BACKGROUND
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are important agents in the management of arthritic and inflammatory conditions, and are among the most frequently prescribed medications in North America and Europe. However, there is overwhelming evidence linking these agents to a variety of gastrointestinal (GI) toxicities.

OBJECTIVES
To review the effectiveness of common interventions for the prevention of NSAID induced upper GI toxicity.

SEARCH STRATEGY
A literature search was conducted, according to the Cochrane methodology for identification of randomized controlled trials in electronic databases, including MEDLINE from 1966 to June 2002, Current Contents for 6 months prior to June 2002, EMBASE to February 2002, and a search of the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register from 1973 to 2002. Biosis Previews(R), ADIS LMS Drug Alerts, Pharmaceutical News Index (PNI)(R) were searched to June 2002. New articles since the last search update were evaluated. Recent conference proceedings were reviewed and content experts and companies were contacted.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) of prostaglandin analogues (PA), H2-receptor antagonists (H2RA) or proton pump inhibitors (PPI) for the prevention of chronic NSAID induced upper GI toxicity were included.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two independent reviewers extracted data regarding population characteristics, study design, methodological quality and number of patients with endoscopic ulcers, ulcer complications, symptoms, overall drop-outs, drop outs due to symptoms. Dichotomous data was pooled using RevMan V4.1. Heterogeneity was evaluated using a chi square test.

MAIN RESULTS
Forty RCTs met the inclusion criteria. All doses of misoprostol significantly reduced the risk of endoscopic ulcers. Misoprostol 800 ug/day was superior to 400 ug/day for the prevention of endoscopic gastric ulcers (RR=0.17, and RR=0.39 respectively, p=0.0055). A dose response relationship was not seen with duodenal ulcers. Misoprostol caused diarrhea at all doses, although significantly more at 800 ug/day than 400 ug/day (p=0.0012). Misoprostol was the only prophylactic agent documented to reduce ulcer complications. Standard doses of H2RAs were effective at reducing the risk of endoscopic duodenal (RR=0.36; 95% CI: 0.18-0.74) but not gastric ulcers(RR=0.73; 95% CI:0.50-1.09). Both double dose H2RAs and PPIs were effective at reducing the risk of endoscopic duodenal and gastric ulcers (RR=0.44; 95% CI:0.26-0.74 and RR=0.40;95% CI;0.32-0.51 respectively for gastric ulcer), and were better tolerated than misoprostol.

REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS
Misoprostol, PPIs, and double dose H2RAs are effective at preventing chronic NSAID related endoscopic gastric and duodenal ulcers. Lower doses of misoprostol are less effective and are still associated with diarrhea. Only Misoprostol 800ug/day has been directly shown to reduce the risk of ulcer complications such as perforation hemorrhage or obstruction.


Extensive outpourings of basalt, and to a lesser extent rhyolite, are closely associated with continental break-up and plume–lithosphere interactions. The Gondwana supercontinent began to fragment during Early–Middle Jurassic times and was associated with the eruption of over three million km3 of dominantly basaltic magma. This intense magmatic episode is recorded in volcanic rocks of the Karoo (Africa), Ferrar (Antarctica) and Chon Aike (South America). K–Ar and Rb–Sr whole rock geochronology has consistently failed to produce reliable ages for these volcanic rocks, but in the last four years, the wider application of single grain 40Ar/39Ar and/or U–Pb geochronology has produced more robust and precise dating of the magmatism. This paper reviews the recent advances in high precision geochronology and provides a full recalibrated 40Ar/39Ar dataset. Application of these methods across the majority of the volcanic provinces indicates that approximately 80% of the volcanic rocks were erupted within a short, 3–4 Myr period at c. 182 Ma. This burst of magmatism occurred in the Karoo province at c. 183 Ma and in the Ferrar provinces at c. 180 Ma, and was dominated by mafic volcanism. This peak in volcanism is coincident with a second order mass extinction event at the end of the Pliensbachian when c. 5% of marine families were wiped out coinciding with widespread oceanic anoxia in the early Toarcian. A prolonged period of silicic volcanism occurred along the proto-Pacific margin, prior to, and during the main phase of break-up. Silicic volcanism was initially coincident with the plume related Karoo-Ferrar provinces, but continued over c. 40 Myr, associated with lithospheric extension and subduction along the proto-Pacific continental margin.


The journey towards the global production and redistribution of skills in the electronic mode has been made along a number of key stepping stones. This paper examines the current form of global production and the role of information and communication technologies in enabling the close management of distributed resources: real time global monitoring of distributed activity transforms traditional principal/agent relationships. The real time remote control of distributed resources is a new institutional competence, however, the development of distributed resources as an institutional strategy is an older competence.

The paper traces the distributed resource mode of production to strategic innovations made in preparation for the Second World War: the U.K. wartime Shadow Factory programme and its U.S. equivalent. The U.K. programme deliberately distributed resources to protect against the wipe out of centralised resources by the enemy. A detailed account of the programme has been provided elsewhere. Post war this approach of distributed resources, ie shadow facilities, was used by major industrial concerns such as Ford to protect against disruption by trades unions and, indeed, sovereign states.

Since the development of shadow facility strategies by multi-nationals, without doubt new developments in information and communication technology for the detailed remote control of distributed facilities have emerged. The development of much of the technology used routinely within the global industrial system is the outcome of military priorities and consequent technological research, most particularly satellite technology and global positioning technology: the latter was used intensively for the first time in the first Gulf War.

However, the technologies which have enabled military and managerial surveillance of distributed resources also, paradoxically, enable the communities so scrutinised to develop their own distributed strategies and patterns of relationships with external parties. The shadowed are able to shadow their shadowers. Furthermore, ICTs allow anybody from any point to collect together global information resources which permit not only the shadowing of the present, but also enable the shadowing of the past: strategies which were historically concealed and are now rendered transparent and available for all to see. All parties, powerful and traditionally powerless, are within the position of social enclosure through the technologically enabled transparency of both past and present action.

Knowledge structures are now no longer fixed by historic patterns of past publication and concealment of histories but are a constantly re-assembling mosaic of newly available tiles of history and identity. Our discourse now is shaped by the tiles of distributed archiving and distributed discourse rather than set in the stone of priest, academy and authority.


This essay considers Derek Jarman's Edward II (1991) in relation to the film's historiopoetic project that identifies the queer body as the site through which and upon which history is written. The analysis is developed by reading several key scenes in Edward II alongside Jarman's own writing on his AIDS-related illness and the felt immanence of his own death. Employing techniques such as anachronism and prolepsis, Jarman crafts in his film a crystalline temporality that hybridizes past, present, and future. Yoking together disparate historical moments, Edward II illuminates a historical tradition of queer oppression and repression in the Renaissance, while also pointing to the twentieth-century rhetoric of HIV and AIDS as a systemic means of oppression by rendering the queer body as already dead. Thus, the queer body is always temporally and historically tensed and inflected, and the project of historicizing the queer body is a haunted or spectral process, unable to give up its ghosts. This essay argues that Edward II, through scenes of physical violence, erotic encounter, and haptic intimacy, theorizes the queer affective relations of the body to both itself and other bodies across time, as well as the erotic organization and management of the queer body in particular historical moments. It concludes by engaging in a Deleuzian critique of Jarman's film to identify the "vibrant present" as above all a corporeal temporality, both written and read by the body–of the artist, viewer, and historical subject.


ABSTRACT The North Carolina State University Libraries has long recognized the financial burden textbook costs place on students. By crosswalking information on use of our textbook collection with textbook cost and course enrollment data, we have begun to map the environment for textbook use at the university and identified opportunities for faculty outreach in promoting alternatives to traditional textbooks, including our Alt-Textbook program. This article describes our programs, our investigation of textbook use patterns, and how we are using these data to inform our practice.


Virus-host interactions play key roles in promoting efficient egress of many RNA viruses, including Ebola virus (EBOV or "e") and Marburg virus (MARV or "m"). Late- (L-) domains conserved in viral matrix proteins recruit specific host proteins, such as Tsg101 and Nedd4, to facilitate the budding process. These interactions serve as attractive targets for the development of broad-spectrum budding inhibitors. A major gap still exists in our understanding of the mechanism of filovirus budding due to the difficulty in detecting virus-host complexes and mapping their trafficking patterns in the natural environment of the cell. To address this gap, we used a bimolecular complementation (BiMC) approach to detect, localize, and follow the trafficking patterns of eVP40-Tsg101 complexes in live mammalian cells. In addition, we used the BiMC approach along with a VLP budding assay to test small molecule inhibitors identified by in silico screening for their ability to block eVP40 PTAP-mediated interactions with Tsg101 and subsequent budding of eVP40 VLPs. We demonstrated the potential broad spectrum activity of a lead candidate inhibitor by demonstrating its ability to block PTAP-dependent binding of HIV-1 Gag to Tsg101 and subsequent egress of HIV-1 Gag VLPs.


We tested whether the temporal parameters of corncrake (Crex crex) call change seasonally and/or individually. We defined a new, compound variable called RHYTHM, which quantitatively describes how corncrake call is perceived. Temporal parameters of calls, including RHYTHM, were significantly associated with both the time within the breeding season and body size. The most striking variation of call production was related to between-call intervals, which define a range of calls from monotonous (low values of RHYTHM) to intermittent (high values of RHYTHM). We found very clear, seasonally repeatable patterns of corncrake call with respect to syllable length, interval duration, and RHYTHM. Intermittent rhythm was more frequent in the beginning of the season, and to some extent before the second breeding attempt. While males sometimes changed call rhythm within a season, in general males with larger body size produced more intermittent calls. Simultaneously, intermittent rhythm was associated with less continuous and slower calling, leading to presumably lower energy expenditures. Building on previous results, we suggest that call rhythm is a conventional signal of aggressive motivation, with receiver retaliation as a possible stabilizing cost.


Temporal point-processes are often used for mathematical modeling of sequences of discrete events with asynchronous timestamps. We focus on a class of temporal point-process models called multivariate Wold processes (MWP). These processes are well suited to model real-world communication dynamics. Statistical inference on such processes often requires learning their corresponding parameters using a set of observed timestamps. In this work, we relax some of the restrictive modeling assumptions made in the state-ofthe-art and introduce a Bayesian approach for inferring the parameters of MWP. We develop a computationally efficient variational inference algorithm that allows scaling up the approach to high-dimensional processes and long sequences of observations. Our experimental results on both synthetic and real-world datasets show that our proposed algorithm outperforms existing methods.


This paper investigates an extrapolation for missing directivity-data in connection with Balloon-Plots. Such plots display the spherical directivity-pattern of radiators and receivers in form of contoured sound pressure levels. Normally the directivity-data are distributed evenly so that at each point of the display-sphere there would be sufficient data-points. However, there are circumstances where we want to display data that are not evenly distributed. For example, there might be only available the horizontal and vertical scans. The proposed Inverse Distance Weighting method is a means to extrapolate into these gaps. This paper explains this method and demonstrates some examples.


At the heart of Devon in the southwest of England lies Dartmoor, a large expanse of high moorland and rocky tors. Anyone who has visited Dartmoor or seen photographs and read about it will have their own personal images and feelings for the place, which will be as varied as the landscape. Over recent years landscape approaches have adopted strategies to understand how people experience and perceive the landscape that surrounds them (Ingold 2000, Thomas 1999, Tilley 1994). Phenomenology attempts to reveal the world as it actually is experienced by the subject as opposed to how we might theoretically assume it to be (Tilley 2004a). Writers such as Casey (1996, 2000, 2001, 2008), himself influenced by Merleau-Ponty, consider the body as vital and fundamental in perceiving, understanding and familiarising oneself with the landscape. Issues of memory, place, attachment and cosmology are nested within the landscape and remains of human activity, both past and present. Anthropology has demonstrated how peoples' understanding and perception of the landscape structures moral codes and practice (Basso 1996) and kinship affiliation and re-negotiation (Gow 1996). Therefore, the focus of this study is to understand how peoples' experiences in the Bronze Age and in the present were/are structured by the landscape characteristics (topography, geology) of Dartmoor. Applying a 'contextual' approach to the past and present peoples' involvements with the landscape, it is hoped that a better understanding of how their embodied experiences were structured by their involvement with the Dartmoor landscape. There are three aspects to the study. One focuses on the Bronze Age remains of two specific areas in Southern Dartmoor to approach the question of prehistoric engagements. Secondly, using structured and unstructured interviews the aim is to understand how Dartmoor as a whole continues to structure peoples' experiences and how they become embodied. The third aspect considers how the Moor is 'imaged' and the contrasting views between different groups. The aim is to demonstrate how peoples' perception of Dartmoor's landscape are formed and continued to be structured by its particular characteristics expressed through literature and issues of conservation.


At the beginning of the new millennium, a key development concern was the impact of agricultural policies in high-income countries on poor farmers in the rest of the world. Over the ensuing decade, the focus swung from the role of price-suppressing farm subsidies to the role biofuel policies play in driving food prices up. While development advocates are right to criticize the trade-distorting costs and environmental risks of current biofuel policies, agricultural subsidies and trade barriers in rich countries remain in place and the distorting impact of those policies will rise again when prices decline. These traditional policies increase uncertainty and still distort what crops are grown where, so disciplines on them are still useful. American food aid practices are also stuck in the past and reforming them could mean millions more people fed on a limited budget. The spread of biofuel support policies is also costly and inefficient, though in different ways. The precise impact of these policies on the level of food prices is still being debated, but there is little question that they are contributing to increased price volatility. While some upward adjustment in the level of prices was needed to encourage investment in agriculture, volatility is harmful to poor consumers and producers alike. These policies are also increasingly becoming a source of new trade disputes and the utility of the current generation of biofuels in reducing greenhouse gas emissions is questionable at best. With budgets tight and food prices high, both traditional agricultural and new biofuel support policies are increasingly under attack, and now is the time to reform them. The paper highlights a few areas where policies seem particularly incoherent and concludes with recommendations for international agreements to support and lock in policy reforms in both the short and longer runs.


The global community urgently needs precise, clear rules that define ownership of data and express the attendant rights to license, transfer, use, modify, and destroy digital information assets. In response, this article proposes a new approach for regulating data as an entirely new class of property. Recently, European and Asian public officials and industries have called for data ownership principles to be developed, above and beyond current privacy and data protection laws. In addition, official policy guidances and legal proposals have been published that offer to accelerate realization of a property rights structure for digital information. But how can ownership of digital information be achieved? How can those rights be transferred and enforced? Those calls for data ownership emphasize the impact of ownership on the automotive industry and the vast quantities of operational data which smart automobiles and self-driving vehicles will produce. We looked at how, if at all, the issue was being considered in consumer-facing statements addressing the data being collected by their vehicles. To formulate our proposal, we also considered continued advances in scientific research, quantum mechanics, and quantum computing which confirm that information in any digital or electronic medium is, and always has been, physical, tangible matter. Yet, to date, data regulation has sought to adapt legal constructs for "intangible" intellectual property or to express a series of permissions and constraints tied to specific classifications of data (such as personally identifiable information). † Jeffrey Ritter, J.D. is a Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, where he is researching and writing on the first principles of quantum law. He is an External Lecturer at Oxford, teaching in the Department of Computer Science, and also teaches Privacy Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering. Anna Mayer is a graduate student at the Institute of Political Science, University of Vienna, M.A. expected 2018. Anna Mayer is researching the concept of e-residency at the Ragnar Nurkse Institute of Governance and Innovation, Technical University Tallinn. A preliminary draft of this article was presented at MyData2017 in Tallinn, Estonia on August 30, 2017 and the additional input and comments from Triin Siil are greatly appreciated. 221 REGULATING DATA AS PROPERTY [Vol. 16 We examined legal reforms that were recently approved by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law to enable transactions involving electronic transferable records, as well as prior reforms adopted in the United States Uniform Commercial Code and Federal law to enable similar transactions involving digital records that were, historically, physical assets (such as promissory notes or chattel paper). Finally, we surveyed prior academic scholarship in the U.S. and Europe to determine if the physical attributes of digital data had been previously considered in the vigorous debates on how to regulate personal information or the extent, if at all, that the solutions developed for transferable records had been considered for larger classes of digital assets. Based on the preceding, we propose that regulation of digital information assets, and clear concepts of ownership, can be built on existing legal constructs that have enabled electronic commercial practices. We propose a property rules construct that clearly defines a right to own digital information arises upon creation (whether by keystroke or machine), and suggest when and how that right attaches to specific data though the exercise of technological controls. This construct will enable faster, better adaptations of new rules for the ever-evolving portfolio of data assets being created around the world. This approach will also create more predictable, scalable, and extensible mechanisms for regulating data and is consistent with, and may improve the exercise and enforcement of, rights regarding personal information. We conclude by highlighting existing technologies and their potential to support this construct and begin an inventory of the steps necessary to further proceed with this process.


Nigeria's oil industry came into being during colonial rule. Preferential treatment by British colonial authorities had given a British oil company — Shell — a virtual monopoly over oil exploration in the country and Shell has remained the dominant oil company in Nigeria. While there is substantial evidence to suggest that Shell‐BP established its dominant position in Nigeria with the support of British colonial officials, it was by no means clear that Shell would be able to maintain this advantageous position. Indeed, the historical record shows that both the Nigerian government and a number of competitors posed a potential threat to Shell's dominant position. The purpose of this article is to answer the question why Shell was able to maintain a position of dominance in Nigeria. It examines Nigeria's diversification and nationalisation policies from the late 1950s to‐date with the view of identifying the factors which allowed Shell to maintain its position vis‐à‐vis potential competitors. This investigation is based on the analysis of secondary sources as well as documents from the Public Record Office (PRO) in London and the BP Archive. In order to explain Shell's dominance in Nigeria, the article proposes to utilise the concept of a 'first mover advantage'. On the most basic level, this concept suggests that pioneering firms are able to obtain positive economic profits as the consequence of early market entry, that means, profits in excess of the cost of capital. The article concludes that a micro‐theoretical analysis based on the idea of a 'first mover advantage', which explores the position of individual corporate entities within a political economy framework, provides a superior explanation of Shell's dominance in Nigeria as compared to conventional macro‐theoretical structuralist approaches.


The swelling/deswelling transition of pH-sensitive, electrode-grafted, hydrogel nanofilms when exposed to electric fields is studied by theoretical analysis. In acidic conditions, the response of these films to changes in pH is dominated by network-surface interactions, while intra-network electrostatic repulsions, which are highly modulated by the adsorption of salt ions, determine material response at a higher pH. Film thickness is a non-monotonic function of solution pH and displays a local maximum, a local minimum or both, depending on the salt concentration and the applied voltage. We suggest the use of these materials in the development of biosensors and control of enzyme activity.


New Zealand's formerly extensive lowland native forests have been comprehensively cleared or modified, and large areas of secondary-growth vegetation have subsequently established. These areas are comprised of native, exotic, and mixed tree and shrub species assemblages. The mature-phase canopy and emergent tree species representative of pre-human New Zealand forests are often rare or locally extinct in these forests, indicating negative ramifications for long-term biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision, especially such as carbon sequestration. The successful recruitment of mature-phase canopy and emergent tree species may be prevented by biotic and abiotic filters related to dispersal (e.g. lack of seed sources or lack of dispersal agents), environmental variation (e.g. unsuitable germination microclimate or light availability), and competition (e.g. exotic weed competition). Failure of mature-phase tree species to cross through these filters may halt forest succession and cause arrested development of the ecosystem. There are also social and cultural imperatives for restoring mature-phase tree species, such as reassembling desired forest habitat and landscapes and providing lost natural heritage and cultural resources. Therefore, to restore secondary forests, depauperate remnant forests and create new forests that have complex structure, high biomass, and natural canopy tree diversity, mature-phase canopy and emergent species should be reintroduced through human interventions (i.e. enrichment planting). Experiments demonstrate that mature-phase tree species establishment can be optimised through canopy manipulation to address competition for light. Such targeted management can determine successful recruitment of mature-phase tree species, as can weed maintenance post-enrichment planting and landscape-level pest animal control. Currently political focus is emphasising planting of new early-successional native forests. However, support from scientific research and policy development is essential to actively recruit mature-phase tree species where they are now poorly represented and hence forest succession may be arrested. Afforestation and emissions trading policies need to support the reinstatement of mature-phase tree species within existing regenerating and degraded forests and newly created forests to facilitate the substantial ecological and ecosystem service benefits they provide over the long-term.


Large‐eddy simulations (LES) with the new ICOsahedral Non‐hydrostatic atmosphere model (ICON) covering Germany are evaluated for four days in spring 2013 using observational data from various sources. Reference simulations with the established Consortium for Small‐scale Modelling (COSMO) numerical weather prediction model and further standard LES codes are performed and used as a reference. This comprehensive evaluation approach covers multiple parameters and scales, focusing on boundary‐layer variables, clouds and precipitation. The evaluation points to the need to work on parametrizations influencing the surface energy balance, and possibly on ice cloud microphysics. The central purpose for the development and application of ICON in the LES configuration is the use of simulation results to improve the understanding of moist processes, as well as their parametrization in climate models. The evaluation thus aims at building confidence in the model's ability to simulate small‐ to mesoscale variability in turbulence, clouds and precipitation. The results are encouraging: the high‐resolution model matches the observed variability much better at small‐ to mesoscales than the coarser resolved reference model. In its highest grid resolution, the simulated turbulence profiles are realistic and column water vapour matches the observed temporal variability at short time‐scales. Despite being somewhat too large and too frequent, small cumulus clouds are well represented in comparison with satellite data, as is the shape of the cloud size spectrum. Variability of cloud water matches the satellite observations much better in ICON than in the reference model. In this sense, it is concluded that the model is fit for the purpose of using its output for parametrization development, despite the potential to improve further some important aspects of processes that are also parametrized in the high‐resolution model.


Economic theory is currently at a crossroads, where many leading mainstream economists are calling for a more realistic and practical orientation for economic science. Indeed, many are suggesting that economics should be reconstructed on evolutionary lines.This book is about the application to economics of evolutionary ideas from biology. It is not about selfish genes or determination of our behavior by genetic code. The idea that evolution supports a laissez-faire policy is rebutted. The conception of evolution as progress toward greater perfection, along with the competitive individualism sometimes inferred from the notion of the "survival of the fittest," is found to be problematic. Hodgson explores the ambiguities inherent in biology and the problems involved in applying ideas of past economic thinkers--including Malthus, Smith, Marx, Marshall, Veblen, Schumpeter, and Hayek--and argues that the new evolutionary economics can learn much from the many differing conceptions of economic evolution."This is a work of enormous perceptivity and subtlety as well as judiciousness of interpretation and critique . . . [that] establish[es] Hodgson as the leading institutional theorist, and as one of the leading evolutionary theorists, of his generation." --Warren J. Samuels"A daring and successful attempt to expunge the monopoly of reductionist and mechanistic thinking over evolutionary theory . . . a must for anyone who is interested not only in the foundations of economics, but also in the foundations of social theory." --Elias L. Khalil, Ohio State UniversityGeoffrey M. Hodgson is University Lecturer in Economics, Judge Institute for Management Studies, University of Cambridge.


This collection of essays studies the role of a single state in the transformation of American life following the Revolutionary War. As the citizens of the state worked to establish their new Commonwealth and determine its relationship to a federal government also in its infancy, they were forced to confront challenging problems both within Massachusetts and outside it. Religious differences fractured the Standing Order, separating Unitarians and Congregationalists from each other at the same time that pressures from Episcopalians, Baptists, and others urged an end to the religious establishment. Poverty posed problems for Massachusetts at large, and particularly for Boston, at the same time that public officeholders struggled to create new governmental institutions both for the Commonwealth and for its capital. Massachusetts merchants had to develop new, independent patterns of trade in response to American withdrawal from the British Empire. Diplomats had to find a place for the Commonwealth in the world order. And federal officeholders from Massachusetts needed to address the most divisive of domestic issues, slavery. The essays in this collection reveal how Massachusetts coped with these unexpected problems of independence.


While robotic assistants capable of automating many a task are becoming more ubiquitous, the complexity and unfamiliarity of such machines may discourage users from interacting and personalizing their robots. For that reason, the goal of this research is to study how a robot that expresses emotion-like feedback using movement affects the training interaction experience of non-expert users. To that end, a single-eyed spherical robot was developed using a Kansei design approach. A within-subjects experiment, between the robot expressing feedback and a control version that did not, was conducted with participants who had little to no experience interacting with robots. The results showed an increase in arousal when the robot expressed feedback and the overall interaction was considered engaging. Also, a positive correlation between bonding scores and relevance of the task was found. The contributions of this research are toward the development of human-trainable robots with transparent learning behavior.


A pilot-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treating 120 m3/d of a town's wastewater was set up in 2009 and aerobic granules with a mean diameter of 0.28 mm, mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) of 7,500 mg/L and sludge volume index (SVI)30 of 43 mL/g were achieved. A full-scale SBR with 50,000 m3/d for treating a town's wastewater was operated in 2010 and aerobic granules with a mean MLSS of 2,285 mg/L and SVI30 of 52.5 mL/g were obtained. Aerobic granules had excellent performances of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and NH4+-N removal and remained stable for a long time. Raw wastewater and SBR operating mode had a positive effect on aerobic granule formation. Therefore, aerobic granular technology could be successfully applied in the full-scale bioreactor under specific conditions. Future development of aerobic granular technology is the application in full-scale continuous-flow reactors.


External forces, such as ground reaction force or air drag acting on athletes' bodies in sports, determine the sport-specific demands on athletes' physical fitness. In order to establish appropriate physical conditioning regimes, which adequately prepare athletes for the loads and physical demands occurring in their sports and help reduce the risk of injury, sport-and/or discipline-specific knowledge of the external forces is needed. However, due to methodological shortcomings in biomechanical research, data comprehensively describing the external forces that occur in alpine super-G (SG) and downhill (DH) are so far lacking. Therefore, this study applied new and accurate wearable sensor-based technology to determine the external forces acting on skiers during World Cup (WC) alpine skiing competitions in the disciplines of SG and DH and to compare these with those occurring in giant slalom (GS), for which previous research knowledge exists. External forces were determined using WC forerunners carrying a differential global navigation satellite system (dGNSS). Combining the dGNSS data with a digital terrain model of the snow surface and an air drag model, the magnitudes of ground reaction forces were computed. It was found that the applied methodology may not only be used to track physical demands and loads on athletes, but also to simultaneously investigate safety aspects, such as the effectiveness of speed control through increased air drag and ski–snow friction forces in the respective disciplines. Therefore, the component of the ground reaction force in the direction of travel (ski–snow friction) and air drag force were computed. This study showed that (1) the validity of high-end dGNSS systems allows meaningful investigations such as characterization of physical demands and effectiveness of safety measures in highly dynamic sports; (2) physical demands were substantially different between GS, SG, and DH; and (3) safety-related reduction of skiing speed might be most effectively achieved by increasing the ski–snow friction force in GS and SG. For DH an increase in the ski–snow friction force might be equally as effective as an increase in air drag force.


In this thesis the design of a low-cost ad hoc network for short distance data acquisition applications with low data arrival intervals will be presented. The focus is on cost reduction by replacing the traditional high power radios with low-power RF transceivers. The conventional way of using multiple stationary repeater towers (depending on the network) is also replaced by using an ad hoc configuration, where each individual station also serves as a repeater station to adjacent stations. This approach reduces network design time enormously, seeing that the network is able to configure itself. By using this auto-routing multi-hop approach, data acquisition points are no longer restricted to the reception areas of base stations. A CSMA contention protocol is used for the data communication. Current models used to model this protocol are dependent on various assumptions. In the research reported in this thesis, a statistical study of the collision probability is performed and the results used to expand the current CSMA models. Inter-dependent characteristics of this model are also further enhanced to provide a more realistic model. A simulink model of the particular CSMA protocol is also designed. Both the mathematicaland the simulink models provide relatively good predictions when compared to actual measured results.


The present study aims at evaluating how YouTube users understand, negotiate and appropriate science-related knowledge on YouTube. It is informed by the qualitative analysis of post-video discussions around visual scenarios of sea-level rise (SLR) triggered by climate change. On the one hand, the SLR maps have an exemplary status as contemporary visualizations of climate change risks, beyond traditional image categories such as scientific or popular imagery. YouTube, on the other hand, is a convenient media environment to investigate the situated appropriation of such visual knowledge, considering its increasing relevance as a navigational platform to provide, search, consume and debate science-related information. The paper draws on media practice theory and operationalizes digital methods and qualitative coding informed by Grounded Theory. It characterizes a number of communicative practices of articulated knowledge appropriation regarding climate knowledge. This includes "locating impacts," "demanding representation," "envisioning further," "debating future action," "relativizing the information," "challenging the reality of anthropogenic climate change," "embedding popular narratives," "attributing to politics," and "insulting others." The article then discusses broader questions posed by the comments and related to the appropriation and discursive negotiation of knowledge within online video-sharing platforms. Ambiguity is identified as a major feature within the practice of science-related information retrieval and knowledge appropriation on YouTube. This consideration then serves as an opportunity to reconsider the relationship between information credibility and knowledge appropriation in the age of the digital. Findings suggest that ambiguity of information can have a positive impact on problem definition, future imagination and the discursive negotiation of climate change.


In this work, some developments in the theory of modelling integrated optical devices are discussed. The theory of the Beam Propagation Method (BPM) to analyse longitudinal optical waveguides is established. The BPM is then formulated and implemented numerically to study both two and three-dimensional optical waveguides using several Finite-Difference (FD) techniques. For the 2-D analysis, comparisons between the performance of the implicit Crank Nicholson (CN), the explicit Real Space (RS) and the Explicit Finite-Difference (EFD) are made through systematic tests on slab waveguide geometries. For three-dimensional applications, two explicit highly-parallel three-dimensional FD-BPMs (the RS and the EFD) have been implemented on two different parallel computers, namely a transputer array (MIMD type) and a Connection Machine (SIMD type). To assess the performance of parallel computers in this context, serial computer codes for the two methods have been implemented and a comparison between the speed of the serial and parallel codes has been made. Large gains in the speed of the parallel FD-BPMs have been obtained compared to the serial implementations; both methods, in their parallel form, can execute, per propagational step, a large problem containing 106 discretisation points in a few seconds. In addition, a comparison between the performance of the transputer array and the Connection Machine in executing the two FD-BPMs has been discussed. To assess and compare the two methods, three different rib waveguides and three different directional couplers have been analysed and the results compared with published results. It has been concluded from testing these methods that the parallel EFD-BPM is more efficient than the parallel RS-BPM. Then, the linear parallel EFD-BPM was extended to model nonlinear second harmonic generation process in three-dimensional waveguides, where the source field is allowed to deplete, using the transputer array and the Connection Machine.


Labor Markets and Business Cycles integrates search and matching theory with the neoclassical growth model to better understand labor market outcomes. Robert Shimer shows analytically and quantitatively that rigid wages are important for explaining the volatile behavior of the unemployment rate in business cycles. The book focuses on the labor wedge that arises when the marginal rate of substitution between consumption and leisure does not equal the marginal product of labor. According to competitive models of the labor market, the labor wedge should be constant and equal to the labor income tax rate. But in U.S. data, the wedge is strongly countercyclical, making it seem as if recessions are periods when workers are dissuaded from working and firms are dissuaded from hiring because of an increase in the labor income tax rate. When job searches are time consuming and wages are flexible, search frictions--the cost of a job search--act like labor adjustment costs, further exacerbating inconsistencies between the competitive model and data. The book shows that wage rigidities can reconcile the search model with the data, providing a quantitatively more accurate depiction of labor markets, consumption, and investment dynamics. Developing detailed search and matching models, Labor Markets and Business Cycles will be the main reference for those interested in the intersection of labor market dynamics and business cycle research.


The authors present a method for improving relief reconstruction from SAR stereo images, relying on preprocessing of input data with an optimal filter. This filter strongly reduces speckle noise and enhances relief structures, leading to better matching results. The method was tested using X-SAR data of a mountainous site whose DEM was available for control.


AIMS
The aim of this animal study is to assess fasting-induced changes in myocardial substrate metabolism and energy status as a consequence of mitochondrial long-chain fatty acid β-oxidation deficiency, using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS).

METHODS AND RESULTS
Carbon-13 ((13)C) MRS of hyperpolarized [1-(13)C]pyruvate was used to assess in vivo pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) activity in fed and fasted wild-type (WT) mice and long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase knockout (LCAD KO) mice. PDH activity decreased after fasting in both genotypes, but was 2.7-fold higher in fasted LCAD KO mice compared with fasted WT mice. Incorporation of the (13)C label into the myocardial malate and aspartate pools in fasted LCAD KO mice demonstrates enhanced activity of anaplerotic pathways in fasted LCAD KO hearts. These findings were corroborated by ex vivo assays revealing partially depleted pools of citric acid cycle intermediates in fasted LCAD KO myocardium, suggesting an increased, but unmet need for anaplerosis. The in vivo myocardial energy status, assessed using phosphorous-31 ((31)P) MRS, was lower in fasted LCAD KO mice than in fasted WT mice.

CONCLUSION
This study revealed that the heart of fasted LCAD KO mice has an elevated reliance on glucose oxidation, in combination with an unmet demand for myocardial anaplerosis. Due to a lack of substrate availability, the sustained myocardial glucose uptake and PDH activity in LCAD KO mice are ineffective to maintain metabolic homeostasis during fasting, which is reflected by an impaired myocardial energy status in fasted LCAD KO mice.


Forty-six patients with recurrent affective disorders, who began prophylactic treatment with lithium an average of 20 years previously, were followed up prospectively after a ten-year observation period to assess renal function. Nineteen patients had maintained lithium therapy, and eight patients had died. Tubular function was almost unchanged and patients who had continued lithium had not shown increasing urine volumes, but patients who had received lithium in a single daily dosage at night had a significantly lower urinary output than those on a multiple-dosage schedule. The GFR decreased significantly, but the decline was essentially dependent on increasing age, except in two patients who had developed renal insufficiency. Renal function during chronic lithium treatment is related to age, lithium intoxication episodes, pre-existing renal disease, and treatment schedule rather than to duration of prophylactic lithium therapy.


In recent years, researchers and data analysts have increasingly used online social network data to study human behavior. Before such study can begin, one must first obtain appropriate data. This process poses many challenges: e.g. a this platform may provide a public API for accessing data, but such APIs are often rate limited, restricting the amount of data that an individual collect in a given amount of time. Thus, in order for the data collector to efficiently collect data, she needs to make intelligent use of her limited API queries. The network science literature has proposed numerous network crawling methods, but it is not always easy for the data collector to select an appropriate method: methods that are successful on one network may fail on other networks.In this work, we demonstrate that the performance of network crawling methods is highly dependent on the structural properties of the network. To do that, we perform a detailed, hypothesis-driven analysis of the performance of eight popular crawling methods with respect to the task of maximizing node coverage. We perform experiments on both directed and undirected networks, under five different query response models: complete, paginated, partial, in-out, and out responses. We identify three important network properties: community separation, average community size, and average node degree. We begin by performing controlled experiments on synthetic networks, and then verify our observations on real networks. Finally, we provide guidelines to data collectors on how to select an appropriate crawling method for a particular network.


Abstract While most students of federalism feel satisfied with defining it as involving self-rule and shared rule, there is an inherent laxity in that definition because several institutional forms have dual components of self-rule and shared rule. It is therefore necessary to find out if federalism is an equivalent of all self-rule – shared rule systems of government or not. This requires an effort to locate the implication of federalism in federal related political institutions, by exploring the conceptual distinctions between related terms such as federalism, federation, federal government, federal political systems, confederation, and decentralized union. Hence, this article aims at distinguishing these concepts, as well as identifying the interlinkage and relationship that exists between them. The goal is to reduce the level of uncertainty associated with the meaning of federalism in the contemporary political culture, and also, to make it less contested and distinct from other federal kindred terms.


I study the optimal incentive provision in a principal–agent relationship with costly information acquisition by the agent. I emphasize that adverse selection or moral hazard is the principal's endogenous choice by inducing or deterring information acquisition. The principal designs the contract not only to address an existing incentive problem but also to implement its presence. Implementation of adverse selection relies on a steeper information rent to the agent than the standard menu, such that the agent is motivated to distinguish the efficient state of nature from the inefficient. Moral hazard is implemented by replacing the benchmark debt contract with a debt-with-equity-share contract, such that the agent does not attempt to acquire information to either avoid debt or to extract rent.


We sought to define the risk associated with papillomas and atypical papillomas in breast core needle biopsy specimens from a series of approximately 8,500 biopsies performed during 8 years. From a total of 62 papillary lesions (including papillomas and atypical papillomas), 40 (65%) had histologic follow-up. Overall, 15 (38%) of 40 patients had ductal carcinoma in situ (12 cases) or invasive carcinoma at excision (3 cases). Eight cases diagnosed as papilloma had benign follow-up. Slides were available for review in 38 cases and reclassified into benign papilloma with florid hyperplasia and no or minimal atypia (18 cases), papilloma with separate foci of atypical ductal hyperplasia (7 cases), and severely atypical papillomas "suspicious" for papillary carcinoma (13 cases). Carcinoma was identified in 0 (0%), 2 (29%), and 12 (92%) cases, respectively. We conclude that while atypical papillary lesions and papillomas with associated atypical ductal hyperplasia in breast core needle biopsy specimens are associated with a risk of carcinoma, lesions diagnosed as papilloma or papilloma with no or minimal atypia are benign and do not need to be excised.


INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE CONCEPT OF THE SYSTEMThe key feature of international law is that states are primary subjects of this law. This results in other features of international law like high relevance of customary law, ambiguous meaning of the term "treaty", considerable role of soft law, uncertainty about the effects of reservations to treaties, and above all, the lack of collision rules when two or more treaties bind partly different parties. This all supports the weaker thesis about systemness of international law. The weaker thesis about systemness of international law is not the answer to all questions that can be put in this respect. This is particularly evident in the case of consistency of international law which is seriously jeopardized by the progressive fragmentation. But the conviction of the systemness of international law has also somewhat different purpose than it seems. Namely, it strengthens the argument that international law is the law in the proper sense of the word. It fulfils therefore, to some extent, a persuasive function. International law confronted with domestic law is a kind of so-called "positive morality" for many lawyers. Therefore, the thesis about systemness of international law is so important. For similar reasons, H. Kelsen so firmly stressed that war is a sanction, what justified the view that international law is the law in the proper sense of the word.


Traditional exploration methods in RL require agents to perform random actions to find rewards. But these approaches struggle on sparse-reward domains like Montezuma's Revenge where the probability that any random action sequence leads to reward is extremely low. Recent algorithms have performed well on such tasks by encouraging agents to visit new states or perform new actions in relation to all prior training episodes (which we call across-training novelty). But such algorithms do not consider whether an agent exhibits intra-life novelty: doing something new within the current episode, regardless of whether those behaviors have been performed in previous episodes. We hypothesize that across-training novelty might discourage agents from revisiting initially non-rewarding states that could become important stepping stones later in training. We introduce Deep Curiosity Search (DeepCS), which encourages intra-life exploration by rewarding agents for visiting as many different states as possible within each episode, and show that DeepCS matches the performance of current state-of-the-art methods on Montezuma's Revenge. We further show that DeepCS improves exploration on Amidar, Freeway, Gravitar, and Tutankham (many of which are hard exploration games). Surprisingly, DeepCS doubles A2C performance on Seaquest, a game we would not have expected to benefit from intra-life exploration because the arena is small and already easily navigated by naive exploration techniques. In one run, DeepCS achieves a maximum training score of 80,000 points on Seaquest, higher than any methods other than Ape-X. The strong performance of DeepCS on these sparse- and dense-reward tasks suggests that encouraging intra-life novelty is an interesting, new approach for improving performance in Deep RL and motivates further research into hybridizing across-training and intra-life exploration methods.


Iron sequestration provides an innate defense, termed nutritional immunity, leading pathogens to scavenge iron from hosts. Although the molecular basis of this battle for iron is established, its potential as a force for evolution at host-pathogen interfaces is unknown. We show that the iron transport protein transferrin is engaged in ancient and ongoing evolutionary conflicts with TbpA, a transferrin surface receptor from bacteria. Single substitutions in transferrin at rapidly evolving sites reverse TbpA binding, providing a mechanism to counteract bacterial iron piracy among great apes. Furthermore, the C2 transferrin polymorphism in humans evades TbpA variants from Haemophilus influenzae, revealing a functional basis for standing genetic variation. These findings identify a central role for nutritional immunity in the persistent evolutionary conflicts between primates and bacterial pathogens. The primate iron transport protein and a bacterial transferrin surface receptor are in an evolutionary battle for iron. [Also see Perspective by Armitage and Drakesmith] The frontline of host-pathogen coevolution Pathogens have to subvert a host's innate defenses to avoid being killed. Barber and Elde now show that this principle extends to nutrient-transporting proteins, such as transferrin, which binds iron (see the Perspective by Armitage and Drakesmith). Without iron, invading pathogens cannot replicate, but iron is sequestered in transferrin, which stops pathogens using it. So pathogens have evolved a succession of transporters that can hijack transferrin's iron. Over time, the primate transferrin binding surface has coevolved to wrestle iron back from the grip of pathogens. Science, this issue p. 1362; see also p. 1299


RNA-seq experiments are usually carried out in three or fewer replicates. In order to work well with so few samples, Differential Gene Expression (DGE) tools typically assume the form of the underlying distribution of gene expression. A recent highly replicated study revealed that RNA-seq gene expression measurements in yeast are best represented as being drawn from an underlying negative binomial distribution. In this paper, the statistical properties of gene expression in the higher eukaryote Arabidopsis thaliana are shown to be essentially identical to those from yeast despite the large increase in the size and complexity of the transcriptome: Gene expression measurements from this model plant species are consistent with being drawn from an underlying negative binomial or log-normal distribution and the false positive rate performance of nine widely used DGE tools is not strongly affected by the additional size and complexity of the A. thaliana transcriptome. For RNA-seq data, we therefore recommend the use of DGE tools that are based on the negative binomial distribution.


INTRODUCTION
We sought to assess the impact of a 25% tax excise rise on tobacco sales in Aboriginal communities in remote Australia and to explore local perceptions about tobacco tax rises and their impact.

METHODS
Tobacco sales data were collected from 18 stores in small remote Aboriginal communities from October 2009 to December 2010. Sales in the 7 months before and after the tax increase were compared. Interviews were conducted with 54 informants in 6 communities.

RESULTS
There was a nonsignificant 2.2% average reduction (95% CI = -5 to 10) in total tobacco sold in a store in the 7 months after the price increase compared with the 7 months before the price increase, with a large variation across the 18 stores. The magnitude of this apparent impact may have been reduced by seasonal effects. There were increased demands to share cigarettes, with a perception that there was increased reliance on those with more disposable income to purchase cigarettes for other smokers. The main reasons given for not quitting or reducing smoking were dependence, the normative nature of smoking, and the lack of support to quit. All Aboriginal interviewees supported price increases as important in reducing smoking.

CONCLUSIONS
The wide confidence interval around our estimated reduction in consumption means that the tax increase could have either been associated or not with a reduction in consumption. Future excise rises are supported but should be carefully monitored in Australian Indigenous populations.


The study is aimed at development of nanocrystals of Nelfinavir Mesylate, an anti-HIV drug to overcome the drawback associated with drug such as poor solubility and oral bioavailability. Nanocrystals were attempted by combination technique and ultrasonication method using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and poloxamer 407 as stabilizers at various concentrations. The solid-state characteristics of optimized nanocrystals were studied by XRD, FTIR, DSC and SEM analysis. The release behavior of the drug was studied by in vitro dissolution. The in vivo pharmacokinetics was assessed in Wister Albino rats by administering nanocrystals orally. Nelfinavir nanocrystals were obtained with the narrow size distribution and mean particle size was ranged from 216 to 360 nm for the nanocrystals obtained from combination technique. At 0.5% w/w of PVA, particle size was 236 ± 19.23 nm and zeta potential was 18.34 ± 2.0 mV. Freeze dried Poloxamer 407 and PVA nanocrystals showed very good solubility than the freeze dried powder with cryoprotectant and pure drug. However, nanocrystals with PVA (NC PVA) showed high dissolution velocity as compared to nanocrystals with Poloxamer 407 and were supported by high saturation solubility of NC PVA. SEM and other solid-state studies indicated the crystalline nature of developed nanocrystals. Compared to pure drug, NC PVA formulation had decreased Tmax and increased Cmax and AUC0-24. Thus pharmacokinetic study revealed significant increase in oral absorption of the drug with nanocrystals which could be attributed to the increase in dissolution velocity of the Nelfinavir in nanocrystal form.


OBJECTIVES--Low exposures to volatile aromatic hydrocarbons and cytogenetic effects in peripheral white blood cells were determined in 25 healthy workers employed in different areas of a styrene production plant in the former German Democratic Republic. The results were compared with 25 healthy unexposed controls (matched for age and sex) employed in the same company. METHODS--The concentrations of aromatic hydrocarbons determined from active air sampling in all areas of the factory (styrene: 73-3540 micrograms/m3 (< 0.01-0.83 ppm); ethylbenzene 365-2340 micrograms/m3 (0.08-0.53 ppm); benzene 73-3540 micrograms/m3 ( < 0.02-1.11 ppm); toluene 54-2960 micrograms/m3 (0.01-0.78 ppm); xylenes 12-94 micrograms/m3 ( < 0.01-0.02 ppm)) were considerably lower than in the pump house ( > 4000 micrograms/m3 styrene, ethylbenzene, benzene, and toluene; > 500 micrograms/m3 xylenes), which was only intermittently occupied for short periods. Passive personal monitoring, biomonitoring of exhaled air and metabolites (mandelic, phenylglyoxylic, trans, trans-muconic, hippuric, o-, m- and p-methylhippuric acids, and phenol) in urine samples collected before and after an eight hour working shift was used to assess individual exposure. Questionnaires and examination of company records showed that the historical exposure was far higher than that measured. Genotoxic monitoring was performed by nuclease P1-enhanced 32P-postlabelling of DNA adducts in peripheral blood monocytes, and DNA single strand breaks, sister chromatid exchange, and micronuclei in lymphocytes. The content of kinetochores in the micronuclei was determined by immunofluorescence with specific antibodies from the serum of CREST patients. RESULTS--No genotoxic effects related to exposure were detected by DNA adducts or DNA single strand breaks and sister chromatid exchange. The only effect related to exposure was an increase in kinetochore positive micronuclei in peripheral lymphocytes; the frequency of total micronuclei in peripheral lymphocytes did not change. Smoking was confirmed by measurement of plasma cotinine, and no confounding effect was found on any of the cytogenetic variables. CONCLUSIONS--Low occupational exposure to styrene, benzene, and ethylbenzene did not induce alterations of genotoxicological variables except kinetochore positive micronuclei. This is the first reported use of the CREST technique for an in vivo study in occupational toxicology, which thus could serve as a valuable and sensitive technique for toxicogenic monitoring.


Chronic and acute dietary exposure to pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) was estimated in the European population via the consumption of plant-derived foods. This resulted in highest estimates of mean chronic dietary exposure of 34.5–48.4 ng/kg body weight (bw) per day in 'Toddlers' (LB–UB) and 154–214 ng/kg bw per day in the highly exposed population (LB–UB, also in 'Toddlers'). Following a rather conservative scenario, the highest estimates of acute mean exposure and 95th percentile exposure were calculated for 'Toddlers', with mean exposure up to 311 ng/kg bw per day and 95th percentile exposure up to 821 ng/kg bw per day. Tea and herbal infusions were by far the main average contributors to the total exposure to PAs. Among consumers only, in the adult population, the mean chronic exposure via the consumption of honey ranged between 0.1 and 7.4 ng/kg bw per day (minimum LB–maximum UB), while for high consumers, it was between 0.4 and 18 ng/kg bw per day (minimum LB–maximum UB). In the young population, for the average consumers of honey, estimates were between 0.3 and 27 ng/kg bw per day (minimum LB–maximum UB), and between 0.7 and 31 ng/kg bw per day (minimum LB–maximum UB) among the high consumers. Ad hoc exposure scenarios for food supplements via consumption of pollen-based supplements showed chronic exposure to PAs that ranged between 0.7 and 12 ng/kg bw per day (minimum LB–maximum UB), while acute exposure was between 2.8 and 44 ng/kg bw per day (minimum LB–maximum UB), in both cases among consumers only. Likewise, the consumption of 150 mL infusion of 2 g of selected plant extracts led to exposures to PAs up to 67,000 ng/kg bw per day (e.g. infusion of Borage). © 2016 European Food Safety Authority. EFSA Journal published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of European Food Safety Authority.


Abstract This essay contributes to the growing body of historical research on Kenneth Burke by considering his work as a drug researcher for the Bureau of Social Hygiene in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The research he conducted under the watch of his conservative boss, Colonel Arthur Woods, reveals a resistant worker who effectively became hooked on the question of bodies and habits even as he at times explicitly rejected the aims and methods of his boss. Burke's rearticulations of efficiency and piety help show how the Bureau offered new vantages on the body, effectively broadening his critical compass.


Motifs are frequent patterns used to identify biological functionality in genomic sequences, periodicity in time series, or user trends in web logs. In contrast to a lot of existing work that focuses on collections of many short sequences, modern applications require mining of motifs in one very long sequence (i.e., in the order of several gigabytes). For this case, there exist statistical approaches that are fast but inaccurate; or combinatorial methods that are sound and complete. Unfortunately, existing combinatorial methods are serial and very slow. Consequently, they are limited to very short sequences (i.e., a few megabytes), small alphabets (typically 4 symbols for DNA sequences), and restricted types of motifs. This paper presents ACME, a combinatorial method for extracting motifs from a single very long sequence. ACME arranges the search space in contiguous blocks that take advantage of the cache hierarchy in modern architectures, and achieves almost an order of magnitude performance gain in serial execution. It also decomposes the search space in a smart way that allows scalability to thousands of processors with more than 90% speedup. ACME is the only method that: (i) scales to gigabyte-long sequences; (ii) handles large alphabets; (iii) supports interesting types of motifs with minimal additional cost; and (iv) is optimized for a variety of architectures such as multi-core systems, clusters in the cloud, and supercomputers. ACME reduces the extraction time for an exact-length query from 4 hours to 7 minutes on a typical workstation; handles 3 orders of magnitude longer sequences; and scales up to 16,384 cores on a supercomputer.


This "sustainability for teachers" guide provides over 50 short videos and resources covering the main issues related to sustainability. These issues are: population, human needs, natural resources, water,recycling, equity, and much more. Enjoy it!


Although the collection of college student loans centers this article, some background precedes its main topic. It begins by defining and distinguishing federal and private student loans. Next is repayment of loans, postponing repayment through deferment, forbearance, extensions, and public-interest assistance and cancellation. Perkins loan deferment, forbearance, and cancellation follow. Delinquency and default are next, including collection fees and penalties, administrative wage garnishment, state and federal income-tax-refund offsets, federal benefits offsets, and professional-license suspension. The lender's judicial collection is followed by the borrower's limited affirmative defenses and post-judgment tools. A borrower may exit default through consolidation and rehabilitation. There are two types of statutory discharges: school-related discharges and discharges for death and disability. The article turns to discharge of student loans in federal bankruptcy; the scope of the discharge exception leads to the rigorous statutory test, "undue hardship." The article also compares collection techniques and policy justifications for delinquent family support with collection of student loans. Like a maze, educational debt is easy to enter but difficult to exit. The important policy that a debtor should pay her just debts isn't an absolute. Life happens. Considering the formidable pre- and post-judgment collection techniques and the absence of defenses like of the statute of limitations, the student-loan borrower's only sure exit is the final exit of death. The article concludes by recommending that the delinquent student-loan borrower's plight be ameliorated. Treatment of student-loan debt like other debt, for example like credit-card debt, is a consummation sincerely to be wished.


Partial blockages in water pipe networks may contribute to large energy dissipation throughout the system and reduce service effectiveness for customers. In this paper, a recently developed stochastic model using transients for detecting partial blockages in water pipelines is tested and numerical and experimental case studies are presented. The model is a stochastic successive linear estimator previously used in groundwater hydrology for detecting the heterogeneity pattern of the subsurface. The model estimates the distribution of diameters within a pipe with partial blockages and quantifies the uncertainty associated with these estimates. Results show that a first good estimate of the extent and size of the blockages can be obtained by a single test generated by the fast closure of a valve.


Abstract Unusual fossil macrofloras from South America (Peru, Bolivia, Brazil), Africa (Niger), India, and Australia are distinctly different from both the Early and Late Carboniferous floras of Gondwana. These floras can be correlated with each other based on macrofloral and palynologic composition, and dated as Late Visean to earliest Serpukhovian through palynologic data from several floras and isotopic data from Australia. The floras are dominated by pteridosperm foliage and characterized by the occurrence of tree-lycopsids, and represent a warm-temperate, frost-free floral belt in Gondwana that reached from 30° to as far as 60° South that existed directly before the onset of the major episode of the Carboniferous glaciation. The plants lived during an interval of very warm climate as indicated by the width and extent of the floral belt, conditions that facilitated the migration of plants into this area from other parts of the globe. The term Paraca floral realm is redefined and extended to include all of these Late Visean-earliest Serpukhovian floras throughout Gondwana.


A method for the active feedback reduction of optical instrumental intensity asymmetries is presented. It is based on the fast chopping of two spatially separated beams of light with orthogonal linear polarizations that are recombined and passed through a quarter-wave plate to yield a single beam with rapidly flipping helicity. Active electro-optic feedback has been successfully employed to maintain this asymmetry below 10 −5


Seed transfer guidelines and zones are used to manage the movement of plant materials, but by the end of the century many landscapes across the globe will have climates that are incompatible with current vegetation. The mismatch in rates between climate change and plant migration and adaptation will pose significant challenges for natural resource managers, especially when scientific information often lags behind the demand for management actions. We developed a bibliography to reflect the growing interest in assisted migration, the intentional movement of plant materials in response to climate change, and to provide a central foundation for collaboration in generating research questions, conducting studies, transferring and acquiring data, expanding studies to key species and geographic regions, and guiding native plant transfer in changing climates. The bibliography contains literature through 15 March 2015 on plant transfer guidelines as related to climate change, restoration and conservation, and adaptation strategies, such as assisted migration. References are arranged in four chapters: Climate Change, Conservation and Restoration, Migration, and Transfer Guidelines and Zones. Chapters are further divided into sections: General (editorials, reviews, summaries, surveys, and trends), Research (common garden studies, genecology research, provenance tests, range shifts), Strategies (adaptation options, decision support, frameworks, and policies) and Resources (manuals, models, tools, and websites).


A series of new acetate and trifluroacetate bimetallic zinc complexes containing heteroscorpionate ligands have been prepared in very high yields. The structures of the complexes were determined by spectroscopic methods, and the single-crystal X-ray structure of complex 6 confirmed a κ3-NNO coordination mode of the scorpionate ligand in a dinuclear molecular arrangement. Bimetallic zinc complexes 6–11 were investigated as catalysts for the synthesis of polycarbonates from epoxides and carbon dioxide in the absence of a cocatalyst. Under the optimal reaction conditions, complex 10 acts as an efficient single-component initiator for the ring-opening copolymerisation of cyclohexene oxide and carbon dioxide, yielding polycarbonate materials with narrow polydispersities.


Abstract The Late Silurian Ringerike Group of southern Norway is a lower Old Red Sandstone megasequence that marks the regressive culmination of Cambro–Silurian marine deposition in the Oslo Region. The basal Sundvollen Formation represents deposition in a number of sub-environments of a broad, muddy coastal-plain setting, and is succeeded by fluvial deposition of the Stubdal and Store Arøya Formations. The terminal formation of the Ringerike Group, the Holmestrand Formation, represents deposition in sub-environments of a sandy beach setting. Both the marginal-marine Sundvollen and Holmestrand formations contain a wide variety of trace fossils (Arenicolites, Cruziana, Didymaulichnus, Diplichnites gouldi, Diplocraterion, Gordia marina, Margaritichnus, "Merostomichnites," Oniscoidichnus, Paleohelcura, Palmichnium stoermeri, ?Polarichnus garnierensis, Rusophycus, Siskemia bipediculus, Skolithos, Steinsfjordichnus brutoni, Taenidium) that are discussed and analyzed, comprising the first complete Late Silurian study from the Baltic area. The trace fossils, which occur in facies-controlled assemblages, are combined with sedimentologic evidence to perform a high-resolution paleoenvironmental analysis of the Ringerike Group. Multivariate cluster analysis of the bulk Ringerike ichnofauna with similar-aged ichnofaunas from other paleocontinents supports the hypothesis that localized environmental factors outweighed provincialism as the dominant control on the composition of arthropod-trackway-dominated trace-fossil assemblages during the Siluro–Devonian.


The phenylpropanoid enzyme 4-coumarate:coenzyme A ligase (4CL) is considered necessary to activate the hydroxycinnamic acids for the biosynthesis of the coniferyl and sinapyl alcohols subsequently polymerized into lignin. To clarify the role played by 4CL in the biosynthesis of the guaiacyl (G) and syringyl (S) units characteristic of angiosperm lignin, we generated 4CL antisense Arabidopsis lines having as low as 8% residual 4CL activity. The plants had decreases in thioglycolic acid-extractable lignin correlating with decreases in 4CL activity. Nitrobenzene oxidation of cell walls from bolting stems revealed a significant decrease in G units in 4CL-suppressed plants; however, levels of S lignin units were unchanged in even the most severely 4CL-suppressed plants. These effects led to a large decrease in the G/S ratio in these plants. Our results suggest that an uncharacterized metabolic route to sinapyl alcohol, which is independent of 4CL, may exist in Arabidopsis. They also demonstrate that repression of 4CL activity may provide an avenue to manipulate angiosperm lignin subunit composition in a predictable manner.


The sparsity of signals in a certain transform domain or dictionary has been extended in different applications in signal processing, image processing, and medical imaging. Wavelets and DCT have been widely used for compression.
Recently, new application of the data-driven learning of sparsifying dictionaries has discovered in denoising, inpainting, and compressed sensing. Here We study the sparsifying transform model related to its prior linear
sparse models. Then, we formulate the problem for learning square sparsifying transforms from data. Here algorithm alternate between a sparse coding step and a transform update step. Compressed sensing (CS) utilizes the sparsity of MR images to enable reconstruction from
undersampled k-space data. Recent CS methods have employed analytical sparsifying transforms such as wavelets, curvelets, and finite differences. This transform is sele
cted on the basis of image type. In this thesis, we propose a framework for adaptively learning the sparsifying transform (dictionary), and reconstructing the image simultaneously from highly under sampled k-space
data. This framework is enforced on overlapping image patches emphasizing local structure. Reconstruction algorithm learns the sparsifying dictionary,
and uses it to remove aliasing and noise in one step, and restores . Then it fills in the k-space data in the other step.


"Introduction to Theoretical Kinematics" provides a uniform presentation of the mathematical foundations required for studying the movement of a kinematic chain that makes up robot arms, mechanical hands, walking machines, and similar mechanisms. It is a concise and readable introduction that takes a more modern approach than other kinematics texts and introduces several useful derivations that are new to the literature. The author employees a unique format, highlighting the similarity of the mathematical results for planar, spherical, and spatial cases by studying them all in each chapter rather than as separate topics. For the first time, he applies to kinematic theory two tools of modern mathematics--the theory of multivectors and the theory of Clifford algebras--that serve to clarify the seemingly arbitrary nature of the construction of screws and dual quaternions. The first two chapters formulate the matrices that represent planar, spherical, and spatial displacements and examine a continuous set of displacements which define a continuous movement of a body, introducing the "tangent operator." Chapter 3 focuses on the tangent operators of spatial motion as they are reassembled into six-dimensional vectors or screws, placing these in the modern setting of multivector algebra. Clifford algebras are used in chapter 4 to unify the construction of various hypercomplex "quaternion" numbers. Chapter 5 presents the elementary formulas that compute the degrees of freedom, or mobility, of kinematic chains, and chapter 6 defines the structure equations of these chains in terms of matrix transformations. The last chapter computes the quaternion form ofthe structure equations for ten specific mechanisms. These equations define parameterized manifolds in the Clifford algebras, or "image spaces," associated with planar, spherical, and spatial displacements. McCarthy reveals a particularly interesting result by showing that these parameters can be mathematically manipulated to yield hyperboloids or intersections of hyperboloids.


Networking among entrepreneurial firms is a widely researched and debated topic amongst academics; however, there are still research gaps. Most research is based on quantitative studies and researchers have called for more qualitative analysis to gain a deeper understanding in what impact networks have on entrepreneurial firms.The purpose with this dissertation is to explore in what way networks are important (or not) for small entrepreneurial firms, and if this changes over the firms' development. The study has an interpretive philosophy and an exploratory research design. To collect data eight semi-structured interviews, with entrepreneurs in Kristianstad and the nearby area, were completed.The findings of this study are that networks look different for all entrepreneurial firms and the importance of different relationships changes over the firms' life cycle. Informal relationships (family and friends) are important for the entrepreneur when it comes to encouragement and support, while formal relationships (suppliers, employees, customers and other entrepreneurs) contribute to the success of the firm by providing the entrepreneur with knowledge and advice. The conclusions, from the collected data, are that all relations are not of equal importance to all entrepreneurs. The importance depends on the entrepreneur's personality and the industry the entrepreneur operates in. However, we found that the importance of talking to other entrepreneurs has grown and that the most important relationship seems to be with family and friends.The demarcations of this study are that only entrepreneurs in one area of one country were interviewed, also that a qualitative method was used; therefore, we cannot show any statistical proof of the findings.


Objective: To assess early outcomes in the elderly population undergoing coronary revascularisation with and without cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Methods: Meta-analysis of all retrospective, non-randomised studies comparing off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) versus CPB techniques in the elderly (> 70 years) between 1999 and 2005. Age-related early outcomes of interest were death, stroke, atrial fibrillation (AF), renal failure and length of stay in hospital. The random effects model was used. Sensitivity and heterogeneity were analysed. Results: Analysis of 14 non-randomised studies comprising 4921 patients (OPCAB, 1533 (31.1%) and CPB, 3388 (68.9%)) showed a significantly lower incidence of death in the OPCAB group (odds ratio (OR) 0.48, 95% CI 0.28 to 0.84). This effect was greater in OPCAB octogenarians (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.57). The pattern of incidence of stroke among the OPCAB octogenarians (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.56) was similar. The incidence of AF was lower in the OPCAB group (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.97). The incidence of renal failure did not differ. Length of hospital stay was shorter in the OPCAB group, although with significant heterogeneity. Conclusions: OPCAB may be associated with lower incidence of death, stroke and AF in the elderly, which may result in shorter length of hospital stay. A large randomised trial would confirm whether the elderly would benefit more from OPCAB surgery.


Abstract.
 The early Cambrian Carinachitidae, a family in the subclass Conulata, are intriguing and important small shelly fossils. Their gently tapering, tube-shaped skeletons consist of convex faces separated from each other by broad, deep corner sulci, and they exhibit triradial, pentaradial, or predominantly tetraradial symmetry. However, the morphology of the aperture and the modes of growth of carinachitid skeletons as well as the anatomy of their soft parts are unknown. Examination of a single new, exceptionally well-preserved specimen of tetramerous Carinachites spinatus Qian, 1977, collected from the lower Cambrian Kuanchuanpu Formation in South China, reveals: (1) that its aperture is connected to a small mass of relic soft tissue and (2) that the apertural end of each of the four faces is developed into a subtriangular lappet or oral lobe that is smoothly folded toward the long axis of the tube, partially closing the tube aperture. Similarities between thorn-like spines on the faces and the oral lobes indicate that the transverse ribs were periodically displaced from the perradial portion of the aperture during formation of new ribs. In addition, the tube walls may have undergone secondary thickening during growth. The growth pattern of the tube and the spatial relationships between the tube aperture and soft parts are analogous to those of co-occurring olivooids. These findings further strengthen the previously proposed hypothesis that coeval carinachitids, olivooids, hexangulaconulariids, and Paleozoic conulariids are closely related taxa within the subphylum Medusozoa. Finally, carinachitids most likely represent an evolutionary intermediate between olivooids and hexangulaconulariids.


This paper introduces a new Stata® command, dynemp, which implements a distributed micro-data analysis of business and employment dynamics and firm demographics. The data source it requires are business registers or comparable firm- or establishment- level longitudinal databases which cover the (near-) universe of companies in all business sectors. Access to such confidential data is usually restricted and the micro-level data cannot be brought together to a single platform for cross-country analysis. To solve this confidentiality problem while also maintaining a high level of harmonisation of the key economic concepts (gross job flows, growth rates of employment, definition of high-growth firms, etc.), dynemp can be distributed in a network of researchers who have access to the national confidential microdata. In such manner, the rich firm-level employment dynamics can be analysed from new angles (such as firm age and size), significantly expanding the scope of the analysis insofar possible using more aggregated data.


Atypical chemokine receptors (ACKRs) have emerged as important regulators or scavengers of homeostatic and inflammatory chemokines. Among these atypical receptors, ACKR4 is reported to bind the homeostatic chemokines CCL19, CCL21, CCL25 and CXCL13. In a recent study by Matti et al., the authors show that ACKR4 is also a receptor for CCL20, previously established to bind to CCR6 only. They provide convincing evidence that, just as for its other chemokine ligands, ACKR4 rapidly internalizes CCL20 both in vitro and in vivo. Independently of this discovery, we undertook a screening program aiming at reassessing the activity of the 43 human chemokines toward ACKR4 using a highly sensitive β‐arrestin recruitment assay. This systematic analysis confirmed CCL20 as a new agonist ligand for ACKR4 in addition to CCL19, CCL21, and CCL25. Furthermore, CCL22, which plays an important role in both homeostasis and inflammatory responses, and is known as a ligand for CCR4 and ACKR2 was found to also act as a potent partial agonist of ACKR4. In contrast, agonist activity of CXCL13 toward ACKR4 was disproved. This independent wide‐range systematic study confirms the pairing of CCL20 with ACKR4 newly discovered by Matti and co‐authors, and further refines the spectrum of chemokines activating ACKR4.


OBJECTIVE
To review information regarding the association of physical activity (PA) with quality of life (QoL) in the elderly and to identify the study designs and measurement instruments most commonly used in its assessment, in the period 2000-2012.

METHODS
Relevant articles were identified by a search of four electronic databases and cross-reference lists and by contact with the authors of the included manuscripts. Original studies on the association between PA and QoL in individuals aged 60 years or older were examined. The quality of studies as well as the direction and the consistency of the association between PA and QoL were evaluated.

RESULTS
A total of 10,019 articles were identified as potentially relevant, but only 42 (0.42%) met the inclusion criteria and were retrieved and examined. Most studies demonstrated a positive association between PA and QoL in the elderly. PA had a consistent association with the following QoL domains: functional capacity; general QoL; autonomy; past, present and future activities; death and dying; intimacy; mental health; vitality; and psychological.

CONCLUSION
PA was positively and consistently associated with some QoL domains among older individuals, supporting the notion that promoting PA in the elderly may have an impact beyond physical health. However, the associations between PA and other QoL domains were moderate to inconsistent and require further investigation.


In a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) with copropagating optical pump pulses, the application of a nonlinear phase shift to optical signals provides the driving force for all-optical interferometric switching. We study, both analytically and experimentally, the dependencies of the nonlinear phase shift on the driving frequency (42–168 GHz) and on the SOA parameters. We have found that the nonlinear phase shift (ΔΦNL) decreases with the driving frequency but that this decrease is only linear, i.e., ΔΦNL∝f-1. We have also found that the nonlinear phase shift in the SOA linearly increases with the injection current (Iop), i.e., ΔΦNL∝Iop, even in this ultrahigh-frequency range.


How does America's high rate of incarceration shape political participation? Few studies have examined the direct effects of incarceration on patterns of political engagement. Answering this question is particularly relevant for the 93% of formerly incarcerated individuals who are eligible to vote. Drawing on new administrative data from Connecticut, we present evidence from a field experiment showing that a simple informational outreach campaign to released felons can recover a large proportion of the reduction in participation observed following incarceration. The treatment effect estimates imply that efforts to reintegrate released felons into the political process can substantially reduce the participatory consequences of incarceration


Compact light weight and dry sump (significantly reduced volume of lubricant) are the desired attributes for high performance racing transmissions, whilst improving upon efficiency and reliability remain paramount objectives. The complex multi-objective nature of this task points to an integrated approach to lubricant-mechanical system optimisation. The extreme operating conditions in racing transmissions, such as contact kinematics and thermal loading present significant tribological challenges. Thin lubricant films in non-Newtonian shear are subjected to mixed thermo-elastohydrodynamic regime of lubrication. Under these conditions boundary active lubricant species often determine the contact tribological performance rather than the bulk rheological properties of the lubricant itself. Therefore, the interaction of lubricant additive package with the contacting solid surfaces is the key to an optimised solution.
The paper investigates the lubricant-surface interfacial effect upon frictional characteristics in contact conditions which are representative of gear teeth meshing conditions in high performance transmissions. The study uses pin-on-disc tribometry. As the contact conditions are mainly governed by the formation of surface-adhered tribo-films, their effect upon frictional characteristics is further investigated through use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) in lateral force mode (LFM). A test procedure is presented to benchmark lubricant additive package-surface combinations for improved tribological performance. The investigation takes into account surface material, surface topography and lubricant additive package, all of which affect the tribo-chemical absorption or bonding of a thin film to the contacting surfaces. The test protocol also includes surface chemical spectrometry and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The presented methodology has not hitherto been reported in literature.


The success of clinically relevant immunotherapies requires reversing tumor-induced immunosuppression. Here we demonstrated that linear polyethylenimine-based (PEI-based) nanoparticles encapsulating siRNA were preferentially and avidly engulfed by regulatory DCs expressing CD11c and programmed cell death 1-ligand 1 (PD-L1) at ovarian cancer locations in mice. PEI-siRNA uptake transformed these DCs from immunosuppressive cells to efficient antigen-presenting cells that activated tumor-reactive lymphocytes and exerted direct tumoricidal activity, both in vivo and in situ. PEI triggered robust and selective TLR5 activation in vitro and elicited the production of hallmark TLR5-inducible cytokines in WT mice, but not in Tlr5-/- littermates. Thus, PEI is a TLR5 agonist that, to our knowledge, was not previously recognized. In addition, PEI-complexed nontargeting siRNA oligonucleotides stimulated TLR3 and TLR7. The nonspecific activation of multiple TLRs (specifically, TLR5 and TLR7) reversed the tolerogenic phenotype of human and mouse ovarian tumor-associated DCs. In ovarian carcinoma-bearing mice, this induced T cell-mediated tumor regression and prolonged survival in a manner dependent upon myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88; i.e., independent of TLR3). Furthermore, gene-specific siRNA-PEI nanocomplexes that silenced immunosuppressive molecules on mouse tumor-associated DCs elicited discernibly superior antitumor immunity and enhanced therapeutic effects compared with nontargeting siRNA-PEI nanocomplexes. Our results demonstrate that the intrinsic TLR5 and TLR7 stimulation of siRNA-PEI nanoparticles synergizes with the gene-specific silencing activity of siRNA to transform tumor-infiltrating regulatory DCs into DCs capable of promoting therapeutic antitumor immunity.


The aim of this study was to assess the association between physical fitness and clustering of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in boys and girls aged 9 years (children) and 15 years (adolescents). Subjects were 1020 randomly selected children and adolescents. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed by a maximal cycle ergometer test. A subject was defined as having a risk factor if he/she belonged to the upper quartile of risk within age and gender group for that risk factor. Clustering was analysed in relation to being at risk in a) three or more and b) four or more of five possible risk factors (TC:HDL ratio, insulin:glucose ratio, triglyceride, systolic BP and sum of four skinfolds. Physical fitness was weakly related to single CVD risk factors except sum of skinfolds where the relationship was strong. Low fitness increased the risk of having three or more CVD risk factors with odds ratios (OR) using the upper quartile of fitness as reference of 1.9 (95% CI: 0.8–4.1), 3.0 (95% CI: 1.4–6.3) and ...


We develop a probability model over image spaces and demonstrate its broad utility in mammographic image analysis. The model employs a pyramid representation to factor images across scale and a tree-structured set of hidden variables to capture long-range spatial dependencies. This factoring makes the computation of the density functions local and tractable. The result is a hierarchical mixture of conditional probabilities, similar to a hidden Markov model on a tree. The model parameters are found with maximum likelihood estimation using the EM algorithm. The utility of the model is demonstrated for three applications; 1) detection of mammographic masses in computer-aided diagnosis 2) qualitative assessment of model structure through mammographic synthesis and 3) compression of mammographic regions of interest.


Objective An audit of neonatal care services provided by clinical training centres was undertaken to identify areas requiring improvement as part of wider efforts to improve newborn survival in Kenya. Design Cross-sectional study using indicators based on prior work in Kenya. Statistical analyses were descriptive with adjustment for clustering of data. Setting Neonatal units of 22 public hospitals. Patients Neonates aged <7 days. Main outcome measures Quality of care was assessed in terms of availability of basic resources (principally equipment and drugs) and audit of case records for documentation of patient assessment and treatment at admission. Results All hospitals had oxygen, 19/22 had resuscitation and phototherapy equipment, but some key resources were missing—for example kangaroo care was available in 14/22. Out of 1249 records, 56.9% (95% CI 36.2% to 77.6%) had a standard neonatal admission form. A median score of 0 out of 3 for symptoms of severe illness (IQR 0–3) and a median score of 6 out of 8 for signs of severe illness (IQR 4–7) were documented. Maternal HIV status was documented in 674/1249 (54%, 95% CI 41.9% to 66.1%) cases. Drug doses exceeded recommendations by >20% in prescriptions for penicillin (11.6%, 95% CI 3.4% to 32.8%) and gentamicin (18.5%, 95% CI 13.4% to 25%), respectively. Conclusions Basic resources are generally available, but there are deficiencies in key areas. Poor documentation limits the use of routine data for quality improvement. Significant opportunities exist for improvement in service delivery and adherence to guidelines in hospitals providing professional training.


Shroudless rotor blades are state of the art in modern high pressure turbines. Tip leakage flow has a crucial impact on turbine efficiency. Specific blade tip designs are a key factor to handle tip leakage losses by controlling tip leakage flow and its re-entry into the rotor passage.
 Comparative measurements of a cavity squealer type tip and a notch type tip have been conducted at the Large Scale Turbine Rig at TU Darmstadt. The test rig has been operated at the blade tips design point. Experimental data has been acquired at rotor inlet and outlet as well as within the rotor passage.
 For cavity squealer tips a tip leakage vortex develops at the suction side as the tip leakage flow is rolled-up and further mixed with main annulus flow. The tip leakage vortex determines the blockage of main annulus flow at the blade tip. The design of the suction side of the notch tip benefits a jet-like re-entry of tip leakage flow into the passage. Results are a vortex system with smaller scaled vortices and a more homogeneous mass flow redistribution in the outer annulus of the rotor. The zone of affected main annulus flow at the blade tip increases through the dominant tip leakage jet.


This study was conducted to investigate effects of dietary flavor on immune responses and gut microbiota of weaned pigs. A total of 72 weaned pigs (initial BW = 6.66 ± 0.32 kg) were randomly assigned to 2 dietary treatments (4 pigs/pen; 9 replicates/treatment) in randomized complete block design (block = BW). The dietary treatments were 1) a commercial diet based on corn and soybean meal with spray dried plasma, fish meal, and zinc oxide (CON) and 2) CON + 0.05% flavor (FLA) containing milky cream flavor (Luctarom®, Lucta Guangzhou, China). Pigs were fed respective dietary treatments for 6 weeks. Blood was collected from randomly selected one pig in each pen on d 0, 7, and 14 after weaning. Three pigs per dietary treatment were randomly selected to collect feces on the last day of the experiment to verify their gut microbiota. Measurements were the number of white blood cells (WBC) by an automated hematology analyzer calibrated for porcine blood and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), and cortisol by the ELISA and gut microbiota by metagenomics analysis with pyrosequencing. The immune responses data were analyzed using the PROC GLM procedure of SAS. The gut microbiota data were analyzed using CLcommunity program. Pigs fed FLA had lower WBC on d 7 (P < 0.10) and 14 (P < 0.05), TNF-α on d 7 (P < 0.10), and IL-6 on d 7 (P < 0.10) than those fed CON. The FLA increased (P < 0.05) phylum Firmicutes and genus Lactobacillus and Clostridium in gut microbiota of weaned pigs compared with CON, but decreased (P < 0.05) phylum Bacteroidetes and genus Prevotella. In conclusion, the addition of dietary flavor in the commercial diet modified immune responses and modulated gut microbiota of weaned pigs.