The objective of this portfolio is to showcase and provide evidence of how students become able to grow and develop in the area of lesson plan development over the course of the semester. This portfolio will also serve to document the importance of providing classroom learning activities that allow students the opportunity to practice and apply the skills that they obtain from new content knowledge. This portfolio will show evidence of the importance that I put on my personal growth and reflection in order to continually improve my teaching and provide the best learning opportunities possible. The course I selected is designed to prepare future agriculture and skilled and technical sciences teachers how to develop learning objectives and essential questions, prepare and evaluate daily lesson plans, incorporate multiple teaching methods/approaches into their learning activities, and learn how to highlight and teach the naturally occurring science in to the curriculum. The students developed lesson plans and classroom management plans that were used as data and were analyzed. The students progressed throughout the semester and successfully met the learning outcomes of the course.


Analysis of terraces in phylogenetic space can inform on phylogenetic relationships with greater computational efficiency A key step in assembling the tree of life is the construction of species-rich phylogenies from multilocus—but often incomplete—sequence data sets. We describe previously unknown structure in the landscape of solutions to the tree reconstruction problem, comprising sometimes vast "terraces" of trees with identical quality, arranged on islands of phylogenetically similar trees. Phylogenetic ambiguity within a terrace can be characterized efficiently and then ameliorated by new algorithms for obtaining a terrace's maximum-agreement subtree or by identifying the smallest set of new targets for additional sequencing. Algorithms to find optimal trees or estimate Bayesian posterior tree distributions may need to navigate strategically in the neighborhood of large terraces in tree space.


William Pitt the Younger re-examines Pitt's career in the light of recent research and emphasizes that it should not be stereotyped as having a 'reformist' phase in the years to 1793 and a 'reactionary' phase thereafter. His treatment includes explanation of: * Pitt's rapid rise to power * the importance of his relations with George III * contemporary party politics, including his own description of himself as an 'independent Whig' * his administrative and financial reforms in the 1780s * his foreign policy and war strategy * his plans for assuring a satisfactory political union with Ireland and why they were frustrated. This volume by Eric J. Evans, includes a complete historical background to the leader's political career and analyses his achievements. The author outlines Pitt's economic, domestic and foreign policy as well as detailing the changes in party politics and monarchy during the period.


For young people, the Internet is a space of both pleasure and danger. On the one hand, the Internet fosters a wide variety of social and sexual interactions, delivers responsible information and advice on sexual and reproductive health, allows the exploration of diverse sexualities, and is a means of sexual pleasure and expression. On the other hand, the Internet has facilitated young people's unwanted exposure to sexually explicit content and increased their vulnerability to forms of emotional and sexual abuse. Research by the Australia Institute finds that three-quarters of 16 and 17 year-olds have been exposed accidentally to pornographic websites, while 38 per cent of boys and two per cent of girls have deliberately accessed such sites. Much of the sexually explicit material available online, like much pornography in general, presents a narrow and distorted view of sex, shows women in sexist and stereotyped ways, and some material depicts and eroticises violence. Government regulation of the Internet has failed to keep pace with its development, and the Government thus far has done little to lessen the potential harms young people face. At the same time, the Internet is proving to be an increasingly important tool in building young people's health. To make the most of the Internet, we need to teach skills in media literacy, produce and deliver youth-focused materials on sex and relationships, and adopt regulatory strategies to minimise the harms associated with young people's exposure to sexually explicit content.


We present an approach to synthesizing shapes from complex domains, by identifying new plausible combinations of components from existing shapes. Our primary contribution is a new generative model of component-based shape structure. The model represents probabilistic relationships between properties of shape components, and relates them to learned underlying causes of structural variability within the domain. These causes are treated as latent variables, leading to a compact representation that can be effectively learned without supervision from a set of compatibly segmented shapes. We evaluate the model on a number of shape datasets with complex structural variability and demonstrate its application to amplification of shape databases and to interactive shape synthesis.


The growing number of gender studies encourages more refined analyzes and greater conceptualization of the underlying processes of gender gap in science. In Herpetology, previous studies have described gender disparities and a scrutiny of individual interactions may help revealing the mechanisms modelling the global pattern. In this contribution we modeled a co-authorship network, a previously unexplored methodology for gender studies in this discipline, in addition to a broad and classic bibliometric analysis of the discipline. Co-authorship networks were modelled for two South American journals, because this geo-political location is considered to present the best gender balance within general scientific communities. However, we found a pattern of male preferential connections (male homophily) that marginalizes women and maintains the gender gap, at both regional and global scales. This interpretation arises from results coming from multiple analyses, such as high homophily index in collaboration networks, lower female representation in articles than expected in a non-gender biased environment, the decrease of female co-authors when the article leader is a man, and the extreme masculinization of the editorial boards. The homophilic dynamics of the publication process reveals that academic activity is pervasive to unbalanced power relationships. Personal interactions shape the collective experience, tracing back to the Feminist Theory's axiom: "the personal is political".


This research tests the feasibility of implementing Guided Reading in English as a
second language learning methodology at an early stage of schooling in Spain. Reading
records from year 2012 of students I taught during my time as a visiting teacher
working for different schools belonging to the Rockford school district in Illinois from
2005 to 2008, were analyzed along with reading records obtained through the American
School of Valencia also in 2012, creating a comparison. At the same time, a
questionnaire was sent to administrators from both schools to express their opinions on
the aforementioned feasibility, and also on the possible legal constraints faced while
implementing Guided Reading in Spain and the benefits of enriching Guided Reading
through Information and Communications Technology to make it more efficient. After
studying the reading progress of the students under Guided Reading teaching both in
USA and in Spain, results corroborate the hypothesis of Guided Reading being a valid
English as a second language learning methodology to be implemented in Spain, as the
reading benchmarks set were not only met but surpassed, according to the obtained
data.


With all the recent demographic, environmental, and other changes occurring in the circumpolar region of Canada, empirical investigations of the socio-economic well-being of northern Aboriginal people are becoming increasingly important to policy-makers, yet increasingly challenging to quantitative researchers. This is because systematically generated, comparable statistical data on this segment of the Canadian population have historically been inadequate, if available at all. This article identifies and assesses the quality of the existing major sources of statistical information available to researchers investigating socio-economic issues and needs in the context of northern Aboriginal communities. While a number of data sources are mentioned, the article centres primarily on the evaluation of Canadian censuses and post-censal surveys such as the Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS) and the related Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic (SLiCA). These data sources are the most comprehensive in the sense that they contain rich information on the surveyed population's engagement in both traditional and non-traditional economic activities, as well as on a range of other social indicators. After highlighting the relative strengths of each data source, the article makes a number of cautionary notes on their limitations when defining analytical samples and when comparing research results across time as well as between and within different Aboriginal groups. These cautions merit careful attention from researchers and policy-makers addressing specific issues and needs of the diverse sub-groups of the Aboriginal population in northern Canada. Even on the national level, there is a growing consensus on the ineffectiveness of generic policies aimed at alleviating the socio-economic burden of Aboriginal Canadians.


Business Process Management (BPM) is the discipline which is responsible for management of discovering, analyzing, redesigning, monitoring, and controlling business processes. One of the most crucial tasks of BPM is discovering and modelling business processes from text documents. In this paper, we present our system that resolves an end-to-end problem consisting of 1) recognizing conditional sentences from technical documents, 2) finding boundaries to extract conditional and resultant clauses from each conditional sentence, and 3) categorizing resultant clause as Action or Consequence which later helps to generate new steps in our business process model automatically. We created a new dataset and three models to solve this problem. Our best model achieved very promising results of 83.82, 87.84, and 85.75 for Precision, Recall, and F1, respectively, for extracting Condition, Action, and Consequence clauses using Exact Match metric.


We present optical (UBVRI) and near-IR (YJHK) photometry of the normal Type Ia supernova (SN) 2004S. We also present eight optical spectra and one near-IR spectrum of SN 2004S. The light curves and spectra are nearly identical to those of SN 2001el. This is the first time we have seen optical and IR light curves of two Type Ia SNe match so closely. Within the one parameter family of light curves for normal Type Ia SNe, that two objects should have such similar light curves implies that they had identical intrinsic colors and produced similar amounts of 56Ni. From the similarities of the light-curve shapes we obtain a set of extinctions as a function of wavelength that allows a simultaneous solution for the distance modulus difference of the two objects, the difference of the host galaxy extinctions, and RV. Since SN 2001el had roughly an order of magnitude more host galaxy extinction than SN 2004S, the value of RV = 2.15 pertains primarily to dust in the host galaxy of SN 2001el. We have also shown via Monte Carlo simulations that adding rest-frame J-band photometry to the complement of BVRI photometry of Type Ia SNe decreases the uncertainty in the distance modulus by a factor of 2.7. A combination of rest-frame optical and near-IR photometry clearly gives more accurate distances than using rest-frame optical photometry alone.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the effects of petroleum exposure on hematologic and clinical biochemical results of mink and to identify variables that may be useful for making management decisions involving sea otters (Enhydra lutris) that have been exposed to oil in their environment.

ANIMALS
122 American mink (Mustela vison).

PROCEDURES
Mink were exposed once to a slick of oil (Alaskan North Slope crude oil or bunker C fuel oil) on seawater or via low-level contamination of their daily rations.

RESULTS
In the acute phase of exposure, petroleum directly affected RBC, WBC, neutrophil, and lymphocyte counts, fibrinogen, sodium, calcium, creatinine, total protein, and cholesterol concentrations, and alanine transaminase, creatine kinase, alkaline phosphatase, and gamma-glutamyltransferase activities. Aspartate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyltransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase activities and cholesterol concentration also varied as a result of chronic low-level contamination of feed.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Our results are in agreement with reports that attribute increased alanine transaminase and alkaline phosphatase activities and decreased total protein concentration to petroleum exposure in sea otters during an oil spill. Sodium, calcium, creatinine, cholesterol, and lactate dehydrogenase may be valuable variables to assess for guidance during initial treatment of sea otters exposed to oil spills as well as for predicting which petroleum-exposed sea otters will reproduce following an oil spill. Measurement of these variables should aid wildlife professionals in making decisions regarding treatment of sea otters after oil spills.


: In this study on muscle characteristics and jawbone morphology, the relationship between masticatory muscle properties and jaw deformity was analysed in skeletal Class III patients with asymmetry. The subjects were 27 patients (21 women and 6 men) who had skeletal mandibular prognathism with mandibular asymmetry. The subjects' ages ranged from 16 to 51 years, with an average of 23.5 years. Patients with lateral displacement of Me 3 mm or more and an ANB angle of 0 ° or less were included. Morphometric measurements were taken from CT images. Biopsy material was collected during surgery for immunohistological typing of muscle fibres, MyHC1, 2a, and 2x isoforms; measurement of MYH1, 2, 7, 8 mRNA expression. In CT morphometry, there was no difference in muscle thickness or cross-sectional area between the de viated and non-deviated sides, but both sides tended to have thinner muscles than the control group. In the typing of muscle fibres by immunohistochemical staining, type 2 fibres were found to be significantly more numerous on the deviated side than on the non-deviated side. Regarding protein quantities, MyHC1 was more abundant on the deviated side than on the non-deviated side. Regarding the expression of mRNA, MYH7 (type 1) and MYH1 (type 2x) showed no difference between the two sides, and MYH2 (type 2a) had a higher expression level on the deviated side than in the control group. The data suggested a tendency for Class III patients to have characteristics of a short face on the deviated side, and a long face on the non-deviated side. It seems that muscle type switching may be in progress.


The caves of the Yorkshire Dales National Park are potentially an important assemblage of underground bat sites, but prior to this study nothing was known about the ecology of cave use. Between 2002 and 2005,53 cave entrances were logged for swarming activity using automated echolocation call loggers. A subset was chosen for continuous monitoring outside the hibernation period and another for winter logging. Logging was followed up by trapping at caves with significant autumn bat activity. All bats caught were ringed, identified to species and sexed. Biopsies (3 mm diameter) were taken from each wing for genetic analysis.

A large proportion of the caves surveyed were used by bats, but activity was concentrated in a small number of hotspots. Peak activity occurred during August and September, but significant activity was recorded in all months between March and October. All five swarming species were caught at most sites: Myotis brandtii, M. daubentonii, M. mystacinus, M. nattereri and Plecotus auritus. M. nattereri was the most abundant species late in September, but earlier other species made up a significant proportion of those caught. The sex ratio of swarming bats was heavily skewed towards males.

Swarming activity was positively correlated with the degree of cave chamber development, cave length and shelter at the entrance, and negatively correlated with the amount of water the cave carried. Entrance size, altitude and the degree of connectivity between cave and summer habitat were not correlated with activity. In a multiple regression model, chamber development and hydrology were the best predictors of activity. Entrance orientation and shelter contributed towards the model but were less important. The regression model could explain 55% of the variance in bat activity.

Genetic diversity of Myotis nattereri, based on an analysis of six microsatellite loci, was high in swarming populations suggesting high gene flow and large effective populations. Most of the genetic variation was explained by variation among individuals within populations, but some was due to differences between swarming areas and by differences between populations within swarming areas. Isolation by distance was found between sites in six swarming areas between Cumbria and Sussex, but not between sites in the Yorkshire Dales. The differentiation observed was more logically explained on the basis of local geography and probable catchment areas.

Preliminary experiments suggest that Time Domain Signal Coding has potential as a sound analysis system for real time bat call identification.


Abstract Objective: To evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of memantine use as treatment of HIV-associated cognitive impairment.Background: The results of a 20-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of memantine in HIV-infected participants with cognitive impairment (ACTG 301) were previously reported. We report the results of the up-to-60-week open-label phase following the double-blind phase.Method: Participants received open-label memantine and were escalated to a 40 mg/day dose or their maximum tolerated dose in the double- blind phase. Adverse experiences were used to evaluate safety, and changes in the mean of eight neuropsychological test scores (NPZ-8) were used to evaluate efficacy.Results: Ninety-nine participants entered the initial 12-week openlabel phase and 45 in the additional 48-week extension. Twenty-seven participants reported severe adverse experiences. During the initial 12-week open-label phase, participants randomized to memantine in the double-blind phase had a statistically significant higher improvement in NPZ-8 compared to those randomized to placebo in the double-blind phase. No statistically significant NPZ-8 changes were detected during the 48-week extension.Conclusion: Long-term use of memantine appears safe and tolerable. Future randomized studies with longer follow-up are necessary to establish efficacy of memantine for the treatment of HIV-associated cognitive impairment.


Quantifying water implications of energy transitions is important for assessing long-term freshwater sustainability since large volumes of water are currently used throughout the energy sector. In this paper, we assess direct global energy sector water use and thermal water pollution across a broad range of energy system transformation pathways to assess water impacts of a 2 °C climate policy. A global integrated assessment model is equipped with the capabilities to account for the water impacts of technologies located throughout the energy supply chain. The model framework is applied across a broad range of 2 °C scenarios to highlight long-term water impact uncertainties over the 21st century. We find that water implications vary significantly across scenarios, and that adaptation in power plant cooling technology can considerably reduce global freshwater withdrawals and thermal pollution. Global freshwater consumption increases across all of the investigated 2 °C scenarios as a result of rapidly expanding electricity demand in developing regions and the prevalence of freshwater-cooled thermal power generation. Reducing energy demand emerges as a robust strategy for water conservation, and enables increased technological flexibility on the supply side to fulfill ambitious climate objectives. The results underscore the importance of an integrated approach when developing water, energy, and climate policy, especially in regions where rapid growth in both energy and water demands is anticipated.


The differences in oil production are examined for a simulated waterflood of faulted and unfaulted versions of synthetic shallow-marine reservoir models with a range of structural and sedimentological characteristics. Fault juxtaposition can reduce the economic value of the reservoirs by up to 30%, with the greatest losses observed in models with lower sedimentological aggradation angles and faults striking parallel to waterflood direction. Fault rock has a greater effect than fault juxtaposition on lowering the economic value of the reservoir models in the compartmentalized cases only – and only when the fault rock permeability model is based on the least permeable published laboratory data. Moderately sealing faults can increase the economic value of reservoirs except when the main flow direction is parallel to the faults. These results arise from the dependence of economic value on both sweep efficiency and production rate. Simple predictors of fault juxtaposition and fault-rock heterogeneity have been established and combined with two-dimensional considerations from streamline theory in an attempt to capture quantitatively the change in economic reservoir value arising from faults. Despite limitations associated with the three-dimensional role of juxtaposition, the results are encouraging and represent a step towards establishing a rapid transportable predictor of the effects of faults on production.


In the late 1990s, European experts feared a stalemate in the EU accession negotiations with Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries because of the expected high costs of their compliance with the EU's environmental legislation. This fear was not borne out, however, and it is now undoubted that EU assistance has enhanced environmental capacity-building and knowledge in these countries. Nevertheless, some reports have emphasised misallocations, planning failures and mismanagement of EU funds, characterised as the unsustainability of EU-funded environmental projects in a number of CEE countries. Why have some EU-funded projects been more sustainable than others? Which features have had an effect on their sustainability? The article investigates the relationship between European and domestic actors involved in EU-funded projects in municipal waste management in Hungary and Poland in the years 1998–2013. The main findings show that when decision-making participation was horizontal and cooperative between the EU and domestic actors, EU assistance to municipal waste projects was more successful and long-lasting in helping them comply with EU legislation.


A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis has been performed to assess the Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence models to predict a turbulent flow and heat transfer in a triangular rod bundle with pitch-to-diameter ratios (P/Ds) of 1.06 and 1.12. The CFD predictions using various turbulence models were compared with experimental results. Anisotropic turbulence models such as the nonlinear k - [curly epsilon] and the second-order closure models predicted the turbulence-driven secondary flow in the triangular channel and the distributions of the time mean velocity and temperature showing significantly improved agreement with the measurements from the linear standard k - [curly epsilon] model. The anisotropic turbulence models predicted the turbulence structure for a rod bundle with a large P/D fairly well but could not predict the very high turbulence intensity of the azimuthal velocity observed in the narrow flow region (gap) for a rod bundle with a small P/D.


Many longwall mines rely on methane drainage to supplement traditional fan-based ventilation systems. However, the surface production facilities for methane drainage systems, including gob gas ventholes, are commonly located in remote locations, sometimes without convenient access to electrical power, and they may be monitored infrequently. The first evidence that a methane drainage system may not be operating efficiently, or not operating at all, can be an increase in methane concentrations at a return air shaft or underground where the workforce is exposed to the risk of a methane explosion. A solar powered, remote gob gas venthole monitoring and cellular telephone-based real-time data transmission system has been developed and successfully field tested by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to address this problem. With this system, individual methane drainage boreholes can be monitored from the mine office to determine current operational performance parameters, as well as review past data to anticipate maintenance needs and troubleshoot operational problems.


Couples in HIV serodiscordant relationships frequently desire children. Although partners who are virally suppressed pose almost no risk of transmitting HIV to their partners, partners who are inconsistently on therapy may transmit HIV to their partners when attempting to conceive. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an available safer conception strategy for these couples but is not consistently offered. We sought to better understand barriers to PrEP implementation for couples seeking conception and patient perceptions on what providers could do to encourage use. We conducted in-depth, qualitative interviews with 11 participants representing six couples taking PrEP for safer conception in a safety-net hospital in New England. Semi-structured qualitative interviews assessed the following: Relationship nature and contextual factors; attitudes and perceptions regarding PrEP for safer conception; experience within health care systems related to HIV and PrEP; and facilitators, barriers, and other experiences using PrEP for safer conception. Four key themes have important implications for implementation of PrEP for safer conception: Knowledge and understanding gaps regarding HIV and PrEP among both members of the couple, role of insurance and financing in decision-making, learning to manage and adhere to a treatment plan, and the need for providers to enhance knowledge and offer further support. Addressing barriers to safer conception strategies at multiple levels is needed to prevent HIV transmission within serodiscordant couples who desire children. Providers can play an important role in lowering these barriers through the use of multiple strategies.


Abstract : Information is a critical asset on which virtually all modern organizations depend upon to meet their operational mission objectives. Military organizations, in particular, have embedded Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) into their core mission processes as a means to increase their operational efficiency, exploit automation, improve decision quality, and shorten the kill chain. However, the extreme dependence upon ICT results in an environment where a cyber incident can result in severe mission degradation, or possibly failure, with catastrophic consequences to life, limb, and property. These consequences can be minimized by maintaining real-time situational awareness of mission critical resources so appropriate contingency actions can be taken in a timely manner following an incident in order to assure mission success. In this thesis, the design and analysis of an experiment is presented for the purpose of measuring the utility of a Cyber Incident Mission Impact Assessment (CIMIA) notification process, whose goal is to improve the timeliness and relevance of incident notification. In the experiment, subjects are placed into a model environment where they conduct operational tasks in the presence and absence of enhanced CIMIA notifications. The results of the experiment reveal that implementing a CIMIA notification process significantly reduced the response time required for subjects to recognize and take proper contingency actions to assure their organizational mission. The research confirms that timely and relevant notification following a cyber incident is an essential element of mission assurance.


While RNA-Seq has enabled great progress towards the goal of wide-scale isoform-level mRNA quantification, short reads have limitations when resolving complex or similar sets of isoforms. As a result, estimates of isoform abundance carry far more uncertainty than those made at the gene level. When confronted with this uncertainty, commonly used methods produce estimates that are often high-variance—small perturbations in the data often produce dramatically different results, confounding downstream analysis. We introduce a new method, Isolator, which analyzes all samples in an experiment in unison using a simple Bayesian hierarchical model. Combined with aggressive bias correction, it produces estimates that are simultaneously accurate and show high agreement between samples. In a comprehensive comparison of accuracy and variance, we show that this property is unique to Isolator. We further demonstrate that the approach of modeling an entire experiment enables new analyses, which we demonstrate by examining splicing monotonicity across several time points in the development of human cardiomyocyte cells.


ABSTRACT In immunocompromised hosts, latent infection with Toxoplasma gondii can reactivate from tissue cysts, leading to encephalitis. A characteristic of T. gondii bradyzoites in tissue cysts is the presence of amylopectin granules. The regulatory mechanisms and role of amylopectin accumulation in this organism are not fully understood. The T. gondii genome encodes a putative glycogen phosphorylase (TgGP), and mutants were constructed to manipulate the activity of TgGP and to evaluate the function of TgGP in amylopectin storage. Both a stop codon mutant (Pru/TgGPS25stop [expressing a Ser-to-stop codon change at position 25 in TgGP]) and a phosphorylation null mutant (Pru/TgGPS25A [expressing a Ser-to-Ala change at position 25 in TgGp]) mutated at Ser25 displayed amylopectin accumulation, while the phosphorylation-mimetic mutant (Pru/TgGPS25E [expressing a Ser-to-Glu change at position 25 in TgGp]) had minimal amylopectin accumulation under both tachyzoite and bradyzoite growth conditions. The expression of active TgGPS25S or TgGPS25E restored amylopectin catabolism in Pru/TgGPS25A. To understand the relation between GP and calcium-dependent protein kinase 2 (CDPK2), which was recently reported to regulate amylopectin consumption, we knocked out CDPK2 in these mutants. PruΔcdpk2/TgGPS25E had minimal amylopectin accumulation, whereas the Δcdpk2 phenotype in the other GP mutants and parental lines displayed amylopectin accumulation. Both the inactive S25A and hyperactive S25E mutant produced brain cysts in infected mice, but the numbers of cysts produced were significantly less than the number produced by the S25S wild-type GP parasite. Complementation that restored amylopectin regulation restored brain cyst production to the control levels seen in infected mice. These data suggest that T. gondii requires tight regulation of amylopectin expression for efficient production of cysts and persistent infections and that GP phosphorylation is a regulatory mechanism involved in amylopectin storage and utilization. IMPORTANCE Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that causes disease in immune-suppressed individuals, as well as a fetopathy in pregnant women who acquire infection for the first time during pregnancy. This parasite can differentiate between tachyzoites (seen in acute infection) and bradyzoites (seen in latent infection), and this differentiation is associated with disease relapse. A characteristic of bradyzoites is that they contain cytoplasmic amylopectin granules. The regulatory mechanisms and the roles of amylopectin granules during latent infection remain to be elucidated. We have identified a role of T. gondii glycogen phosphorylase (TgGP) in the regulation of starch digestion and a role of posttranslational modification of TgGP, i.e., phosphorylation of Ser25, in the regulation of amylopectin digestion. By manipulating TgGP activity in the parasite with genome editing, we found that the digestion and storage of amylopectin due to TgGP activity are both important for latency in the brain. Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that causes disease in immune-suppressed individuals, as well as a fetopathy in pregnant women who acquire infection for the first time during pregnancy. This parasite can differentiate between tachyzoites (seen in acute infection) and bradyzoites (seen in latent infection), and this differentiation is associated with disease relapse. A characteristic of bradyzoites is that they contain cytoplasmic amylopectin granules. The regulatory mechanisms and the roles of amylopectin granules during latent infection remain to be elucidated. We have identified a role of T. gondii glycogen phosphorylase (TgGP) in the regulation of starch digestion and a role of posttranslational modification of TgGP, i.e., phosphorylation of Ser25, in the regulation of amylopectin digestion. By manipulating TgGP activity in the parasite with genome editing, we found that the digestion and storage of amylopectin due to TgGP activity are both important for latency in the brain.


The effectiveness of decision-making teams depends largely on the quality of information processing. Prior research has shown that guided team reflexivity and team feedback are important means of advancing team information processing and outcomes. However, the nature of the relationships, and how these relate to team regulatory processes, cognitive emergent states, and ultimately team performance, is currently poorly understood. Drawing on reflexivity and team information-processing theory, we proposed and found that teams that received guided team reflexivity or a combination of both guided reflexivity and feedback showed higher levels of actual reflection than teams that received neither a reflexivity intervention nor feedback. Conditional process analysis showed that the effects of team reflection on team performance improvement were mediated by a path from shared team mental models to shared task mental models and to adaptation. Finally, we also expected that team reflection would be lower in virtual teams than in face-to-face teams. These hypotheses were tested experimentally among 98 student teams that communicated either face-to-face or virtual (via chat) while completing a collective decision-making task. The information distribution among team members constituted a hidden profile. The results supported all our hypotheses, except for the one relating to virtuality.


To the Editor:—We appreciate the three articles in the April 2004 issue of ANESTHESIOLOGY regarding GW280430A. Although remarkable advances in developing intermediate and short-acting muscle relaxants were realized, anesthetists have not yet been provided with a substance comparable to succinylcholine in terms of its rapid onset and ultrashort-acting pharmacodynamic profile. However, this aim should not be lost. A survey in Germany revealed that, despite its undesirable side effects, succinylcholine is still the most used drug for both rapid sequence inductions and for elective case induction. An overwhelming majority (76.6%) of respondents answered that they would appreciate a nondepolarizing substitute for succinylcholine if a similar pharmacodynamic profile was preserved. Assuming that this is not an isolated German viewpoint, a substance replacing succinylcholine would be highly desirable. The developers and the researchers have a great responsibility when introducing a new drug into clinical practice, particularly in neuromuscular blocking drugs. Dr. Caldwell addresses this issue in his editorial when he compares the side effects of rapacuronium and GW280430A. Because we were involved in the clinical evaluation of rapacuronium, we would like to comment on some relevant aspects of the side effect profiles of both drugs and on the drug approval processes. First, in clinically relevant concentrations, rapacuronium potentates bronchoconstriction most probably by destabilization of the balance between M2 and M3 muscarinic receptors. In contrast, GW280430A seems to release histamine and therefore may possibly induce bronchoconstriction. Second, although many antihistaminic drugs and prophylactic strategies are available, an effective treatment to rebalance the muscarinic effects of rapacuronium was and is still missing. Third, because rapacuronium did not release histamine, because different M2 versus M3 muscarinic effects of muscle relaxants were unknown at that time, and because clinical symptoms of the pulmonary side effects differed from those seen during typical bronchoconstriction, the clearly described dose-dependent pulmonary side effects (from 10.7% with 1.5 mg/kg rapacuronium to 18.5% with 2.5 mg/kg rapacuronium) may have been questioned—unfortunately until patients were badly harmed. Therefore, we agree with Dr. Caldwell that the recent experience with rapacuronium must be considered during the trials with GW280430A, e.g., by in addition investigating its effects on M2 and M3 receptors. The fiasco with rapacuronium, however, must not induce pessimism if new drugs and especially GW280430A may have the potency to improve anesthesia practice. GW280430A was, of course, not compared with rapacuronium, but it was also not compared to succinylcholine. Regardless, the hope that GW280430A will be a substitute for succinylcholine has been advanced with this first presentation. Expectations that this new drug will approximate the rapid onset of succinylcholine may in high doses, high injection speeds, and, therefore, the risk for high incidences of side effects. The presentations primarily suggest that GW280430A may be an ultrashort-acting rather than a rapid-onset muscle relaxant. Unfortunately, preclinical and clinical trials to approve new drugs are expensive, and, in this context, the substance to be replaced is already very cheap. Nevertheless, we (and many other anesthetists) would like to encourage the recent attempts to develop better muscle relaxants (or reversal drugs, e.g., Org 25969) to improve safety and efficiency of neuromuscular treatment during anesthesia.


Should the same legal principles that prohibit insider trading require corporations to disclose their political spending as well? The question seems particularly important in light of the increasing dominance of corporations in the political realm, the lack of transparency regarding corporate political activity, and the inherently suspicious motives of corporate executives who use corporate treasuries to advance their personal political preferences. This Article examines how the fiduciary principles of trust that underpin prohibitions on insider trading could inform and enhance the content of the general fiduciary duties that corporate officers and directors owe to their shareholders. Although insider trading prohibitions rest on the statutory foundation of federal securities law, the U.S. Supreme Court extrapolates the content of insider trading doctrine from the overarching common law fiduciary duties that govern the daily decisions of corporate managers. In the insider trading context, however, the Supreme Court has articulated a special disclosure obligation based on those fiduciary duties that is not currently recognized in other areas of corporate law. In particular, the Supreme Court requires that to avoid liability for illicit insider trading, a corporate insider who possesses material nonpublic information must either disclose that information to shareholders prior to trading or abstain from trading altogether.
A fiduciary breach due to secret use of corporate assets for personal gain marks the essential concern in both the insider trading realm and in the context of corporate political spending. Therefore, adopting a similar common law fiduciary rule that corporate managers must disclose the amount and target of political expenditures or refrain from engaging in political activity does not seem like much of an intellectual leap. Not only would such a common law disclosure duty fit neatly within existing corporate governance principles, but the compelled transparency would not offend corporations' First Amendment rights. In the end, prohibiting political insider trading through a "disclose or abstain" rule for corporate political spending would promote greater efficiency in the capital markets, ensure corporate accountability and political legitimacy, and sustain the growing market for corporate social responsibility.


Abstract Achieving an effective sustainable developmental policy is considered a primary goal in a large number of institutions around the world. The application of this policy in universities is reflected throughout the country, especially in developing and low-income countries. This research aims to analyse the sustainability policies adopted at Damascus University during the past 5 years of the Syrian crisis through several factors, with a focus on the analysis based on the SciVal and Scopus databases. We consider Damascus University as an example of an institution of a developing country. We use the method of extracting and analysing the data of the 16 sustainable development goals (SDGs) of Damascus University within Scopus. Based on Scopus and SciVal data, we find that Damascus University made a significant leap in the number of its research related to sustainable development in the year 2022, as these research studies constituted 46.0% of all published, abstracted, and indexed research studies in Scopus by Damascus University researchers. Also, by analysing the citation data which the SDG documents have received, we find that the citations resulted from these documents represent about 53% of the total citation of the university during the same time.


This master thesis is for my exam in Master of Science in Electrical Engineering with emphasis on Telecommunications/Signal Processing at the university of Karlskrona / Ronneby. It was carried out at Flextronics International in Karlskrona and this report is a follow-up to my bachelor thesis made at the same premises. My assignment was to develop and implement an interface unit so that two different test instruments could communicate with each other. The instruments are used in the production of DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) based products. This report deals with the theory, design, construction and test of how to build this interface unit. Result: This report shows that it is possible to build a fully functional interface unit with few parts and that the quality of the interface box is as expected.


Nucleotide sequence from the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) and the 5.8S gene from the ribosomal RNA gene cluster of isolates of the scuticociliate Orchitophrya stellarum from 4 asteroid hosts were compared. Surprisingly, these data (495 bp) were identical for O. stellarum isolated from the testes of Asterias amurensis from Japan; Pisaster ochraceus from British Columbia, Canada; Asterias rubens from The Netherlands; and Asterias vulgaris from Prince Edward Island, Canada. These sequence data were compared to those from 3 scuticociliates which parasitise crustaceans: Mesanophrys pugettensis, M. chesapeakensis and Anophryoides haemophila. No difference was found in this region between the nucleotide sequence of M. pugettensis and M. chesapeakensis. The sequence of Mesanophrys spp. differed by 9.2% in the ITS1 and 4.7% in the ITS2 from that of O. stellarum. The sequence from the ITS1 (135 bp) and ITS2 (233 bp) of A. haemophila differed by 42.6 and 20.5% respectively from those of O. stellarum. Therefore, nucleotide sequence of the ITS regions in these scuticociliates is highly conserved.


MetaML is a statically typed functional programming language with special support for programgeneration. In addition to providing the standard features of contemporary programminglanguages such as Standard ML, MetaML provides three staging annotations. These staging annotationsallow the construction, combination, and execution of object-programs.Our thesis is that MetaML's three staging annotations provide a useful, theoretically soundbasis for building program generators. This dissertation reports on our study of MetaML's stagingconstructs, their use, their implementation, and their formal semantics. Our results include anextended example of where MetaML allows us to produce ecient programs, an explanation ofwhy implementing these constructs in traditional ways can be challenging, two formulations ofMetaML's semantics, a type system for MetaML, and a proposal for extending MetaML with atype construct for closedness.The dissertation consolidates a number of previous publications by the author, includingMetaML's type systems and big-step semantics. The presentation is new. The proposed solutionto an implementation problem and the reduction semantics for MetaML's three staging constructsare also new.


Abstract. Suspended sediment (SS) and organic matter in rivers can harm brown trout Salmo trutta by affecting the health and fitness of free swimming fish and by causing siltation of the riverbed. The temporal and spatial dynamics of sediment, carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) during the brown trout spawning season in a small river of the Swiss Plateau were assessed and C isotopes as well as the C/N atomic ratio were used to distinguish autochthonous and allochthonous sources of organic matter in SS loads. The visual basic program IsoSource with 13Ctot and 15N as input isotopes was used to quantify the temporal and spatial sources of SS. Organic matter concentrations in the infiltrated and suspended sediment were highest during low flow periods with small sediment loads and lowest during high flow periods with high sediment loads. Peak values in nitrate and dissolved organic C were measured during high flow and high rainfall, probably due to leaching from pasture and arable land. The organic matter was of allochthonous sources as indicated by the C/N atomic ratio and δ13Corg. Organic matter in SS increased from up- to downstream due to an increase of pasture and arable land downstream of the river. The mean fraction of SS originating from upper watershed riverbed sediment decreased from up to downstream and increased during high flow at all measuring sites along the course of the river. During base flow conditions, the major sources of SS are pasture, forest and arable land. The latter increased during rainy and warmer winter periods, most likely because both triggered snow melt and thus erosion. The measured increase in DOC and nitrate concentrations during high flow support these modeling results. Enhanced soil erosion processes on pasture and arable land are expected with increasing heavy rain events and less snow during winter seasons due to climate change. Consequently, SS and organic matter in the river will increase, which will possibly affect brown trout negatively.


INTRODUCTION Prison overcrowding has evolved into a critical social problem. Per capita, the United States incarcerates more individuals than any industrialized nation in the world.1 In 2006, for example, the number of people "under supervision" in the nation's criminal justice systems topped 7.2 million.2 As a result, states spend billions of dollars to house, supervise, and counsel inmates.3 Adding to this problem, criminal law reform is slow and often nonexistent, and states have been forced to find other ways to remedy the burden that incarceration places on taxpayers and treasuries. Starting in the 1980s, one such remedy has been for states and localities to enter into contracts with private corrections construction and management firms.4 These companies are publicly traded and exist solely for the purpose of making profits from prison contracts with local, state, and federal authorities.5 In fact, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the oldest and most well-known private prison company, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and recently reported nearly $ 1.5 billion in total revenue.6 CCA's success led to the creation of similar entities across the United States, taking the private prison industry from a one-man show to a billion dollar market in just two decades.7 To grasp the constitutional concerns presented by the private prison industry, one must first understand how it makes a profit. First, a state or locality, either by statute or decree, approves a new prison and solicits bids from private prison companies. Once a prison company secures a contract, it builds the type of correctional facility requested and operates it for the government. The latter task requires the prison company to hire personnel (e.g., prison guards, wardens, and psychologists) and provide the same services as a state-owned prison.8 Criminal justice scholars and legal professionals have generally commented on the benefits of privatization, stating that competition among firms results in better facilities for the inmates as well as lower costs to taxpayers.9 Private prisons also mimic their public counterparts in one interesting aspect: prison labor. As in state jail, prisoners confined by the state to a privately owned facility must perform menial tasks for little to no pay.10 The point of such work, consequently, is reformation and rehabilitation. By doing such work in the private context, however, prisoners directly contribute to the profit-making function of the corporation.11 At the very least, therefore, inmate labor in private prisons constitutes "involuntary servitude."12 If the state is characterized as "contracting out" inmates to these corporations who subsequently aid the prison in earning corporate revenue, the system begins to resemble a modern day form of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment states, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."13 Since its passage, the "Punishment Clause" has been a bane for prisoners who argue that they are being subjected to conditions resembling slavery or involuntary servitude. Finding support from the Slaughter-House Cases, u federal courts have held that the main purpose of the amendment was specific - to abolish African-American chattel slavery and its incidents. As such, the Punishment Clause renders any current prisoner' s argument that they are slaves or involuntary servants void and frivolous.15 In these cases, the Court either implicitly assumes or directly states that private prison inmates have no Thirteenth Amendment claim without further elaboration. This Note argues that, given the history of the Thirteenth Amendment and the current state of private prison contracts, inmates working in these privately owned and operated facilities do indeed have a constitutional claim. …


Lime-cement columns have been used in Sweden to improve poor soil conditions since the 1970's. The method is inexpensive and flexible, but is difficult to test since the columns are manufactured in-situ. Many test-methods have been developed for testing the column strength during the years. Most of them need to be evaluated using an empirical correction-factor known as the cone factor. The column penetration test, KPS, is the most commonly used method in Sweden, it is considered to be reliable since a large part of the column cross-section is tested. The problem is that the probe easily deviates out of the column to the softer surrounding soil. Today a pre-drilled guiding-hole, a soil-rock sounding, helps the probe to stay vertical. Although the soil-rock sounding is commonly not used for evaluation of column strength, the penetration resistance is recorded. A visual comparison between the plotted penetration resistances from the two methods shows similarities in both hard and soft areas of the columns. The relation can be measured using statistics, such as the correlation coefficient. A strong correlation was also found, suggesting that a similar equation used to evaluate the undrained shear strength from the column penetration tests can be applied with the data from the soilrock soundings. The statically pushed column penetration test probe and the rotated soil-rock sounding bit bore are likely to cause different failure modes in the column. This means that different empirical cone factors are needed when the undrained shear strength is evaluated. By evaluating the ratio between the cone factors of the column penetration test and the data from the soil-rock soundings from three sites, E-road E18 north of Stockholm, E-road E45 outside Gothenburg and at a construction site at Lidingo, the following aspects of the ratio was investigated: if the ratio was site-specific; the sensitivity to the binder content; the sleeve friction and; the sensitivity to rotational speed and rate of penetration. Average columns formed from the penetration resistance at depth from each site were used during the evaluations. The Swedish geotechnical society has standardised two methodologies that can be used for pre-drilling. The soil-rock sounding methodology which has no fixed rate of penetration or rotational speed, and the total sounding methodology, based on the Norwegian total sounding methodology which has fixed rate of penetration and rotational speed. The latter is to prefer when comparing results between sites. To remove the sleeve friction, the data from the soil-rock soundings needed to be de-trended. The amount of de-trending needed to find a constant cone factor varied at the sites between 0.5 kN/m and 1.0 kN/m. This however caused high interference, partly from scaling the variation. The cone factor for the total sounding methodology was found to be between 0.30- 0.45 times the cone factor for the column penetration test.


Providing access to telecommunication services in rural areas is of paramount importance for the development of any country. Since the cost is the main inhibiting factor, any technical solution for access in sparsely populated rural areas has to be reliable, efficient, and deployable at low-cost. This thesis studies the utilization of Multihop Wireless Networks (MWN) as an appealing alternative for rural communication. MWN are designed with a self-configuring capability and can adapt to the addition or removal of network radio units (nodes). This makes them simple to install, allowing unskilled users to set up the network quickly. To increase the performance and cost-efficiency, this thesis focuses on the use of Advanced Antenna Systems (AAS) in rural access networks. AAS promise to increase the overall capacity in MWN, improving the link quality while suppressing or reducing the multiple access interference. To effectively exploit the capabilities of AAS, a proper design of Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols is needed. Hence, the results of system level studies into MAC protocols and AAS are presented in this thesis. Two different MAC protocols are examined: Spatial Time Division Multiple Access (STDMA) and Carrier Sense Multiple Access Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) with handshaking. The effects of utilizing advanced antennas on the end-to-end network throughput and packet delay are analyzed with routing, power control and adaptive transmission data rate control separately and in combination. Many of the STDMA-related research questions addressed in this thesis are posed as nonlinear optimization problems that are solved by the technique called "column generation" to create the transmission schedule using AAS. However, as finding the optimal solution is computationally expensive, we also introduce low-complexity algorithms that, while simpler, yield reasonable results close to the optimal solution. Although STDMA has been found to be very efficient and fair, one potential drawback is that it may adapt slower than a distributed approach like CSMA/CA to network changes produced e.g. by traffic variations and time-variant channel conditions. In CSMA/CA, nodes make their own decisions based on partial network information and the handshaking procedure allows the use of AAS at the transmitter and the receiver. How to effectively use AAS in CSMA/CA with handshaking is addressed in this thesis. Different beam selection policies using switched beam antenna systems are investigated. Finally, we demonstrate how the proposed techniques can be applied in a rural access scenario in Nicaragua. The result of a user-deployed MWN for Internet access shows that the supported aggregated end-to-end rate is higher than an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) connection.


Drawing on religious, ritual, and literary origins, the Noh theatre developed as a unique performance art and literary genre, incorporating Shintō-related mythology and Buddhist spirituality. In this paper two Noh plays, Yamamba and Nonomiya, are analyzed as case studies for how performative, literary, geographical, and ritual space overlap in mutual re-inscriptions of Buddhist and Shintō cosmologies. These two plays are particularly useful for such inquiry as they exemplify, respectively, two most prominent ways in which Shintō space is materialized: a distinguished shrine and its surroundings, and an open natural space (a mountain) understood to be residence of kami, while their shite (the leading protagonists) are an extension and embodiment of this space, eventually themselves becoming sites for the religious interplay taking place.


The fishery, population characteristics and yield estimates of coastal tunas Thunnus tonggol, Euthynnus affinis and Auxis thazard at Veraval were studied during 2003 – 2006. The average annual catch was 731 t, which contributed to 28% to the total gillnet catches. The main species of tunas landed were T. tonggol (46.8%), E. affinis (17.5%), Thunnus albacares (6.4%) and A. thazard (5.2%). E. affinis and A. thazard exhibited isometric growth but for T. tonggol it was allometric. The von Bertalanffy growth equation was Lt = 107.4 [1 – e - 0.18 (t + 0.0729)] for T. tonggol, Lt = 72.5 [1 – e - 0.56 (t + 0.0327)] for E. affinis and Lt = 46.6 [1 – e - 0.93 (t + 0.0153)] for A. thazard. The mortality rates M, F and Z for T. tonggol were 0.4, 0.72 and 1.12 respectively, while for E. affinis and A. thazard, the values were 0.94, 1.48 and 0.75 and 4.49, 1.69 and 5.97, respectively. The exploitation ratios for T. tonggol, E. affinis and A. thazard were 0.64, 0.44 and 0.75 respectively. The higher exploitation rate and lower MSY in T. tonggol and A. thazard was an indication of intensive fishing and overexploitation of these speceis. But for E. affinis, the exploitation rate was low and MSY was high indicating further scope for exploitation. Reducing the present fishing effort by 40%, maximum relative yield was realized for T. tonggol and A. thazard but for E. affinis, increasing the fishing effort by 80% provided the maximum relative yield.


CD40 is a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor family of cell surface proteins and was originally described as a B cell restricted antigen. Treatment of primary human monocytes with granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin 3 (IL-3), or interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) resulted in the induction of CD40 mRNA and enhancement of cell surface protein expression. CD40 was found to mediate monocyte adhesion to cells expressing recombinant CD40 ligand. CD40 ligand-transfected cells provided a potent costimulus for monocyte TNF-alpha and IL-6 production in the presence of GM-CSF, IL-3, or IFN-gamma, and enhanced IL-8 production stimulated by GM-CSF or IL- 3. In addition, CD40 ligand-transfected cells acting in the absence of a costimulus induced monocytes to become tumoricidal against a human melanoma cell target. Collectively, these data indicate that CD40 ligand is pleiotropic with potent biological activity on monocytes.


Hex-splines are a novel family of bivariate splines which are well suited to handle hexagonally sampled data. Similar to classical 1D B-splines, the spline coefficients need to be computed by a prefilter. Unfortunately, the elegant implementation of this prefilter by causal and anti-causal recursive filtering is not applicable for the (non-separable) hex-splines. Therefore, in this paper we introduce a novel approach from the viewpoint of approximation theory. We propose three different recursive filters and optimize their parameters such that a desired order of approximation is obtained. The results for third and fourth order hex-splines are discussed. Although the proposed solutions provide only quasi-interpolation, they tend to be very close to the interpolation prefilter.


This research work was performed to replace the antimicrobials that are usually used in the trading nipples' sealants, changing them by a local herbalist resource, the Brad (Erodium cicutarium), as an infusion in the active ingredient and this way detecting new antimicrobial fonts. To evaluate its efficiency, in-vitro analysis was made at school laboratory as well as in the Pharmacognosy Class of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since April 2013 until September 2013, fieldwork was made over bovines at Escuela Agropecuaria Provincial N°1 in Gobernador Gregores, Santa Cruz, Argentina. At in-vitro trials, the results obtained using sealer with brad as an infusion basis, showed a good antiseptic behavior as it reduced in more than 5 logarithms the units maker of colonies, coming from the nipple's skin. At fieldwork, after 21 days of application, it reduced the bacterial load of the nipple's skin in a statistically significant way (p < 0.001). A TLC analysis detected that in the brad infusion existed some kinds of flavonoids such as: rutin and other glycosides from quercetine. An HCPL analysis confirmed the presence of phenolic compounds such as quercitine, rutin, chlorogenic acid, isoquercitrine and quercitrine. The cost of the elaborated sealer was up to 30% lower than the trading ones.


Background Pharmacokinetic monitoring optimises drug treatment. However, blood samples should be carefully collected at the right time after drug administration. Otherwise, drug levels could be interpreted in the wrong way and the physician could make an incorrect clinical decision. Purpose To evaluate the percentage of blood samples collected at the wrong times in the Emergency Department (ED) with respect to time after drug administration. Material and methods A prospective observational study was conducted in the ED. All patients who took medicines that should be monitored were included. The study period was 20 days (June 2014). The following variables were recorded: demographics (age and gender) and pharmacokinetics (drug name, time of drug administration, time of sample collection and number of drug levels requested per patient). The collection times recommended in our institution are: a) digoxin: at least 8 h after oral administration and 3 h after intravenous administration; b) paracetamol poisoning: at least 4 h after the last administration; c) valproate, phenobarbital, carbamazepine and lithium: prior to next dose (trough level). Results A total of 40 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. 17 patients had plasma drug concentration measurements (65% were female and the median age was 65). The total number of drug measurements was 40 (1–5 measurements per patient). Regarding wrong sampling times, 20% blood samples (8/40) were collected at the wrong times: a) digoxin: 5/17 measurements (29%); b) paracetamol: 2/11 (18%), c) valproate: 1/6 (17%), d) phenobarbital: 0/3 (0%); e) carbamazepine: 0/1 (0%); f) lithium: 0/2 (0%). Conclusion A high percentage of drug levels were collected at the wrong times in the ED. This fact could lead to unnecessary sampling and data misinterpretation. For this reason, pharmacokinetics training provided by clinical pharmacists prior to blood sampling should be mandatory. References and/or acknowledgements No conflict of interest.


In Brassica napus, yellow petals had a much higher content of carotenoids than white petals present in a small number of lines, with violaxanthin identified as the major carotenoid compound in yellow petals of rapeseed lines. Using positional cloning we identified a carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase 4 gene, BnaC3.CCD4, responsible for the formation of flower colour, with preferential expression in petals of white-flowered B. napus lines. Insertion of a CACTA-like transposable element 1 (TE1) into the coding region of BnaC3.CCD4 had disrupted its expression in yellow-flowered rapeseed lines. α-Ionone was identified as the major volatile apocarotenoid released from white petals but not from yellow petals. We speculate that BnaC3.CCD4 may use δ- and/or α-carotene as substrates. Four variations, including two CACTA-like TEs (alleles M1 and M4) and two insertion/deletions (INDELs, alleles M2 and M3), were identified in yellow-flowered Brassica oleracea lines. The two CACTA-like TEs were also identified in the coding region of BcaC3.CCD4 in Brassica carinata. However, the two INDELs were not detected in B. napus and B. carinata. We demonstrate that the insertions of TEs in BolC3.CCD4 predated the formation of the two allotetraploids.


Dale Earnhardt was born on April 29, 1951, in Kannapolis (Cabarrus County [4]). His father Ralph [5], a competitive and innovative driver on the NASCAR [2]Modified, Sportsman and Grand National circuits, amassed 350 victories over a 23 year career. Dale followed in his father's footsteps, dropping out of school in ninth grade to pursue a career in racing [3]. Earnhardt made his stock car debut in 1975 in the World 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway [6], finishing 22nd. He drove sporadically, without a full-time sponsor, until 1979, when Richard Osterlund chose him as driver for his team. He won at Bristol in his 16th start, and went on to place in the top five in 11 races during the season. His performance was stellar enough to earn Rookie of the Year honors, and the following year he won the first of his seven Winston Cup Series titles (a feat equaled only by fellow North Carolinian Richard Petty). Known for his aggressive driving style, and in consequence dubbed "The Intimidator," Earnhardt dominated the sport through the 1980's and early 1990's. In addition to his seven Winston Cups, he won three IROC championships, was twice named American Driver of the Year, and five times named the National Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year. Dale Earnhardt was killed in the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 [7]on February 18, 2001, at the age of 49. His son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has continued the racing tradition of the Earnhardt family.


In healthy infants, crying behavior is reduced significantly by "supplemental" carrying; that is, increased carrying throughout the day in addition to that which occurs during feeding and in response to crying. To determine whether the recommendation to increase carrying would be effective as a therapy for colic, 66 mothers of infants 4 weeks of age or less who came to their pediatricians with complaints of crying problems ("colic") were randomized to receive standard pediatric advice (standard group) or standard advice plus the recommendation to increase supplemental carrying by 50% (supplemental group). Overall, the supplemental group carried their infants 6.1 hours/d throughout the intervention period, an increase of 2.2 hours/d (56%) more than that provided by the standard group. Despite this significant increase in carrying, there was no difference between groups in the duration or frequency of crying, fussing, or cry/fuss at any time throughout the intervention period. When the greatest treatment effect was expected at 6 weeks, the supplemental group infants cried only 3 minutes less per day (95% confidence interval: 37 minutes less to 32 minutes more per day). We conclude that, compared with standard pediatric advice to be "responsive," supplemental carrying does not reduce crying and fussing behavior further in infants who have colic. In marked contrast to healthy infants, this apparent resistance to increased carrying may indicate an important difference in state regulation and control in infants with colic.


Giving voice to the dispossessed and crafting stories of lives on the edge, lives almost lost, lives held in the balance, James Kelman writes about the things that touch us all. With honesty, toughness and humour, he confronts the issues of language, class, politics, gender and age - identity in all its forms - with a sympathetic pen and a sharp and observant eye. No other British writer today penetrates so deeply into the hearts, minds and desperation of his characters, and this collection is as uncompromising, and as beautiful, as anything he has ever written.


Toilets are a foundation of public health and a basic human right. Yet over 2.5 billion people do not have access to a safe and hygienic toilet in countries with developing economies. Both theorists and practitioners have argued that sanitation programs in countries with developing economies have failed to embrace the principles and tools offered by market--‐based approaches. Market--‐ based approaches to sanitation have predominantly arisen from the field of social marketing.

This thesis presents an integrated research process conducted in the sanitation sector over a three--‐year period in both rural and urban settings in Malawi. The core research components include; (a) formative market research of a sanitation program, (b) participatory design of sanitation technologies, (c) financial analysis of sanitation business models and (d) theoretical analysis using diffusion theory to examine the adoption of ecological toilets.

The research applied a pragmatic research paradigm accompanied with mixed methods. The formative market research identified two key market failures; i) a lack of suitable and affordable sanitation products and services and ii) a high awareness of government and donor subsidy programs that reduced consumer and supplier engagement in the market. In response to the market research findings the research validated the use of participatory approaches to engage users in the design of appropriate sanitation products. The participatory approach created a space for dialogue between home owners, builders and government representatives towards the design of sanitation products (and programs). Financial modelling demonstrated that low--‐cost sanitation options can support sustainable business models. Three components of diffusion theory (a) characteristics of innovators, (b) interpersonal information sources and (c) attributes of products were found to inform the design and analysis of market--‐ based approaches to sanitation in an urban setting.

The research shows that the application of market--‐based approaches to sanitation can present an evidence base to offer new insights into existing sanitation markets. The research also shows that the application of participatory methodologies can offer an innovative approach to stimulate the creation of appropriate sanitation products and to engage new suppliers and consumers in the sanitation market. The research offers a foundation for future researchers to utilise diffusion theory, and its extensive supporting literature, to design, manage and evaluate market--‐ based approaches to sanitation.


We study various representations for cyclic lambda-terms as higher-order or as first-order term graphs. We focus on the relation between 'lambda-higher-order term graphs' (lambda-ho-term-graphs), which are first-order term graphs endowed with a well-behaved scope function, and their representations as 'lambda-term-graphs', which are plain first-order term graphs with scope-delimiter vertices that meet certain scoping requirements. Specifically we tackle the question: Which class of first-order term graphs admits a faithful embedding of lambda-ho-term-graphs in the sense that (i) the homomorphism-based sharing-order on lambda-ho-term-graphs is preserved and reflected, and (ii) the image of the embedding corresponds closely to a natural class (of lambda-term-graphs) that is closed under homomorphism?
We systematically examine whether a number of classes of lambda-term-graphs have this property, and we find a particular class of lambda-term-graphs that satisfies this criterion. Term graphs of this class are built from application, abstraction, variable, and scope-delimiter vertices, and have the characteristic feature that the latter two kinds of vertices have back-links to the corresponding abstraction.
This result puts a handle on the concept of subterm sharing for higher-order term graphs, both theoretically and algorithmically: We obtain an easily implementable method for obtaining the maximally shared form of lambda-ho-term-graphs. Furthermore, we open up the possibility to pull back properties from first-order term graphs to lambda-ho-term-graphs, properties such as the complete lattice structure of bisimulation equivalence classes with respect to the sharing order.


Abstract Microcrystals of platinum-group element (PGE)-bearing cobaltite occur in the Gulcari A deposit of vanadiferous titanomagnetite in the lower zone of the Rio Jacaré mafic-ultramafic layered intrusion, Brazil. Aggregates of cobaltite and sperrylite are cluster-like and developed generally along the boundary of Fe-Ti oxide grains with deuteric silicates. Our observations of cryptic zoning, compositional variability and interelement correlations are based on 37 analytical points (wavelength-dispersion spectrometry mode) of cobaltite, and indicate that Ir and Rh behave uniformly with Ni and antipathetically with Co which, in turn, correlates directly with S content. Iridium, Rh and Ni apparently substitute for Co in the As-enriched grain core, and the substitution mechanism invokes solid solution with a cattierite-type molecule: (Ni + Ir + Rh) + (AsS) = Co + (S2). The PGE-bearing cobaltite probably crystallized as a primary phase at 500 to 300°C, from microvolumes of a late fluid phase. The observed enrichment in S and decrease in the As:S ratio at the cobaltite grain margins is a reflection of the increase in sulfur fugacity ( fS₂) with decrease in temperature of crystallization.


This thesis is comprised of three separate empirical chapters on the closed-end fund industry. The first chapter examines the performance and trading volume of UK Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) focusing on the expiry of the minimum holding period required for investors to gain income tax relief on VCT shares bought at flotation. The second explores the effect of repurchase transactions on the stock liquidity of UK closed-end funds. The third chapter investigates the relationship between pay-performance sensitivity (PPS) and fund risk of US closed-end funds. The first empirical chapter finds negative abnormal returns and permanent increases in trading volumes at and around the expiry of the required holding periods of VCTs. VCTs investing in companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market experience higher abnormal returns and lower abnormal trading volumes than VCTs investing in unquoted companies. VCTs with better asset performance during the required holding period have lower abnormal returns and higher abnormal trading volumes. Income tax relief becomes more generous (increases from 20 to 40 percent) and holding periods shorter (from five to three years) over the sample period. The more generous (to the investors) the income tax relief, the higher the abnormal returns and the lower the abnormal trading volumes. The second empirical chapter reports that repurchase transactions improve the stock liquidity of closed-end funds suggesting that funds act as ?competing market makers?. However, the positive liquidity effect of repurchase transactions is short-lived and positively affected by the frequency of repurchase transactions. The positive effect seems to have been increased by the change in repurchase regulations on 1st December 2003 that allowed funds to re-issue repurchased shares and appears to have increased the ability of funds to manage their stock liquidity.The third empirical chapter finds that fund risk has a positive impact on fund PPS, suggesting that shareholders need to provide greater compensation incentives to managers of riskier firms to reduce the adverse selection problem. PPS has a positive effect on fund risk, which suggests that, in the closed-end fund industry, the increase in the value of the fund manager?s wealth due to a higher PPS outweighs the negative effect of increased pay volatility on the manager?s expected utility.


In the last 23 years, the Indonesian government has used a variety of strategies to impose Indonesian identity in East Timor, while at the same time eliminating any cultural and political manifestation perceived as a threat to the integrationist agenda of Jakarta. The strategies have included heavy military repression, the transfer of thousands of Javanese and Balinese "transmigrant" workers to East Timor, the implementation of large development projects, and the establishment of a widespread educational system designed to inculcate in children respect and admiration for Indonesia's values, beliefs, and practices. These strategies have failed to achieve their avowed purpose and instead have stimulated greater resistance. East Timorese nationalism is stronger than ever and each strategy has only fueled more rage against the Indonesian government (Anderson, 1995). While Indonesia tries desperately to show the world a facade of acquiescence and even contentment among East Timorese, the resistance movement, both local and international, is growing day by day. The liberation movement has been successful in propagating symbols, histories, and forms of communication that constitute the core of East Timorese nationalism as a means of rejecting the ethos imposed by Indonesia. As Benedict Anderson (1993: 25) pointed out, the East Timorese do not "imagine" themselves as citizens of Indonesia, but as victims of a colonial order that seeks to impose an alien way of life on them. Of the nonmilitary activities, Indonesia implemented a large-scale educational system unprecedented in the history of East Timor (Mubyarto et al., 1991: 40). Indonesia has used education as the cornerstone of its assimilationist policy for two reasons. First, it wanted to show the 750,000 Timorese(1) and the international community the purported benevolence of its presence. Second, it knew that through education the Indonesian government could resocialize the younger generations. Through the imposition of the Indonesian language, the national Pancasila ideology,(2) the respect for typical Indonesian symbols of patriotism such as the flag and the national anthem, and the dissemination of a new version of history, Indonesia sought to ensure that young Timorese could eventually come to view themselves as full-fledged Indonesian citizens. Moreover, schools would become the main sites of interaction between Timorese and the children of transmigrant workers - Indonesians who voluntarily decide to migrate to East Timor in search of better economic opportunities. The Indonesian government hoped that through close contact among students, potential animosity between the different ethnic and religious groups would dissipate over time. The failure of the assimilationist enterprise is most evident precisely in the educational system. Although one full generation has gone through Indonesian schooling, children as young as eight years of age all the way to university students resist the presence of Indonesia by speaking and chanting songs in Tetum (East Timor's most widely spoken indigenous language), holding secret and illegal political meetings, becoming fervent practicing Catholics, passing onto the younger generations local legends and a different narrative of history - widely different from the one they receive at school - and actively and passively opposing their Indonesian teachers. Indonesia's efforts to create a loyal citizenry among the newer generations are collapsing because, ultimately, a Timorese national identity has been created in contraposition to the political and social understandings predicated by the Indonesian government. This article is based on extensive interviews conducted in 1994 and 1995 among East Timorese political refugees living in Portugal.(3) Due to the extremely sensitive political situation in Timor, researchers are often forced to gather their information outside the island, mainly among the refugee communities in Australia, the Netherlands, and Portugal. …


An optimization algorithm for minimizing a smooth function over a convex set is described. Each iteration of the method computes a descent direction by minimizing, over the original constraints, a diagonal plus lowrank quadratic approximation to the function. The quadratic approximation is constructed using a limited-memory quasi-Newton update. The method is suitable for large-scale problems where evaluation of the function is substantially more expensive than projection onto the constraint set. Numerical experiments on one-norm regularized test problems indicate that the proposed method is competitive with state-of-the-art methods such as boundconstrained L-BFGS and orthant-wise descent. We further show that the method generalizes to a wide class of problems, and substantially improves on state-of-the-art methods for problems such as learning the structure of Gaussian graphical models and Markov random elds.


Abstract. Fossil fuel use, cement manufacture and land-use changes are the primary sources of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere, with the ocean absorbing approximately 30% (Sabine et al., 2004). Ocean uptake and chemical equilibration of anthropogenic CO2 with seawater results in a gradual reduction in seawater pH and saturation states (Ω) for calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals in a process termed ocean acidification. Assessing the present and future impact of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems requires detection of the multi-decadal rate of change across ocean basins and at ocean time-series sites. Here, we show the longest continuous record of ocean CO2 changes and ocean acidification in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre near Bermuda from 1983–2011. Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) increased in surface seawater by ~40 μmol kg−1 and ~50 μatm (~20%), respectively. Increasing Revelle factor (β) values imply that the capacity of North Atlantic surface waters to absorb CO2 has also diminished. As indicators of ocean acidification, seawater pH decreased by ~0.05 (0.0017 yr−1) and ω values by ~7–8%. Such data provide critically needed multi-decadal information for assessing the North Atlantic Ocean CO2 sink and the pH changes that determine marine ecosystem responses to ocean acidification.


The only species of crayfish native to the British Isles, i.e. Austropotamobius pallipes, is presently widely distributed throughout much of England, Wales and Ireland. The main controlling factor behind this distribution is the predominantly "bicarbonate" freshwater system of the British Isles. In geological terms, native crayfish are generally found in areas of chalk, carboniferous or magnesium limestone, or drift deposits of boulder clay. More recently, native crayfish have been affected by a general decline in the quality of Britain's freshwater system largely due to sewage effluent and agricultural. By far the majority of native crayfish records are associated with water bodies of very good or good quality, with the result that many populations of A. pallipes are isolated in small, good quality headwaters, due to the degree of pollution in the main rivers acting as "chemical barriers".

The last two decades have seen a number of alien species of crayfish imported into England and Wales for aquaculture and culinary purposes. Deliberate and accidental introductions have resulted in the establishment of populations of these species in the wild, the most widespread being the North American signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus and the European slender-clawed crayfish Astacus leptodactylus. An important and devastating consequence of the introduction of alien species of crayfish has been the spread of the crayfish plague fungus Aphanomyces astaci, possibly initiated by infected P. leniusculus. Both A. pallipes and A. leptodactylus are susceptible to the disease, with the result that populations of A. pallipes have been eliminated from, whole lengths of river, such as the River Kennet and the Hampshire River Avon. The nature of the disease and the ease with which it is spread means that crayfish is an ongoing problem in England and Wales, with new populations of A. pallipes regularly becoming affected.

The distribution of alien species in the British Isles is an artificial one, initially determined by man, although consideration of water quality may have determined the choice of aquaculture sites. However, established populations of alien species in the wild will be subject to the same constraints as A. pallipes, which will affect their subsequent spread and distribution in the freshwater system of England and Wales. A greater tolerance of environmental factors may allow alien species to inhabit waters not currently occupied by the native species, such as polluted or estuarial waters, and possibly threaten populations of A. pallipes protected by "chemical barriers".

This study investigated and compared some of the environmental tolerances of A. pallipes, A. leptodactylus and P. leniusculus and consisted of two parts:
1.) Comparison of the tolerance of A. pallipes, A. leptodactylus and P. leniusculus to four common pollutants; chloride, copper, ammonia and lindane, using lethal and sublethal toxicity tests.

 No species was found to have a greater overall pollution tolerance on the basis of the toxicants used in this study. Median lethal concentrations (LC50) obtained from lethal studies with stage II juveniles indicated that A. leptodactylus juveniles were most tolerant of chloride, but were very sensitive to lindane. P. leniusculus stage II juveniles were least tolerant of chloride, but of equal or greater tolerance when tested in larger juvenile stages, and were most tolerant of copper. A. pallipes juveniles were very sensitive to copper, and all three species showed a similar sensitivity to ammonia. However, episodic experiments with ammonia and copper indicated that differential short-term tolerance to toxicants, i.e. less than 24 hours, may be important in determining the outcome of episodic pollution events on crayfish populations.

Salinity studies indicated high resistance to chloride, with all three species able to tolerate salinities up to 50% seawater, implying freshwater crayfish may be able to tolerate estuarine conditions. Accumulation studies with P. leniusculus inferred resistance to high levels of copper in the environment, with a substantial storage capacity for the metal and a regulatory mechanism for excretion of excess amounts. However, establishment of populations under high saline or high copper conditions would be limited by the lower tolerance of early life stages. Similarly, sublethal studies implied that sublethal toxicant effects on early life stages may be important in determining presence or absence of crayfish from a waterbody, through effects on recruitment.

2.) Comparison of the thermal relations of A. pallipes, A. leptodactylus and P. leniusculus, using tolerance, growth and respiration experiments.

Results from tolerance experiments showed that P. leniusculus had a greater overall thermal tolerance, so is more resistant to changes in environmental temperature, such as in waters affected by thermal discharges or in waters affected by drought and reduced flow. In growth experiments P. leniusculus grew faster at all temperatures tested and was predicted to grow at temperatures unsuitable for the other species. Therefore, P. leniusculus would not only be able to survive and grow in conditions unsuitable for A. pallipes and A. leptodactylus, but will also grow faster where favourable conditions exist for all three species. Field experiments showed that, although P. leniusculus juveniles were smaller on release from the female, they were released earlier and their faster growth rate allowed them to maintain a distinct size advantage over A. pallipes juveniles, which was very marked by the end of the growing season. Large size is a key element in the attributes leading to competitive success in other crayfish species. Field observations on mixed populations of plague-free P. leniusculus and A. pallipes indeed show that signal crayfish are superior competitors, eventually eliminating A. pallipes. Therefore temperature effects may be important in determining the outcome of competition in mixed crayfish populations.


Detailed formal protocol with illustrations and extensive bibliography. Note: Some information has been redacted in the publicly-available version due to privacy issues. For questions, contact email@example.com.


This volume provides a detailed and comprehensive assessment of the performance of the Spanish economy in the 1990s and examines Spain's future prospects versus European Economic and Monetary Union. It analyses recent structural changes in the Spanish economy and macro-economic performance, as well as developments in government policy. The book also contains in-depth empirical studies of recent reforms in the labour market, changes in industry and the process of privatisation. This is an extremely valuable work for all those with an interest in the Spanish economy and European Economics.


The purpose of this research is to determine the linearity and monotonicity of the THS5651IDW digital to analog converter (DAC), a prototype of the future Texas Instruments TLV5651, 10-bit, 125 MHz communication DAC. Testing was conducted at the Texas Instruments facility on Forest Lane, Dallas, Texas. Texas Instruments provided test equipment, software and laboratory space to obtain test data. Analysis of the data found the DAC to be monotonic since the magnitude of the differential nonlinearity (DNL) was less than ± 1 least significant bit (LSB) and the integral nonlinearity (INL) was less than ± 0.5 LSB. The study also showed that the DAC has primarily negative DNL although the DNL is well within the desired specification.


The characteristics of a high-power single-chip blue light-emitting diode (LED) operating with >10 W input power are reported. The LED chip was fabricated in the form of a vertical-injection structure with chip dimensions of 1.8×1.8 mm. Electrode patterns at the n-GaN surface were designed to optimise the output power and operation voltage. Electrical and optical characteristics of the LED were measured up to 3 A injection current under pulsed operation condition. Output power and forward voltage at 3 A were obtained to be 3.3 W and 3.67 V, respectively, which demonstrates the wall-plug efficiency of >30% with 10 W input power. Even higher output power and efficiency are expected from the single-chip LED by reducing the efficiency droop of InGaN-based LEDs.


The state reports describe the safety net and health care programs in place for low-income people on the eve of welfare reform. The reports also analyze the particular circumstances that are shaping the state's response to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). The state reports are based on case studies in the respective state.


In recent years, student surveys have played an increasingly large role in educational research, policy making, and, particularly, accountability efforts. However, research on the accuracy of students' self-reports about themselves and their education is limited to analyses of overall grade point average and ACT/SAT standardized test scores. Using a unique data set, we investigate the accuracy of students' survey responses to questions about their course taking and grades in mathematics during high school. We then analyze which student and survey characteristics influence accuracy. We find that students are reasonably good reporters of course-taking patterns but poor reporters of more potentially sensitive questions, including when the student completed Algebra I and the grade earned in the course. We find that lack of accuracy in student survey reports is consistently related to several student characteristics.


This article presents a qualitative study that examines the roles of pedagogues in elementary schools with regard to young children's information literacy. The concept of information literacy is seen from a sociocultural perspective, as a dimension of literacy that varies in different social practices. Further, from this perspective the importance of the mediating functions of tools used in information seeking is stressed. Data was collected from a Swedish village school from one focus group interview and two individual interviews with different kinds of pedagogues. Problem-centred teaching was also observed in five forms with pupils aged 6–8. In the analysis an overarching division or two discourses connected to information literacy emerged. On the one hand, literacy, aesthetic activities and the reading of fiction were the focus and, on the other hand, there was a focus on information literacy, utilitarian information-seeking activities and ICT-tools. It is also shown that information seeking is given a certain meaning in problem-centred activities in elementary school. The authors consider that the discourses found in the empirical material might have implications for the concept of information literacy, if they are explored to a fuller extent.


In the late 1940s, Arnold Kegel first described pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) to prevent and treat pelvic floor dysfunctions such as urinary incontinence (UI) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Several systematic reviews and Cochrane reviews conclude that there is level 1A evidence for prevention and treatment of PFMT for UI1 and POP.2 Despite the strong evidence for PFMT for these conditions, several other exercise regimens have been proposed and advocated to manage UI and POP. Specifically for stress UI, Pilates and Paula methods, Tai Chi and other methods based on breathing exercises and correction of body posture have very limited or questionable effects based on randomised controlled trials (RCTs).3

The abdominal hypopressive technique (AHT) may be classified as a breathing exercise. It was developed in the 1980s by a physical therapist named Dr Marcel Caufriez, and is widely known and used in countries including France, Italy, Spain, Canada and countries of South America. Those in charge of …


We present results from an experimental program designed to simulate interseismic healing of fault gouge at midcrustal depths. Simulated fault gouge specimens consisting of a quartzo-feldspathic sand were deformed in triaxial shear at temperatures up to 250°C. Specimens were loaded to steady state sliding and then subjected to a hold period of up to 2 days at a reduced level of axial load. During the hold periods, the aqueous pore fluid was cycled through the gouge layer, allowing for continuous permeability measurements. It was found that the specimens would progressively "seal" during hold periods. Sealing rates were found to be faster at higher temperature and also at earlier stages of the experiments. Subsequent reloading showed that strengthening, or "healing," had occurred and that the amount of this healing was closely related to the net amount of sealing, rather than to holding time. During reloading, some recovery of permeability occurred, although every hold period resulted in a net loss of permeability. Based on postexperimental pore fluid analysis, observation of the indurated and deformed gouge, and associated work from a concurrent study, we conclude that the sealing was a result of secondary mineral precipitation and that the healing resulted from the cementation of grains by the precipitating minerals. This "precipitation sealing" mechanism is distinct from mechanisms that have been observed to cause healing or "aging" in dry friction experiments. Thus, healing from precipitation sealing is a likely mechanism for explaining the underprediction of laboratory estimates of healing based on dry friction laws relative to healing observed in natural faults. Precipitation sealing also may contribute to maintenance of abnormally high pore fluid pressures within fault gouge zones.


Draft regulations have been published under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act (68 of 2008 (CPA)). These (the General Regulations) appeared for comment in the Government Gazette as General Notice 1099 on November 23 2010. The commentary period expired on January 31 2011. It was an important part of the exercise of rights by the public pursuant to s33 of the Constitution, which guarantees everybody the right to procedurally fair administrative justice.