Abstract An intriguing phenomenon in the study of evolutionary rates of morphological change measured from fossil lineages has been the dependence of these rates on the inverse of the measurement interval. This effect has been reported across wide ranges of species as well as within single lineages, and has been interpreted as representing a smooth extension of evolutionary rate from generational timescales to paleontological timescales, suggesting that macroevolution may be simply microevolution extended over longer intervals. There has been some debate about whether this inverse dependence is a real feature of evolutionary change, or a mathematical or psychological artifact associated with the interpretation of data. Our analysis indicates that the strong inverse dependence of rate on interval is an artifact produced by the phenomenon of spurious self-correlation. Spurious self-correlation can appear in any calculation when a ratio is plotted against its denominator, as is done in plotting rate versus interval, and when these two quantities are not well correlated with one another. We demonstrate that the effect of spurious self-correlation appears in seven published data sets of evolutionary rate that range from taxonomically broad compendia to studies of single families. The effect obscures the underlying information about the dependence of evolutionary change on interval that is present in the data sets. In five of the seven data sets examined there is no significant correlation between the extent of evolutionary change and elapsed time. Where such a correlation does exist, the inverse dependence of rate on interval length is weakened. We describe the role played by taxonomic, dynamic, and character inhomogeneity in producing the lack of correlation of change with interval in each of these data sets. This lack of correlation of change with interval, and the accompanying inverse correlation of rate with interval, most likely arises from discontinuous modes of evolutionary change in which a distinct long-term dynamic dominates net change over geological time spans. It is poorly explained by the extrapolationary microevolutionary models that have been said to account for this phenomenon.


Avian influenza (AI) virus subtype H5N1 is a highly pathogenic virus that causes acute infection with high mortality in susceptible birds. Additionally, the virus can also cause lethal infection in human. Effective control of AI requires various strategies which comprises of vaccination, biosecurity, education, diagnostics and surveillance. The crucial objectives of AI control strategies are to prevent introduction of AI, ease the losses and total eradication of AI. Immune response against the Hemagglutinin (HA) protein and the Neuraminidase (NA) protein by the immune components results in protection against AI. Currently, several conventional and genetically engineered AI vaccines using recombinant technology has been developed and tested in experimental trials. However, its application in commercial chickens has not been studied thoroughly except for conventional and fowlpox virus based vaccines. Vaccination using DNA vaccines is an attractive approach to induce vaccine-induced immunity. On the other hand, DNA vaccine is relatively less immunogenic. Furthermore, several inoculations are required to induce strong vaccine-induced immunity. Different approaches such as adjuvants are available to enhance the immunogenicity of DNA vaccine. The objectives of this study were to construct and express the pcDNA3.1/H5, pcDNA3.1/N1 and pcDNA3.1/NP of H5N1 and to explore the adjuvancy role of Mycobacterial DNA binding Protein-1 (MDP1) in augmenting H5 DNA vaccine in inducing specific antibody response. Constructed pcDNA3.1/MDP1 plasmids encoding MDP1 was obtained from Osaka University, Japan. The complete genes of H5, N1 and NP gene of Malaysian H5N1 virus (A/Ck/Malaysia/5858/04) were cloned separately into pcDNA3.1+ vector. The orientation of the cloned fragments was verified by restriction mapping and DNA sequencing. The expression of protein of the cloned genes was evaluated by transfection of Vero cell lines followed by detection of bands of the expected sized using Western blotting analysis. The immunogenicity of the cloned H5 DNA vaccine was tested in SPF chickens. The chickens were divided into 5 groups namely H5, H5+MDP1, pcDNA3.1, PBS and negative control. The constructed plasmids were injected intramuscularly to 10 days old chickens followed by two booster injections at 14 and 28 days. Bleeding via wing vein was conducted every week post immunization and the collected sera were analyzed using HI test. The HI test showed successful antibody production second week after immunization with an increase in antibody titers during the course of experiment in group inoculated with H5 and H5+MDP1. The result showed that the constructed DNA vaccines were able to induce the production of detectable antibody titer. Furthermore, spleen and muscle samples from chickens inoculated with H5 and H5+MDP1 expressed H5 RNA transcripts. However, the higher antibody titers in chickens inoculated with H5+MDP1 was not statistically significant when compared with chickens inoculated with H5 alone. The highest HI titers for both groups never exceeded 16 HI unit.


A new block exemption regulation for motor vehicle distribution agreements was adopted in May 2010. Regulation 461/2010 extends the application of Regulation 1400/2002 – the first 'new style' block exemption for the car sector – for three years regarding the distribution of new motor vehicles. After that period, the sector will finally fall within the scope of the general block exemption for vertical agreements - Regulation 330/2010. At the same time, Regulation 461/2010 contains a list of hardcore restrictions applicable to the car aftermarket. It is accompanied by a set of sector-specific supplementary guidelines. As Regulation 1400/2002 is progressively replaced, the momentum calls for an assessment of its achievements and the merits of the changes envisaged. The Commission appears to finally acknowledge that the maintenance of specific rules for the car sector is of questionable necessity, and opts to gradually include the sector in the general block exemption regulation for vertical agreements. Such a welcome change should doubtlessly bring coherence to an exemption system divided by the existence of a specific car industry regime for the past fifteen years. Unfortunately, a closer look at the modifications rapidly mitigates the initial enthusiasm, particularly since the Commission has opted to maintain specific rules for the aftermarket, and has delayed the inclusion of the sector in the general regime for vertical agreements. Whilst it is too early to assess the merits of the forthcoming amendments, this paper questions the practical effectiveness of the Commission's most recent reform, and argues that a precious opportunity to unify the curious divide between distribution agreements in the car sector and all other industries may have – yet again – been squandered.


Title of Dissertation: NANOPATTERNING OF RECOMBINANT PROTEINS AND VIRUSES USING BLOCK COPOLYMER TEMPLATES Arthur von Wald Cresce, Doctor of Philosophy candidate, 2007 Dissertation directed by: Professor Peter Kofinas Department of Materials Science and Engineering The study of interfaces is important in understanding biological interactions, including cellular signaling and virus infection. This thesis is an original effort to examine the interaction between a block copolymer and both a protein and a virus. Block copolymers intrinsically form nanometer-scale structures over large areas without expensive processing, making them ideal for the synthesis of the nanopatterned surfaces used in this study. The geometry of these nanostructures can be easily tuned for different applications by altering the block ratio and composition of the block copolymer. Block copolymers can be used for controlled uptake of metal ions, where one block selectively binds metal ions while the other does not. 5-norbornene-2,3-dicarboxylic acid is synthesized through ringopening metathesis polymerization. It formed spherical domains with spheres approximately 30 nm in diameter, and these spheres were then subsequently loaded with nickel ion. This norbornene block copolymer was tested for its ability to bind histidine-tagged green fluorescent protein (hisGFP), and it was found that the nickel-loaded copolymer was able to retain hisGFP through chelation between the histidine tag and the metal-containing portions of the copolymer surface. Poly(styrene-b-4-vinylpyridine) (PS/P4VP) was also loaded with nickel, forming a cylindrical microstructure. The binding of Tobacco mosaic virus and Tobacco necrosis virus was tested through Tween 20 detergent washes. Electron microscopy allowed for observation of both block copolymer nanostructures and virus particles. Results showed that Tween washes could not remove bound Tobacco mosaic virus from the surface of PS/P4VP. It was also seen that The size and tunability of block copolymers and the lack of processing needed to attain different structures makes them attractive for many applications, including microfluidic devices, surfaces to influence cellular signaling and growth, and as a nanopatterning surface for organized adhesion. NANOPATTERNING OF RECOMBINANT PROTEINS AND VIRUSES USING BLOCK COPOLYMER TEMPLATES


Pump-probe spectroscopy is central for exploring ultrafast dynamics of fundamental excitations, collective modes, and energy transfer processes. Typically carried out using conventional diffraction-limited optics, pump-probe experiments inherently average over local chemical, compositional, and electronic inhomogeneities. Here, we circumvent this deficiency and introduce pump-probe infrared spectroscopy with ∼ 20 nm spatial resolution, far below the diffraction limit, which is accomplished using a scattering scanning near-field optical microscope (s-SNOM). This technique allows us to investigate exfoliated graphene single-layers on SiO2 at technologically significant mid-infrared (MIR) frequencies where the local optical conductivity becomes experimentally accessible through the excitation of surface plasmons via the s-SNOM tip. Optical pumping at near-infrared (NIR) frequencies prompts distinct changes in the plasmonic behavior on 200 fs time scales. The origin of the pump-induced, enhanced plasmonic response is identified as an increase in the effective electron temperature up to several thousand Kelvin, as deduced directly from the Drude weight associated with the plasmonic resonances.


As part of our search for searching for anticancer agents a novel series of thieno [2, 3-d] pyrimidine derivatives 9-14 were obtained via reaction of the strategic starting material ethyl 2-isothiocyanato-4, 5-dimethylthiophene-3- carboxylate 2 with sulfa-drugs namely, sulfanilamide, sulfa-thiazole, sulfa-diazine, sulfa-merazine, sulfa-dimethoxazine and sulfa- doxine, in dimethylformamide containing triethylamine as catalyst. The structures of the newly synthesized compounds were established by microanalysis, IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and mass spectral data. All the newly synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in vitro anticancer activity against human breast cancer cell line (MCF7). Most of the screened compounds exhibited higher anti-breast cancer activity compared with Doxorubicin as a reference drug. Compounds 14, 13, 9 and 12 (IC50 values 22.12, 22.52, 27.83 and 29.22 μM) showed higher anti-breast cancer activity than the Doxorubicin as a reference drug with (IC50 value 30.40 μM). In addition, compounds 10 and 11 with (IC50 values 34.64, 37.78 μM) are nearly as active as Doxorubicin as positive control.


Abstract This article aims to place HEMA on the map of science. To be able to start this work I have to find an appropriate definition on science and on discipline (field of science). After describing main characters of a discipline I investigate HEMA if it shows this characteristic or can be recognised as an interdisciplinary field. The second question I focus on is the place of this field between disciplines and interdisciplinary topics. For this investigation I review methods of bibliometrics and scientometrics and choose a fitting method to be able to get an answer. I also choose a relevant sample of publications the chosen method can be performed on. After mapping HEMA and having result of the chosen method I try to give a picture on the development of in-field usage of HEMA-related works (how often relevant articles are cited by other HEMA-related articles).


Optical On-Off keying based on graphene has received great attention in the past years for communication applications. However, most studied devices suffer from a low extinction ratio. Here we introduce a design based on the integration of graphene (two layers of graphene with a dielectric in between) on a silicon slot waveguide. It has an extinction ratio over 20 dB for a 100 um device length with an applied voltage of 6 Volt and operates with TE polarized light. The insertion loss, another key parameter for optical switches, is only 1 dB, assuming high quality graphene.


Cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) are toxic to all living organisms, including plants and humans. In plants, Cd and As are detoxified by phytochelatins (PCs) and metal(loid)-chelating peptides and by sequestering PC-metal(loid) complexes in vacuoles. Consistent differences have been observed between As and Cd detoxification. Whereas chelation of Cd by PCs is largely sufficient to detoxify Cd, As-PC complexes must be sequestered into vacuoles to be fully detoxified. It is not clear whether this difference in detoxification pathways is ubiquitous among plants or varies across species. Here, we have conducted a PC transport study using vacuoles isolated from Arabidopsis and barley. Arabidopsis vacuoles accumulated low levels of PC2 -Cd, and vesicles from yeast cells expressing either AtABCC1 or AtABCC2 exhibited negligible PC2 -Cd transport activity compared with PC2 -As. In contrast, barley vacuoles readily accumulated comparable levels of PC2 -Cd and PC2 -As. PC transport in barley vacuoles was inhibited by vanadate, but not by ammonium, suggesting the involvement of ABC-type transporters. Interestingly, barley vacuoles exhibited enhanced PC2 transport activity when essential metal ions, such as Zn(II), Cu(II) and Mn(II), were added to the transport assay, suggesting that PCs might contribute to the homeostasis of essential metals and detoxification of non-essential toxic metal(loid)s.


While the
use of three-dimensional (3D) geographical information system (GIS) is becoming
in rapid development and being used in various fields such as urban and
regional planning, disaster management and planning, mobile navigation and
etc., commercial and open source GIS software packages tend to offer 3D-GIS
functionalities for their products. On the basis, GIS analysis functions are to
provide information with respect to geographical location and by having 3D
spatial data as an input, it will give advantages in providing horizontal
position information. However, to analyze moving objects (temporal) in 3D seems
not an easy task and not fully supported by current GIS platform packages. Previously
in two-dimensional (2D) GIS practice, main issue addressed by researchers in
managing temporal spatial objects is GIS packages were designed based on
hardware and software constraints whereby it should be based on the temporal
spatial objects ontology. Nowadays, the trend of managing temporal 3D data is
via 3D spatial simulation or animation. This approach will not in assistance
for GIS users in conducting spatial queries. Without having a suitable ontology
and valid topological data structure for temporal 3D data, it will cause
repetitive of temporal data (redundancy) and complications in executing spatial
analysis in 3D environment. Therefore this paper focuses on the ontology for
managing moving 3D spatial objects (i.e.
air pollution, flood). The characteristics of moving objects were reviewed
thoroughly by categorizing it based on its different appearances. Moreover,
existing methods in managing temporal database were addressed and discussed for
its practicalities. Another important aspect in managing temporal 3D objects is
the implementation of topological data structures for 3D spatial objects were
reviewed. In the last section of this paper it summarized the issues and
further ideas towards implementing and managing temporal 3D spatial objects in
GIS based on the Geoinformation Ontology (GeO).


Abstract. The mesospheric hydroxyl radical (OH) is mainly produced by the water vapor (H2O) photolysis and could be considered as a proxy for the influence of the solar irradiance variability on the mesosphere. We analyze the tropical mean response of the mesospheric OH and H2O data as observed by the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) to 27-day solar variability. The analysis is performed for two time periods corresponding to the different phases of the 11-yr cycle: from December 2004 to December 2005 (the period of "high activity" with a pronounced 27-day solar cycle) and from August 2008 to August 2009 ("solar minimum" period with a vague 27-day solar cycle). We demonstrate, for the first time, that in the mesosphere the daily time series of OH concentrations correlate well with the solar irradiance (correlation coefficients up to 0.79) at zero time-lag. At the same time H2O anticorrelates (correlation coefficients up to −0.74) with the solar irradiance at non-zero time-lag. We found that the response of OH and H2O to the 27-day variability of the solar irradiance is strong for the period of the high solar activity and negligible for the solar minimum conditions. It allows us to suggest that the 27-day cycle in the solar irradiance and in OH and H2O are physically connected.


Plausibility has been implicated as playing a critical role in many cognitive phenomena from comprehension to problem solving. Yet, across cognitive science, plausibility is usually treated as an operationalized variable or metric rather than being explained or studied in itself. This article describes a new cognitive model of plausibility, the Plausibility Analysis Model (PAM), which is aimed at modeling human plausibility judgment. This model uses commonsense knowledge of concept-coherence to determine the degree of plausibility of a target scenario. In essence, a highly plausible scenario is one that fits prior knowledge well: with many different sources of corroboration, without complexity of explanation, and with minimal conjecture. A detailed simulation of empirical plausibility findings is reported, which shows a close correspondence between the model and human judgments. In addition, a sensitivity analysis demonstrates that PAM is robust in its operations.


In the era of knowledge economy, how to exploit knowledge assets is essential for businesses to improve their competitive advantage. Issues such as how to enable or facilitate knowledge management systems (KMS) in an organisation have proven to be important for academia and industry. For the reason that sharing and managing knowledge involves a series of activities that are related to culture, the findings in a geographic area or a certain industry may not necessarily be applicable to other areas or industries with different cultural backgrounds. Research issues such as what are the enablers for organisations in implementing their knowledge management systems with a focus on reaching better organisational outcomes have been discussed and highlighted in literature. However, a more comprehensive investigation, with an effort on gathering all the enablers and examining them altogether in a certain context, has not been completed. Therefore, this study is motivated to investigate the research issue 'What are the enablers for implementing knowledge management systems in India?' by using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. First, the authors used a multiple case study method to examine whether the enablers identified in the literature still influence the implementation of KMS in India. Second, the results were further tested with a larger sample (400 organisations in four Indian cities) to confirm and consolidate the findings. These findings indicate that all the enabling factors of KMS identified in the literature are applicable in the Indian context.


An essential guide on the latest version of Microsoft's server management toolMicrosoft's powerful Mastering System Center 2012 Operations Manager introduces many exciting new and enhanced feature sets that allow for large-scale management of mission-critical servers. This comprehensive guide provides invaluable coverage to help organizations monitor their environments across computers, network, and storage infrastructures while maintaining efficient and effective service levels across their applications. Provides intermediate and advanced coverage of all aspects of Systems Center 2012 Operations Manager, including designing, planning, deploying, managing, maintaining, and scripting Operations Manager Offers a hands-on approach by providing many real-world scenarios to show you how to use the tool in various contexts Anchors conceptual explanations in practical application Mastering System Center 2012 Operations Manager clearly shows you how this powerful server management tool can best be used to serve your organization's needs.


Students maximise learning when they receive timely and detailed feedback on their performance from teachers as well as peers. Yet in many subjects taught at university level, feedback consists only of grades and written commentary from teachers, on a final version of submitted work. This form of feedback provides little incentive or opportunity for improvement and places considerable demands on staff in subjects with high enrolments. In 2004 we addressed these problems in our subject Experimental Animal Behaviour, by involving other students (peers) in the feedback process, and designing a web-based software platform APRES to manage the administratively complex task of exchanging submitted work and reviews between students in an anonymous context. We evaluated the success of our innovation by means of written student evaluations, changes in Quality of Teaching survey scores, and changes in the quality of submitted work. All three areas indicate that the project was highly successful. We believe that there is considerable promise for widespread application of this form of feedback and the software platform that enabled us to implement it.


Hereditary folate malabsorption is a genetic disorder that results in the specific inability to absorb ingested folate in the intestine and to transport serum folate across the blood–brain barrier into the cerebrospinal fluid. Absorption of other vitamins and nutrients is unimpaired. Affected individuals come to medical attention during the first year of life with low serum and cerebrospinal folate levels, megaloblastic anaemia and immunologic and neurologic findings. The disorder is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait and is caused by mutations in the SLC46A1 gene, which encodes the proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT). Mutations at SLC46A1 have been identified in over 30 patients with hereditary folate malabsorption. Several of these result in failure to translocate PCFT at the cell membrane; one was shown to encode a protein that was targeted to the cell membrane but did not support folate uptake.

Key Concepts

Hereditary folate malabsorption is a rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder.
The disorder results in decreased intestinal folate absorption and decreased serum folate levels.
It also results in decreased cerebrospinal fluid folate levels owing to decreased folate transport across the blood–brain barrier.
Patients have megaloblastic anaemia, immunological deficits and, in some cases, neurological problems.
Hereditary folate malabsorption is caused by mutations in the SLC46A1 gene, which encodes the proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT).
Treatment with parenteral folinic acid corrects both haematological and neurological problems in hereditary folate malabsorption.
Study of patients with hereditary folate malabsorption demonstrated that PCFT was the physiological folate transporter in the small intestine.
PCFT and folate receptor α are required for folate transport across the blood–brain barrier.

Keywords:

megaloblastic anaemia;
proton-coupled folate transporter;
SLC46A1;
haem carrier protein 1;
folinic acid;
choroid plexus


Background The health of a carer is a key factor which can affect the well-being of the child with disabilities for whom they care. In low-income countries, many carers of children with disabilities contend with poverty, limited public services and lack assistive devices. In these situations caregiving may require more physical work than in high-income countries and so carry greater risk of physical injury or health problems. There is some evidence that poverty and limited access to health care and equipment may affect the physical health of those who care for children with disabilities. This study seeks to understand this relationship more clearly. Methods A mixed methods study design was used to identify the potential physical health effects of caring for a child with moderate-severe motor impairments in Kilifi, Kenya. Qualitative data from in-depth interviews were thematically analysed and triangulated with data collected during structured physiotherapy assessment. Results Carers commonly reported chronic spinal pain of moderate to severe intensity, which affected essential activities. However, carers differed in how they perceived their physical health to be affected by caregiving, also reporting positive benefits or denying detrimental effects. Carers focussed on support in two key areas; the provision of simple equipment and support for their children to physically access and attend school. Conclusions Carers of children with moderate-severe motor impairments live with their own physical health challenges. While routine assessments lead to diagnosis of simple musculoskeletal pain syndromes, the overall health status and situation of carers may be more complex. As a consequence, the role of rehabilitation therapists may need to be expanded to effectively evaluate and support carers' health needs. The provision of equipment to improve their child's mobility, respite care or transport to enable school attendance is likely to be helpful to carers and children alike.


Development of a commitment to lifelong learning among students has become a key objective of education throughout the world. This is particularly the case in university study at both the undergraduate and, more especially, at the graduate levels, where the students are expected to shoulder increasingly greater responsibility for their own learning in both classroom-based and online learning contexts. An important aspect of that responsibility lies in the acquisition of metacognitive self-regulatory skills whereby students are enabled to manage their own learning in a variety of environments. Social cognitive self-regulation theory posits that an individuals' beliefs in their ability to manage their own learning will be predictive of their active participation in current learning which will in turn be predictive of their commitment to lifelong learning. This paper describes a small scale validation study – prelude to an intended large scale university-wide study - of a questionnaire to measure self-efficacy for university level learning. The original 10-item scale, composed of 2 sub-scales (self-efficacy for information processing and self-efficacy for information finding), was first developed by researchers in Italy in 2007. It was slightly modified for the current study (a further 2-item sub-scale being added to measure self-efficacy for English listening and reading comprehension) and completed by a convenience sample of graduate (M.Ed.) students (n = 38) at an English-medium international university in Thailand. Each of the 3 sub-scales attained satisfactory degrees of internal consistency reliability. As well, in line with selfefficacy theory, correlations between each of the 3 sub-scales as well as the total scale and the respondents' self-reported expected grades were robust and statistically significant.


The effect of vertical changes in lithology on cleavage refraction and cleavage fanning is relatively well understood. In contrast, the control that lateral changes in bed thickness and related multilayer characteristics have on cleavage fanning has not been widely documented. Mudstone-dominated Wenlock-age turbidites of the Anglo-Brabant Deformation Belt, Belgium, exhibit pronounced lateral thickness changes, which we attribute to intraslope flow ponding during foreland basin development. The mudstone-dominated nature of the turbidites is considered to reflect a particularly fine-grained source area, rather than a distal origin. Formation boundaries and lateral changes in lithofacies unit thickness are reflected in the amount of cleavage fanning. The degree of convergent cleavage fanning increases with an increase in thickness of the less competent units and with a decrease in thickness and number of the more competent units. As such, a detailed analysis of changes in cleavage–bedding angle aids in the distinction of different lithostratigraphic units of similar appearance, the location of their boundaries and identification of subtle lateral sedimentological changes. The utilization of cleavage and bedding data to recognize and describe vertical and lateral changes in a semi-quantitative way allows the linkage of subtle changes in multilayer rheology to finite strain trajectories. Supplementary materials: Details of position of lithological profiles are available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18708.


Abstract Wage(1) flexibility is of particular importance for the hospitality industry, since wages are usually its largest single cost item. The payment of penalty rates is another important issue facing the industry. The critics of Australia's centralised industrial relations system, such as the Business Council of Australia (BCA) (1989) and the Confederation of Australian Industry (CAI) (1990), would argue that the hospitality industry should be a major beneficiary from the decentralisation of the system that has occurred during the 1990s. These critics have assumed that awards and the involvement of the trade union movement in wage determination have resulted in the prescription of above-market wages for individual enterprises. The critics assumed that release from these constraints, through formalised enterprise bargaining, would result in considerably improved competitiveness for Australian enterprises. This paper, using data from a study of registered clubs in New South Wales, examines wage determination in the hospitality sector and the impact of awards, trade unions and enterprise bargaining on the process. The study found that no registered club had entered into formal enterprise bargaining. Despite the absence of formal enterprise bargaining the existence of awards and the presence of trade unions, registered clubs undertook a lot of informal bargaining and had a high degree of wage flexibility. Keywords: Industrial Relations, Club Management, Enterprise Bargaining, Registered Clubs Introduction Wages are an important issue for the hospitality industry since they are the major component of operating costs and thus a key determinant of business viability. Wages are especially critical for the hospitality industry because they are `closely related to the distinctive character of the industry's labour process, which are continuous' (Lafferty 1998, p.22). The payment of penalty rates, which is strongly related to wages, is another important issue confronting the hospitality industry. The requirement for flexible wage determination mechanisms in industries such as hospitality resulted in substantial criticism of Australia's centralised industrial relations system (for example, see BCA 1989; CAI 1990). The centralised system refers to the federal and state industrial tribunals and the concept of conciliation and arbitration administered by the tribunals. During the late 1880s, Australian states created their own tribunals. With federation in 1901, the federal government created its own tribunal. Despite the formation of the federal system, the states also retained their tribunals. This resulted in the establishment of a dual industrial relations system. Another important feature of the centralised system was awards. Awards are legally binding documents setting out some of the employment rights and responsibilities of both employers and employees. The existence of awards was seen as restricting workplace wage flexibility (the ability for business to alter wages to suit the prevailing economic conditions) and resulting in uncompetitive businesses. This argument was seen as particularly relevant for industries like the hospitality industry that operated outside of non-standard hours and whose largest single cost item was wages. The pursuit of wage flexibility, through the introduction of formalised enterprise and individual bargaining, has been an important factor in the drive to decentralise Australia's industrial relations system throughout the 1980s and 1990s. This paper uses information gathered from a survey of registered clubs in New South Wales, an important sector of the hospitality industry, to examine the extent to which wage flexibility has been inhibited by the centralised system. The paper also outlines the scope and impact of formal enterprise bargaining in the sector. In addition, the methods of wage determination and the impact of awards on wage flexibility are examined, as is the perceived impact of penalty rates. …


Even if the EU has made important progress towards meeting its climate and energy targets for 2020, the effects of financial instability due to the economic crisis are still apparent, especially in the southern European countries, acting as a great obstacle for residents to invest in energy retrofit projects in order to improve their house energy performance. EU Member States striving to limit the risks that such investments entail and to aid with high upfront costs, are using financial incentives in the form of funding schemes, grants, tax exemptions/reductions etc. as a way of spurring investments in energy efficient services and technologies. Within this framework, the current study deals with the financial attractiveness of incentive schemes for energy retrofitting of residential buildings that are set in three European countries (Cyprus, Greece and UK). The methodology followed uses, as a first step, three case studies of typical residential buildings, one for each country, for the computation of pre-retrofitting and post-retrofitting energy demands. Material and labor costs that apply in each country together with energy costs and economic parameters are taken into account in order to sum up the initial energy upgrade budget for each case. The second step regards the computation of investment criteria such as NPV and IRR and the analysis is formed for a 30-year period to account for the life-cycle of a building using economic parameters such as Discounting and Inflation Rates. Then, the particulars of each country's funding scheme are incorporated into the economic model to reveal their benefits and evaluate their attractiveness. The final output of the study comprises a comparative analysis of the current funding schemes using Present Worth as an indicator for the evaluation of their application in each country. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.16.3.16200


The response of a simulated single-ended transmissometer, based on the Mie theory of the scattering of light, has been computed for monochromatic light similar to that of a ruby laser (λ = 0.7 μ) and for white light (0.4 μ ≤ λ ≤ 0.7 μ) for many fog and haze models. The results for white light are compared with data obtained from actual field measurements. The strong dependence of backscatter on the size distribution of the scatterers and on the spectral energy distribution of the source is illustrated, and the limitations of the single-ended transmissometer as a device for determining the visibility in haze and fog are discussed. A table of Mie extinction efficiency (or scattering coefficient) and intensity function (for the backscatter direction) is presented for integral values of size parameter up to 100.


Evaluating performances of the fish and invertebrate Indices of Biotic Integrity (IBIs) for a region is important to maintain rigorous assessment of the environmental quality of streams, especially with increasing urbanization. Timing of the assessment is considered important, with the critical season (low flow, high temperature) preferred, but the primary season (spring – summer) may be as efficient. I assisted with the collection and analysis of fish and macroinvertebrates using methods developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) Rapid Bioassessment Protocols (RBPs) and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), along with obtaining habitat and chemical assessments during primary and critical periods during 2007-2009 at ten sites in the Illinois River Basin up and downstream of two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). My objectives were to (1) compare fish and macroinvertebrate IBIs for use in the Illinois River Basin; (2) investigate correlations with each IBI and its metrics to nutrient, habitat, and watershed variables; (3) compare the efficacy of the IBIs during both critical and primary seasons; and (4) determine how two WWTPs in the area affect downstream water quality into Oklahoma. The two IBIs were strongly correlated with each other (Rs of 0.59); however, macroinvertebrates outperformed the fish. More regionally specific fish metrics should allow for better performing fish IBIs, but adequate performance was found. Combining the seasons' data allowed for a more comprehensive and statistically significant assessment; however, the primary season evaluated each site comparably to the combined data and generally outperformed the critical seasons. The combined and primary seasons' macroinvertebrate IBIs revealed sites with lowered environmental quality below the WWTPs but with quick returns to reference conditions. My results indicate that it may be possible to test IBIs during only the primary seasons to get efficient water quality and site comparison assessments.


The hydrothermal dehydration of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a promising platform chemical from renewable resources, is commonly known to be Bronsted acid catalysed. However, it is not clear whether the acids used as catalysts may have an additional effect on the reaction, besides the donation of protons. In this work, we studied the effect of different Bronsted acids on the hydrothermal conversion of fructose to HMF. In particular, phosphoric acid, if present in a high concentration, leads to a significantly stronger acceleration of the reaction than would be expected from the pH value, calculated under hydrothermal conditions. Acetic acid, on the other hand, seems to evoke an alternative reaction mechanism. The maximal HMF yield however is essentially unaffected by the pH value or the type of acid used.


The use of membrane technology and in particular microfiltration (MF) is becoming more popular as a water treatment technology. The operational lifetime of MF membranes can be reduced by natural organic matter (NOM) which is a known foulant. The MIEX DOC (Magnetic Ion EXchange for Dissolved Organic Carbon removal) process was developed to remove NOM from raw water sources. It was anticipated that a reduction in NOM resulting from the MIEX DOC process would also improve the performance of MF systems. A pilot plant study was undertaken to directly measure the impact of MIEX pre-treatment on MF performance. A long term study with a regular cleaning strategy revealed little benefit in MIEX pre-treatment to improve the lifetime of the MF membrane. However, by applying less frequent cleaning it was immediately apparent that fouling was occurring at a faster rate without MIEX pre-treatment. Further studies showed that irreversible fouling also occurred at a faster rate on the membrane without pre-treatment.


Environmental and Land Use Law will provide a comprehensive analysis of environmental and planning law. It will cover all new legislation including the Consolidated Planning Act and the new Planning Regulations since the publication of the first edition. Legislation and case law relevant to land-use, conservation, planning, air, water pollution, waste management, noise, chemical substances and the Environmental Protection Agency are systematically described and analysed.


Introduction: Healthcare as a high hazard industry, should work to enhance their patient safety. To achieve this objective, they first have to identify their existing safety climate status. Methods: This study was conducted in summer of 2010. We assessed safety climate Using Hospital Survey On Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC). 385 employees of three teaching hospitals affiliated with Kerman University of Medical Sciences participated in the study. The results were expressed as percentage of positive answers toward patient safety. Results: Patient safety culture scores were low to average in all dimensions. Supervisor expectations and actions promoting patient safety and teamwork within units received the highest scores in all three hospitals, while non punitive response to error attained the least score in studied hospitals. Conclusion: The studied hospitals, relying on their strengths concerning patient's safety climate and trying to resolve their weaknesses, would be able to create a safe and suitable environment which supports patient safety. Establishing a system for reporting errors, encouraging staff to report events and applying non- punitive response to prevent the errors are suggested.


Traditional healers in many parts of the world have used family focused understandings and interventions well before the emergence of western family therapy theory and practice. This paper gives a detailed account of New Zealand Maori traditional healing work with a Cook Island Maori family in which the eldest daughter was in considerable distress as were her family, who believed that she had become maki tupapaku (possessed). This account is told from the perspectives of the child psychiatrist, the traditional healer and the mother of the family. While the intervention bears a superficial resemblance to western family therapy approaches, the theoretical foundation reflects the traditional healer's New Zealand Maori world views in which spiritual understandings are paramount, and concepts of mana, tapu and mauri 1 guide him in the family healing process. The single session described here can be viewed as an indigenous family therapy intervention involving six generations of family members, both living and deceased, in the one room. Conclusions: Indigenous communities have called for traditional healers to be employed alongside child mental health workers and family therapists who work with their communities. Close and sincere collaboration between an indigenous traditional healer and a health professional can offer a family in distress healing possibilities that may not be available to them in conventional child mental health or other family therapy settings.


It is widely held that the EU suffers from a democratic deficit, but there is no agreement on the specific nature of this deficit. In this paper, I start by specifying the nature of the democraticlegitimacy problem facing the multilevel EU. Two dimensions, the institutional-constitutional, and the socio-cultural, are highlighted. Next, I discuss how the context of crisis has transformed the EU. The many crises and their handling have not only exacerbated but to a considerable degree also altered the democratic-legitimacy problems facing the EU. In order to best capture these changes, it is useful to apply several possible democratic decision-making configurations. These are presented and assessed in terms of how well they capture the present challenges facing the EU. In the last part I discuss specific reform options and what they may imply for the Union's democratic deficit.


Dietary guidelines urge Brazilians to increase their consumption of raw vegetables. Yet key issues must be tackled by the government and civil society, not only to foster consumers' appetite for healthier food, but more importantly to diminish the gaps between local demand and production, determined by food and land accessibility. We examine whether vegetable production in Brazil meets the demand to provide Brazilians the daily amount of fresh food recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). We developed demand scenarios in Brazil for 2008 and 2030, based on demand density maps built at the district level using production census surveys, household acquisition data, and population growth estimates. Results reveal an inherent inequality in vegetable consumption between the southern and central northern regions of Brazil that follows food insecurity regional indicators. Even in more urbanized regions and metropolitan areas, where the best balance between vegetable production and acquisition is found, simulated demand is far from WHO recommendations. A complementary discussion regarding land distribution and fresh food production supports our outlook on the weaknesses of existing rural policies for land reform and sustainable local fresh food production that directly affect demand and nutritional security. This work was the foundation to the Delivering Food Security on Limited Land (DEVIL) project in Brazil supported by Belmont Forum consortium.


Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is an ancient fruit used in various systems of medicine for a variety of ailments. Objective of the study was to determine wound healing effect of aqueous extract of Punica granatum peel on normal and dexamethasone suppressed wounds in wistar rats. Three wound models viz. incision, excision and dead space wounds were used in this study. The parameters studied were breaking strength in case of incision wounds, epithelialization and wound contraction in case of excision
wound and granulation tissue dry weight, breaking strength and hydroxyproline content in case of dead space wound. Aqueous extract of Punica granatum peel treated groups (100 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg) showed significant (P<0.05) improvement in incision and granulation tissue breaking strength and hydroxylproline content as compared to control. Co administration of aqueous extract of Punica granatum peel at 100 mg/kg with dexamethasone had significantly (P<0.05) improved the incision wound, granulation tissue breaking strength and hydroxyproline content as compared to dexamethasone alone treated group. There was significant decrease (P<0.05) in epithelization period and significant improvement in percentage of wound contraction with aqueous extract of Punica granatum peel as compared to control group and has effectively reversed the effects of dexamethasone (p<0.05). In this study, aqueous extract of Punica granatum peel has shown to posses wound healing property and it effectively reverses the dexamethasone suppressed wound healing in all the three wound models in wistar rats.


In at least two recent cases, courts have rejected service providers' capacity to raise Fourth Amendment claims on behalf of their customers. These holdings rely on longstanding Supreme Court doctrine establishing a general rule against third parties asserting the Fourth Amendment rights of others. However, there is a key difference between these two recent cases and those cases on which the doctrine rests. The relevant Supreme Court doctrine stems from situations in which someone could take action to raise the Fourth Amendment claim, even if the particular thirdparty litigant could not. In the situations presented by the recent cases, by contrast, the service provider was the only source of possible challenge—at least for some meaningful period of time. In both cases, the searches were done pursuant to a warrant issued in accordance with the Stored Communications Act (SCA). Because the government proceeded by warrant, the government was not required to give notice to the target of the search. The warrants were also accompanied by no-notice orders, meaning that the provider was barred from telling anyone, including the target of the search, that his or her data was being sought by the government—in some cases indefinitely. The use of such no-notice warrants served on third-party providers is an increasingly common investigatory tool, wrought by the changes in the way personal information is stored and managed in the digital age. Its use presents a significant shift in how investigations are carried out. It relies on a third-party intermediary between the police and the citizenry to gather information about persons of interest. It makes the searches that are occurring much more indirect and less visible. And it means that individuals are a lot less likely to know—and thus have an opportunity to object—if and when their personal information is being sought and collected by law enforcement officials. This Article examines what has changed; why it matters; and * Associate Professor, American University Washington College of Law. Special thanks to Jeff Bellin, Rebecca Green, Richard Re, Paul Ohm, the faculty at William & Mary Law School, and the participants at the March 2017 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal Symposium, Big Data, National Security, and the Fourth Amendment, for their thoughtful comments and feedback.


Among non-experts, conventional wisdom holds that corporate law requires boards of directors to maximize shareholder wealth. This common but mistaken belief is almost invariably supported by reference to the Michigan Supreme Court's 1919 opinion in Dodge v. Ford Motor Co. This Essay argues that Dodge v. Ford is bad law, at least when cited for the proposition that maximizing shareholder wealth is the proper corporate purpose. As a positive matter, U.S. corporate law does not and never has imposed a legal obligation on directors to maximize shareholder wealth. From a normative perspective, options theory, team production theory, the problem of external costs, and differences in shareholder interests all suggest why a rule of shareholder wealth maximization would be bad policy and lead to inefficient results. Courts accordingly treat Dodge v. Ford as a dead letter. (In the past three decades the Delaware courts have cited the case only once, and then on controlling shareholders' duties to minority shareholders). Nevertheless, legal scholars continue to teach and cite it. This Essay suggests that Dodge v. Ford has achieved a privileged position in the legal canon not because it accurately captures the law - it does not - or because it provides good normative guidance - it does not - but because it serves professors' need for a simple answer to the question, What do corporations do? Simplicity is not a virtue when it leads to misunderstanding, however. Law professors should mend their collective ways, and stop teaching Dodge v. Ford as anything more than an example of how courts can go astray.


This Article provides the first comprehensive scholarly analysis of the internal governance of hedge funds. Hedge fund governance consists of the funds' underlying legal regime and the practices they adopt in response to lacking permanent capital and to reduce agency costs. Hedge fund governance is important because better governance can improve investor returns and help managers raise and retain capital. I argue that hedge fund governance is best understood as a type of responsive managerialism. It is a type of managerialism because applicable law and contracting structures give managers uniquely wide-ranging control over the fund and its operations. Hedge fund governance is also uniquely responsive, however, because managers must continually satisfy investors, due to their ability to shut down a fund by withdrawing their capital.In addition to their underlying legal regime, the primary components of hedge fund governance are investors with a strong propensity to exercise their short-term redemption rights, managers with high pay-performance sensitivity, investor demand for quality governance, and close monitoring by short-term creditors and derivatives counterparties. On balance, hedge fund governance devices seem to prevent managers from pursuing their own interests at the expense of investors. Nonetheless, there is still plenty of room for hedge fund governance to improve. Accordingly, this Article provides a normative framework and principles for improving hedge fund governance by striking a better balance between governance devices that are investor-friendly and those that empower managers. My analysis suggests that the areas in which hedge fund governance needs the most improvement are performance reporting (valuation) and the timing of performance-fee calculations. Importantly, my analysis also suggests that investors may benefit from less disclosure, higher fees, and less access to their capital.


INTRODUCTION
Knowledge regarding the importance of sleep in health and performance and good sleep hygiene practices is low, especially among adolescents and young adults. It is important to improve sleep literacy. Introductory psychology is one of the most highly enrolled courses at colleges and universities. This study tested the impact of an Internet-based learning module on improving sleep literacy in this venue.

METHODS
An Internet-based supplementary learning module containing sleep physiology and hygiene information was developed using content from the Harvard Medical School sleep educational website http://www.understandingsleep.org. Access to the module was provided as an extra credit activity for 2 of 4 sections (Supplemental Sleep, SS, N = 889) of an introductory college psychology course during their standard instruction on sleep and dreaming. The remaining 2 sections (Standard Instruction, SI, N = 878) only were encouraged to visit the website without further direction. Level of knowledge was assessed before and after availability to the module/website and at the end of the semester. Students were asked to complete a survey at the end of the semester inquiring whether they made any changes in their sleep behaviors.

RESULTS
Two hundred fifty students participated in the extra credit activity and had data available at all testing points. Students in the SS Group had a significant improvement in sleep knowledge test scores after interacting with the website in comparison to the SI group (19.41 ± 3.15 vs. 17.94 ± 3.08, p < 0.001). This difference persisted, although at a lower level, at the end of the semester. In addition, 55.9% of the SS group versus 45.1% of the SI group indicated that they made changes in their sleep habits after participation in the extra credit sleep activity (p < 0.01). The most common change was a more consistent wake time.

CONCLUSION
Use of a supplementary internet-based sleep learning module has the potential to enhance sleep literacy and change behavior among students enrolled in an introductory college psychology course.


The growth factor neuregulin stimulates heart muscle repair in newborn mice and heart muscle from human infants if given during a specific therapeutic time period. Young at heart: Restoring cardiac function in children When children are given adult roles in TV commercials, the results range from adorable to brilliant to simply hilarious. But when children with heart disease were given adult medicines in clinical trials, the results were disappointing—and the need for pediatric-specific treatment regimens became clear. In adult mice, the recombinant growth factor neuregulin-1 (rNRG1) stimulates heart regeneration by driving the proliferation of heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes). Because young mice bear more proliferation-competent cardiomyocytes than do adult animals, Polizzotti et al. asked whether rNRG1 might put cardiomyocyte proliferation into overdrive if given to mice during the neonatal period. To test their hypothesis, the authors treated newborn mice with rNRG1 at various times after heart injury and found that early treatment starting at 1 day of age boosted cardiomyocyte cell division and heart function in a persistent manner relative to treatment regimens that began at 4 days after birth. rNRG1 also drove cardiomyocyte proliferation in heart muscle isolated from human infants with heart disease who were less than 6 months of age, but not in tissue from older pediatric patients. These findings suggest that rNRG1 administration during the neonatal period might be a new therapeutic strategy for pediatric heart disease. Now that would be brilliant. Therapies developed for adult patients with heart failure have been shown to be ineffective in pediatric clinical trials, leading to the recognition that new pediatric-specific therapies for heart failure must be developed. Administration of the recombinant growth factor neuregulin-1 (rNRG1) stimulates regeneration of heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) in adult mice. Because proliferation-competent cardiomyocytes are more abundant in growing mammals, we hypothesized that administration of rNRG1 during the neonatal period might be more effective than in adulthood. If so, neonatal rNRG1 delivery could be a new therapeutic strategy for treating heart failure in pediatric patients. To evaluate the effectiveness of rNRG1 administration in cardiac regeneration, newborn mice were subjected to cryoinjury, which induced myocardial dysfunction and scar formation and decreased cardiomyocyte cell cycle activity. Early administration of rNRG1 to mice from birth to 34 days of age improved myocardial function and reduced the prevalence of transmural scars. In contrast, administration of rNRG1 from 4 to 34 days of age only transiently improved myocardial function. The mechanisms of early administration involved cardiomyocyte protection (38%) and proliferation (62%). We also assessed the ability of rNRG1 to stimulate cardiomyocyte proliferation in intact cultured myocardium from pediatric patients. rNRG1 induced cardiomyocyte proliferation in myocardium from infants with heart disease who were less than 6 months of age. Our results identify an effective time period within which to execute rNRG1 clinical trials in pediatric patients for the stimulation of cardiomyocyte regeneration.


Company-wide reference architectures are an important means for standardization and reuse. Standardization is enforced through reference architecture conformance checking. Manual conformance checking is too time- and resource-intensive to be performed continuously for the various systems that are part of a SOA. We present an approach for automatic reference architecture conformance checking of SOA-based software systems. Reference architectures are defined based on rules consisting of roles and of constraints on roles and role relationships. By mapping the roles to the elements of a software architecture representation, reference architecture specifications are reusable for different software systems. Through automating the whole checking process, including architecture extraction, role mapping, and rule evaluation, the approach can be applied continuously for the different systems that are part of a SOA. The approach has been developed and refined by applying it to a SOA in the banking domain. During its evolution from semi-automatic to a fully automatic approach it has also changed the way of how architecture information is provided as part of the system implementation in this domain.


Objective In this study we use facility-level data from nationally representative surveys conducted in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda to understand pharmaceutical availability within the three countries. Methods In 2012, we conducted a survey to capture information on pharmaceuticals and other facility indicators from over 200 facilities in each country. We analyze data on the availability of pharmaceuticals and quantify its association with various facility-level indicators. We analyze both availability of essential medicines, as defined by the various essential medicine lists (EMLs) of each respective country, and availability of all surveyed pharmaceuticals deemed important for treatment of various high-burden diseases, including those on the EMLs. Results We find that there is heterogeneity with respect to availability across the three countries with Ghana generally having better availability than Uganda and Kenya. To analyze the relationship between facility-level factors and pharmaceutical stock-out we use a binomial regression model. We find that the factors associated with stock-out vary by country, but across all countries both presence of a laboratory at the facility and presence of a vehicle at the facility are significantly associated with reduced stock-out. Conclusion The results of this study highlight the poor availability of essential medicines across these three countries and suggest more needs to be done to strengthen the supply system so that stock remains uninterrupted.


Today Armenia strives to build a knowledge-based economy to improve its competitiveness. For this reason, the creation and development of innovation-supporting infrastructure becomes a critical challenge for the next few years. In this regard, the experience of developed countries in the design and implementation of innovation policies can be useful for the creation of National Innovation System (NIS) in Armenia. This thesis work investigates the NIS model in the Nordic countries, specifically in Sweden and Finland, and make conclusion on how the Nordic model of NIS could work in Armenia. For this purpose, a comparative analysis of the NIS models in the Nordic countries, specifically in Sweden and Finland, with the NIS models in Israel and South Korea was conducted. To study the implementation of the Nordic model in transition economies, an example of one of Baltic countries - Estonia, was considered where currently this model of NIS is being implemented. Also, the current situation of NIS in Armenia was studied, and conclusions were made on what lessons can be learned for the development of effective innovation policy in Armenia. An attempt was made to answer the following research questions supporting the purpose of this thesis: 1. What are the specifics of the NIS model in two Nordic countries studied, i.e. in Sweden and Finland (the main features and peculiarities of NIS in Sweden and Finland has been identified through a comparative analysis of the NIS in these countries with the NIS models in two non-Nordic countries, i.e. in Israel and South Korea)? 2. To what extent has the Nordic model of NIS been implemented in Estonia and what are NIS development challenges there? 3. What are NIS development challenges in Armenia? 4. What lessons can be learned for the development of effective innovation policy in Armenia? The theoretical basis for this work originates in scientific articles by Lundvall, Freeman, Metcalfe and many others, research and reports of international organizations and national agencies, official documents and information posted on the websites of governmental organizations. Also, semi-structured interviews were conducted in seven private companies in Armenia to compile firm-level innovation data sets.


Research on the statutory license for certain types of copyright-protected content has revealed an unlikely symbiosis between uncertainty and efficiency. Contrary to received wisdom, which tells us that in order to increase efficiency, we must increase stability, this Article will show that uncertainty can actually be utilized to increase efficiency in the marketplace. In the music industry, the battle over terrestrial performance rights – that is, the right of a copyright holder to collect royalties for plays of a sound recording on analog format radio – has raged for decades. Last summer, in a deal that circumvented – for the first time ever – the statutory license for sound recordings, broadcasting giant Clear Channel granted the elusive terrestrial performance right to a small, independent record label named Big Machine, and agreed to pay royalties where no such legal obligation exists. This result not only improves upon many of the statutory license's inefficiencies but is also the opposite of what we would expect given both the tumultuous history surrounding the rights at issue, and the respective parties' bargaining positions, and suggests an underexplored mechanism at play: uncertainty. Using the statutory license for sound recordings and the Clear Channel-Big Machine deal to motivate the analysis, this Article argues that bounded uncertainty – such as uncertainty about the future legal status of terrestrial performance rights – converts a statutory license into a penalty default license. Just as penalty default rules encourage more efficient information exchange between asymmetrical parties, penalty default licenses encourage more efficient licensing among otherwise divergent parties by motivating them to circumvent an inefficient statutory license in favor of private ordering. While not without its drawbacks – previous work identified, and ameliorated, some of the adverse selection and distributive justice concerns – private ordering improves upon the statutory approach, resulting in greater efficiency not only for the parties involved, but for society overall. Recognition of the role that uncertainty plays in converting an inefficient statutory license into a penalty default license that improves market efficiency while mitigating inequality has implications beyond the statutory licensing context. Importantly, it suggests a revision in the way we view the relationship between uncertainty and efficiency. Specifically, it shows that when coupled with a penalty default, uncertainty can bring greater efficiency to the marketplace by encouraging private ordering, with its tailored terms and responsiveness to rapid legal and technological change, while mitigating concerns about equality and gamesmanship.


With the rise in urban population comes a demand for solutions to offset environmental problems caused by urbanization. Green infrastructure (GI) refers to engineered features that provide multiecological functions in urban spaces. Soils are a fundamental component of GI, playing key roles in supporting plant growth, infiltration, and biological activities that contribute to the maintenance of air and water quality. However, urban soils are often physically, chemically, or biologically unsuitable for use in GI features. Constructed Technosols (CTs), consisting of mixtures of organic and mineral waste, are man-made soils designed to meet specific requirements and have great potential for use in GI. This review covers (1) current methods to create CTs adapted for various GI designs and (2) published examples in which CTs have been used in GI. We address the main steps for building CTs, the materials and which formulae should be used to design functional CTs, and the technical constraints of using CTs for applications in parks and square lawns, tree-lined streets, green buffer for storm water management, urban farming, and reclaimed derelict land. The analysis suggests that the composition and structure of CTs should and can be adapted to available wastes and by-products and to future land use and environmental conditions. CTs have a high potential to provide multiple soil functions in diverse situations and to contribute to greening efforts in cities (and beyond) across the world.


This article argues that, in the absence of a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason or a business necessity, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act can protect employees from language-based discrimination in the workplace. Language is a part of one's ethnicity, which refers to one's culture. Ethnicity, much as race already does, should receive protection under Title VII. Plaintiffs, however, have the burden of proof in litigation, and so a plaintiff who sues under a discrimination theory should have to make his or her case to the appropriate fact-finder. Drawing upon the insights of critical theory, particularly to explore concepts like ethnicity and race in a dynamic way, the article develops this position in two major sections. Section II of the article looks at the current state of the law and consists of subsections on Title VII claims in general, language discrimination and national origin, and circuit approaches to language discrimination cases. Section III of the article addresses proposals for reforming the law and includes subsections on amendments to Title VII, responses to objections to the proposed amendments, disparate impact and disparate treatment analyses in the courts, and the linguistic situations of monolingual and bilingual speakers.


Abstract— Following discoveries of blue ice areas in Greenland resembling meteorite‐bearing blue ice fields in Antarctica, a surface search of several of the most promising sites was carried out in August 2003. The ice fields are located in Kong Christian X Land, in northeastern Greenland around 74°N at elevations between 2100 and 2400 m. No meteorites were found in any of the localities that were searched. Evidence of occasional significant melting (filled crevasses and melt sheets) suggest that summer temperatures are sometimes high enough that dark rocks, like meteorites, can melt through the upper layers of ice. Small terrestrial rocks and cryogenite were found down to 50 cm below the ice surface. Meter‐sized terrestrial rocks were found on top of the ice downstream from nunataks. These rocks shade the ice below, and since they were apparently too massive to warm up during warm days, they remained at the surface as the surrounding ice ablated away. Our findings strongly suggest that Greenland is currently unlikely to harbor significant meteorite concentrations on blue ice fields.


The majority of research projects on the history of university collections are focused on a single collection or on collections of one discipline. Trans-disciplinary studies, however, despite opening up a different and more rewarding view on university collections, remain very rare. This article, drawing on results from trans-disciplinary research on university collections in Germany, gives new insights into the history of the origin(s) of collections and academic knowledge formation, as well as into the relevance of collections for the development of different disciplines.


An approach is presented for the analysis of the nonlinear behavior of analog integrated circuits. The approach is based on a variant of the Volterra series approach for frequency domain analysis of weakly nonlinear circuits with one input port, such as amplifiers, and with more than one input port, such as analog mixers and multipliers. By coupling numerical results with symbolic results, both obtained with this method, insight into the nonlinear operation of analog integrated circuits can be gained. For accurate distortion computations, the accuracy of the transistor models is critical. A MOS transistor model is discussed that allows us to explain the measured fourth-order nonlinear behavior of a 1 GHz CMOS upconverter. Further, the method is illustrated with several examples, including the analysis of an operational amplifier up to its gain-bandwidth product. This example has also been verified experimentally.


Todays, the characteristics of architectural space is important in determining the quality of human life while most attention of architects and urban planners is on areas and sites which have a high level of social activity. Among these sites, railway stations are utmost important in creating appropriate context to communicate and attract a huge number of audiences. Scientific researches show that in designing "collection of human-oriented railways" a comprehensive approach has not achieved yet; Although, the solutions proposed in the past can be an appropriate guide to develop current projects. Present study reviewed and identified indicators of environmental quality and satisfaction, then it tested the components of the ergonomics which act exactly in line with improvement of environmental quality in accordance with the human aspects' standards. The study then will measure the satisfaction of users from the railway station in Tehran according to these components. For this purpose, by Cochran formula, a sample of 165 subjects of the study population was selected by stratified random sampling. Instrument was a 38-questions questionnaire which was validated by the researcher and then completed by travelers, service staffs and residents of the complex. ANOVA test results showed that the average satisfaction of service staff is lower than other groups. Moreover, the results of multiple regression analysis showed that physical factors with standard index of 0.251(compared to other factors), has the greatest impact on satisfaction of users from our studied railway station, in Tehran.


Mucinous cystic neoplasm (MCN) of the pancreas with extensive squamous metaplasia of the lining epithelium is an extremely rare entity. We report such a case in a 25-year-old woman who underwent distal pancreatectomy for a cystic lesion of the pancreatic tail associated with left upper quadrant pain and acute pancreatitis. Microscopic examination revealed a cystic lesion lined entirely by squamous epithelium with subepithelial ovarian-type stroma, which demonstrated immunoreactivity for CD10, estrogen receptor, and FOXL2. Examination of the entire mass did not reveal any obvious lymphoid tissue, mucinous epithelium or endometrial type glands. We present this case to highlight extensive squamous metaplasia as a rare phenomenon in an otherwise typical MCN of the pancreas. J Med Cases. 2016;7(5):187-190 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc2388w


One method for locating extrasolar planets is to observe the lateral movement of a star in the sky caused by a planet in orbit around it. In order to detect this displacement, the angular position of the star has to be measured with high accuracy. is technique is called astrometry. e Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) is operated by the European Southern Observatory and located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. e purpose of the PRIMA instrument (Phase Referenced Imaging and Micro-arcsecond Astrometry) of the VLTI is to perform high-resolution astrometric measurements and high-resolution imaging of faint stars using white light interferometry, by combining the light collected by two telescopes. In order to allow the detection of extrasolar planets, the astrometric measurement has to be performed with micro-arcsecond accuracy. In astrometric mode the PRIMA instrument observes two targets at the same time: the object of scientific interest, and a bright reference star. e angular position of the science object relative to the reference star is obtained by monitoring the differential optical path travelled by the light of each object in two separate white-light interferometers. e aim of this work was to develop a high-resolution laser metrology based on superheterodyne interferometry, with an accuracy of 5 nm over a differential optical path of 100mm. Moreover the laser source had to be stabilised on an absolute frequency reference, in order to ensure the long-term stability and calibration required to achieve the target performance. Superheterodyne interferometry allowed the direct measurement of the differential optical path using two heterodyne interferometers working with two different frequency shifts. e differential phase measurement between the two interferometers was obtained by electronic mixing of the two heterodyne signals, leading to the differential optical path needed for the astrometric measurement.


Computer aided synthesis planning (CASP) is part of a suite of artificial intelligence (AI) based tools that are able to propose synthesis routes to a wide range of compounds. However, at present they are too slow to be used to screen the synthetic feasibility of millions of generated or enumerated compounds before identification of potential bioactivity by virtual screening (VS) workflows. Herein we report a machine learning (ML) based method capable of classifying whether a synthetic route can be identified for a particular compound or not by the CASP tool AiZynthFinder. The resulting ML models return a retrosynthetic accessibility score (RAscore) of any molecule of interest, and computes at least 4500 times faster than retrosynthetic analysis performed by the underlying CASP tool. The RAscore should be useful for pre-screening millions of virtual molecules from enumerated databases or generative models for synthetic accessibility and produce higher quality databases for virtual screening of biological activity.


Conditions were defined for maintaining optimal protein synthetic activity in suspensions of freshly isolated rat hepatocytes. Under these conditions, isolated hepatocytes exhibited rates of protein synthesis and levels of polysomal aggregation equivalent to those observed in vivo and in perfused liver. Deprivation of total amino acids or single, essential amino acids resulted in a rapid decrease in the rate of protein synthesis, which was readily reversed by readdition of the deficient amino acid(s). The decrease was accompanied by a disaggregation of polysomes and an inhibition of 43S initiation complex formation, which was indicative of a limitation in the rate of initiation of protein synthesis. Extracts prepared from perfused liver deprived of amino acids were inhibitory to initiation of protein synthesis in reticulocyte lysate. The inhibition in reticulocyte lysate was accompanied by an increase in phosphorylation of the alpha-subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF-2), suggesting activation of an eIF-2 alpha kinase or inhibition of a phosphatase in amino acid-deprived hepatocytes. This suggestion was confirmed by prelabeling hepatocytes with 32Pi before amino acid deprivation. Incorporation of 32Pi into eIF-2 alpha was two- to threefold higher in lysine-deprived cells than in hepatocytes incubated in fully supplemented medium. Overall, the results indicated that an increase in eIF-2 alpha phosphorylation was responsible for the defect in initiation of protein synthesis caused by amino acid deprivation.


INTRODUCTION
A recent concern of deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) in aortic arch surgery has been its potential association with increased risk of coagulopathy, elevated inflammatory response and end-organ dysfunction. Recently, moderate hypothermic circulatory arrest (MHCA) with selective antegrade circulatory arrest (SACP) seeks to negate potential hypothermia-related morbidities, while maintaining adequate neuroprotection. The present meta-analysis aims to compare postoperative outcomes in arch surgery using DHCA or MHCA+SACP as neuroprotective strategies.

METHODS
Electronic searches were performed using six databases from their inception to January 2013. Two reviewers independently identified all relevant studies comparing DHCA with MHCA+SACP, as defined by a recent hypothermia temperature consensus. Data were extracted and meta-analyzed according to pre-defined clinical endpoints.

RESULTS
Nine comparative studies were identified for inclusion in the present meta-analysis. Stroke rates were significantly lower in patients undergoing MHCA+SACP (P=0.0007, I(2)=0%), while comparable results were observed with temporary neurological deficit, mortality, renal failure or bleeding. Infrequent and inconsistent reporting of systemic outcomes precluded analysis of other systemic outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS
The present meta-analysis indicated the superiority of MHCA+SACP in terms of stroke risk.


Emotional standards and hierarchies in the courtroom may affect judicial reactions to victim impact statements. Based on judicial conversations and courtroom observations in two judicial districts in Minnesota, we suggest that judges contrast emotion with reason in order to maintain control of their courtrooms; when faced with emotional expressions in victim impact statements, judges appreciate expressions of compassion and tolerate expressions of grief but are uncomfortable with expressions of anger. These judicial responses to emotional expression, however, must be contextualized; for example, the judges we spoke with often articulated different reactions to impact statements given by victims of sexual assault, those who are strangers to the perpetrator, and impact statements given by victims of domestic violence, those who are in a relationship with the perpetrator.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
While actigraphy is considered objective, the process of setting rest intervals to calculate sleep variables is subjective. We sought to evaluate the reproducibility of actigraphy-derived measures of sleep using a standardized algorithm for setting rest intervals.

DESIGN
Observational study.

SETTING
Community-based.

PARTICIPANTS
A random sample of 50 adults aged 18-64 years free of severe sleep apnea participating in the Sueño sleep ancillary study to the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos.

INTERVENTIONS
N/A.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS
Participants underwent 7 days of continuous wrist actigraphy and completed daily sleep diaries. Studies were scored twice by each of two scorers. Rest intervals were set using a standardized hierarchical approach based on event marker, diary, light, and activity data. Sleep/wake status was then determined for each 30-sec epoch using a validated algorithm, and this was used to generate 11 variables: mean nightly sleep duration, nap duration, 24-h sleep duration, sleep latency, sleep maintenance efficiency, sleep fragmentation index, sleep onset time, sleep offset time, sleep midpoint time, standard deviation of sleep duration, and standard deviation of sleep midpoint. Intra-scorer intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were high, ranging from 0.911 to 0.995 across all 11 variables. Similarly, inter-scorer ICCs were high, also ranging from 0.911 to 0.995, and mean inter-scorer differences were small. Bland-Altman plots did not reveal any systematic disagreement in scoring.

CONCLUSIONS
With use of a standardized algorithm to set rest intervals, scoring of actigraphy for the purpose of generating a wide array of sleep variables is highly reproducible.


We investigate the convergence rate of approximations by finite sums of rank-1 tensors of solutions of multiparametric elliptic PDEs. Such PDEs arise, for example, in the parametric, deterministic reformulation of elliptic PDEs with random field inputs, based, for example, on the $M$-term truncated Karhunen-Loeve expansion. Our approach could be regarded as either a class of compressed approximations of these solutions or as a new class of iterative elliptic problem solvers for high-dimensional, parametric, elliptic PDEs providing linear scaling complexity in the dimension $M$ of the parameter space. It is based on rank-reduced, tensor-formatted separable approximations of the high-dimensional tensors and matrices involved in the iterative process, combined with the use of spectrally equivalent low-rank tensor-structured preconditioners to the parametric matrices resulting from a finite element discretization of the high-dimensional parametric, deterministic problems. Numerical illustrations for the $M$-dimensional parametric elliptic PDEs resulting from sPDEs on parameter spaces of dimensions $M\leq100$ indicate the advantages of employing low-rank tensor-structured matrix formats in the numerical solution of such problems.


This paper revisits the Power Resource Theory by testing one of its more influential claims: the relation between the strength of the labor movement and the reduction of industrial conflicts. Using panel data techniques to analyze more than 2,000 strikes in 103 Swedish towns we test whether a shift in the balance of power towards Social Democratic rule was associated with fewer strikes. The focus is on the formative years between the first general election in 1919 and the famous Saltsjobaden Agreement in 1938, the period when Sweden went from a country of fierce labor conflicts to a state of industrial peace. The spatial dimension provides new possibilities to test the theory. We find that Social Democratic power reduced strike activity, but only in towns where union presence was strong. Powerful unions in themselves did not reduce local strike activity. On the contrary, we find that the rise of the Social Democratic Party in municipal governments offset about 45 percent of the estimated effect of growing union presence on industrial conflicts. We do not see any significant tangible concessions in terms of increased social spending by local governments after a left-wing victory as predicted by Power Resource Theory. Instead the mechanism leading to fewer strikes appears to be related to corporatist explanations.


We propose a generalization of first-order logic originating in a neglected
work by C.C. Chang: a natural and generic correspondence language for any types
of structures which can be recast as Set-coalgebras. We discuss axiomatization
and completeness results for several natural classes of such logics. Moreover,
we show that an entirely general completeness result is not possible. We study
the expressive power of our language, both in comparison with coalgebraic
hybrid logics and with existing first-order proposals for special classes of
Set-coalgebras (apart from relational structures, also neighbourhood frames and
topological spaces). Basic model-theoretic constructions and results, in
particular ultraproducts, obtain for the two classes that allow
completeness---and in some cases beyond that. Finally, we discuss a basic
sequent system, for which we establish a syntactic cut-elimination result.


Formation of nanoclusters has attracted a lot of attention in recent years because of their distinct properties from isolated atoms and bulk solids. Here, we focus on the catalytic properties of supported transition metal oxide nanoclusters, such as TaO2, with a well-defined size distribution below 10 nm. We show that their catalytic performance can be greatly enhanced by introducing a reaction promoter such as Pt. Different combinations of precisely size-selected, defect-rich TaOx and Pt nanoclusters are produced by a gas-phase aggregation technique in a special DC magnetron sputtering system. Argon flow rate and aggregation length are carefully optimized to control the sizes of these ultrasmall TaOx and Pt nanoclusters by using a quadrupole mass filter, and TEM studies reveal the different crystalline nature of TaOx (amorphous) and Pt (crystalline) nanoclusters. We have further demonstrated the size-dependent photoanode activity of (TaOx, Pt) nanocluster systems in a photoelectrochemical water splitting reaction, where the Pt nanocluster promoters are found to provide a significant enhancement in the photocurrent density, approximately tripled that was observed from just TaOx nanocluster catalysts alone. The photocurrent density and photoconversion efficiency tend to reduce when Pt nanoclusters become overpopulated due to blocking of the photosensitive TaOx surface. Reducing the Pt nanocluster size resolves this problem by incorporating a greater number of smaller nanocluster promoters without blocking TaOx, which leads to further enhancement in the photocurrent density. The enhanced photocatalytic activity is attributed to synergetic effects introduced by the Pt nanoclusters that act as temporary charge storage sites to facilitate effective separation of a large number of electron-hole pairs, generated from a large number of active sites on the defect-rich amorphous TaOx nanoclusters upon illumination.


Background and Aims: Baska mask is a newly introduced membranous cuffed supraglottic device whereas I-gel is made up of thermoplastic elastomer, both suitably designed from the anatomical perspective of the airway. Settings and Design: We conducted randomized controlled comparative trial of the Baska mask versus I-gel in a patient undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Subjects and Methods: A total of 100 adult patients in the age group of 20–70 years undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomly divided into two groups as follows: (1) Baska mask group and (2) I-gel group. The primary outcome was to compare oropharyngeal leak pressure (OLP) of Baska mask and I-gel groups. The secondary outcome was the ease of insertion and removal, number of attempts, insertion time, leak fraction, and laryngopharyngeal morbidity. Statistical Analysis Used: Demographic details were compared using the Chi-square and t-tests. Student's t-test for independent variables was used to compare means of data obtained. Results: Mean OLP was significantly higher in Baska mask group than I-gel group at insertion (29.54 ± 1.41 cm H2O vs. 23.16 ± 3.07 cm H2O, P = 0.02) and 30 min after insertion (33.54 ± 1.16 cm H2O vs. 25.97 ± 2.25 cm H2O, P = 0.001). Insertion time was 12.33 ± 2.61 s with Baska mask and 11.31 ± 1.84 s with I-gel (P = 0.02). Insertion was very easy in 58% of patients in Baska mask and 76% of patients in I-gel (P = 0.03). The leak fraction of Baska mask was significantly less than I-gel (3.56 ± 3.6 vs. 7.16 ± 2.45, P = 0.01). Laryngopharyngeal morbidity was comparable in the two groups. Conclusion: Baska mask is more effective in providing greater OLP compared to I-gel without any increase in laryngopharyngeal morbidity.


In the last decades of the twentieth century, black movements began to emerge as a visible force in Latin America, although in a very disperse form. Mexican and Central American configurations, because of their originality, force us to adopt plural visions, toward the margins, with particular emphasis on situations of mixtures and ambiguous categories (Afro-indigenous, creoles, mestizos), multiple belongings (national and transnational), or seemingly contradictory practices (black culture without black people, mobilization without ethnic claims). Beyond the ideal of a homogenized citizenship produced by mestizaje, there are complex social dynamics based on difference and indifference, stigmatization and fascination, homogenization and othering. We believe that mestizaje is not only a "myth" and multiculturalism a "challenge" to it. The essays in this book investigate the different processes of racialization, ethnicization, and negotiation of the belongings that characterize mestizaje as multiculturalism.


The problem of active fault-tolerant control for vehicle active suspension systems in finite-frequency domain is investigated. First, a linear model of vehicle active suspension systems is given. With an observer-based fault estimator, a new H∞ controller in generalised internal model control architecture is proposed. By using the Kalman–Yakubovich–Popov lemma, sufficient conditions ensuring simultaneous finite-frequency estimation and control performance are derived. In terms of the linear matric inequalities, fault compensation is also proposed. Finally, simulation results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed results.


Creating organic, life like motion has historically been extremely difficult and costly for general applications. Traditional structures and robots use rigid components with discrete joints to produce desired motions but are limited in freedom by the range of motion each additional component allows. In a traditionally rigid robot complex motion is obtained through the addition of joints and links. These additions add complexity to a rigid robot but improve its ability to create motion. Soft robotics aims to overcome the limitations of traditional robotics by creating integrated actuation and structure which more closely imitates organic movement. Often the most effective examples to learn from are natural phenomenon or organisms such as underwater and land based invertebrates. In pursuit of the goal of effective soft robotics researchers have explored the idea of a pneumatic elastofluidic actuator, one which expands and deforms in response to applied pressure. While these systems have demonstrated some limited success, they are often used either as a single entity or in series with one another to produce novel motions. In this thesis parallel structures made of these actuators are shown to have the potential to be extremely powerful and useful for soft robotic applications. These spatial arrangements of connected and dependent actuators exhibit behaviors impossible for a single actuator. This research concerns the effective design and construction of these complex parallel


The article stresses the importance for historical discourse linguistics of contextualising texts, using the Salem witchcraft documents of 1692 as an example. A contextual analysis presupposes taking into account a number of variables with a potential impact on the discourse. Here I discuss the following issues: (a) the historical, social and cultural context, involving not only the historical background and social structures of Salem, but also considerations of the "invisible" world of witchcraft; (b) the legal context, involving the genre conventions shaping the records; (c) the scribal context, involving the representation of original spoken discourse in writing, and (d) the communicative context, involving the discourse strategies of the actual trials. Such considerations will be crucial both for the interpretation of the documents and for understanding the verbal behaviour of the parties at the trials.


Deep neural networks are often ignorant about what they do not know and overconfident when they make uninformed predictions. Some recent approaches quantify classification uncertainty directly by training the model to output high uncertainty for the data samples close to class boundaries or from the outside of the training distribution. These approaches use an auxiliary data set during training to represent out-of-distribution samples. However, selection or creation of such an auxiliary data set is non-trivial, especially for high dimensional data such as images. In this work we develop a novel neural network model that is able to express both aleatoric and epistemic uncertainty to distinguish decision boundary and out-of-distribution regions of the feature space. To this end, variational autoencoders and generative adversarial networks are incorporated to automatically generate out-of-distribution exemplars for training. Through extensive analysis, we demonstrate that the proposed approach provides better estimates of uncertainty for in- and out-of-distribution samples, and adversarial examples on well-known data sets against state-of-the-art approaches including recent Bayesian approaches for neural networks and anomaly detection methods.


We present a general Fourier-based method that provides an accurate prediction of the approximation error as a function of the sampling step T. Our formalism applies to an extended class of convolution-based signal approximation techniques, which includes interpolation, generalized sampling with prefiltering, and the projectors encountered in wavelet theory. We claim that we can predict the L/sup 2/-approximation error by integrating the spectrum of the function to approximate-not necessarily bandlimited-against a frequency kernel E(/spl omega/) that characterizes the approximation operator. This prediction is easier yet more precise than was previously available. Our approach has the remarkable property of providing a global error estimate that is the average of the true approximation error over all possible shifts of the input function. Our error prediction is exact for stationary processes, as well as for bandlimited signals. We apply this method to the comparison of standard interpolation and approximation techniques. Our method has interesting implications for approximation theory. In particular, we use our results to obtain some new asymptotic expansions of the error as T/spl rarr/0, as well as to derive improved upper bounds of the kind found in the Strang-Fix (1971) theory. We finally show how we can design quasi-interpolators that are near optimal in the least-squares sense.


The literature on variation in endangered languages has largely focused on the structural and stylistic simplification that occurs when languages contract or on cases where variation is introduced through interference in the form of a nonnative variant that exists alongside a native form (Dorian 1981, Mougeon & Beniak 1981; Aikhenvald 2002, Campbell and Muntzel 1989; among others). Some studies have considered the effect of language shift or moribundity on variation that existed in the healthy language. King's (1989) study of Newfoundland French, for instance, concludes that variation can be maintained in dying languages, but the variation no longer carries the social meaning that it did in a healthier speech community. This paper, on variable /r/-deletion in Garifuna, presents an apparent change in progress in an endangered language and explores the effect of incipient language shift on previously existing variation. Garifuna is an Arawak language spoken in disparate communities throughout Central America. It is a moribund language in most of the Garifuna communities in Belize, where speakers are variably trilingual in Garifuna, English, and Belizean Creole (BC). In the village of Hopkins intergenerational transmission of Garifuna still occurs but locals and non-locals alike believe that Hopkins will follow the path of nearby Garifuna communities in shifting to English and BC, abandoning the use of Garifuna entirely. The /r/-deletion data in this paper come from speech samples of 26 Hopkins speakers (16F, 10M), ranging in age from 6 to 65. All speakers were asked to tell a story based on a children's picture book (Mayer 1967), and the recordings were coded for deletion of the variable /r/. This variable (previously reported on by Hagiwara, ms) was chosen as an example of a sound change that is not likely to be a result of language contact. Post-vocalic /r/-vocalization exists in BC, but /r/ in Garifuna only occurs intervocalically and thus the environment is different from that of /r/-vocalization in BC, where it occurs in preconsonantal or word-final positions. Examples are given below: