This report describes and illustrates the use of a mathematical model, developed at TRRL, to study travel within a specified land-use pattern. The model, which is called LUTE, was designed with the primary aim of providing a means of testing a range of transport and land-use policies concerning housing densities and development control, public transport services, fares and subsidies, fuel consumption, fuel prices, car ownership levels and the demand for road space, speed limits, inner city congestion and parking difficulties. In so doing, the work also provided a test bed for research into modelling itself, in particular the ability of different modelling assumptions to reproduce observed travel behaviour. In its calibrated state the behaviour of the model apppears to be in good agreement with observed travel behaviour. Its particular strengths lie in (a) the high spatial resolution made possible by the use of Gaussian integration, which allows the model to represent walking accurately, (b) the more realistic representation of car availability, (c) the provision of bus services under financial and vehicle capacity constraints, and (d) the adoption of constraints on average travel time and numbers of journeys per person per day. These strengths were attained at the expense of omitting any explicit road network and limiting the provision of public transport to a single corridor, so as to keep complexity and computing costs within bounds. (Author/TRRL)


The transition from early to late stage infection by adenovirus involves a change in mRNA expression from the adenovirus major late transcription unit (AdMLTU). This early to late switch centers around alternative selection of one of five poly (A) sites (L1–L5) that code for the major structural proteins of Adenovirus. During the early stage of infection, steady state mRNA is primarily derived from the L1 poly (A) site. During the late stage of infection, each of the MLTU poly (A) sites is represented in the steady state mRNA pool (Falck-Pedersen, E., Logan, J., 1989. Regulation of poly(A) site selection in adenovirus. J. Virol. 63 (2), 532–541.). Using transient transfection of a plasmid expressing Chloramphenicol Acetyl Transferase with a tandem poly (A) minigene system (L13) (DeZazzo, J.D., Falck-Pedersen, E., Imperiale, M.J., 1991. Sequences regulating temporal poly(A) site switching in the adenovirus major late transcription unit. Mol. Cell. Biol. 11 (12), 5977–5984; Prescott, J., Falck-Pedersen, E., 1994. Sequence elements upstream of the 3Vcleavage site confer substrate strength to the adenovirus L1 and L3 polyadenylation sites. Mol. Cell. Biol. 14 (7), 4682–4693.), it has been demonstrated that the promoter-proximal L1 poly (A) site which is poorly recognized by the 3V end processing machinery, contains an upstream repressor element (URE) that influences steady state levels of mRNA (Prescott, J.C., Liu, L., Falck-Pedersen, E., 1997. Sequence-mediated regulation of adenovirus gene expression by repression of mRNA accumulation. Mol. Cell. Biol. 17 (4), 2207–2216.). In this study, we have further characterized the elements that mediate L1URE function. These studies indicate that the L1 upstream regulatory element (L1 URE) contains a complex RNA architecture that serves to repress gene expression through multiple sub-effectors. The L1URE functions when located upstream of a heterologous poly (A) site, and is able to strongly suppress steady state mRNA expression from the MLTU L3 poly (A) site or the murine hglobin poly (A) site. In the tandem L13 mini-gene system, the L1URE is revealed to influence steady state mRNA stability, and subdomains within L1URE influence both gene expression and the steady state ratio of transcripts processed at proximal versus distal poly (A) sites. Transcript and gene repression mediated by the L1URE may provide a general strategy employed by adenovirus to block premature expression of late stage MLTU transcripts. D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Date of Award Spring 5-10-2014 Degree Type Thesis Degree Name Master of Arts (MA) Department Religious Studies First Advisor Molly Bassett Second Advisor Kathryn McClymond Third Advisor Monique Moultrie Fourth Advisor John Burrison Abstract The fairy figure has had a long association with Ireland in popular cultural discourse. While often the source of children's fairy tales, their history in Ireland is far from kitsch. Their enduring association with the Irish has been one of adaptation in the face of colonialism and is linked to the land itself as well as Irish identity. The Gaelic Revival and emerging field of archaeology in the nineteenth century pulled from a strong tradition of myth and storytelling to craft a narrative of authentic Irishness that could resist the English culturally and spiritually. This paper explores the relationship between nationalism, landscape, and mythology that created a space that the fairy survived in as a product of colonial resistance and identity. Recommended Citation Barber, Natalie, "The Way They Never Were: Nationalism, Landscape, and Myth in Irish Identity Construction." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2014. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/rs_theses/47  Download


The Convolution Neural Network (CNN) has demonstrated the unique advantage in audio, image and text learning; recently it has also challenged Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) with long short-term memory cells (LSTM) in sequence-to-sequence learning, since the computations involved in CNN are easily parallelizable whereas those involved in RNN are mostly sequential, leading to a performance bottleneck. However, unlike RNN, the native CNN lacks the history sensitivity required for sequence transformation; therefore enhancing the sequential order awareness, or position-sensitivity, becomes the key to make CNN the general deep learning model. In this work we introduce an extended CNN model with strengthen position-sensitivity, called PoseNet. A notable feature of PoseNet is the asymmetric treatment of position information in the encoder and the decoder. Experiments shows that PoseNet allows us to improve the accuracy of CNN based sequence-to-sequence learning significantly, achieving around 33-36 BLEU scores on the WMT 2014 English-to-German translation task, and around 44-46 BLEU scores on the English-to-French translation task.


Citrus Viroid IV or Bark cracking viroid (CVd-IV) has been reported from various countries, mostly in the Near East, but was unknown in southern Africa. It can cause severe bark cracking of trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata), but symptoms on the indicator, Arizona 861-S-1 Etrog (Citrus medica), are mild and transient, usually leaf epinasty (2-4). CVd-IV was detected for the first time in South Africa during the 2009 biennial indexing of mother trees maintained for the South African Citrus Improvement Scheme (CIS). Symptoms were observed on Etrog indicators budded with material from mother trees of DuRoi Valencia sweet orange (C. sinensis). Initially, leaf bend of a single leaf was noted on one plant, and later, petiole browning developed on all test plants. Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR testing confirmed CVd-IV infection by amplification of a 286-bp PCR product representing the full-length CVd genome using the primers CVd-IV-F3 5'-GGTGGATACAACTCTTGGG-3' (1) and CVd-IV-SL3 5'-GGGTAGTTTCTATCTCAG-3' (N. Duran-Vila personal communication). Samples of 78 field and 30 nursery trees of DuRoi Valencia supplied over a 7-year period from the CIS were budded on Etrog and tested 3 months after inoculation. Ninety positive samples were obtained from trees up to 7 years old. These trees were on either Swingle citrumelo (P. trifoliata × C. paradisi) or rough lemon (C. jambhiri) rootstocks and no symptoms of bark-cracking or other abnormalities were noted on these trees. Following the initial interception, a comprehensive screening of the CIS gene source, consisting of 450 cultivars, was initiated and CVd-IV was detected in five other accessions: SB navel (C. sinensis) collected in 1984 in Kwa-Zulu Natal Province of South Africa, Gillemberg navel (C. sinensis) collected in 1986 in Limpopo Province, Tarocco midseason (C. sinensis) imported from Sicily in 1987, Fortuna mandarin (C. reticulata) imported from Spain in 1987, and Westin midseason (C. sinensis) imported from Brazil in 1994. None of these accessions are planted on a commercial scale and field observations are therefore not possible. PCR amplicons of all positive samples were bidirectionally sequenced and sequences submitted to GenBank. Sequence comparisons showed those obtained from DuRoi Valencia (JN903763), Tarocco (JN903764), and SB Navel (JN903765), and GenBank reference sequences AB054633 (Japan) and HM042747 (China) to be identical. Likewise, the South African sequences from Westin (JN903766) and Gillemberg (JN903767) were identical to reference sequences X14638 and NC_003539 (Israel) and GQ260216 (Iran). The Fortuna sequence (JN903762) differed by two base pairs from the latter group. On the basis of the entry dates of the accessions, it is probable that CVd-IV has been in South Africa since at least 1984, but was not detected during indexing because of the erratic symptom expression of CVd-IV on Etrog. Existing CVd-IV-contaminated field material will be monitored for possible disease expression, but thus far the trifoliate hybrid and rough lemon rootstocks do not show the same susceptibility as reported for P. trifoliata (4). The detection of CVd-IV in field and gene-source material emphasizes the importance of intensive and specific indexing to ensure distribution of pathogen-free citrus in South Africa. References: (1) L. Bernad and N. Duran-Vila. Mol. Cell. Probes 20:105, 2006. (2) N. Duran Vila et al. J. Gen. Virol. 69:3069, 1988. (3) H. Putcha et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 19:6640, 1991. (4) C. Vernière et al. Plant. Dis. 88:1189, 2004.


For a new type of bevel gear—logarithmic spiral bevel gear, establish its tooth direction curves and the mathematical model of tooth surface equation. With CAD software platform which can intuitive understanding of complex curves and combined with conical logarithmic spiral parameter equation build the logarithmic spiral on cone surface. Then array logarithmic spiral to make them evenly distributed in the cone surface, without any interference and to meet the strength distribution on both ends of circular truncated cone equally. Use two logarithmic spirals from different starpoint as tooth direction curves of lift and right tooth surface. Finally, use space geometric knowledge to build tooth surface equation by tooth direction curves and tooth profile curves.


Dictionary of Mass Communication & Media Research. David Demers. Spokane, WA: Marquette Books, 2005. 358 pp. $59.95 hbk. $39.95 pbk. Webster's Dictionary defines the word "dictionary" as: "A reference book listing alphabetically terms or names important to a particular subject or activity along with discussion of their meanings and applications." While traditional dictionaries are focused on enlightening the general public about the meanings of a wide variety of words, more specialized dictionaries are designed to provide users with an explanation of terms and phrases that pertain to a particular area of study or research. Enter the Dictionary of Mass Communication & Media Research. This comprehensive volume is a collection of words and phrases related to the communications field, touching upon everything from "absolutism" to "zoom lens" and encompassing terms in between that relate to mass media history, law, theory, ethics, professional practice, etc. The book was compiled by David Deniers, associate professor of communication at Washington State University and author or editor of eleven other books including An Interpretive Introduction to Mass Communication, Global Media: Menace or Messiah?, and The Menace of the Corporate Newspaper: Fact or Fiction? In the book's preface, Demers explains his reasons for creating such a specialized dictionary, noting, "My goal in writing this dictionary...was not to compose the definitive dictionary on mass communication. I do not think that can be done, nor do I expect readers to agree with all of the definitions I've provided herein. Instead, my primary goal was to write a dictionary that would stimulate new ideas and theories about mass communication processes and effects-something other social science dictionaries and encyclopedias have been doing for me for many years." While the author makes no pretense of trying to cover it all, his book is certainly inclusive, as Demers has made an attempt to address many different aspects of the mass media field. For example, from a media history/biography perspective, while the dictionary contains brief biographical sketches of notables of the field such as Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, it also includes entries on more recent contributors to the profession such as filmmaker Michael Moore and Tim Berners-Lee, Internet pioneer. Capsule descriptions of well-known communications theories such as agenda setting, framing, and knowledge gap are included, along with mini-biographies of some noted theorists such as Jurgen Habermas and Noam Chomsky. …


The settlement of the American West during the nineteenth century produced a flourishing Hayekian legal because of the extended absence of state-based legal systems from large parts of the West. Without the crowding out of private law that accompanies the state's assertion of a monopoly over some areas of the law and subsidized competition in others, individuals created dispute resolution mechanisms and rules based on custom and contract. These examples of systems built by not-particularly-well-educated cowboys, gold miners, and migrants suggest that Hayekian legal orders can serve as effective, complete substitutes for state-provided law. This paper surveys Hayek's legal theory, primarily as set forth in Law, Legislation, and Liberty, and then examines three customary law institutions from the nineteenth century West: mining camps, cattlemen's associations, and vigilance committees. The paper concludes that all three showed some of the key characteristics of a Hayekian legal institution. The Western experience suggests three lessons for reviving Hayekian legal institutions. First, steps that reduce the state's attractiveness as a means of plunder will diminish the plunder interest group's demand for the state's crowding out of private legal institutions. The Takings Clause, for example, restricts the ability to plunder by requiring the state to pay market prices for resources it takes. [1] Interpreting restrictions on takings broadly can thus reduce the lure of plunder and provide a greater space for the development and survival of Hayekian legal institutions. Second, ending the subsidization of state provided legal services (e.g. the minimal charges for filing law suits) will prevent crowding out of private efforts to provide the same services. Third, these examples flourished on the frontier. The frontier is a difficult place. Conditions are harsh, social capital spread thin, and many of the institutions we take for granted are missing or scarce. Yet the frontier is also a place where Hayekian legal institutions flourish. Moreover, those institutions were lost as civilization advances on the frontier. This suggests that looking on current frontiers is a good place to find Hayekian legal institutions. The larger conclusion is that the Western experience confirms some important aspects of Hayek's legal theory. Spontaneous legal orders are present in societies of great wealth, with cultures not overly dissimilar from today's, not only in medieval Iceland and Anglo-Saxon England. For all the real problems that exist in Hayekian legal theory, it accurately describes real institutions not just utopias. [1] See Richard A. Epstein, TAKINGS: PRIVATE PROPERTY AND THE POWER OF EMINENT DOMAIN (1985).


With the representation effectiveness, skeleton-based human action recognition has received considerable research attention, and has a wide range of real applications. In this area, many existing methods typically rely on fixed physicalconnectivity skeleton structure for recognition, which is incapable of well capturing the intrinsic high-order correlations among skeleton joints. In this paper, we propose a novel spatio-temporal graph routing (STGR) scheme for skeletonbased action recognition, which adaptively learns the intrinsic high-order connectivity relationships for physicallyapart skeleton joints. Specifically, the scheme is composed of two components: spatial graph router (SGR) and temporal graph router (TGR). The SGR aims to discover the connectivity relationships among the joints based on sub-group clustering along the spatial dimension, while the TGR explores the structural information by measuring the correlation degrees between temporal joint node trajectories. The proposed scheme is naturally and seamlessly incorporated into the framework of graph convolutional networks (GCNs) to produce a set of skeleton-joint-connectivity graphs, which are further fed into the classification networks. Moreover, an insightful analysis on receptive field of graph node is provided to explain the necessity of our method. Experimental results on two benchmark datasets (NTU-RGB+D and Kinetics) demonstrate the effectiveness against the state-of-the-art.


Background Tuberculosis is an important risk factor for chronic respiratory disease in resource poor settings. The persistence of abnormal spirometry and symptoms after treatment are well described, but the structural abnormalities underlying these changes remain poorly defined, limiting our ability to phenotype post-TB lung disease in to meaningful categories for clinical management, prognostication, and ongoing research. The relationship between post-TB lung damage and patient-centred outcomes including functional impairment, respiratory symptoms, and health related quality of life also remains unclear. Methods We performed a systematic literature review to determine the prevalence and pattern of imaging-defined lung pathology in adults after medical treatment for pleural, miliary, or pulmonary TB disease. Data were collected on study characteristics, and the modality, timing, and findings of thoracic imaging. The proportion of studies relating imaging findings to spirometry results and patient morbidity was recorded. Study quality was assessed using a modified Newcastle-Ottowa score. (Prospero Registration number CRD42015027958) Results We identified 37 eligible studies. The principle features seen on CXR were cavitation (8.3–83.7%), bronchiectasis (4.3–11.2%), and fibrosis (25.0–70.4%), but prevalence was highly variable. CT imaging identified a wider range of residual abnormalities than CXR, including nodules (25.0–55.8%), consolidation (3.7–19.2%), and emphysema (15.0–45.0%). The prevalence of cavitation was generally lower (7.4–34.6%) and bronchiectasis higher (35.0–86.0%) on CT vs. CXR imaging. A paucity of prospective data, and data from HIV-infected adults and sub-Saharan Africa (sSA) was noted. Few studies related structural damage to physiological impairment, respiratory symptoms, or patient morbidity. Conclusions Post-TB structural lung pathology is common. Prospective data are required to determine the evolution of this lung damage and its associated morbidity over time. Further data are required from HIV-infected groups and those living in sSA.


A differential absorption lidar has been built to measure CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. The transmitter is a pulsed single-frequency Ho:Tm:YLF laser at a 2.05-microm wavelength. A coherent heterodyne receiver was used to achieve sensitive detection, with the additional capability for wind profiling by a Doppler technique. Signal processing includes an algorithm for power measurement of a heterodyne signal. Results show a precision of the CO2 concentration measurement of 1%-2% 1sigma standard deviation over column lengths ranging from 1.2 to 2.8 km by an average of 1000 pulse pairs. A preliminary assessment of instrument sensitivity was made with an 8-h-long measurement set, along with correlative measurements with an in situ sensor, to determine that a CO2 trend could be detected.


Scientific editors are a specialized group of editors who are usually attached to research institutes, centres of higher learning and professional societies. Unlike general editors, scientific editors prepare technical information for dissemination to a specialized audience. Selection of scientific editors and editorial boards in Malaysia is mainly based on the scope and policy of the journal that it will serve. In the selection of scientific editors either by the Chief Editor or the management, the following qualities or characteristics are looked for : (i) objectivity (ii) research experience and involvement (iii) contacts with researchers in identical fields (iv) resourcefulness (v) dedication and (vi) time for board meetings and activities. For a very specialized journal, the Editorial Board may be small with the members being chosen to represent each area of specialization. Sometimes they themselves may serve as referees to the articles received. On the other hand, the Editorial Board members of a very diverse journal like UPM's journal, PERTANIKA, receive and appraise articles. They do not usually referee but instead identify referees for each paper received. This is to ensure impartiality as well as to maintain research excellence. The Editorial Board collectively rejects or accepts papers for publication. In its decision to accept a paper, it has to ensure that it is within the scope and policy of the journal. The Editorial Board also plays the unenviable role of a 'middleman' between the authorities on one part and the authors, referees, printers, subscribers and readers on the other part to ensure the timely production of the journal in an efficient and resourceful manner. Finally, the Editorial Board ensures the dissemination of the journal to most of its target audience.


Protein-ligand interactions are frequently screened using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The dissociation constant (KD) of a ligand of interest can be determined via a spin-spin relaxation measurement of a reporter ligand in a single scan when using hyperpolarization by means of dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization (D-DNP). Despite nearly instantaneous signal acquisition, a limitation of D-DNP for the screening of protein-ligand interactions is the required polarization time on the order of tens of minutes. Here, we introduce a multiplexed NMR experiment, where a single hyperpolarized ligand sample is rapidly mixed with protein injected into two flow cells. NMR detection is achieved simultaneously on both channels, resulting in a chemical shift resolved spin relaxation measurement. Spectral resolution allows the use of reference compounds for accurate quantification of concentrations. Simultaneous use of two concentration ratios between protein and ligand broadens the range of KD that is accurately measurable in a single experiment to at least an order of magnitude. In a comparison of inhibitors for the protein trypsin, the average KD values of benzamidine and benzylamine were found to be 12.6 ± 1.4 μM and 207 ± 22 μM from three measurements, based on KD = 142 μM assumed known for the reporter ligand 4-(trifluoromethyl)benzene-1-carboximidamide. Typical confidence ranges at 95% evaluated for single experiments were (8.3 μM, 20 μM) and (151 μM, 328 μM). The multiplexed detection of two or more hyperpolarized samples increases throughput of D-DNP by the same factor, improving the applicability to most multipoint measurements that would traditionally be achieved using titrations.


The potato tuber (Solanum tuberosum) is susceptible to a wide variety of physiological disorders including those that result in tuber internal browning reducing the market quality and economic viability of production. These insidious disorders produce no external symptoms on the tubers. The causes have been ascribed to unfavourable environmental factors including temperature, moisture and crop nutrition. In subtropical Australian potato production, Brown Fleck (BF) is one such disorder that affects spring-harvested potato crops. The role of nutrition, particularly that of calcium (Ca), has been demonstrated to influence the expression of internal browning disorders and there is evidence that boron (B) deficiency may also be involved. However, objective research on the role of Ca and B on the incidence of BF is lacking. A series of field and glasshouse experiments was conducted to evaluate the effects of Ca (at 0-127 kg ha-1) and B (at 0-5 kg ha-1) on BF incidence. The results showed that application of Ca and B (alone or in combination) had no consistent effects on the incidence of BF. Furthermore, where significant effects were observed, these related to interactions that could not be meaningfully interpreted. This study indicates that factors other than Ca and B nutrition are responsible for determining incidence of BF and application of Ca and B fertilisers is unlikely to reduce incidence.


Looked after young people, the focus of this thesis, are young people in state or public care. They frequently have complex family circumstances, socially excluded backgrounds and often intense need. Whilst it is possible to identify trends and patterns in their backgrounds, their needs and requirements are essentially heterogeneous (Bullock, Parker, Courtney, Sinclair and Thoburn, 2006, p. 1346).
The research was undertaken within the national context of persistently poor educational, health and behavioural outcomes for looked after young people, evidence from Inquiry reports of historic abuse, and contemporary concerns that small groups of looked after young people may not be safe (Ofsted, 2008d, p. 5). In addition, a dissonance was found between contemporary social policy developments for looked after young people and effective implementation which impacts positively on their experiences and outcomes.
Previous research on the topic from the perspective of young people themselves remains under developed. The study aimed to investigate the views of 25 looked after young people who had recently left a placement about their safety and wellbeing whilst in their previous placement. The researcher adopted a case study design, an interpretivist perspective and conducted in-depth interviews using structured and semi-structured methods.
The study found most participants felt safe but some felt unsafe to varying degrees. Participants felt most safe from sexual harm and least safe from physical harm and bullying. Carers, other looked after young people and foster carers' own children were identified as the main sources of harm. Families were identified as the people who were most effective in listening and looking out for participants' safety and wellbeing. Formal complaints procedures were found to be inadequate for communicating young people's concerns about their safety and wellbeing. Many participants valued their participation in education and wanted increased participation in all important decisions that would, or could, impact on their safety and wellbeing. A close interrelationship was found between participation, outcomes, power and engagement. The concepts of 'voice' and 'exit' were applied to the analysis of participation to denote inclusive, empowered levels of participation and, conversely, levels which contribute to disconnection and disengagement.
Close trusting relationships with family, friends, carers and social workers were found to be important but often experienced as inadequate. Participants mostly wanted to discuss important, personal issues with people with whom they had a close, personal relationship.
High levels of placement discontinuity and complex care arrangements often resulted in disrupted key relationships and contributed to making key information – including knowing the reasons for being looked after – difficult to understand and recall for some participants. Having a clear sense of self history was identified as contributing to self identity, and the building of resilience and wellbeing.
The study identified an absence of person centeredness relating to looked after young people. The study compared aspects of UK and European welfare models and found the UK model to be antithetical to the importance of relationships, participation and the centrality of the young person. European social pedagogic models were generally found to achieve greater synergy with young people's perspectives and priorities.
The study concludes by emphasising the close inter-relationship between the key concepts of 'safeguarding from harm' and 'promotion of wellbeing'. Four emergent categories identified from the analysis of findings are proposed as the key components of a new model of safeguarding and wellbeing for looked after young people. These four components are: feeling safe; inclusion and participation; continuity and quality of relationships; and sense of self and self history. In addition to these four components, the defining feature of the model is presented as the centrality of the voice of the looked after young person, with subsequent implications for policy and practice.


Cotton-spandex compact siro-spun core yarns (29.2tex/44.4dtex and 14.6tex/44.4dtex) have been prepared on two kinds of compact spinning, viz complete condensing spinning system (CCSS) and lattice apron compact spinning system (LACSS) respectively. Three godet wheel positions on two kinds of compact system have been selected and corresponding yarn covering effect is studied respectively. Especially, the surface morphology and cross-sections of the core yarns are observed. Then, the covering effects are compared and affecting factors are analyzed. Moreover, other yarn properties including yarn hairiness, strength and evenness are also tested and compared. The results indicate that the covering effect of staple fibres is the most even when the godet wheel position is set on left side for both CCSS and LACSS.


Degumming and bleaching are essential processes in palm oil refining. The purpose is the removal of gums, trace metals, pigments, peroxides, oxidation products and other breakdown products in the crude oil by adsorption on the active surface of the bleaching earth to improve colour and stability of the final oil. This paper aims to study the effect of degumming and bleaching using neutral and acid-activated clays to achieve the aforementioned objectives. It was found that valuable palm minor components, i.e. [tocols (tocopherol and tocotrienols) were retained; no significant changes occurred in the total phytosterols, squalene, composition of acylglycerols (i.e. mono-, di- and triacylglycerols)] and free fatty acids by using both acid-activated and neutral clays up to 1.0%. However, acid-activated clay reduced the carotenes content. Both clays gave markedly improved oxidative stability with induction period >30 hr at 120 o C. Impurities such as pro-oxidant iron, copper and phosphorus were reduced by both clays. The bleaching effect of neutral clay was relatively poor compared to acid-activated clay in the removal of unwanted compounds.


In this paper we view the folding of polynucleotide (RNA) sequences as a map that assigns to each sequence a minimum free energy pattern of base pairings, known as secondary structure. Considering only the free energy leads to an energy landscape over the sequence space. Taking into account structure generates a less visualizable non-scalar "landscape", where a sequence space is mapped into a space of discrete "shapes". We investigate the statistical features of both types of landscapes by computing autocorrelation functions, as well as distributions of energy and structure distances, as a function of distance in sequence space. RNA folding is characterized by very short structure correlation lengths compared to the diameter of the sequence space. The correlation lengths depend strongly on the size and the pairing rules of the underlying nucleotide alphabet. Our data suggest that almost every minimum free energy structure is found within a small neighborhood of any random sequence. The interest in such landscape results from the fact that they govern natural and artificial processes of optimization by mutation and selection. Simple statistical model landscapes, like Kauffman's n-k model, are often used as a proxy for understanding realistic landscapes, like those induced by RNA folding. We make a detailed comparison between the energy landscapes derived from RNA folding and those obtained from the n-k model. We derive autocorrelation functions for several variants of the n-k model, and briefly summarize work on its fine structure. The comparison leads to an estimate for k = 7 to 8, independent of n, where n is the chain length. While the scaling behaviors agree, the fine structure is considerably different in the two cases. The reason is seen to be the extremely high frequency of neutral neighbors, that is: neighbors with identical energy (and structure), in the RNA case.


In this paper, we present two different techniques to accelerate and approximate particle-based fluid simulations. The first technique identifies and employs larger time steps than dictated by the CFL condition. The second introduces the concept of approximation in the context of particle advection. For that, the fluid is segregated into active and inactive particles, and a significant amount of computation is saved on the passive particles. Using these two optimization techniques, our approach can achieve up to 7 times speed-up compared to a standard SPH method and it is compatible with other SPH improvement methods. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method using up to one million particles and also compare it to standard SPH particle simulation visually and statistically.


Geometric morphometrics plays an important role in evolutionary studies. The state-of-the-art in this field are landmark-based methods. Since the landmarks usually need to be placed manually, only a limited number of landmarks are generally used to represent the shape of an anatomical structure. As a result, shape characteristics that cannot be properly represented by small sets of landmarks are disregarded.
In this study, we present a method that is free of this limitation. The method takes into account the whole shape of an anatomical structure, which is represented as a surface, hence the term 'surface-based morphometrics'. Correspondence between two surfaces is established by defining a partitioning of the surfaces into homologous surface patches. The first step for the generation of a surface partitioning is to place landmarks on the surface. Subsequently, the landmarks are connected by curves lying on the surface. The curves, called 'surface paths', might either follow specific anatomical features or they can be geodesics, that is, shortest paths on the surface. One important requirement, however, is that the resulting surface path networks are topologically equivalent across all surfaces. Once the surface path networks have been defined, the surfaces are decomposed into patches according to the path networks.
This approach has several advantages. One of them is that we can discretize the surface by as many points as desired. Thus, even fine shape details can be resolved if this is of interest for the study. Since a point discretization is used, another advantage is that well-established analysis methods for landmark-based morphometrics can be utilized. Finally, the shapes can be easily morphed into one another, thereby greatly supporting the understanding of shape changes across all considered specimens.
To show the potential of the described method for evolutionary studies of biological specimens, we applied the method to the para-basisphenoid complex of the snake genus Eirenis. By using this anatomical structure as example, we present all the steps that are necessary for surface-based morphometrics, including the segmentation of the para-basisphenoid complex from micro-CT data sets. We also show some first results using statistical analysis as well as classification methods based on the presented technique.


Having valid information about the location and dynamics of biological processes is important for coastal management. In this context modelling, the pelagic drift of early life stages has been shown to be an important tool for understanding the spatial scale of population dynamics in marine systems. Often simulated particles are released in hypothetical quantities at assumed spawning grounds with no or few field data to guide the model parametrization. In this study, we combine high-resolution field data and state-of-the-art oceanographic modelling and use a probabilistic approach to construct kernel density distributions of the dispersal of pelagic fish eggs. Specifically, the potential drift of pelagic offspring of cod (Gadus morhua) was investigated in a large, open fjord system in northern Norway by combining field observations of newly spawned cod eggs with simulations of particle movement using a semi-Lagrangian trajectory model with inputs from high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations. The larger part of the distribution of eggs after drift was located in the fjord, suggesting fjord scale recruitment dynamics. Finally, we also examined the drift of eggs released in a uniform distribution and found that lack of egg survey data gave an unrealistically large spread of egg particles within this fjord system.


Constructing catalogue of temporal situations The paper is aiming to create a common basis for description, comparing, and analysis natural languages. As a subject of comparison we have chosen temporal structures of some languages. For such a choice there exists a perfect tool, describing basic temporal phenomena, namely an ordering of states and events in time, certainty and uncertainty, independency of histories of separate objects, necessity and possibility. This tool is supported by the Petri nets formalism, which seems to be well suited for expressing the above mentioned phenomena. Petri nets are built form three primitive notions: of states, of events that begin or end the states, and so-called flow relation indicating succession of states and events. This simple constituents give rise to many possibilities of representing temporal phenomena; it turns out that such representations are sufficient for many (clearly, not necessarily all) temporal situations appearing in natural languages. In description formalisms used till now there is no possibility of expressing such reality phenomena as temporal dependencies in compound statement, or combination of temporality and modality. Moreover, using these formalisms one cannot distinguish between two different sources of uncertainty of the speaker while describing the reality: one, due to the lack of knowledge of the speaker what is going on in outside world, the second, due to objective impossibility of foreseen ways in which some conflict situations will be (or already have been) resolved. Petri net formalism seems to be perfectly suited for such differentiations. There are two main description principles that encompassed this paper. First, that assigns meaning to names of grammatical structures in different languages may lead to misunderstanding. Two grammatical structures with apparently close names may describe different reality. Additionally, some grammatical terms used in one language may be absent and not understandable in the other. It leads to assign meanings to situations, rather than to linguistic forms used for their expression. The second principle is limit the discussed issues to such a piece of reality that can be possible for precise description. The third is to avoid introducing such information to the described reality that is not explicitly mentioned by linguistic means. The authors try to following these principles in the present paper. The paper is organized as follows. First, some samples of situations related to present tense are given together with examples of their expressions in four languages: English, (as a reference language) and three Slavic languages, representing South slavonic languages (Bulgarian), West slavonic languages (Polish), and East slavonic languages (Russian). Within the same framework the next parts of the paper are constructed, supplying samples of using Past tenses and, finally, future tenses and modalities. The formal tools for description purposes are introduced stepwise, according to needs caused be the described reality. There are mainly Petri nets, equipped additionally with inscriptions or labeling in order to keep proper assignations of description units to described objects.


Thermonuclear fusion of light atoms is considered since decades as an unlimited, safe and reliable source of energy that could eventually replace classical sources based on fossile fuel or nuclear fuel. Fusion reactor technology and materials studies are important parts of the fusion energy development program. For the time being, the most promising materials for structural applications in the future fusion power reactors are the Reduced Activation Ferritic/Martensitic (RAFM) steels for which the greatest technology maturity has been achieved, i.e., qualified fabrication routes, welding technology and a general industrial experience are almost available. The most important issues concerning the future use of RAFM steels in fusion power reactors are derived from their irradiation by 14 MeV neutrons that are the product, together with 3.5 MeV helium ions, of the envisaged fusion reactions between deuterium and tritium nuclei. Indeed, exposure of metallic materials to intense fluxes of 14 MeV neutrons will result in the formation of severe displacement damage (about 20-30 dpa per year) and high amounts of helium, which are at the origin of significant changes in the physical and mechanical of materials, such as hardening and embrittlement effects, for instance. This PhD Thesis work was aimed at investigating how far the Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) technique could be used for detecting and characterizing nano-sized irradiation-induced defects in RAFM steels. Indeed, the resolution limit of Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) is about 1 nm in weak beam TEM imaging, and it is usually thought that a large number of irradiation-induced effects have a size below 1 nm in RAFM steels and that these very small defects actually contribute to the irradiation-induced hardening and embrittlement of RAFM steels occurring at irradiation temperatures below about 400°C. The aim of this work was achieved by combing SANS experiments on unirradiated and irradiated specimens of RAFM steels with Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations of main expected nano-sized defects in irradiated pure Fe and Fe-He alloys, as model materials for RAFM steels, and simulations of their corresponding TEM images and SANS signals. In particular, the SANS signal of various types of defects was simulated for the first time. The methodology used in this work was the following: SANS experiments were performed by applying a strong saturating magnetic field to unirradiated and irradiated specimens of three types of RAFM steels, namely the European EUROFER 97, the Japanese F82H and the Swiss OPTIMAX A steels. The available irradiated specimens included specimens which had been irradiated with 590 MeV protons in the Proton IRradiation EXperiment (PIREX) facility at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) at temperatures in the range of 50-350°C to doses in the range of 0.3-2.0 dpa. SANS spectra as well as values of the so-called A ratio, which represents the ratio of the total scattered intensity to the nuclear scattered intensity, were obtained for the various irradiation doses and temperatures investigated. MD simulations of atomic displacement cascades in pure Fe and in Fe-He alloys were performed using Embedded Atom Method (EAM) many-body interatomic potentials. The main nano-sized defects that should be produced in RAFM steels under irradiation were created by means of MD in pure Fe. These included dislocation loops of various types, voids, helium bubbles with various He concentration and Cr precipitates. TEM images of cascade damage and all the defects created by MD were simulated in the dark field/weak beam imaging modes by using the Electron Microscopy Software (EMS) developed by P.A. Stadelmann (EPFL) and analyzed in terms of variations of contrast intensities versus depth inside the specimen. The SANS signal provided by cascade damage and all the defects created by MD was simulated by using a slightly modified version of EMS, accounting for neutrons instead of electrons. The SANS technique has been proven in this work to be a very powerful tool for detecting nano-sized irradiation-induced defects and a tool well complementary to TEM for characterizing such very small irradiation-induced defects. Indeed, TEM appears most adapted to investigate structural defects, such as dislocation loops and helium bubbles with high helium concentration, which yield significant lattice deformation of the surrounding matrix, while SANS is most adapted to investigate phase defects, such as voids, helium bubbles with low helium concentration and Cr precipitates. By combining the results of SANS experiments with those of MD simulations, TEM image simulations and SANS signal simulations, the nano-sized irradiation-induced defects were tentatively identified as small helium bubbles. While the radiation hardening measured for RAFM steels cannot be explained by accounting only for the defects observed in TEM, it could be successfully modeled by accounting also for a reasonable number density of the nano-sized defects evidenced using the SANS technique.


With the development of the high speed railway and urban rail transit, the safety of train running become more important. How to prevent of train derailment was seen as an acknowledged difficulty in researching of railroad. Designing a derailment detecting system with ultrasonic ranging according to the fixed geometric relationship between bogie and rail. The detecting system based on different wheel pair tread to forecasting train derailment and link with emergency braking system. The destination of train derailment design is to decrease and avoid the serious traffic accident of train derailment. The system use train speed, railroad condition, train derailment process record to get the statistics rule of train derailment. The data of rule of statistics is in favor of train derailment research project.


Although Peru held presidential and congressional elections in April of 1995, and municipal elections in November of 1995, the status of democracy in Peru today leaves much to be desired. Behind the facade of a formal multi-party democracy with a relatively free press, the Peruvian political system is plagued by many serious problems. These include a strong, almost autocratic, presidential role; a subservient legislature; a not fully independent judiciary; and a subtle but pervasive government policy of intimidating and discrediting political opponents and potential political rivals.(2) Real political power in Peru is concentrated--with the decisive support of the military--in the hands of civilian President Alberto Fujimori. Fujimori's followers enjoy a clear majority in the new unicameral congress, which acts mostly as a rubber stamp for the president and which has even repeatedly granted special legislative powers to the executive branch.(3) This congressional majority has also allowed Fujimori to pass--whenever he has found it expedient--special laws not only to circumvent the administration of justice in specific instances, but also to reorganize drastically and even unconstitutionally the entire structure of the judicial branch, clearly compromising its independence; as well as special laws designed to limit arbitrarily the autonomy and power of local or municipal governments.(4) The emergence of this almost autocratic regime can be best explained as an overreaction to the extremely difficult decade of the 1980% in Peru. Peru returned to democratic role in July of 1980, after twelve years of military dictatorships. Those years of military dictatorships left the country not only mired in a deep economic crisis, but also very polarized politically and socially. Tragically, the 1980's and early 1990's were also quite difficult. At the international level, Peru was burdened by the Latin American debt crisis. And at the domestic level, the country was plagued by terrorism, human rights violations, and drag traffic-related crime. Thus, at the end of the 1980's, Peru's external debt had reached 20 billion dollars;(5) hyperinflation had soared to 7,800%;(6) the economic rate of growth was actually a negative -11.8%;(7) and the level of unemployment and underemployment was over 70%.(8) In fact, during the 1985-1993 period, it was estimated that GNP per capita declined in real terms at an average annual rate of 3.5% while over the same period the population increased by an annual average rate of 2.1%.(9) Meanwhile, estimates have indicated that since 1980, political violence in Peru has caused approximately 27,000 deaths(10) and 22 billion dollars in property damage.(11) In this context, according to Amnesty International, since 1982 the Peruvian security forces have been responsible for approximately 3,500 extrajudicial killings(12) and more than 4,200 "disappearances."(13) A remarkable increase in criminal activity related to the growth in drug traffic further compounded this problem of lawlessness. According to the March 1996 U.S. Department of State, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, Peru is the world's largest producer of coca, providing approximately 60% of the world's total. More specifically, Peru provides the raw material for approximately 80% of all the cocaine consumed in the United States.(14) In the midst of this economic and political turmoil, Fujimori was first elected president in 1990. Although he had little background in politics,(15) Peruvians turned to Fujimori because he promised them a painless plan of slow-paced economic adjustment. This plan stood in sharp contrast to that of the writer-turned-presidential-candidate, Marlo Vargas Llosa, who had called frankly for shock therapy to mm the economy around, only to see his lead in the early opinion polls evaporate as a result of Fujimori's campaign promises. Ironically, once in office Fujimori implemented his own shock therapy plan which was more severe than the one advocated by Vargas Llosa. …


OBJECT
In this retrospective review, the authors examine the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and outcome of surgery in 25 consecutive patients with mesial basal temporal lobe (MBTL) tumors. A limited access approach to the inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) was used.

METHODS
Patients with MBTL tumors were identified from the epilepsy and tumor surgery database at the authors' institution. Intraaxial tumors localized to the mesial basal structures, and without involvement of the cortical surface of the temporal lobe, temporal stem, and basal ganglia were included. Preoperative and postoperative MR images were obtained in all patients. The mean follow-up period was 24 months (range 9-36 months). Preoperative symptoms, neurological deficits, outcomes, surgical complications, and a technical description of the approach are discussed.

RESULTS
Intraaxial MBTL tumors in 25 patients (mean age 44 years, range 8-76 years) were resected using a limited access approach via the ITG. The largest groups of tumors were high-grade gliomas and dysembryoblastic neuroepithelial tumors (8 in each group), followed by oligodendrogliomas, cerebral metastases, and gangliogliomas. Seizures, headaches, and disorientation were the most common preoperative symptoms. Postoperative MR images demonstrated gross-total resection in all cases. There were 2 surgical complications (a superficial wound infection and a transient frontalis branch palsy). There were no permanent neurological complications or significant new hemianoptic defects.

CONCLUSIONS
A limited access ITG approach performed with intraoperative image guidance offers an alternative corridor for resection of MBTL tumors (Schramm Type A). This approach may be technically less demanding than the transsylvian or subtemporal approach. Gross-total resection is feasible utilizing this approach and compares favorably with other, more classical approaches.


One way to tell if an international norm is robust is to assess the breadth of its support from a wide variety of important actors. We argue that to assess norm robustness, we should look at the general beliefs, rhetorical support, and actions of both primary and secondary norm addressees (states and non-state actors) at various levels: international, regional, domestic and local. By way of example, we evaluate the robustness of international criminal law (ICL) norms by looking at the rhetoric and actions of a diverse set of international actors, including not only states and intergovernmental organizations but also ordinary publics, rebel groups, and non-governmental organizations. Assessing evidence of norms beyond states leads us to conclude that the core ICL norms are robust but their practical and institutional applicability are still contested. Contestation over applicability is important and there are hints that it is growing, at least among some key actors, suggesting the possibility of ICL norm decay.


Despite the great importance of reactions involving solids and solutions (dissolution reactions, crystallization reactions, heterogeneous catalysis, adsorption and ion exchange reactions), very few teaching laboratory experiments attempt to inculcate the fundamentals of this type of reaction. A major difference between such heterogeneous reactions and the usual homogeneous reactions in solution is that, in the former, the reactant in solution must reach the solid surface before reaction can take place. As a result, reactions between solids and solutions are often controlled by transport of the reacting solution species to the solid surface.It is not easy to experimentally obtain reproducible mass transport. In the teaching experiment described in this paper, it is shown that reproducible results can be obtained using a solid sample in the form of a rotating disc. However, the principle can also be demonstrated using a fixed sample and a stirred solution. The system studied is the dissolution of a known amount of copper in a solution of iron(III). The reaction time is determined by measuring the potential of the copper, which has been electrodeposited on an inert electrode, as a function of time; the potential increases rapidly when all the copper has been consumed. The reaction rate is shown to be dependent on the stirring of the solution, and is first order with respect to the reactant, iron(III).


Women disproportionately experience victimization as children, with at least one in five women reporting a history of child sexual abuse. The short and long term effects, both physical and emotional, are significant, negative, and pervasive, making CSA a critical physical and mental health issue for a significant portion of women in the United States. However, while many survivors experience negative long-term effects, a significant portion do not. This study addressed the need for greater attention to factors which depathologize this population, particularly the experiences of survivorship and how these are expressed in terms of wellness, resilience and post-traumatic growth (PTG). A sample of 163 adult women survivors completed an online survey comprised of instruments measuring wellness, resilience, PTG, and post-traumatic stress. A series of correlations revealed positive relationships between wellness factors and resilience, and wellness factors and PTG. Negative correlations were found between PTS symptoms and Resilience, and PTS symptoms and Wellness. Resilience and PTG were negatively correlated, a finding contrary to the conceptualization in the literature. A MANOVA and a series of linear regressions analyzed factors that might contribute to the variance in the major constructs. The results of the MANOVA indicated that the relationship to the perpetrator only affected PTS symptoms: women abused by a relative had significantly higher PTS symptoms. The results of the linear regressions indicated that the variables (current age, additional childhood maltreatment, reported current impact of CSA, CSA severity, and age at onset of abuse) accounted for a very small percentage of the variance in Wellness (16%) and Resilience (10%), and a greater amount of variance in total PTS symptoms (39%). The variables did not account for a significant amount of variance in PTG. The largest contributor of the variance in Wellness, Resilience, and PTS symptoms was the current impact of CSA while CSA severity was a significant contributor to PTS symptoms. A series of t-tests were conducted to analyze the difference between the wellness of this sample and the wellness reported by the normative group. Results indicated that the women in this sample had significantly lower Creative Self, Social Self, and Essential Self wellness but had significantly higher Physical Self wellness. No significant difference was found for Total Wellness and Coping Self wellness. The results of the final analysis, a hierarchical linear regression, indicated that above and beyond demographic variables, Resilience by far, and PTG, to a much smaller degree, were significant predictors of the variance in wellness factors. Additional research is necessary in order to further explore the relationships between wellness factors, resilience, and PTG.


The aim of the studies presented in this thesis was to develop a screen-printed electrochemical biosensor for the measurement of glutamate and to apply this device to the determination of the analyte in food, serum and toxicity studies.

Chapter 1 serves as an introduction to both the physiological significance of glutamate and the fundamental principles underpinning the electrochemical techniques used throughout this thesis.

Chapter 2 is a review chapter, separated into two main sections. The first section details glutamate biosensors fabricated with glutamate oxidase (GluOx), the second section details biosensors fabricated with glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH). The immobilization techniques, ease of fabrication and sample preparation techniques employed are compared. Biosensor characteristics such as sensitivity, limit of detection and linear range are summarised within a table.

The studies described in Chapter 3 focus on the development of a non-reagentless glutamate biosensor. A Meldola's Blue screen-printed carbon electrode (MB-SPCE) was employed as the base transducer. The biosensor was constructed by drop coating the biopolymer chitosan (CHIT) and GLDH onto the surface of the MB-SPCE. For this study, NAD+ was present in free solution. Meldola's Blue served as the electrocatalyst, whereby NADH produced by the GLDH/NAD+ reaction, was electrocatalytically oxidised at a low operating potential (+0.1V (vs. Ag/AgCl)). The applied potential, temperature, pH and concentration of the co-factors required for the biosensor operation were optimised in this study. The assay exhibited a linear range of 12.5 µM to 150 µM, limit of detection of 1.5 µM, response time of 2s and a sensitivity of 0.44 nA/ µM. The optimised biosensor was subsequently applied to the determination of endogenous and fortified concentrations of glutamate in both serum and food samples (OXO cubes). The serum was fortified with and the resulting mean recovery was 96% with a CV of 3.3% (n = 6). For the food sample, an unfiltered beef OXO cube was analysed for monosodium glutamate (MSG) content. The endogenous content of MSG was 125.43 mg/g, with a CV of 8.98% (n = 6). The solution was fortified with 100mM of glutamate and a resulting mean recovery of 91% with a CV of 6.39% (n = 6) was determined.

In Chapter 4, the glutamate biosensor was further developed in order to produce a reagentless device whereby the cofactor NAD+ and GLDH were immobilized on to the surface of the electrode utilising CHIT. The reagentless device was developed in order to monitor glutamate release from human liver carcinoma cells (HepG2) as a result of cell toxicity from exposure to paracetamol. The biosensor was miniaturised in the form of a microband biosensor, whereby one dimension of the electrode is of micrometre size and the other millimetre size. Micro bands exhibit unique diffusion properties in comparison to conventional sized electrodes. Calibration studies were carried out with an applied potential of +0.1V (vs. Ag/AgCl) using both phosphate buffer and cell media. In phosphate buffer the following microband biosensor characteristics were determined: linear range; 25 - 125µM, sensitivity; 0.0636 nA/µM and a theoretical limit of detection of 1.20µM. In cell media; linear range; 25 – 150 µM, sensitivity; 0.128 nA/µM and a theoretical limit of detection of 4.2µM. As the HepG2 cells were grown in an incubator at a fixed temperature and pH, studies were carried out at pH 7, 37oC, in a 5% CO2 atmosphere. The miniaturised biosensor was applied to the determination of glutamate and the quantification was done by standard addition in cell media after 24 hours exposure to various concentrations of paracetamol. The average endogenous concentrations for glutamate released from the HepG2 cells was 52.07µM (CoV: 13.74%, n = 3), 93.30µM (CoV: 18.41%, n = 3) and 177.14µM (CoV: 14.54% n = 3) for 1mM, 5mM, 10mM doses of paracetamol respectively. The microband biosensor was also applied to the real time monitoring of glutamate over 8 hours. The standard deviations for the final current generated after eight hours are as follows; 1mM (coefficient of variation (CoV): 3.3%), 5mM (CoV: 9.056%) and 10mM (CoV: 13.18%). The study showed that the magnitudes of the steady state currents increased in proportion to the concentration of added paracetamol. The study also demonstrated the possibility of applying microband biosensors, over extended time periods, for toxicity studies; there is no significant removal of analyte owning to the small biosensor dimensions.

Chapter 5 describes the development of a reagentless conventional sized glutamate biosensor whereby the cofactor NAD+ and GLDH were immobilized using a combination of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), CHIT and additional water based MB in a layer-by-layer fashion. The MWCNT/CHIT/MB combination facilitates electron transfer to the surface of working electrode. The MWCNT/CHIT also entraps GLDH and the NAD+ on the surface of the electrode. The pH, temperature, optimum applied potential, concentrations of NAD+, CHIT and the addition of water-based MB were optimised. The electrocatalyst MB allowed a operating potential of +0.1V (vs. Ag/AgCl) to be utilised. The biosensor was examined with standard glutamate solutions and the following biosensor characteristics were determined; linear range; 7 - 105µM, LOD; 3 µM, sensitivity; 0.39 nA/µM, response time 20-30s. A food sample was analysed for MSG and found to contain 90.56 mg/g with a CV of 7.52% (n = 5). The reagentless biosensor was also applied to the determination of glutamate in serum. The endogenous concentration was found to be 1.44mM (n = 5), CV: 8.54%. The recovery of glutamate in fortified serum was 104% (n = 5), CV of 2.91%. The results indicate that the new biosensor holds promise for food and biomedical studies.


Degrees of Inequality reveals the powerful patterns of social inequality in American higher education by analyzing how the social background of students shapes nearly every facet of the college experience. Even as the most prestigious institutions claim to open their doors to students from diverse backgrounds, class disparities remain. Just two miles apart stand two institutions that represent the stark class contrast in American higher education. Yale, an elite Ivy League university, boasts accomplished alumni, including national and world leaders in business and politics. Southern Connecticut State University graduates mostly commuter students seeking credential degrees in fields with good job prospects. Ann L. Mullen interviewed students from both universities and found that their college choices and experiences were strongly linked to social background and gender. Yale students, most having generations of family members with college degrees, are encouraged to approach their college years as an opportunity for intellectual and personal enrichment. Southern students, however, perceive a college degree as a path to a better career, and many work full- or part-time jobs to help fund their education. Moving interviews with 100 students at the two institutions highlight how American higher education reinforces the same inequities it has been aiming to transcend.


The aim of this text is to examine the field of experimental electronic music with a focus on gender constructions and in particular electronic music's relationship to masculinity. What are some of the recurring ideals and group cultures? Can these suggest causes or in some way explain the gender imbalance in the field?Due to the expansiveness of the topic, the following text will be divided in to five sections which focus on some of its aspects. In "Male identification and control" gendered stereotypes are analyzed along with suggestions of how they may shape our relationship to technology. "Militaristic symbolism" examines the history of some tools used to make electronic music and its relation to militarism. "Neutrality" criticizes the idea of technology as neutral and "Defensive learning climates" goes in to analyzing the learning environments of electronic music and related technological fields. "Gendered expectations" focuses on how we are socialized to "perform our gender" and how gendered expectations shape us."Concluding thoughts" will briefly summarize the previous topics and present ideas about how to work more practically with constructions of gender within experimental electronic music environments.


The European project MINOTAURUS explored innovative bio-processes to eliminate emerging and classic organic pollutants. These bio-processes are all based on the concept of immobilization of biocatalysts (microorganisms and enzymes) and encompass bioaugmentation, enzyme technology, rhizoremediation with halophytes, and a bioelectrochemical remediation process.

The immobilization-based technologies are applied as engineered ex situ treatment systems as well as natural systems in situ for the bioremediation of groundwater, wastewater and soil. The selection and application of tailored physico-chemical, molecularbiological and ecotoxicological monitoring tools combined with a rational understanding of engineering, enzymology and microbial physiology is a pertinent approach to open the black-box of the selected technologies. Reliable process monitoring constitutes the basis for developing and refining biodegradation kinetics models, which in turn improve the predictability of performances to be achieved with technologies.

Immobilised Biocatalysts for Bioremediation of Groundwater and Wastewater delivers insight into the concepts and performance of a series of remediation approaches. A key strength of this book is to deliver results from lab-scale through to piloting at different European reference sites. It further suggests frameworks for structuring and making evidence-based decisions for the most appropriate bioremediation measures.

This title belongs to European Water Research Series

ISBN: 9781780406466 (eBook)

ISBN: 9781780406459 (Print)


This master thesis presents a comparison study, where the main focus has been to assess if simplified methods can be used for analysing mooring lines for a turret moored FPSO in shallow waters. The MIMOSA program applies frequency domain (FD) methods, which is categorized as a simplified method but with short computation time. Fully non-linear time domain (TD) analysis in RIFLEX, which is a time consuming process, accounts for all non-linear effects, and was assumed throughout this thesis to yield the best results. It was also necessary to perform mooring line analysis in SIMO to be able to isolate different effects between the three computation programs. The results were then used to explain the differences between the finite element method in MIMOSA (MIM-FEM) and RIFLEX (RIF-FEM). The main focus throughout this thesis has been on the leeward line because this line will experience large dynamics, and it will also be the critical line for fatigue damage. The windward line has mainly been used to compare with the leeward line. For fatigue damage the most important parameters are the standard deviation (STD) of low- and wave-frequency tension (LF and WF). When performing a comparison study it is important to assure that the model in MIMOSA, SIMO, and RIFLEX are equivalent. This means that line characteristics, restoring force characteristics, environmental forces, motions, equilibrium position, and pretension are the same for all programs. In MIMOSA and SIMO all the 12 mooring lines were modelled, while only the windward and leeward lines were modelled in RIFLEX. Because RIFLEX needs to get prescribed motions from SIMO, most of the comparisons in verifying the model were made based on results from MIMOSA and SIMO. Comparing the mean equilibrium position between MIMOSA and SIMO exceeded the acceptable range of 5% in the model verification process. This difference arises because the iteration process in SIMO did not find the exact equilibrium position. This resulted in a residual tension force. By performing simple hand calculations, this difference equalled the difference in mean equilibrium position between MIMOSA and SIMO and was therefore acceptable. In the end one could conclude that all the models were equivalent, and could thus be used for further analysis. The programming part for this thesis was quite time consuming. For every program (MIM,SIM,RIF) a batch script was made, which then was combined together with one main batch script. The various analyzes could then be carried out from this main batch file automatically, and Matlab was then used to post process the results. The results showed that a quasi-static representation is acceptable when calculating the STD of LF tension. The difference between MIM-FEM and RIF-FEM for STD LF tension was 0,13% for the leeward line, and -3,58% for the windward line, meaning that MIM-FEM slightly under predicts the STD of LF tension for the windward line. For the turret moored FPSO analyzed in this thesis, a quasi-static representation of the mooring lines is not recommended for the leeward and windward line because the STD WF tension will be too conservative. The difference between the simplified FEM in MIMOSA and the fully non-linear TD analysis in RIFLEX was -22,48% for the leeward line, and -16,66% for the windward line. The difference here is mainly caused by the linearization methods used in MIMOSA to account for geometrical stiffness and dynamic effects (drag and inertia forces acting on the mooring line). Using the simplified FEM in MIMOSA one will under predict the STD of WF tension for the windward and leeward line, and therefore under predict the results in the estimation of fatigue life in the mooring lines.


In October 2012, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago hosted a U.S. Department of the Treasury's State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) conference, which brought together over 150 representatives from states, territories and the District of Columbia, to discuss best practices in the rollout of the SSBCI state programs. This article describes the SSBCI and how financial institutions and small businesses can benefit by expanding access to capital. ; To support and improve access to credit for small businesses, Congress passed and the president signed the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, creating the SSBCI and appropriating $1.5 billion for the program. The United States Treasury Department administers the SSBCI, which provides direct funding to states for programs that expand access to credit for small businesses. The program aims to leverage $10 in private lending and investing in small business for every $1 in public funds. This article highlights the approved SSBCI programs in the five states in the Seventh Federal Reserve District to inform lenders and investors about how to obtain credit support from their respective state programs for eligible small business transactions.


Abstract Background Neurologic and liver involvement in Wilson's disease (WD) is well-documented, however, few reports demonstrated cardiac involvement. Tpe and Tpe/QT are new measures of ventricular repolarization which were recently suggested as predictor of arrythmogenesis. We aimed to evaluate ventricular depolarization and repolarization parameters including QT, QTc, Tpe intervals, Tpe/QT, Tpe/QTc ratios, and QT dispersion (QTd) in patients with WD. Materials and methods Thirty-five patients with WD and 30 healthy controls were included in the study. Patients were evaluated by a neurologist in addition to MR imaging. Twenty-one of 35 patients were diagnosed as neuroWilson (NW), whereas 14 patients as non-NW. ECG recordings were obtained using a 12-lead commercial device (Cardiac Science, Burdick s500,USA). All patients underwent standard echocardiographic evaluation. These two groups of patients and healthy controls were compared. Results There were no difference between patients with WD and healthy controls in terms of age sex, BMI, liver, and kidney functions where as patients with WD were anemic and thrombocytopenic. Left atrial, ventricular dimensions, left ventricular systolic, and diastolic functions were similar between patients and healthy control. QT interval was prolonged in patient group, however, QTc, Tpe intervals, Tpe/QT, and Tpe/QTc ratios and QTd did not differ between groups. When patients with NW and non-NW were compared, both QT and QTc intervals were significantly longer in patients with NW, however, Tpe interval, Tpe/QT and Tpe/QTc ratios, and QTd did not differ. Conclusion QT and QTc intervals are prolonged in patients with Wilson's disease and neurologic involvement.


Virtual worlds are the latest manifestation of the internet's inexorable appetite for development. Organisations of all kinds are enthusiastically pursuing the commercial opportunities offered by the growth of this phenomenon. But if you believe that there are no laws which govern internet social networks and virtual worlds, this book will persuade you otherwise. There is law, and a good deal of it. Why would there not be? As with many other aspects of the world wide web, this new medium is unregulated and offers many opportunities for companies to damage their reputation, run into a whole host of problems relating to intellectual property, trade marks and copyrights, and compromise the rights of individuals participating within the virtual environment. By reading "The Law of Virtual Worlds and Internet Social Networks", you will gain a good understanding of the legal issues which govern this expanding and fascinating world - are you ready for the leap from internet plaything to meaningful social and business tool? "The Law of Virtual Worlds and Internet Social Networks" is an essential reference for advertising and media agencies; television broadcast producers; and, academic institutions including university law, knowledge and information departments. In fact, it has been written for anyone interested in virtual worlds and social networks whether commercially because you want to explore the possibilities such environments present, or for academic curiosity.


Terrorism is a hazard to human life and material prosperity that should be addressed in a sensible manner whereby the benefits of actions to contain it outweigh the costs. Foreign-born terrorists who entered the country, either as immigrants or tourists, were responsible for 88 percent (or 3,024) of the 3,432 murders caused by terrorists on U.S. soil from 1975 through the end of 2015. This paper presents the first terrorism risk analysis of the visa categories those foreign-born terrorists used to enter the United States.Including those murdered in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11), the chance of an American perishing in a terrorist attack on U.S. soil that was committed by a foreigner over the 41-year period studied here is 1 in 3.6 million per year. The hazard posed by foreigners who entered on different visa categories varies considerably. For instance, the chance of an American being murdered in a terrorist attack caused by a refugee is 1 in 3.64 billion per year while the chance of being murdered in an attack committed by an illegal immigrant is an astronomical 1 in 10.9 billion per year. By contrast, the chance of being murdered by a tourist on a B visa, the most common tourist visa, is 1 in 3.9 million per year. Any government response to terrorism must take account of the wide range of hazards posed by foreign-born terrorists who entered under various visa categories.The federal government has an important role to play in screening foreigners who enter the United States, and to exclude those who pose a threat to the national security, safety, or health of Americans. This terrorism risk analysis of individual visa categories can aid in the efficient allocation of scarce government security resources to those categories that are most exploitable by terrorists. The hazards posed by foreign-born terrorists are not large enough to warrant extreme actions like a moratorium on all immigration or tourism.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of academic achievement to four categories of social status including popular, rejected, isolated, and amiable, and to the variables of peer acceptance and social impact. Subjects were 145 elementary school children, grades 3 through 6. The children responded to a questionnaire designed to assess peer acceptance as well as rejection. Data consisted of (a) acceptance scores based on the predominance of either acceptance or rejection responses from peers and (b) social impact scores based on the number of children who mentioned a given child either positively or negatively. These scores were correlated with each child's Iowa Test of Basic Skills composite score. Pooled-within correlations indicated that acceptance correlated positively and significantly with academic achievement, whereas social impact correlated negatively and significantly with achievement. Children above average in achievement were significantly more often considered amiable or popular than rejected or isolated. They were just as likely to be considered amiable as popular. Students below average in achievement were significantly more often rejected than were above average students. When they were given positive mention, these youngsters were more often considered amiable than popular.


Reasoning about object affordances allows an autonomous agent to perform generalised manipulation tasks among object instances. While current approaches to grasp affordance estimation are effective, they are limited to a single hypothesis. We present an approach for detection and extraction of multiple grasp affordances on an object via visual input. We define semantics as a combination of multiple attributes, which yields benefits in terms of generalisation for grasp affordance prediction. We use Markov Logic Networks to build a knowledge base graph representation to obtain a probability distribution of grasp affordances for an object. To harvest the knowledge base, we collect and make available a novel dataset that relates different semantic attributes. We achieve reliable mappings of the predicted grasp affordances on the object by learning prototypical grasping patches from several examples. We show our method's generalisation capabilities on grasp affordance prediction for novel instances and compare with similar methods in the literature. Moreover, using a robotic platform, on simulated and real scenarios, we evaluate the success of the grasping task when conditioned on the grasp affordance prediction.


Auditory consciousness takes many forms. Some of these, such as auditory perception and imagination, are familiar to nearly all people, which others, such as tinnitus or hearing voices, are rare and unfamiliar to most. This chapter proposes a simplified conceptual model of the auditory system, involving bottom-up influences from the lower auditory pathways and top-down influences from higher evaluative mechanisms. This model is used to explain auditory perception, hallucinations and illusions based, for each phenomenon, on only minor variations from the normally functioning system. Neuroimaging and electrophysiological correlates of these processes are discussed, along with their inability to qualitatively differentiate conscious from unconscious processes, and how we might approach this problem in future.


Many behaviors and physiological processes are influenced by internal recurrent daily rhythms, which likely represent an adaptation to the Earth's rotation around the Sun and the recurrent 24-h light-dark cycles in the external environment. These circadian rhythms are an important regulator of many key biological processes that influence cellular metabolic pathways and organ function (1,2). The results from a series of studies have demonstrated the importance of normal circadian action for maintaining health in people and the disruption of circadian rhythm, which can have adverse effects on metabolic function. For example, experimentally induced sleep restriction and/or circadian misalignment, generated by inducing recurrent 28-h sleep-wake cycles, decrease insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance (3–6). Data from epidemiological studies suggest that long-term alteration in sleep pattern increases the risk of obesity and metabolic diseases. The prevalence of obesity, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, and the metabolic syndrome are greater in shift workers than day workers, and short sleep duration is associated with an increased risk of obesity and diabetes (7,8).

Circadian rhythms are generated by a transcriptional autoregulatory feedback loop that involves core clock genes. CLOCK (circadian locomotor output cycles protein kaput) and BMAL1 (brain and muscle ARNT-like 1) proteins form a heterodimer complex that binds to E-boxes, which drive the transcription of Period (PER1, 2, and 3) and Cryptochrome (CRY1 and 2), which in turn produce a negative feedback loop by suppressing CLOCK:BMAL1-mediated transcriptional activity (1,2). In mammals, neurons in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus act as a master pacemaker and synchronize the daily oscillations in peripheral tissues throughout the …


In 2007 the working conditions and remuneration of waiters in South Africa changed with the introduction of the Sectoral Determination 14, as an addition to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act no 75 of 1997. One important provision of the Sectoral Determination is the introduction of minimum wages for employees in the hospitality sector, including waiters. The aim of this paper is to investigate the working conditions and remuneration of waiters and to compare their actual working conditions with those stipulated by the above legislation. In order to achieve this aim, the research includes a literature review of the BCEA and Sectoral Determination as well as a survey amongst waiters in Kempton Park (South Africa), investigating the actual working conditions and remuneration of waiters. A comparative study of the actual working conditions is done and the results are compared with the available literature on the topic. From this analysis relevant policy recommendations are formulated.


We study the degree to which greater physician concentration leads to higher service prices charged by physicians in the commercially insured medical care market. Using a database of physicians throughout the United States, we construct physician-firm concentration measures based on market boundaries defined by fixed driving times, which we label the fixed-travel-time Herfindahl-Hirschman index. We link these concentration measures to health insurance claims. We find that physicians in more concentrated markets charge higher service prices; a physician in the 90th percentile of market concentration will charge 14–30 percent higher fees than a physician in the 10th percentile. Our estimates imply that physician consolidation has caused about an 8 percent increase in fees on average over the last 20 years and substantially higher increases in concentrated markets.


This paper reviews and critically assesses issues that pertain to the implementation of Creole languages in education. We review historical, social and political issues that have hindered the introduction of most of these contact languages in the educational domain as well as the factors that have spurred the integration of some of them into education. Based on the available literature, the paper also provides an overview of current projects around the world. We critically assess the main characteristics of past and current programs and projects that seek to implement Creoles in education and propose a tentative roadmap for setting up viable educational projects. Keywords: Creoles and education; educational projects


The use of culture as a transcendental justification for social order is a recent phenomenon that, paradoxically, arises out of an earlier understanding of it as amenable and negotiable. This new understanding of culture best expressed by the bourgeoisie marks the rise of a modern social consciousness making social sciences possible and enabling new forms of imagined communities like the nation-state. The modern nation-state invents the nation as its cultural expression, and the social sciences assist the nation state in constituting and reproducing itself. However, such social sciences also arise out of the conditions of civil society that, as part of the human telos, seeks universal conditions for reaching an understanding. From this perspective, social science must, and is able to criticize the narrow interests of the state and the cultural assumptions of the nation. In the Philippine case, the absence of a strong and sovereign national culture in the 19th Century prevented the development of a social science. As one began to take root following the economic changes of the 19th century, its development was interrupted by the onset of American colonization. It would take nearly a century before Filipinos confidently proclaimed their own social science perspective. But even as Philippine Social Science attempts to imagine the nation through indigenous concepts, it risks essentializing Filipinohood by reducing its differences. Instead, it should explore the rich sources of difference within civil and global society, and point out the contingent and narrow interests of states, thereby helping to establish a universal basis for understanding.


Regional economic communities, which are growing in numbers and size, play an increasingly important role in information and communication technology (ICT) policymaking. As seen through the lens of complex adaptive systems theory, such systems should strive to generate adaptive policies through adaptive policymaking processes that position them to respond to rapid technological change. To date, however, regional policymaking has been overly concerned with policy harmonization as an outcome, possibly to the detriment of other important goals. Despite this bias, upon closer examination, one finds that regional communities do foster adaptivity through their roles in the formation of epistemic communities, capacity building, and resource pooling. These activities contribute to variation, interaction, and selection, all key processes for adaptation. It is this degree of adaptivity, and its required balance between policy harmonization and competition, that should be the basis for analyzing the effectiveness of regional policymaking.


OBJECT
The number of low-back fusion procedures for the treatment of spine disorders has increased steadily over the past 10 years. Lumbar pseudarthrosis is a potential complication of lumbar arthrodesis and can be associated with significant pain and disability. The aim of this study was to assess, using validated patient-reported outcomes measures, the long-term effectiveness of revision arthrodesis in the treatment of symptomatic pseudarthrosis.

METHODS
This is a retrospective study of 47 patients who underwent revision lumbar arthrodesis for pseudarthrosis-associated back pain. Baseline 2-year outcomes were assessed using the following: visual analog scale (VAS) for back pain, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, time to narcotic independence, time to return to work, EuroQol health-state utility, and physical and mental quality of life (Short Form [SF]-12 Physical and Mental Component Summary scores).

RESULTS
The mean duration of time between prior fusion and development of symptomatic pseudarthrosis was 2.69 years. Bone morphogenetic protein was used in 4 cases (8.5%) of revision arthrodesis. A significant improvement in VAS back pain (7.31 ± 0.81 vs 5.06 ± 2.64, p = 0.001), ODI (29.74 ± 5.35 vs 25.42 ± 6.0, p = 0.001), and physical health SF-12 (23.83 ± 6.89 vs 27.85 ± 8.90, p = 0.001) scores was observed when comparing baseline and 2-year post-revision arthrodesis scores, respectively, with a mean cumulative 2-year gain of 0.35 quality-adjusted life years. The median time to narcotics independence was 12.16 (interquartile range 1.5-24.0) months and the median time to return to work was 4 months (interquartile range 3-5 months). By 2 years after revision surgery, no patients had experienced pseudarthrosis. The SF-12 Mental Component Summary (44.72 ± 7.90 vs 43.46 ± 7.51, p = 0.43) and Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale scores (39.36 ± 7.48 vs 41.39 ± 10.72, p = 0.37) were not significantly improved by 2 years.

CONCLUSIONS
The authors' study suggests that revision lumbar arthrodesis for symptomatic pseudarthrosis provides improvement in low-back pain, disability, and quality of life. Revision lumbar arthrodesis should be considered a viable treatment option for patients with pseudarthrosis-related back pain. Mental health symptoms from pseudarthrosis-associated back pain may be more refractory to revision surgery.


The underpinnings of mild to moderate neurodevelopmental delay remain elusive, often leading to late diagnosis and interventions. Here, we present data on exome and genome sequencing as well as array analysis of 13 individuals that point to pathogenic, heterozygous, mostly de novo variants in WDFY3 (significant de novo enrichment P = 0.003) as a monogenic cause of mild and non-specific neurodevelopmental delay. Nine variants were protein-truncating and four missense. Overlapping symptoms included neurodevelopmental delay, intellectual disability, macrocephaly, and psychiatric disorders (autism spectrum disorders/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). One proband presented with an opposing phenotype of microcephaly and the only missense-variant located in the PH-domain of WDFY3. Findings of this case are supported by previously published data, demonstrating that pathogenic PH-domain variants can lead to microcephaly via canonical Wnt-pathway upregulation. In a separate study, we reported that the autophagy scaffolding protein WDFY3 is required for cerebral cortical size regulation in mice, by controlling proper division of neural progenitors. Here, we show that proliferating cortical neural progenitors of human embryonic brains highly express WDFY3, further supporting a role for this molecule in the regulation of prenatal neurogenesis. We present data on Wnt-pathway dysregulation in Wdfy3-haploinsufficient mice, which display macrocephaly and deficits in motor coordination and associative learning, recapitulating the human phenotype. Consequently, we propose that in humans WDFY3 loss-of-function variants lead to macrocephaly via downregulation of the Wnt pathway. In summary, we present WDFY3 as a novel gene linked to mild to moderate neurodevelopmental delay and intellectual disability and conclude that variants putatively causing haploinsufficiency lead to macrocephaly, while an opposing pathomechanism due to variants in the PH-domain of WDFY3 leads to microcephaly.


BACKGROUND
The National Cancer Institute (USA) alert in February 1999 stated that concomitant chemoradiotherapy should be considered for all patients with cervical cancer, based on evidence from five randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

OBJECTIVES
To review all known RCTs comparing concomitant chemotherapy and radiation therapy with radiotherapy for locally advanced cervical cancer.

SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched electronic databases, trials registers and reference lists of published trial reports and review articles were also searched.

SELECTION CRITERIA
This review includes RCTs in cervical cancer comparing concomitant chemoradiation with radiotherapy in the experimental arm. Trials allowing further adjuvant chemotherapy or hydroxyurea were included. Trials using radiosensitisers or radioprotectors in the experimental arm were excluded.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two authors reviewed trials for inclusion and extracted data. For meta-analyses of time-to-event outcomes (survival, progression-free survival), a hazard ratio (HR) was extracted or estimated from trial reports, where possible. Only overall rates of local and distant recurrence were presented in many reports so only odds ratios (OR) of recurrence rates could be calculated, which takes no account of time to recurrence or censoring. Few trials reported acute toxicity adequately, but where possible ORs were calculated for the main types and severities of acute toxicity. The HRs and ORs for individual trials were combined across all trials, using the fixed effect model. Late toxicity was rarely described in sufficient detail so could only be reviewed qualitatively.

MAIN RESULTS
The original review was based on nineteen trials (17 published and two unpublished) including 4580 patients. This update includes twenty four trials (21 published, 3 unpublished) and 4921 patients, although due to patient exclusion and differential reporting 61% to 75% were available for the analyses. The review strongly suggests chemoradiation improves overall survival and progression free survival, whether or not platinum was used with absolute benefits of 10% and 13% respectively. There was, however, statistical heterogeneity for these outcomes. There was some evidence that the effect was greater in trials including a high proportion of stage I and II patients. Chemoradiation also showed significant benefit for local recurrence and a suggestion of a benefit for distant recurrence. Acute haematological and gastrointestinal toxicity was significantly greater in the concomitant chemoradiation group. Late effects of treatment were not well reported and so the impact of chemoradiation on these effects could not be determined adequately. Treatment-related deaths were rare.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Concomitant chemoradiation appears to improve overall survival and progression-free survival in locally advanced cervical cancer. It also appears to reduce local and distant recurrence suggesting concomitant chemotherapy may afford radiosensitisation and systemic cytotoxic effects. Some acute toxicity is increased, but the long-term side effects are still not clear.


Most GCMs (General Circulation Models) fail to reproduce the AOD (aerosol optical depth) peak over the Indo‐Gangetic basin (IGB) as noticed through satellite observations. Insufficient data on aerosol composition makes it difficult to improve GCM results over this source region. In this work, we retrieve the composition and concentration of aerosols over the IGB region, to a first order approximation, by combining the spectral measurements of AOD, single scattering albedo and size distribution available from AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) and the extinction profile of aerosols from CALIOP (Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization). Comparison of our results with AM2 (Atmospheric GCM) simulations reveal that AM2 is largely underestimating organics and black carbon concentrations over this region during all months. Sulfate is also underestimated during most months but, there is an overestimation from May to September. There is a compelling need for improving the aerosol inventories and dust sources over the region in order to make realistic assessment of the impacts of aerosols on the south Asian monsoon.


Delay is a central element of law-as-we-know-it: the ability to interpret legal norms and contest their requirements is contingent on the temporal spaces that text affords citizens. As computational systems are further introduced into legal practice and application, these spaces are threatened with collapse, as the immediacy of 'computational legalism' dispenses with the natural 'slowness' of text. In order to preserve the nature of legal protection, we need to be clear about where in the legal process such delays play a normative role and to ensure that they are reflected in the affordances of the computational systems that are so introduced. This entails a focus on the design and production of such systems, and the resistance of the ideology of 'efficiency' that pervades contemporary development practices.