximating $f( A ) b $ requires that $ A $ is symmetric. We propose a simple and novel transformation in which the standard Lanczos method is still applicable to find $f( A ) b $, despite the loss of symmetry. Numerical results are presented to verify the accuracy and efficiency of our newly proposed numerical solution strategy.

 References D. Baleanu, Z. B. Guvenc, J. A. T. Machado. (Eds.) New Trends in Nanotechnology and Fractional Calculus Applications . Springer, 2010. R. E. Ewing, T. Lin and Y. Lin. On the accuracy of the finite volume element method based on piecewise linear polynomials. SIAM J. Numerical Analysis 39(6):1865--1888, 2002. doi:10.1137/S0036142900368873 M. Ilic, F. Liu, I. Turner, and V. Anh. Numerical approximation of a fractional-in-space diffusion equation (II)---with nonhomogeneous boundary conditions. Fract. Calc. Appl. Anal. , 9:333--349, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10525/1287 R. Klages, G. Radons, I. M. Sokolov. (Eds.) Anomalous Transport: Foundations and Applications . Wiley, 2008. Y. Lin and C. Xu. Finite difference/spectral approximations for the time-fractional diffusion equation. J. Comp. Phys. , 225:1533--1552, 2007. doi:10.1016/j.jcp.2007.02.001 I. Podlubny. Fractional Differential Equations . Academic Press, New York, 1999. Y. Saad. Analysis of some Krylov subspace approximations to the matrix exponential operator. SIAM J. Numer. Anal. , 29:209--228, 1992. doi:10.1137/0729014 J. Sabatier, O. P. Agrawal, J. A. T. Machado. (Eds.) Advances in fractional calculus: Theoretical developments and applications in physics and engineering . Springer, 2007. V. Simoncini and D. B. Szyld. Recent computational developments in Krylov subspace methods for linear systems. Numer. Linear Algebra Appl. , 14:1--59, 2007. doi:10.1002/nla.499 H. A. van der Vorst. An iterative solution method for solving $f(A)x=b$ using Krylov subspace information obtained for the symmetric positive definite matrix $A$. J. Comput. Appl. Math. , 18:249--263, 1987. doi:10.1016/0377-0427(87)90020-3 Q. Yang, F. Liu, and I. Turner. Stability and convergence of an effective numerical method for the time-space fractional Fokker--Planck equation with a nonlinear source term. International Journal of Differential Equations , Article ID 464321, 22 pages, 2010. doi:10.1155/2010/464321 Q. Yang, F. Liu, and I. Turner. Numerical methods for fractional partial differential equations with Riesz space fractional derivatives. Applied Mathematical Modelling , 34:200--218, 2010. doi:10.1016/j.apm.2009.04.006 Q. Yang, I. Turner, F. Liu, and M. Ilic. Novel numerical methods for solving the time-space fractional diffusion equation in 2D. SIAM J. Scientific Computing , 33:1159--1180, 2011. doi:10.1137/100800634


The thesis is concerned with civilian soldier movements raised in Staffordshire between 1793 and 1823: - the militias, the volunteer infantry movements and the yeomanry cavalry.
In order to assess standards of performance in the various movements, it has been necessary to draw comparisons with similar forces throughout the country, but more especially those in the Inland Area.
In Staffordshire there were three, separate, volunteer infantry movements. The Staffordshire
Yeomanry did not disband, as did many cavalry units in 1802 and again in 1815, but its nature changed, so in effect, there were three movements. There were three militias - the regular, supplementary and local militias. The work has concentrated on the procedures for raising, enrolling and financing all the movements. It has considered their service, behaviour, efficiency and their military contribution to the war effort. It has examined the use of corps as posse comitatus and the impact they made on their neighbourhoods or, in the case of the militias, their stations. The period 1793 to 1816 covered the service of the militias and the voluntary movements during the war years. The post-war period, 1815 to 1823, has been concerned with the service of the yeomanry corps and their aid to the civil power, and the voluntary infantry raised between 1819 and 1823. Throughout the work, the relationship between the three movements has been studied, as has their relationship with the army.
The work has considered the reasons given by government for raising, maintaining and financing such large civilian forces, and how happy the administrations were with so many armed civilians, in war-time, when there was a great fear of Radical activity. It has examined the bureaucracies given the task of administering and controlling the movements and the role played by Whitehall. It has sought to discover what part the civilian movements were expected to play in the event of a French invasion.
From 1793 to 1807, considerable legislation was enacted to raise the forces,to alter their status, to give government powers to direct men into voluntary movements, and to rationalise such matters as pay, training and service, so the question of national rather than local movements has been discussed. In the light of increased government involvement in the infantry and yeomanry, the voluntary nature of the two forces has been questioned.
The militia and the army were generally detested and feared. In the light of this, the thesis has sought to discover why considerable numbers of civilian's were willing to join voluntary military movements, who they were, and how far they were prepared to accept military discipline and the increased demands made upon them, and their localities, by government as the wars progressed. The great civilian mobilisation, in the form it took, was unique.
No modem work exists in Staffordshire, or possibly elsewhere, which has undertaken a thorough, comparative study of all three local military associations during the European and Napoleonic Wars and the post-war period to 1823. The work therefore adds to the existing knowledge of civilian movements. It advances the argument that they were social rather than military movements; it defines a continuous link between the early associations, those of mid-Victorian Britain and the Local Defence Volunteers of 1940.


This paper introduces a new approach for scientiflc visualization and simulation based on a particle system. The main characteristics of the toolkit we designed and implemented at the New University of Lisbon are presented. Along with particles, flelds, and particle sources, the central concept of the framework introduces the interaction as the fourth primary class of objects. The result is that a large diversity of techniques for data visualization and simulation can easily be integrated. A user of the toolkit can write a relatively short script in order to build a speciflc application program. This script is interpreted by SiPaViS (the name of this toolkit) according to the rules of a given grammar and on the basis of the existent re-usable classes. However, a programmer can always extend the set of predeflned classes by writing the corresponding code in a common programming language. Some examples are given in the paper under the scope of application areas such as volume rendering through ray-casting implementation and also visualization of vector flelds.


This study investigated the features and usefulness of mobile app-based health promotion programs for the general population. A comprehensive bibliographic search of studies on health promotion programs using mobile apps in peer-reviewed journals published in English up to November 2017 was performed using the PubMed, Embase, and CINAHL databases. The inclusion criteria were (1) randomized control trial designs; (2) assessed mobile app-based interventions to promote adult health conditions; 12 studies were ultimately included. The most common topics were diet and physical activity (n = 8) and overall healthy lifestyle improvement (n = 4). The purpose of the apps included providing feedback on one's health status (n = 9) and monitoring individual health status or behavior change (n = 9). Across all studies, health outcomes were shown to be better for mobile app users compared to non-users. Mobile app-based health interventions may be an effective strategy for improving health promotion behaviors in the general population without diseases. This study suggests that mobile app use is becoming commonplace for a variety of health-promoting behaviors in addition to physical activity and weight control. Future research should address the feasibility and effectiveness of using mobile apps for health promotion in developing countries.


Maintaining saline grasslands in good condition, preserving their yield and diversity is important not only for the purpose of nature conservation, but also for farming. Therefore, the primary purpose of our study is to analyse the effect of pasture use of the smaller weight extensive and the larger weight intensive beef cattle on the grassland vegetation and nutrient content. In this way, we can answer the question whether grazing for nature conservation can be achieved with more profitable, more economical and more intense varieties.
The tests were carried out in May 2016 and May 2017, in the Hortobágy National Park (Pap-ere and Zám puszta), where a total of 16 sample areas were analysed. These areas are grazed with extensive beef cattle (Hungarian grey) and mixed genotype of intensive cattle. The associations were selected along a moisture gradient, such as wet salt marsh (Bolboschoenetum maritimi) and drier saline meadow (Beckmannion eruciformis). All the vegetative material collected both years in May was analysed for the following parameters: dry matter, crude protein, crude fibre and life-sustaining net energy content. We compared the effects of medium grazing (0.46 livestock/ha) and abandonment on vegetation and nutrient content.
We examined the effect of (i) grazing, (ii) different grasslands (salt marsh, saline meadow) and (iii) grazing of different cattle breeds (Hungarian grey, intensive beef) on the nutrient content of the vegetation of grasslands Based on our results, it was found that grazing had an impact on crude protein and life-sustaining net energy content. The highest crude protein content (12.75 m/m%) was obtained in the year 2017 in the area where higher density had been grazed for two years. For the lifesustaining net energy, the highest value (5.05 MJ/kg d.m.) was also obtained in 2017 and the lowest in 2016. Furthermore, it was found that there was no significant difference between the effect of the two cattle breeds on the parameters examined. Significant effects were observed only in the case of life-sustaining net energy: in the area of intensive beef cattle we received a higher value (5.15 MJ/kg body weight) than in the area with extensive beef cattle (4.96 MJ/kg body weight).
Our results have also shown that cattle grazing is of the utmost importance for the maintenance of both wet and mesophilous habitats. Based on our three-year study, we can say that grazing by both extensive and intensive cattle breeds is suitable for the management of saline habitats.


Most current approaches to mechanical program verification transform a program and its specifications into first-order formulas and try to prove these formulas valid. Since the first-order predicate calculus is not decidable, such approaches are inherently limited. This paper proposes an alternative approach to program verification: correctness proofs are constructively established by proof justifications written in an algorithmic notation. These proof justifications are written as part of the program, along with the executable code and correctness specifications. A notation is presented in which code, specifications, and justifications are interwoven. For example, if a program contains a specification 3x P(x), the program also contains a justification that exhibits the particulat value of x that makes P true. Analogously, justifications may be used to state how universally quantified formulas are to be instantiated when they are used as hypotheses. Programs so justifiled may be verified by proving quantifier-free formulas. Additional classes of justifications serve related ends. Formally, justifications reduce correctness to a decidable theory. Informally, justifications establish the connection between the executable code and correctness specifications, documenting the reasoning on which the correctness is based.


We study the importance of international trade in structural change. Our framework has both productivity and trade cost shocks, and allows for non-unitary income and substitution elasticities. We calibrate our model to investigate South Korea's structural change between 1971 and 2005. We find that the shock processes, propagated through the model's two main transmission mechanisms, non-homothetic preferences and the open economy, explain virtually all of the evolution of agriculture and services labor shares, and the rising part of the hump-shape in manufacturing. Counterfactual exercises show that the role of the open economy is quantitatively important for explaining South Korea's structural change.


The interaction of n-butane with a ((VO)2P2O7) catalyst has been investigated by temperature-programmed desorption and anaerobic temperature-programmed reaction. n-Butane has been shown to adsorb on the (VO)2P2O7 to as a butyl–hydroxyl pair. When adsorption is carried out at 223 K, upon temperature programming some of the butyl–hydroxyl species recombine resulting in butane desorption at 260 K. However, when adsorption is carried out at 423 K, the hydroxyl species of the butyl–hydroxyl pair migrate away from the butyl species during the adsorption, forming water which is detected in the gas phase. Butane therefore is not observed to desorb at 260 K after we lowered the temperature to 223 K under the butane/helium from the adsorption temperature of 423 K prior to temperature programming from that temperature to 1100 K under a helium stream. Anaerobic temperature-programmed oxidation of n-butane produces butene and butadiene at a peak maximum temperature of 1000 K; this is exactly the temperature at which, upon temperature programming, oxygen evolves from the lattice and desorbs as O2. This, and the fact that the amount of oxygen desorbing from the (VO)2P2O7 at ∼1000 K is the same as that required for the oxidation of the n-butane to butene and butadiene, strongly suggests (i) that lattice oxygen as it emerges at the surface is the selective oxidant and (ii) that its appearance at the surface is the rate-determining step in the selective oxidation of n-butane. The surface of the (VO)2P2O7 catalyst on which this selective oxidation takes place has had approximately two monolayers of oxygen removed from it by unselective oxidation of the n-butane to CO, CO2, and H2O between 550 and 950 K and has had approximately one monolayer of carbon deposited on it at ∼1000 K. It is apparent, therefore, that the original crystallography of the (VO)2P2O7 catalyst will not exist during this selective oxidation and that theories that relate selectivity in partial oxidation to the (100) face of the (VO)2P2O7 catalyst cannot apply in this case.


We introduce ultraresolving terahertz (THz) near-field microscopy based on THz scattering at atomic force microscope tips. Nanoscale resolution is achieved by THz field confinement at the very tip apex to within 30 nm, which is in good agreement with full electro-dynamic calculations. Imaging semiconductor transistors, we provide first evidence of 40 nm (lambda/3000) spatial resolution at 2.54 THz (wavelength lambda=118 microm) and demonstrate the simultaneous THz recognition of materials and mobile carriers in a single nanodevice. Fundamentally important, we find that the mobile carrier contrast can be directly related to near-field excitation of THz-plasmons in the doped semiconductor regions. This opens the door to quantitative studies of local carrier concentration and mobility at the nanometer scale. The THz near-field response is extraordinary sensitive, providing contrast from less than 100 mobile electrons in the probed volume. Future improvements could allow for THz characterization of even single electrons or biomolecules.


The body has become a vital research object in several disciplines in recent years. Indeed, in the social sciences and humanities, a corporeal turn in which embodiment has become a key concept related to learning and socialisation is discussed. This cross-disciplinary paper addresses the epistemological question of how we know what we know and theoretically and empirically contributes to current arguments of a shift from embodiment to emplacement. In other words, this study strives for understanding of the intersection of mind, body and place through a focus on how bodily knowing is formed as part of a moving world. The purpose of the paper is to explore the kinaesthetic experience as bodily knowing in emplaced semi-formal teaching. Through long-term ethnography in a Swedish skateboard setting and in-depth analysis of digital visual material, this paper demonstrates how kinaesthetic experience might be viewed as knowing and how a particular type of this experience might be interpreted as explosiveness and, as such, an act of physical remembrance and energy transformation. Knowing is formed along paths of movement and rhythm, and kinaesthesia is identified as a multisensory experience. It is argued that a fruitful way of bridging the mind–body divide is to view the body as un/knowing, rendering it both knowing and not knowing simultaneously. Moreover, emplaced via its senses in a sociocultural and spatio-temporal environment, this conceptualisation of a moving body in a moving world might allow for re-thinking regarding how a body in context knows, teaches and, possibly, learns.


The L1 adhesion molecule enhances the migration of neural and immune cells. L1 can be proteolytically cleaved by metalloproteinases, but the importance of this has been unclear. Now, Mechtersheimer et al. have found that proteolytic cleavage of the ectodomain of L1 promotes cell migration. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing L1 (L1-CHO) exhibited enhanced migration compared with that of untransfected CHO cells; however, enhanced migration was decreased to basal levels by treating the cells with metalloproteinase inhibitors, suggesting that proteolytic cleavage of L1 promoted cell migration. The enhanced migration of L1-CHO cells was also decreased when cells were treated with antibodies to the integrin αvβ5; however, untransfected CHO cells treated with αvβ5-specific antibodies did not exhibit decreased normal migration, suggesting that LI and αvβ5 might be in the same signaling pathway that leads to enhanced cell migration. Additionally, untransfected CHO cells incubated in conditioned medium derived from L1-CHO, but not CHO, cell culture showed enhanced migration; the enhancement depended on the presence of the conserved integrin-binding motif arginine-glycine-aspartate in L1, indicating that soluble L1 may increase cell migration through interactions with αvβ5. Overexpression of a dominant-negative form of the metalloproteinase ADAM10 reduced the extracellular proteolysis of L1 in L1-CHO cells. Thus, L1 appears to promote enhanced migration through an autocrine process that involves the binding of the soluble cleaved L1 ectodomain to specific integrins on the cell surface. S. Mechtersheimer, P. Gutwein, N. Agmon-Levin, A. Stoeck, M. Oleszewski, S. Riedle, M. Fogel, V. Lemmon, P. Altevogt, Ectodomain shedding of L1 adhesion molecule promotes cell migration by autocrine binding to integrins. J. Cell Biol. 155, 661-674 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


This paper develops a scalable online optimization framework for the autonomic performance management of distributed computing systems operating in a dynamic environment to satisfy desired quality-ofservice objectives. To efficiently solve the performance management problems of interest in a distributed setting, we develop a hierarchical structure where a highlevel limited-lookahead controller manages interactions between lower-level controllers using forecast operating and environment parameters. We develop the overall control structure, and as a case study, show how to efficiently manage the power consumed by a computer cluster. Using workload traces from the Soccer World Cup 98 web site, we show via simulations that the proposed method is scalable, has low run-time overhead, and adapts quickly to time-varying workload patterns.


Abstract Priority setting within health systems has not led to accountable, fair and sustainable solutions to improving population health. Providers, users and other stakeholders each have their own health and service priorities based on selected evidence, own values, expertise and preferences. Based on a historical account, this article analyses if contemporary health systems are appropriate to optimize population health within the framework of cross cutting targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We applied a scoping review approach to identify and review literature of scientific databases and other programmatic web and library-based documents on historical and contemporary health systems policies and strategies at the global level. Early literature supported the 1977 launching of the global target of Health for All by the year 2000. Reviewed literature was used to provide a historical overview of systems components of global health strategies through describing the conceptualizations of health determinants, user involvement and mechanisms of priority setting over time, and analysing the importance of historical developments on barriers and opportunities to accomplish the SDGs. Definitions, scope and application of health systems-associated priority setting fluctuated and main health determinants and user influence on global health systems and priority setting remained limited. In exploring reasons for the identified lack of SDG-associated health systems and priority setting processes, we discuss issues of accountability, vested interests, ethics and democratic legitimacy as conditional for future sustainability of population health. To accomplish the SDGs health systems must engage beyond their own sector boundary. New approaches to Health in All Policies and One Health may be conducive for scaling up more democratic and inclusive priority setting processes based on proper process guidelines from successful pilots. Sustainable development depends on population preferences supported by technical and managerial expertise.


Purpose: To investigate the circumstances as to why it is so difficult in the primary care sector to implement IT based infrastructures supporting shared care. The qualitative analysis includes two separate case studies of IT-supported shared care implemented in two different regions of Denmark throughout 2005. The study comprises 21 interviews and 35 hours of observations. The data were analysed through a coding process that led to the emergence of 3 main challenges impeding the organisational implementation of IT-supported shared care. The two cases faced the same challenges that led to the same problem: The secondary care sector quickly adopted the system while the primary sector was far more sceptical towards using it. In both cases, we observe a discrepancy of needs satisfied, especially with regard to the primary care sector and its general practitioners which hinder bridging the primary sector (general practitioners) and the secondary sector (hospitals and outpatient clinics). Especially the needs associated with the primary sector were not being satisfied. We discovered three main challenges related to bridging the gap between the two sectors: 1) Poor integration with the general practitioners' existing IT systems; 2) low compatibility with general practitioners' work ethic; 3) and discrepancy between the number of diabetes patients and the related need for shared care. We conclude that development of IT-supported shared care must recognise the underlying and significant differences between the primary and secondary care sectors: If IT-supported shared care does not meet the needs of the general practitioners as well as the needs of the secondary care sector the initiative will fail.


The CD33 antigen, identified by murine monoclonal antibody anti-MY9, is expressed by clonogenic leukemic cells from almost all patients with acute myeloid leukemia; it is also expressed by normal myeloid progenitor cells. Twelve consecutive patients with de novo acute myeloid leukemia received myeloablative therapy followed by infusion of autologous marrow previously treated in vitro with anti-MY9 and complement. Anti-MY9 and complement treatment eliminated virtually all committed myeloid progenitors (colony-forming unit granulocyte-macrophage) from the autografts. Nevertheless, in the absence of early relapse of leukemia, all patients showed durable trilineage engraftment. The median interval post bone marrow transplantation (BMT) required to achieve an absolute neutrophil count greater than 500/microL was 43 days (range, 16 to 75), to achieve a platelet count greater than 20,000/microL without transfusion was 92 days (range, 35 to 679), and to achieve red blood cell transfusion independence was 105 days (range, 37 to 670). At the time of BM harvest, 10 patients were in second remission, one patient was in first remission, and one patient was in third remission. Eight patients relapsed 3 to 18 months after BMT. Four patients transplanted in second remission remain disease-free 34+, 37+, 52+, and 57+ months after BMT. There was no treatment-related mortality. Early engraftment was significantly delayed in patients receiving CD33-purged autografts compared with concurrently treated patients receiving CD9/CD10-purged autografts for acute lymphoblastic leukemia or patients receiving CD6-purged allografts from HLA-compatible sibling donors. In contrast, both groups of autograft patients required a significantly longer time to achieve neutrophil counts greater than 500/microL and greater than 1,000/microL than did patients receiving normal allogeneic marrow. CD33(+)-committed myeloid progenitor cells thus appear to play an important role in the early phase of hematopoietic reconstitution after BMT. However, our results also show that human marrow depleted of CD33+ cells can sustain durable engraftment after myeloablative therapy, and provide further evidence that the CD33 antigen is absent from the human pluripotent hematopoietic stem cell.


Cyanobacteria in the genus Acaryochloris have largely exchanged Chl a with Chl d, enabling them to harvest near-infrared radiation (NIR) for oxygenic photosynthesis, a biochemical pathway prone to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, ROS production under different light conditions was quantified in three Acaryochloris strains (MBIC11017, HICR111A and the novel strain CRS) using a real-time ethylene detector in conjunction with addition of 2-keto-4-thiomethylbutyric acid, a substrate that is converted to ethylene when reacting with certain types of ROS. In all strains, NIR was found to generate less ROS than visible light (VIS). More ROS was generated if strains MBIC11017 and HICR111A were adapted to NIR and then exposed to VIS, while strain CRS demonstrated the opposite behavior. To our knowledge, this is the first study of ROS generation associated with NIR-driven oxygenic photosynthesis and it suggests that Acaryochloris can avoid a considerable amount of light-induced stress by using NIR instead of VIS for its photosynthesis, adding further evolutionary arguments to their widespread appearance.


Long-term scenarios predict that the BRICS countries can overtake the G7 countries in their contribution to the world economy, but, as follows from the analysis of multicomponent international indices, the same countries lag significantly behind the G7 countries in terms of preparedness for a technological future. In this regard, the growth prospects of the BRICS economies are largely determined by possible strategies of the countries to disseminate and use the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) technologies. Analysis of TiVA OECD data revealed that BRICS was not very profitably integrated into global value chains — far from the final consumer abroad and relatively close to suppliers of raw materials and semi-finished products — which in the long term determines the limitations on increasing economic complexity. Analysis of the WITS World Bank data revealed that BRICS was relatively poorly involved in the processes of international exchange of products related to the technologies of Industry 4.0 — industrial robots, additive technologies, computer-aideddesign and computer-aided-manufacturing technologies, and biotechnologies — and retained the position of net importers, with China making the greatest contribution to the dynamics of trade. Taking into account the general growth of global competition for technologies associated with Industry 4.0 and the continuing lag of BRICS in creating and using such technologies, the authors highlight the challenges for the industrial policy of the BRICS countries and discuss possible answers within the framework of industrial and trade policies. Challenges for BRICS include continued participation in global networks as countries serving the production and trade of new BRICS JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS https://www.brics-econ.org/archive/2020.Vol.1.No.3/1/ 2020 Volume 1 Number 3 https://doi.org/10.38050/2712-7508-2020-12 * E-mails for correspondence: firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com Industrial Revolution 4.0 in the BRICS countries 5 technologies; lagging behind in the level of development of the institutional environment and infrastructure for development of technologies; formation of limited "hotbeds" intensively using the Industry 4.0 technologies; and, thus, growth of spatial, interand intra-sectoral inequality.


Artificial rehabilitative aids to enable object recognition to the disabled as well as robot aided and telenavigating systems require sending feedback signals to the human operator to enable accurate control. This work is a preliminary step towards the development of such systems using a Brain Computer Interface. In this work Electroencephalography (EEG) responses to tactile and vibrotactile stimulations, as alternate sensory means than vision, for recognizing ten digits, 0 to 9, has been studied. During tactile stimulation subjects are instructed to palpate digits embossed on plain surfaces, while vibrotactile stimulus is provided by vibrating motors attached to the subjects' skin over their clothing in specific patterns resembling the seven segment display of digits. EEG analysis involves feature extraction and classification into the respective digit classes. Correlation between the EEG features from the two stimulations is investigated and a nonlinear correlation is found to exist between them. A maximum classification accuracy of 73.17%, average over ten digit classes and all subjects under experimentation is observed for vibrotactually stimulated EEG analysis.


Intensively urbanized Hong Kong has a degraded countryside envelope with 170 years of afforestation history. This study assessed seedling quantity, species composition, native-exotic relativity, and native ecological traits in 30 years. Data were analysed by cluster analysis, two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN), and principal component analysis (PCA). The plantations received 16.54 million seedlings from 209 species. Seedling profile skewed towards 142 native species (67.9%) and 9.49 million exotic seedlings (57.4%). The dominant species group had three exotic species each with >1 million seedlings. The abundant group of 27 species had contained 19 natives associated with main primary forest components. The 179 species in frequent and rare groups denoted changing and diverse species selection. Analysis of start and truncation times found 50% of natives with ascending trend and 33% of exotics with descending trend. Aggregate ecological value of natives increased progressively. TWINSPAN classified native species into two groups with signature characteristics. PCA revealed scattered distribution of natives by adoption trend, start time, truncation time, and ecological value. Ecological restoration of synergistic-mutualistic associations between native plants and wildlife has gained importance. Potential pioneer and enrichment-planting arboreal species were identified to sustain the afforestation programme. Hong Kong has a rich vascular flora with about 390 native tree species, implying that around 250 native tree species had never been used in afforestation. Large-scale planting trials should be conducted to further refine species choice in future afforestation. The findings could inform afforestation and conservation efforts in Hong Kong and other degraded tropical lands.


Although scientists disagree about the rate at which Arctic ice is melting, climate change will greatly alter the northern latitudes in coming decades if greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed. Many of the expected changes will be negative; already, permafrost is melting in Siberia, and apartments and factories are sinking into quagmires. The melting of Arctic ice, however, will also open sea-lanes to shipping and allow access to enormous oil and gas reserves beneath the Arctic Ocean. The prospect of increased Arctic commerce brings with it competition among countries and companies for control of the area's riches, and international competition always carries the possibility of conflict. Three authors, all experts in national security and the Arctic, explore the military, diplomatic, environmental, and economic outlook for the Arctic in 2030: from Russia, Yury Morozov (2012); from Canada, Rob Huebert (2012); and from the United States, George Backus.


Ultraviolet (UV) light treatment of donor islets has been shown to be effective for the prolongation of islet allograft survival in rodent models. This study evaluated UV as an immunomodulator of canine islets. The effects of UV irradiation on islet secretory function in vitro revealed a trend of increasing basal insulin release with increasing doses of UV and a corresponding significant decrease in glucose-mediated insulin release (expressed as percentage of basal fractional insulin release) beginning at UV light exposures of 200–300 J/m2 (n = 3, P < 0.05). Proliferative responses to UV-irradiated allogeneic peripheral blood leukocytes and islets were significantly decreased by 53–112% (P < 0.05) in 27 of 29 mixed-lymphocyte cultures and by 35–74% (P < 0.05) in 4 of 5 mixed-lymphocyte islet culture experiments, respectively, beginning at 200–600 J/m2. Autotransplantation of nonirradiated (n = 8) and irradiated islets (600 J/m2 n = 6) resulted in a 1-mo graft survival rate of 75% for the control group and 50% for the irradiated group. Allotransplantation of irradiated islets (600 J/m2) into either nonimmunosuppressed recipients (1 donor to 1 recipient, n = 8) or recipients of subimmunosuppressive doses of cyclosporin (2 donors to 1 recipient, n = 4) resulted in 100% rejection by day 10. In contrast, when islets were cultured for 24 h postirradiation and transplanted into cyclosporin-treated pancreatectomized recipients (2 donors to 1 recipient), 3 of 7 grafts were prolonged beyond day 10 to days 16, 26, and >100. We conclude that direct UV irradiation of islets decreases canine islet immunogenicity and in combination with subtherapeutic dosages of cyclosporin can result in prolongation of islet allograft survival in this large-animal model.


ABSTRCT:This study aimed to investigate the microbial content and aflatoxin in the chips manufactured from corn samples which is available in the city of Baghdad markets , 15 samples of chips manufactured from corn were collected to assess microbial content and the content of aflatoxin. The results showed that the total number of bacteria in most species, the highest number for bacteria 30 × 10 5 cfu/g in the brand Buffies while the lowest number of bacteria 4 × 10 5 cfu/g in Baraaem , but (Doritos , Pufak and Bad bain) were empty from bacteria.The results also showed the increase in the number of Staph. bacteria in samples, the highest number reached 18 × 10 5 cfu/g in Karameesh brand and 17 × 10 5 cfu/g in Zena , the lowest number of these bacteria appeared in Tarabish reached to 3 × 10 5 cfu/g , while other types (Doritos ,Pufak and Bad bain) were empty from these bacteria. The results show that Puffies brand contain the highest number of the number of Coliform bacteria reached 20 × 10 5 cfu/g , and the lowest number in trade brand Sanfori , Karameesh , Baraaem, while (Doritos ,Pufak and Bad bain) were empty from it. also the number of Yeasts and molds increase , Karameesh contains the highest number of them 26 × 10 5 cfu/g , while the lowest number was in Baraaem 2 × 10 5 cfu/g , and (Doritos ,Pufak and Bad bain) were empty from yeasts and molds. The results showed the presence of aflatoxin B1 in the types of chips studied and reached his highest concentration 1.64 PPM in brand Zena and less focus.154 PPM in brand Pop Corn while other types (Doritos ,Pufak and Bad bain)were empty from it.The aflatoxin B2 has been found in only five types (Bob corn, Baraaem, Crown, Happy, Puffies) reached the highest concentration of 0.43 PPM in Bob corn brand and less concentration of 0.13 PPM in Baraaem brand while other types were empty from it.


A static double-collector system for accurate, precise, and rapid boron isotope analysis has been established by employing a newly fixed Faraday H3 and H4 cup enabling simultaneously collected Cs2BO2(+) ion beams (m/z = 308 and 309) on a Finnigan-MAT Triton thermal ionization mass spectrometer of boron (Triton B). The experimental result indicated that Cs2BO2(+) ion beams (m/z = 308 and 309) were simultaneously collected using a fixed Faraday H3 and H4 cup without using the "Zoom Quad" function and reduced accelerating voltage. Furthermore, the method enabled the measurement of samples containing as little as 20 ng of boron. An analysis of the National Institute of Standards and Technology standard reference material (NIST SRM) 951 standard showed external reproducibility (2RSD) of ±0.013‰, ± 0.013‰, and ±0.019‰ for 100, 50, and 20 ng of boron, respectively. The present method of static multicollection of Cs2BO2(+) ions is applicable to a wide field of boron isotopic research that requires high precision and accuracy to analyze samples with low boron concentrations, including pore fluids, foraminifera, rivers, rainwater, and other natural samples.


We propose a method to aggregate noisy ordinal labels collected from a crowd of workers or annotators. Eliciting ordinal labels is important in tasks such as judging web search quality and rating products. Our method is motivated by the observation that workers usually have difficulty distinguishing between two adjacent ordinal classes whereas distinguishing between two classes which are far away from each other is much easier. We formulate our method as minimax conditional entropy subject to constraints which encode this observation. Empirical evaluations on real datasets demonstrate significant improvements over existing methods.


The still-recent process of Europeanization and constitutionalization of conflict of laws in the European Union can benefit in some respects from a comparison, from a constitutional perspective, with interstate conflict of laws in the United States. The quasi-absence of federal choice-of-law rules, the Supreme Court's approach of minimal constitutional constraints to choice of law and the focus of U.S. interstate conflicts law on substantive policies and interests stand out as three major differences from the development of EU conflict of laws. Learning from the American experience and taking into account the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the requirements of subsidiarity and proportionality, the EU legislature should be open, in particularly sensitive areas, to the recognition method as an alternative to the unification of choice-of-law rules. Neither the Supreme Court's minimal constraints doctrine nor its prioritization of individual-fairness concerns over federal interests should be followed in Europe. Although it recognizes that conflict of laws can contribute in different ways to the European general interest, the Treaty of Lisbon has set up a rather disappointing framework to that effect. Amendments and clarifications are needed to enable EU conflict of laws to fulfill its ambitions and really contribute to the EU's quasi-federal integration process.


Clustering is the task of assigning a set of instances into groups in such a way that is dissimilarity of instances within each group is minimized. Clustering is widely used in several areas such as data mining, pattern recognition, machine learning, image processing, computer vision and etc. K-means is a popular clustering algorithm which partitions instances into a fixed number clusters in an iterative fashion. Although k-means is considered to be a poor clustering algorithm in terms of result quality, due to its simplicity, speed on practical applications, and iterative nature it is selected as one of the top 10 algorithms in data mining [1]. Parallelization of k-means is also studied during the last 2 decades. Most of these work concentrate on shared-nothing architectures. With the advent of current technological advances on GPU technology, implementation of the k-means algorithm on shared memory architectures recently start to attract some attention. However, to the best of our knowledge, no in-depth analysis on the performance of k-means on shared memory multiprocessors is done in the literature. In this work, our aim is to fill this gap by providing theoretical analysis on the performance of k-means algorithm and presenting extensive tests on a shared memory architecture.


In constructing an indicator of financial fragility, the choice of which filter (or transformation) to apply to the data series that appear to trend in sample is often considered a technicality, but in fact turns out to matter a great deal. The fundamental assumption about the likely nature of observed trends in the data, for example, the ratio of credit to GDP, has direct effects on the measured gap or vulnerability. We discuss shortcomings of the most common filters used in the literature and policy circle, and propose a fairly simple and intuitive alternative - the local level filter. To the extent that validation will always be a challenge when the number of observed financial crises (in the US) is small, we conduct a simulation exercise to make the case. We also conduct a cross country analysis to show how qualitatively different the estimated credit gaps were as of 2017, and hence their policy implications in 29 countries. Finally, we construct an indicator of financial fragility for the US economy based on the view that systemic fragility stems mainly from high level of debts (among households and corporations) associated with high valuations for collateral assets (real estate, stocks). An indicator based on the local level filter signals elevated financial fragility in the US financial system currently, whereas the HP filter and the ten-year moving average provide much more benign readings.


The present thesis deals with the development of nanoparticles based on the proteinaceous macromolecule gelatin as delivery system for various nucleotide-based drugs. Since a method to produce homogenous nanoparticles was already described in principle (Coester et al. 2000), it was the first approach to characterize, optimize, and standardize this manufacturing process.
The next goal was to advance these plain gelatin nanoparticles via modification of the surface towards a delivery system for nucleotide-based drugs. Subsequent to this, the newly established carrier system should be evaluated in preclinical trials.
In addition to these main projects, it was also an aim of this study to investigate and influence the biodistribution of gelatin nanoparticles.
Due to the multitude of independent projects, the present work is divided into five self-contained chapters.
In Chapter I, fundamental research data concerning the preparation of gelatin nanoparticles is described. Thereby, the work was focused on process optimization of the existing preparation procedure. Moreover, new analytical tools to characterize gelatin and the gelatin nanoparticles are introduced.
Chapter II features the data that were produced in cooperation with the Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. In this cooperation, plasmid DNA was bound onto the surface of previously modified gelatin nanoparticles by electrostatic interactions. Subsequent preparation optimization, this simple non-viral gene delivery system was investigated in vitro on murine melanoma cells.
The major project of this work, the development and evaluation of gelatin nanoparticles as carrier system for immunogenic so called CpG oligonucleotides is presented in Chapter III and Chapter IV. The data has been generated in cooperation with the Department of Internal Medicine at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and initially during a 3-month research stay at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
Chapter III features extensive in vitro investigations on the respective primary murine and human target cells such as dendritic cells and B cells, whereas in Chapter IV, the results of in vivo experiments are presented. Here, the immunogenic effects of CpG oligonucleotide-loaded nanoparticles alone and their adjuvant activity in combination with the model protein antigen ovalbumin (OVA) were explored.
In the final chapter, Chapter V, first PEGylation experiments of gelatin nanoparticles are described, with special emphasis on the establishment of new analytical tools for the quality control of the PEGylation process. In the second part of this chapter, radiolabeling strategies were developed in cooperation with the Department of Nuclear Medicine (TU Munich) to enable real-time in vivo tracking of the gelatin nanoparticles via positron emission tomography (PET).


Dissolved and colloidal concentrations of Al, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb were determined in the Mullica River, New Jersey, and its tributaries on nine occasions between August 1994 and September 1995. Cross‐flow filtration (CFF) at a nominal 10 kDa cutoff was used to separate total dissolved (>0.45 μm) riverine metals into colloidal and truly dissolved fractions. Reproducibility tests on full procedural replicates demonstrated CFF's precision and indicated that temporal or spatial differences exceeding 10–15% in colloidal fraction can be resolved using these techniques. For the whole data set, mean colloidal fractions of 0.45‐ μm filtrates were 65% for Al, 82% for Fe, 29% for Mn, 66% for Cu, 31% for Zn, 46% for Cd, and 88% for Pb. The magnitude of the colloidal fraction followed an elemental order that was largely consistent from site to site and among different sampling dates, despite large variations in total dissolved metal concentrations. The order was very similar to that observed previously in rivers of varying geochemical properties, suggesting that the degree of colloidal association is driven by a metal's affinity for humic materials and is relatively insensitive to other riverine properties such as pH, dissolved organic carbon, and suspended mass. The constancy of this elemental pattern in Pinelands streams suggests that the relative fates of metals during estuarine colloid flocculation may be predictable and temporally stable. Iron behavior was distinct from that of the other elements: colloidal Fe fraction was positively correlated with pH (range, 4.3–7.1) and the colloidal Fe/Al ratio showed clear seasonal variation. The other metals did not exhibit these behaviors, which suggests that their colloidal association was distinct from that of Fe. Colloidal metal/Al ratio for Fe, Pb, and Zn was clearly different from that of >0.45 μm particles; that finding is consistent with the distinct compositions and sources for colloidal and particulate fractions. The distribution coefficient (Kd) for Pb was positively correlated with suspended particulate mass (<10‐fold variation) over time at one representative site. This inverse particle concentration effect runs contrary to recent observations in other freshwater and marine systems and suggests that colloidal and particulate size fractions vary independently over the course of the year.


In this paper, I want to explore the argument that courts are primarily ideological rather than instrumental or coercive institutions. How do courts, in interpreting 'the law' and selecting 'principles,' also identify, interpret and elaborate upon what is 'natural'? What are 'basic social values'? What are 'fundamental rights'? If the primary function of the courts is ideological, what is most important is not whether courts resolve disputes or how many disputes they process, but rather their capacity and opportunity to exert ideological influence.In my view, a consideration of the concept of ideology - a concept derived from social theory rather than legal theory - is helpful because it facilitates in-depth analysis of legal ideals, principles and doctrine, without lapsing into the position that courts are engaged only in a neutralprocess of elaboration.6 The sociological study of law is, as Roger Cotterrell argues, centrally concerned with the influence of ideas, but one must seek to understand their origins in social practices and social conditions despite the fact that many ideas about law and societyseem self-evident, universal and eternal.


The molecular clock provides the only viable means of establishing realistic evolutionary timescales but it remains unclear how best to calibrate divergence time analyses. Calibrations can be applied to the tips and/or to the nodes of a phylogeny. Tip‐calibration is an attractive approach since it allows fossil species to be included alongside extant relatives in molecular clock analyses. However, most fossil species are known from multiple stratigraphical horizons and it remains unclear how such age ranges should be interpreted to codify tip‐calibrations. We use simulations and empirical data to explore the impact on precision and accuracy of different approaches to informing tip‐calibrations. In particular, we focus on the effect of using tip‐calibrations defined using the oldest vs youngest stratigraphic occurrences, the full stratigraphical range, as well as confidence intervals on these data points. The results of our simulations show that using different calibration approaches leads to different divergence‐time estimates and demonstrate that concentrating tip‐calibrations near the root of the dated phylogeny improves both precision and accuracy of estimated divergence times. Finally, our results indicate that the highest levels of accuracy and precision are achieved when fossil tips are calibrated based on the fossil occurrence from which the morphological data were derived. These trends were corroborated by analysis of an empirical dataset for Ursidae. Overall, we conclude that tip‐dating analyses should, in particular, employ tip calibrations close to the root of the tree and they should be calibrated based on the age of the fossil used to inform the morphological data used in Total Evidence Dating.


P Sjogren

Dr P Sjogren, Oral Care AB, Goteborg, Sweden; email@example.com

Does enhanced oral hygiene prevent respiratory infection in elderly people in hospitals and nursing homes?

Included studies evaluated the effect of enhanced oral hygiene care or frequent professional oral care on respiratory infection in elderly people in hospital or living in nursing homes. Outcomes were respiratory infection, pneumonia, and death from pneumonia.

Medline, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database (to Nov 2007); and reference lists were searched for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published in English, German, Dutch, or a Nordic language between 1996 and 2007. Studies involving patients with mechanical ventilation or tube feeding were excluded. 3 …


Pentraxin-3 (PTX3) a cytokine-inducible molecule is released from various tissues. Its level increases as a response to different inflammatory conditions. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is considered as a proinflammatory state. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between PTX3 and various metabolic and hormonal parameters in PCOS patients. This study included 64 new diagnosed PCOS patients who had been never treated previously with PCOS and 46 healthy controls with matched age and body mass index (BMI). PTX3, biochemical and hormonal parameters of both groups were measured. The patients were divided into obese and non-obese subgroups according to BMI (above or lower than 25 kg/m²). PTX3, HOMA-IR and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels of these subgroups were compared. Serum PTX3 (p=0.013), hs-CRP (p=0.015) and HOMA-IR (p=0.023) levels of PCOS patients were significantly higher than the control group. Serum PTX3 has been found to have negative correlations with BMI (r=-0.318, p < 0.001), waist circumference (r=-0.306, p < 0.001), HOMA-IR (r=-0.324, p < 0.001) and hs-CRP (r=-0.206, p=0.031). Subgroup analysis revealed PCOS women with obesity to have significantly higher serum PTX3 level than non-obese PCOS subjects (p=0.012), non-obese controls (p=0.015) and obese controls (p=0.002). Women with new diagnosed PCOS especially obese subjects had significantly lower serum PTX3 than the control group. PTX3 has been found to be negatively correlated with BMI and insulin resistance. Low PTX3 level may have a role in the etiology of PCOS and in the formation of atherosclerotic diseases by stimulation of chronic inflammation.


Here we present high-resolution stable isotope and lamina thickness profiles as well as radiocarbon data for the Holocene stalagmite ER 76 from Grotta di Ernesto (north-eastern Italy), which was dated by combined U-series dating and lamina counting. ER 76 grew between 8 ka (thousands of years before 2000 AD) and today, with a hiatus from 2.6 to 0.4 ka. Data from nine meteorological stations in Trentino show a significant influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on winter temperature and precipitation in the cave region. Spectral analysis of the stable isotope signals of ER 76 reveals significant peaks at periods of 110, 60–70, 40–50, 32–37 and around 25 a. Except for the cycle between 32 and 37 a all periodicities have corresponding peaks in power spectra of solar variability, and the 25-a cycle may correspond to NAO variability. This suggests that climate variability in northern Italy was influenced by both solar activity and the NAO during the Holocene. Six periods of warm winter climate in the cave region were identified. These are centred at 7.9, 7.4, 6.5, 5.5, 4.9 and 3.7 ka, and their duration ranges from 100 to 400 a. The two oldest warm phases coincide with the deposition of sapropel S1 in the Mediterranean Sea indicating that the climate in the cave region was influenced by this prominent pluvial phase in the Mediterranean area. For the younger warm phases it is difficult to establish a supra-regional climate pattern, and some of them may, thus, reflect regional climate variability. This highlights the complexity of regional and supra-regional scale Holocene climate patterns.


Contracts are a simple yet very powerful form of specification. They consists of method preconditions and post-conditions, of object invariants, and of assertions and loop invariants. Ideally, the programmer will annotate all of her code with contracts which are mechanically checked by some static analysis tool. In practice, programmers only write few contracts, mainly preconditions and some object invariants. The reason for that is that other contracts are "clear from the code": Programmers do not like to repeat themselves. As a consequence, any usable static verification tool should provide some form of contract inference.


This paper begins by suggesting that when considering Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), even CSR as justified in terms of the business case, stakeholders are of great importance to corporations. In the UK the Company Law Review (DTI, 2002) has suggested that it is appropriate for UK companies to be managed upon the basis of an enlightened shareholder approach. Within this approach the importance of stakeholders, other than shareholders, is recognised as being instrumental in succeeding in providing shareholder value. Given the importance of these other stakeholders it is then important that corporate management measure and manage stakeholder performance. In order to do this there are two general approaches that could be adopted and these are the use of monetary values to reflect stakeholder value or cost and non-monetary values. In order to consider these approaches further this paper considered the possible use of these approaches for two stakeholder groups: namely employees and the environment. It concludes that there are ethical and practical difficulties with calculating economic values for stakeholder resources and so prefers a multi-dimensional approach to stakeholder performance measurement that does not use economic valuation.


AIM:To review our experience performing polypectomy in anticoagulated patients without interruption of anticoagulation.METHODS: Retrospective chart review at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. Two hundred and twenty five polypectomies were performed in 123 patients. Patients followed a standardized protocol that included stopping warfarin for 36 h to avoid supratherapeutic anticoagulation from the bowel preparation. Patients with lesions larger than 1 cm were generally rescheduled for polypectomy off warfarin. Endoscopic clips were routinely applied prophylactically. RESULTS: One patient (0.8%, 95% CI: 0.1%-4.5%) developed major post-polypectomy bleeding that required transfusion. Two others (1.6%, 95% CI: 0.5%-5.7%) had self-limited hematochezia at home and did not seek medical attention. The average polyp size was 5.1 ± 2.2 mm. CONCLUSION: Polypectomy can be performed in therapeutically anticoagulated patients with lesions up to 1 cm in size with an acceptable bleeding rate.


A new genus and species of congrid eel, Castleichthys auritus, is described from a single specimen collected from 396 m off northwestern Australia. It belongs to the subfamily Congrinae and is characterized by a slender and flexible tail, a free flange on the upper lip, no plicae or other ornamentation on skin of head, large eye, uniserial maxillary and mandibular teeth, and conspicuous black pectoral fins. The vertebral formula is 15-36-128.


Several different optical methods have recently been proposed for the potential separation of chiral molecules according to their intrinsic handedness. Applying fundamental symmetry and electrodynamical principles provides a perspective that casts doubt over the viability of some of the more extravagant claims. However there is a genuine basis for achieving chiral separation by using circularly polarized light to deliver chirally sensitive optical forces. The mechanism comes into play when molecules (or nanoscale particles) are optically trapped in a laser beam by forward Rayleigh scattering, as a result of trapping forces that depend on positioning within the beam profile. In such a setup, chiral molecules experience subtle additional forces associated with a combination of electric and magnetic transition dipoles; when circularly polarized light is used for the trapping, a discriminatory response can be identified that has the capacity to separate left- and righthanded molecular isomers. Here, clear differences can be observed between the behavior of isotropic liquids and poled solutions or liquid crystals. Detailed analysis provides an objective basis to assess new prospects for the recognition and differentiation of molecules with opposite chiral form, identifying and paving the way for future commercial applications.


During the 1906 magnitude 7.8 earthquake, surface rupture along the San Andreas fault propagated through the Town of Portola Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula. Subsequently, a number of studies came to conflicting conclusions regarding the exact location and nature of the 1906 surface rupture through the area. Our study provides new evidence for correctly locating the 1906 rupture within the town using field observations, a detailed analysis of 3D, bare‐earth Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) images, and a review of photographs and other historical documents related to the 1906 rupture. Our composite images combine lidar views with historical photographs to aid in locating the 1906 fault trace and a previously unrecognized splay of the fault. Both the main fault trace and newly proposed splay‐fault locations are significantly different from interpretations of the 1906 surface rupture developed over the last 50 years. Assembled evidence shows that the primary rupture in 1906 occurred only on the western of two main fault traces, rather than stepping to the eastern trace as proposed previously, and that a major section (about 2.6 km) of the western trace has been inaccurately mapped. From lidar‐image analysis, we demonstrate that the previously mapped 1906 trace in the southern part of Portola Valley cuts through a homoclinal sequence of strata. These moderately dipping strata form prominent bedding lineaments have been mapped previously as quaternary fault traces.


. This thesis analyzes the opinions of different countries and experts on the virtual currency industry (in particular, cryptocurrencies). The global economy reviews the issues related to the fact as to what future the bank (the major financial mediator) is likely to have. Macroeconomics does not clearly predict the future of the cryptocurrencies and their possible development tendencies. The first phase of globalization was the Internet, but nowadays the decentralized Blockchain system is the second phase of globalization, where the boundless universe becomes more and more successful. From today's perspective, the virtual currency really goes beyond traditional economics with a high perspective to have a place in the nontraditional economics.


We investigated whether cross-shore distributions of coastal phytoplankton to the surf zone are controlled by hydrodynamics and their biological characteristics. Data from a rip-channeled beach indicate that concentrations of phytoplankton are higher in the surf zone than offshore. To examine how phytoplankton is transported toward the shore, we used a coupled biophysical model, comprised of a 3D physical model of coastal dynamics and an individual-based model (IBM) for tracking phytoplankton on the rip-channeled beach. Waves and wind in the biophysical model were parameterized by the conditions during the sampling period. Previous studies indicated that growth rates of phytoplankton can be enhanced by high turbulence, which might contribute to high phytoplankton concentration in the surf zone. Some numerical and laboratory works showed that turbulence can also increase the downward velocity of phytoplankton, which could be carried by onshore bottom currents and remain in the surf zone. Furthermore, we adapted the IBM with the theoretical model of diurnal vertical migration (DVM) for phytoplankton. The theoretical DVM works as follows: in the morning, phytoplankton cells adhere to air bubbles and stay at the surface and close to the shore in the daytime because onshore wind and surface current direction is usually onshore; in the late afternoon, the cells switch their attachment from air bubbles to sand grains and sink to the bottom where the water flow is normally onshore at night. Finally, depth-varying growth of phytoplankton was also incorporated into the DVM module. Simulations using neutral passive particles do not give the expected results of observed patterns. All tested mechanisms, i.e., wind- and wave-driven currents, rip-current circulation, turbulence-driven growth and sinking, DVM, and depth-varying growth, enhanced onshore phytoplankton migration and cell concentrations in the surf zone, indicating that both biological traits and physical factors can be essential to phytoplankton cross-shore transport and spatial variability. Our model is open to be modified and re-parameterized, followed by further analysis and validation, so that it can be more adequate for ecological assessment of coastal areas.


Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations at 86 GHz reveal an almost hollow jet in M87 with a forked morphology. The detailed analysis presented here indicates that the spectral luminosity of the central spine of the jet in M87 is a few percent of that of the surrounding hollow jet 200–400 μ as from the central black hole. Furthermore, recent jet models indicate that a hollow "tubular" jet can explain a wide range of plausible broadband spectra originating from jetted plasma located within ~30 μ as of the central black hole, including the 230 GHz correlated flux detected by the Event Horizon Telescope. Most importantly, these hollow jets from the inner accretion flow have an intrinsic power capable of energizing the global jet out to kiloparsec scales. Thus motivated, this paper considers new models of the event horizon magnetosphere (EHM) in low luminosity accretion systems. Contrary to some models, the spine is not an invisible powerful jet. It is an intrinsically weak jet. In the new EHM solution, the accreted poloidal magnetic flux is weak and the background photon field is weak. It is shown how this accretion scenario naturally results in the dissipation of the accreted poloidal magnetic flux in the EHM not the accumulation of poloidal flux required for a powerful jet. The new solution indicates less large scale poloidal magnetic flux (and jet power) in the EHM than in the surrounding accretion flow and cannot support significant EHM driven jets.


This paper presents the perspectives of Central Australian workers in relation to Aboriginal youth suicide. Interviews were conducted as part of a project to develop a data collection system and referral pathway for Indigenous youth suicide and suicide attempts. Twenty-two in-depth interviews were conducted with a range of practitioners who have front-line contact in suicide related issues (such as police, primary health, community support, youth services). The interview schedule reflected the project aims, but the transcripts revealed a much broader consideration of the issue. This paper reports on a secondary analysis of the data. The two major themes of salient contributing factors and service prevention strategies provide insights into these workers' attempts to understand and respond to this issue. There is a need to ensure workers develop and maintain strong networks, are well informed about local socio-cultural factors and skilled to work with local elders, traditional healers and community members, and are well supported in their roles to ensure longevity and relationships. The results contribute to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention sector with particular relevance for remote Australia.


Malware such as Trojan horses and spyware remain to be persistent security threats that exploit the overly complex graphical user interfaces of today's commodity operating systems. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of Nitpicker - an extremely minimized secure graphical user interface that addresses these problems while retaining compatibility to legacy operating systems. We describe our approach of kernelizing the window server and present the deployed security mechanisms and protocols. Our implementation comprises only 1,500 lines of code while supporting commodity software such as X11 applications alongside protected graphical security applications. We discuss key techniques such as client-side window handling, a new floating-labels mechanism, drag-and-drop, and denial-of-service-preventing resource management. Furthermore, we present an application scenario to evaluate the feasibility, performance, and usability of our approach


The properties of gold change dramatically at the nanoscale. Gold nanoparticles and nanoporous gold have remarkable optical and catalytic properties, which are being investigated for applications in biomedicine and manufacturing. Using a variety of synthetic methods, the shape, size and properties of these materials can be optimized, making them a powerful platform for the development of new contrast agents for optical imaging of biological tissues, photothermal destruction of tumours and catalysis of various reactions.


Recent advancements in computer technology have resulted in the rise of X‐reality (XR) systems. Some institutions have begun to use XR systems as an alternative to cadaveric specimens and physical models. This transition has been carried out despite a lack of evidence about the efficacy of XR. In our earliest study, we compared the physical model to 3D, interactive projections on a 2D screen and found participants that learned from the physical model performed significantly better in nominal measures. Following this study, we explored the efficacy of more refined XR systems and established that participants who learned from the physical model performed significantly better in both nominal and functional measures of anatomical knowledge compared to those who learned from the Microsoft HoloLens, which is a mixed‐reality (MR) device. In our current study, we explored the efficacy of the HTC Vive, a pure virtual‐reality (VR) device, in comparison to the physical model in anatomical education. We hypothesized that given the enthusiasm surrounding this XR system, the VR model should perform at least as well as the physical model. We first conducted a preliminary qualitative study with 20 participants to develop an optimal learning environment for the VR model. Following this preliminary analysis, we recruited 20 McMaster University students with no prior formal anatomy education. Participants were allotted 10 minutes to learn 20 anatomical structures from a pelvic model on the VR headset. Participants were then given a 25‐question test on a female, cadaveric pelvis with no time limit. The test questions were either nominal or functional. The nominal questions involved identifying the structures labelled on the cadaver and the functional questions involved interpreting the function of a structure based on its location and form. We compared the results of the VR participants to the 20 participants who learned on the physical model and the 20 participants who learned on the MR model from our HoloLens study. Our analysis demonstrated that participants learning on the physical model performed significantly better than the VR model when comparing total testing scores (56.4% vs 45.0%, respectively; p = 0.034). Furthermore, the VR model participants performed better than the MR model participants in terms of total testing score, although these results were not statistically significant (45.0% vs 37.6%, respectively; p = 0.267). In conclusion, these findings provide further evidence to support the superiority of the physical model over XR systems. Our future directions involve testing with other, more complex anatomical structures and exploring the factors that contribute to the superiority of the physical model, such as the role of stereopsis.


Resurrection plant Haberlea rhodopensis develops molecules to survive drought stress. These molecules allow the plant to resurge from a desiccation state. We have extracted a specific fraction from the plant (Haberlea extract) and found it rich, among other molecules, of a caffeoyl phenylethanoid glycoside called myconoside, a molecule extremely abundant in the plant with a potential role in survival. Peroxide‐stressed normal human dermal fibroblasts treated with the Haberlea extract, showed increased collagen VI (+822%), collagen XVI (+928%) and elastin (+144%) mRNA synthesis, measured by RT‐qPCR. This effect was superior to those obtained with benchmarks retinoic acid and retinol. When used at 3% in human skin biopsies, Haberlea extract protected against UV‐induced dermis oxidation by 100% (P < 0.01), as evidenced by immunohistochemistry. Finally, when tested in human volunteers (n = 20) at 3% in a cream against a placebo, Haberlea extract increased skin elasticity (3× placebo, P < 0.0002) and skin radiance (4× placebo, P < 0.05) after only 15 days of treatment, with the effect sustained after 30 and 60 days of treatment. We demonstrated that by using Haberlea extract (particularly rich in glycoside myconoside), it is possible to strongly stimulate antioxidant skin defences and extracellular matrix protein synthesis. This effect, in turn, will further stimulate skin elasticity and skin radiance significantly in human volunteers. The extract can be suggested for anti‐ageing treatments, intended for claims such as protection from oxidation, increased skin elasticity and enhanced skin radiance.


Abstract. We have developed a new module to calculate soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation in perennially frozen ground in the land surface model JSBACH. Running this offline version of MPI-ESM we have modelled permafrost carbon accumulation and release from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the Pre-industrial (PI). Our simulated near-surface PI permafrost extent of 16.9 Mio km2 is close to observational evidence. Glacial boundary conditions, especially ice sheet coverage, result in profoundly different spatial patterns of glacial permafrost extent. Deglacial warming leads to large-scale changes in soil temperatures, manifested in permafrost disappearance in southerly regions, and permafrost aggregation in formerly glaciated grid cells. In contrast to the large spatial shift in simulated permafrost occurrence, we infer an only moderate increase of total LGM permafrost area (18.3 Mio km2) – together with pronounced changes in the depth of seasonal thaw. Reconstructions suggest a larger spread of glacial permafrost towards more southerly regions, but with a highly uncertain extent of non-continuous permafrost. Compared to a control simulation without describing the transport of SOC into perennially frozen ground, the implementation of our newly developed module for simulating permafrost SOC accumulation leads to a doubling of simulated LGM permafrost SOC storage (amounting to a total of ~ 150 PgC). Despite LGM temperatures favouring a larger permafrost extent, simulated cold glacial temperatures – together with low precipitation and low CO2 levels – limit vegetation productivity and therefore prevent a larger glacial SOC build-up in our model. Changes in physical and biogeochemical boundary conditions during deglacial warming lead to an increase in mineral SOC storage towards the Holocene (168 PgC at PI), which is below observational estimates (575 PgC in continuous and discontinuous permafrost). Additional model experiments clarified the sensitivity of simulated SOC storage to model parameters, affecting long-term soil carbon respiration rates and simulated active layer depths. Rather than a steady increase in carbon release from the LGM to PI as a consequence of deglacial permafrost degradation, our results suggest alternating phases of soil carbon accumulation and loss as an effect of dynamic changes in permafrost extent, active layer depths, soil litter input, and heterotrophic respiration.


Background: Prostate cancer is one of the most frequent cancers among men worldwide. The varying nature of the cancer and lack of diagnostic tools that can detect prostate cancer and separate the indolent cancers from the aggressive ones, makes it difficult to predict risk, set a diagnosis and determine the best suitable treatment for the individual patient. The malignant prostate cancer cells have altered metabolism that can give an altered metabolic phenotype. The purpose of this study was to investigate the metabolic phenotype, using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to compare the metabolic profiles of secretions from prostate cancer cells and non-malignant prostate tissue.Methods: The samples of post prostatic-massage urine were obtained from 50 individuals (CaP = 29, controls =21). The samples were analyzed on a Bruker Avance III 600MHz/54 mm US-Plus operating at 600 MHz for proton. The resulting NMR spectra were examined by different approaches: Metabolite assignment was obtained studying NOESY- and HSQC spectra. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was utilized to characterize small and compounded differences between the spectra. The Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) forces the data to confine to groups, and makes a predictive model for class discrimination.Results: From the analysis of the spectra, fifteen metabolites were assigned, whereas the identity of two of these remained uncertain. The results showed that the groups of CaP and controls could be separated with a sensitivity of 71% and a specificity of 65 %. The metabolites that contributed do these separations were Hippurate, Creatinine, Trigonelline and Trimethylamine-N-Oxide.Conclusion: The study shows that CaP patients can be separated from non-CaP controls with moderate sensitivity and specificity based on the metabolic profile of post prostatic-massage urine samples. The metabolites contributing to the results are of such a nature that one cannot be certain that they can be used as biomarkers for CaP. Further processing and studies of these data is necessary, as there may be other methods that might unveil useful aspects not yet discovered.


This paper investigates the type of returns-based data a consultant or institutional investor would confront when analyzing an existing enhanced index manager or searching for a new one. The paper presents findings about different types of enhanced managers. Among them, and not surprisingly, the data suggests that all enhanced managers control tracking error by diversifying and by controlling factor exposures, in particular those relating to style (growth versus value) and company size. However, once those variables are controlled, the excess returns of these managers have remarkably low correlations, even among those following seemingly similar strategies.


Attention is indispensable to our learning, performance, relationships, health, and daily life, and yet laboratory studies of attention have only scratched the surface of these lived varieties of attention. In this article, we begin with William James' theory of derived involuntary attention, which has largely been ignored in laboratory research. We then show that there is a gap in our attention vocabulary and the theory that underpins it, which depend on an incomplete voluntary/involuntary dichotomy. The negative effects of this dichotomy stretch beyond laboratory research to clinical diagnosis, influencing how we understand so-called attention deficits. To fill the gap between voluntary and involuntary, we introduce a third kind of attention—fluid attention (also called postvoluntary attention), which is goal-directed and selective, like voluntary attention, but also effortless and drawn to its source, like involuntary attention. Fluid attention is a rediscovery of James' derived involuntary attention. A distinguishing feature of fluid attention is its motivational component, which, we show, neurophysiologically also reveals a gap in the neurocognitive literature on attention. Recognizing fluid attention as fundamentally motivational allows ADHD to be redefined as a motivational rather than an attentional deficit, which we go on to show has significant implications for both special and regular education.


INSIGHTS INTO USER BEHAVIOR IN DEALING WITH COMMON INTERNET ATTACKS Utku Ozan Yilmaz M.S. in Computer Engineering Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Ali Aydin Selcuk July, 2011 The Internet's immense popularity has made it an attractive medium for attackers. Today, criminals often make illegal profits by targeting Internet users. Most common Internet attacks require some form of user interaction such as clicking on an exploit link, or dismissing a security warning dialogue. Hence, the security problem at hand is not only a technical one, but it also has a strong human aspect. Although the security community has proposed many technical solutions to mitigate common Internet attacks, the behavior of users when they face these attacks remains a largely unexplored area. In this work, we describe an online experiment platform we built for testing the behavior of users when they are confronted with common, concrete attack scenarios such as reflected cross-site scripting, session fixation, scareware and file sharing scams. We conducted experiments with more than 160 Internet users with diverse backgrounds. Our findings show that non-technical users can exhibit comparable performance to knowledgeable users at averting relatively simple and well-known threats (e.g., email scams). While doing so, they do not consciously perceive the risk, but solely depend on their intuition and past experience (i.e., there is a training effect). However, in more sophisticated attacks, these nontechnical users often rely on misleading cues such as the "size" and "length" of artifacts (e.g., URLs), and fail to protect themselves. Our findings also show that trick banners that are common in file sharing websites and shortened URLs have high success rates of deceiving non-technical users, thus posing a severe security risk.