My argument focuses on Chapter Ten, where Millgram argues that a family of recent theories of agency mistakenly transfers a model of agency that works for parts of a life to a person's life as a whole. As serial hyperspecializers, we are segmented agents. In their efforts at explaining the distinction between attitudes (or actions) that are merely attributable to an agent versus those that are attributable in a superlative sense, philosophers produce conceptual devices that actually fail to capture what happens in the crucial interstices between segments. Without myself proposing to defend any particular recent account of agency, I examine below why this merely-superlatively attributable distinction matters. Picking up some threads from three nineteenth-century works of literature, I suggest that this distinction helps us to identify whether or not someone is being in earnest about life. I conclude the discussion by first considering what difference segmented agency makes to my account and then by taking a look at another literary work, Goethe's Faust, in order to motivate mild skepticism about whether we are likely to find a conceptual device that can help us in our passages from one segment of agency to another.


: Cross sections of the (y,2e) and (e,3e) reactions carry information on two vacancy energy spectrum and on electron pair correlations in initial and final states of the target atom. Physical pictures of these processes are presented for two- and many-electron atoms. Simplest mechanisms of them are discussed, demonstrating some features which are waiting for experimental confirmation. Attention is given to high photon energy and even to relativistic energy region of these reactions. The energy distribution of outgoing relativistic electrons is qualitatively different from what it is for the nonrelativistic case. Origin and types of corrections to the simplest mechanisms and possible means of their detection are discussed. Role of different resonances: shape, giant, autoionizational, and Feschbach-type are considered. Results of calculations are compared with experimental data, mainly on double photoionization cross sections. Different possible objects as targets for the reactions are mentioned, including negative ions, excited atoms, molecules and clusters. Modification of the type of these reactions due to rather probable emission of the photon is discussed. Future of the domain is outlined.


A very famous adage of Adam Smith, "All money is a matter of belief". It is, of course, the beginning of the first use of money was observed when the supply of demanded product was available in the hands of others. It can also be said that the introduction of money has introduced us to a system called business. Initially, this system gave rise to the internal economy but later it spread to the whole world. But in the whole world there is a new system emerged for the flow of economy which is known as bank to everyone. And through this bank, a country may be importing or exporting every day. Only the economy of a country is considered good when export is more than import. Due to everyone's attention of better economy, export can be increased and import can be optimized. So, to solve this problem statistics can help us greatly. As Statistics, has been using in determining the existing position of per capita income, unemployment, population growth rate, housing, schooling medical facilities and so on. In this study not only statistics but also machine learning tools were used to analyze and forecast the financial banking data specifically import data. Basically, import data is known to a country as an economic data. So when it can predict about imports, then deciding how much of the export will be good for economics can easily be determined. In this paper it has been worked with import data of Bangladesh Bank for analysis and forecast the import of Bangladesh, based on collected data to strengthen the economic condition.


All‐optical modulators are attracting significant attention due to their intrinsic perspective on high‐speed, low‐loss, and broadband performance, which are promising to replace their electrical counterparts for future information communication technology. However, high‐power consumption and large footprint remain obstacles for the prevailing nonlinear optical methods due to the weak photon–photon interaction. Here, efficient all‐optical mid‐infrared plasmonic waveguide and free‐space modulators in atomically thin graphene‐MoS2 heterostructures based on the ultrafast and efficient doping of graphene with the photogenerated carrier in the monolayer MoS2 are reported. Plasmonic modulation of 44 cm−1 is demonstrated by an LED with light intensity down to 0.15 mW cm−2, which is four orders of magnitude smaller than the prevailing graphene nonlinear all‐optical modulators (≈103 mW cm−2). The ultrafast carrier transfer and recombination time of photogenerated carriers in the heterostructure may achieve ultrafast modulation of the graphene plasmon. The demonstration of the efficient all‐optical mid‐infrared plasmonic modulators, with chip‐scale integrability and deep‐sub wavelength light field confinement derived from the van der Waals heterostructures, may be an important step toward on‐chip all‐optical devices.


We introduce the concept of penalized wavelets to facilitate seamless embedding of wavelets into semiparametric regression models. In particular, we show that penalized wavelets are analogous to penalized splines; the latter being the established approach to function estimation in semiparametric regression. They differ only in the type of penalization that is appropriate. This fact is not borne out by the existing wavelet liter- ature, where the regression modelling and fitting issues are overshadowed by computational issues such as efficiency gains afforded by the Discrete Wavelet Transform and partially obscured by a tendency to work in the wavelet coefficient space. With penalized wavelet structurein place, we then show that fitting and inference can be achieved via the same general approaches used for penalized splines: penalized least squares, maximum likelihood and best prediction within a frequentist mixed model framework, and Markov chain Monte Carlo and mean field variational Bayes within a Bayesian framework. Penalized wavelets are also shown have a close rela- tionship with wide data ("p ≫ n") regression and benefit from ongoing research on that topic.


Just as we can work with two-dimensional floor plans to communicate 3D architectural design, we can exploit reduced- dimension shadows to manipulate the higher-dimensional objects generating the shadows. In particular, by taking advantage of physically reactive 3D shadow-space controllers, we can transform the task of interacting with 4D objects to a new level of physical reality. We begin with a teaching tool that uses 2D knot diagrams to manipulate the geometry of 3D mathematical knots via their projections; our unique 2D haptic interface allows the user to become familiar with sketching, editing, exploration, and manipulation of 3D knots rendered as projected images on a 2D shadow space. By combining graphics and collision-sensing haptics, we can enhance the 2D shadow-driven editing protocol to successfully leverage 2D pen-and-paper or blackboard skills. Building on the reduced-dimension 2D editing tool for manipulating 3D shapes, we develop the natural analogy to produce a reduced-dimension 3D tool for manipulating 4D shapes. By physically modeling the correct properties of 4D surfaces, their bending forces, and their collisions in the 3D haptic controller interface, we can support full-featured physical exploration of 4D mathematical objects in a manner that is otherwise far beyond the experience accessible to human beings. As far as we are aware, this paper reports the first interactive system with force-feedback that provides "4D haptic visualization" permitting the user to model and interact with 4D cloth-like objects.


Why Dubai? It's been called the fastest-growing city on earth-a hub for the Gulf region experiencing unprecedented growth in energy, financial services, consumer goods, hospitality, retail, real estate, technology, shipping, and countless other industries. According to global strategist and advisor to Fortune 500 companies Aamir A. Rehman, no truly global firm can afford to ignore the booming Gulf region. The key, however, is to approach the region with savvy strategies for managing risks and drawbacks, while crafting business models designed for this unique market. Welcome to Dubai & Co. This up-close, in-depth guide will help you to: Deepen your understanding of a region of critical importance to global business Change your perceptions about the Gulf states and the broader Middle East Create corporate strategies that fit your firm and the region Expand your international business to make it faster, bigger, and better Access Gulf capital more effectively, enabling expansion and generating both local and global profits This essential hands-on book will show you how to successfully navigate the region's most attractive markets: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman. You'll learn the key characteristics of each country-historical, demographic, political, economic, and regulatory-in order to adapt your business to each unique environment. You'll hear stories of major companies that paved the way for your success. Whether you're already doing business in the Middle East or just thinking about expanding your company into new markets, Dubai & Co. is the perfect guide to one of the greatest growth opportunities in the world.


The economic value that accrues from those who earn four-year university degrees and graduate degrees will be the focus of this paper. Higher education influences economic well-being in other ways as well. The economic impacts of expenditures by institutions, their employees and their students already have been well documented buy others. The benefits of knowledge creation research and developmentat universities will be examined and compared. Education provides a variety of benefits to students including enhanced social skills, greater awareness of human achievement and an appreciation for cultural diversity. IN this time period that we live in, education is increasingly viewed as an economic investment. Education provides a student with skills that are valued by employers and increases lifetime earnings capacity. The primary point of this paper is what value do we, as a society, put towards attaining a degree and at what cost? Presenting both sides of this important argument is essential to making a fair assessment of where we stand as a society. It would be fair to state that although the cost can be higher for some than others, the collective agreement is as follows: The benefits of going to college, aside from getting a job, that are intangible include unique accomplishments like finding a marriage partner, making life-long friends, making good contacts, networking with classmates and professors, the college life itself, exposing yourself to a broader scope of education, developing analytical and critical thinking skills, and the list goes on and on. Degree Type Open Access Senior Honors Thesis Department Management First Advisor Stephanie E. Newell Second Advisor Diana J. Wong-Millette


Abstract The apparent fundamental movements in the world wide energy market risen by (i) the dramatic increase in world energy demand, (ii) the perceived danger of an ongoing world climate change and (iii) the predicted price and resource trends in fossil resources have risen discussions on the possibilities to significantly further accelerate the development of pure fusion power stations under the headline 'fast track' in the recent past. In contrast at the same time strong fusion specific challenges are being recognized in the light of some issues with the ITER project in terms of schedule, technologies and cost. Therefore, it seems to be appropriate to reappraise the role of DEMO and fusion energy in the overall context and consider readjusting or redefining the medium-term mission in nuclear fusion and its relation to nuclear fission. Firstly, the current paper assesses synergies with nuclear fission Gen4 reactors. It is ascertained that the development of efficiently helium cooled high temperature components and reactor systems allows for strong collaboration between fission and fusion. Furthermore, it could be concluded that an integrated nuclear strategy for the 21st century should be developed including all important aspects of the possible interplay between fusion and fission. It is briefly discussed whether hybrid fusion-fission systems could be a central point of such an integrated strategy in the world wide context. The second emphasis of the current paper is on the description of the current progress made in Karlsruhe in the fields of design and testing of helium cooled components for fusion power stations and test facilities. Efficient helium cooling methods for divertor and blanket structures were found by applying the state of the art jet impingement and rib turbulator heat transfer enhancement techniques. The low pressure and the high pressure TBM section of the HELOKA facilities are under assembly. HELOKA is the main experimental tool for out of pile testing and qualification of in-vessel components at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe.


Effective gas management is vital to the success of the longwall mining in the Bulli seam, in the Southern Coalfield, Sydney Basin, NSW, Australia. The evolution of gas drainage methods and practices are discussed with respect to gas type, gas drainage lead time and prevailing geological conditions. Both underground to inseam drilling and surface to inseam drilling techniques are described at both pre and post-drainage conditions. Post-drainage of gas from longwall is discussed for its effectiveness, practicability and efficiency. The long term benefit of the method selected is examined with respect to gas capture efficiency. An alternative method of surface based goaf drainage, using medium radius drilling technology to drill horizontal boreholes above and/or below the production seam into the partial caving zone prior to longwall goaf formation is proposed.


A thermodynamic analysis of the driving forces is presented for intercalation and conversion reactions in battery cathodes across a range of possible working ion, transition metal, and anion chemistries. Using this body of results, the importance of polymorph selection as well as chemical composition on the ability of a host cathode to support intercalation reactions is analyzed. It is found that the accessibility of high energy charged polymorphs in oxides generally leads to larger intercalation voltages favoring intercalation reactions, whereas sulfides and selenides tend to favor conversion reactions. Furthermore, it is observed that Cr‐containing cathodes favor intercalation more strongly than those with other transition metals. Finally, it is concluded that two‐electron reduction of transition metals (as is possible with the intercalation of a 2 + ion) will favor conversion reactions in the compositions studied.


In order to measure progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, 169 targets have been approved globally. Even though interest in implementing these goals is high, many states have not yet established a set of subnational indicators to measure the implementation of the SDGs and have not com-pleted their own assessment of progress in achieving these global goals. This study aims to measure the progress toward achieving the SDG at local and regional level in Romania by calculating the SDG Index. For the calculation of the SDG Index at subnational level, we propose an integrated approach based on 90 indicators, stored and processed in a PostgreSQL object-relational database. The results show the concentration of the highest performances of sustainable development in some specific geographical areas. The rural areas and the extended peripheral regions in the eastern and southern part of the country are the poorest performers.


The University Reforms in the early 90s in Cameroon set the stage for private interests, driven by economic gains to invest in the Higher Education Sector. One of the outcomes of this move is the prevalence of misleading marketing communications that seek to attract and influence university enrollees. Focusing exclusively on alumni these private university institutions, this paper employs snowball sampling of six hundred subjects and a logistics regression technique to gauge the true influence of deceptive marketing communication on students' decisions to enroll in PHEIs. The findings reveal that, although 93.5 percent of alumni admit to have been deceived to enroll in their respective alma maters (PHEIs), there is no inferential evidence that student enrollment decisions are induced by deceptive marketing communication.


Dry eye disease (DED) is a prevalent and multifactorial pathology of the ocular surface affecting 5-50% of the world's population.1 The disease is characterized by a loss of homeostasis of the tear film and it may manifest with ocular symptoms such as dryness and burning.2,3 Tear hyperosmolarity and tear film instability constitute the core mechanisms in DED pathophysiology.4 Recently, neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) have also been postulated to play a role in the pathogenesis of the disease.5,6 Artificial tears constitute the first-line therapy for mild dry eye.7 Nonetheless, most of these ophthalmic formulations in the market supplement only the aqueous phase of the tear film, providing primarily symptomatic relief. Furthermore, artificial tears have drawbacks such as short ocular residence time.8Objectives and ResultsObjective-1: Development of artificial tear formulations containing novel components, with suitable physicochemical properties, optimum tolerance, and extended ocular residence time. Liposomes were utilized to replenish the lipids of the tear film and bioadhesive and/or in situ gelling polymers (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and/or gellan gum, respectively) to extend the ocular residence time of the formulations. In addition, antioxidants (vitamins A, C, and E), osmoprotectants (levocarnitine and trehalose), or antidessicants (trehalose) were incorporated into the formulations for their potential beneficial effects in DED treatment. The neutral to slightly alkaline pH (7.0–7.6), surface tension (44.6–48.7 mN/m), viscosity (3.6–12.1 mPa.s), slight hypotonicity (222.7–272.7 mOsm/L), and liposome size (191.0–200.1 nm) exhibited by the formulations in the physicochemical characterization were considered suitable for topical ophthalmic administration. Formulations containing gellan gum produced viscoelastic gels with shear-thinning properties and suitable viscosities (2.8–3.0 mPa.s). In vivo tolerance studies (in rabbits) showed that the formulations resulted well tolerated. Objective-2: Development of novel tools to evaluate the efficacy of the artificial tear formulations. An in vivo dry eye model and an ex vivo dry eye model were developed. Dry eye was induced in rabbits with topical administration of the preservative benzalkonium chloride (BAK) at 0.1% for 15 days. Dry eye signs including corneal damage, goblet cell loss, and impairments in the conjunctival epithelium were observed in animals after the BAK treatment. Furthermore, a complete ex vivo porcine anterior eye model (Aston Biological Anterior Eye Model) was optimized by adjusting the irrigation frequency of the eyes with a tear analogue. Objective-3: Efficacy studies of the novel artificial tear formulations. Preliminary studies. Preliminary efficacy studies of one of the novel formulations, composed of an in situ gelling polymer (gellan gum 0.25%), a bioadhesive polymer (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose 0.12%), osmoprotectants (levocarnitine 0.4% and trehalose 1.68%), an antioxidant (vitamin C 0.01%), electrolytes (sodium chloride 0.05% and potassium chloride 0.05%), and borates (boric acid 0.84% and sodium tetraborate anhydrous 0.08%), were performed in the previously mentioned in vivo and ex vivo DED models, over a period of 21 days and 18 hours, respectively. In the in vivo model, the treatment with the artificial tear promoted significant improvements in the cornea and the conjunctiva at 7 days after continued treatment (significantly reduced fluorescein and cytological scores compared with baseline). In the ex vivo model, the formulation improved the ocular surface with two instillations after 18 hours, though the small sample size did not allow statistical analysis. Objective-4: Assessment of the effects of the novel artificial tear formulations on NET formation as a proof of concept. Excessive amounts and impaired clearance of NETs have been observed on the ocular surface of DED patients and linked with the pathogenesis of the disease.5,6 Effects of the novel artificial tear formulations on NET formation (NETosis) were assessed in neutrophils. The formulations did not increase NET formation in unstimulated neutrophils, demonstrating an optimal tolerance. Furthermore, in neutrophils stimulated with a NETosis inducing agent, all of the formulations reduced NET formation significantly.Conclusions1. All of the novel artificial tear formulations developed in this thesis, containing different combinations of liposomes (made up of phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol), a bioadhesive polymer (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose), an in situ gelling polymer (gellan gum), osmoprotectants (levocarnitine and trehalose), antioxidants (vitamins A, C, and E), and other formulation excipients (fructose, electrolytes, and borates) demonstrate suitable physicochemical properties for topical ophthalmic administration and are well tolerated in rabbits.2. Incorporation of gellan gum at 0.25% with electrolytes created artificial tears with in situ gelling properties, capable of producing viscoelastic gels that suggest an extended ocular residence time of the ophthalmic formulations.3. Twice-daily topical ophthalmic administration of the preservative benzalkonium chloride at 0.1% for 15 days induces significant alterations on the ocular surface of rabbits that are indicative of dry eye disease. The experimental dry eye model can be used as a platform to evaluate the efficacy of artificial tears.4. According to the preliminary efficacy studies performed in the in vivo dry eye model, the novel artificial tear containing the in situ gelling polymer gellan gum (0.25%), the bioadhesive polymer hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (0.12%), the osmoprotectants levocarnitine (0.4%) and trehalose (1.68%), the antioxidant vitamin C (0.01%), borates (boric acid 0.84% and sodium tetraborate anhydrous 0.08%), and electrolytes (sodium chloride 0.05% and potassium chloride 0.05%) may be beneficial in DED treatment.


Abstract. This work deals with the temporal variability of daily means of the global broadband surface solar irradiance (SSI) impinging on a horizontal plane by studying a decennial time-series of high-quality measurements recorded at a BSRN ground station. Since the data have a non-linear and non-stationary character, two time-frequency-energy representations of signal processing are compared in their ability to resolve the temporal variability of the pyranometric signal. First, the continuous wavelet transform is used to construct the wavelet power spectrum of the data. Second, the adaptive, noise-assisted empirical mode decomposition is employed to extract the intrinsic mode functions of the signal, followed by Hilbert spectral analysis. In both spectral representations, the temporal variability of the SSI is portrayed having clearly distinguishable features: a plateau between scales of two days and two-three months that has decreasing power with increasing scale, a large spectral peak corresponding to the annual variability cycle, and a low power regime in between the previous two. It is shown that the data-driven, noise-assisted method yields a somewhat more sparse representation and that it is a suitable tool for inspecting the temporal variability of SSI measurements.


Continuous exposure to natural and man-made chemicals is a major cause of noncommunicable human diseases, including cancer. Accumulated data indicate that an exposure to chemical carcinogens induces a range of genetic and epigenetic events, including alterations in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation pattern, which may be associated with cancer development and progression. Accumulated evidence indicates that the response of the DNA methylome to chemical carcinogens, especially lifestyle and food carcinogens, is critical in the carcinogenic process. The better understanding of mechanisms and processes associated with carcinogen-induced DNA methylation abnormalities may be helpful for carcinogen hazard identification, carcinogen risk assessment and management, and the prevention of cancer.

Key Concepts:

Exposure to natural and man-made chemicals is a major cause of human cancer.

Chemical carcinogens induce a range of genetic and epigenetic events, including alterations in the DNA methylation pattern.

Alteration of the DNA methylation status is one of the underlying mechanisms of the carcinogenicity of a number of established environmental and occupational carcinogenic agents.

Carcinogen-induced DNA methylation changes consist of DNA and repetitive element demethylation, gene-specific hypermethylation and gene silencing, gene-specific hypomethylation and activation of gene transcription and altered expression or activity of DNA methyltransferases.

Epigenetic alterations may be used as biomarkers in the evaluation of the carcinogenic potential of chemicals.

The incorporation of epigenetic technologies in cancer risk assessment promises to enhance substantially the efficiency of carcinogenicity testing.

Keywords:

chemical carcinogens;
tobacco smoking;
food carcinogens;
DNA methylation;
cancer development


In photonic bandgap (PBG) fibers, light is confined by a photonic bandgap caused by a periodic structure of air holes in the cladding regions. The doubly degenerate fundamental mode in ideal PBG fiber structures becomes slightly nondegenerate in actually produced fibers, and this causes polarization instability and polarization mode dispersion. Here, to avoid these problems, we propose a novel absolutely single-polarization PBG fiber structure with an elliptical-hole lattice core. A PBG fiber with a single-polarization bandwidth of 420 nm is numerically demonstrated. Furthermore, based on the proposed fiber structure, we report another single-polarization PBG fiber that has two absolutely single-polarization bands being orthogonal to each other.


In plants, complete embryos can develop not only from the zygote, but also from
somatic cells. This biological process is known as 'somatic embryogenesis'. Plant
regeneration via somatic embryogenesis has provided the means for the application of
biotechnology techniques such as clonal propagation, genetic transformation and
cryopreservation. The significant potential of this in vitro propagation has resulted in a
spate of exploration in a wide range of plants particularly commodity crops.In Malaysia, somatic embryogenesis of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) has
generated a great deal of research interest. Although the totipotency of somatic cells has
been documented in oil palm (Schwendiman et al., 1990; Duval et al., 1995; Wong et al.,
1999), the mechanism of how the somatic cells undergo the change in fate to become
embryogenic remains largely unknown.
The understanding of this fundamental process is vital for the development of an
economically viable propagation system. Hence, this study was conducted to explore the
molecular events of oil palm somatic embryogenesis to enable isolation of developmental
stage-specific markers that will greatly facilitate the improvement of the in vitro system.
Two different approaches were carried out to identify these genes.
In the first approach, specific genes from the multi gene family of protein kinases
were isolated and their expression profiles were examined during oil palm somatic
embryogenesis. Three receptor-like protein kinases (RLKs) designated as D4.5, E8.1.1
and F3.1 were characterised in this study. Expression studies and sequence analysis have
revealed plausible roles of D4.5 and F3.1 as components of the plant growth regulator
induced signalling pathway, meanwhile E8.l.1 most probably plays a role in mediating
disease-resistance.
The second approach was to use the strategy of suppression subtractive
hybridisation (SSH), subtracting cell-suspension culture cDNAs from the embryoid
cDNAs in order to obtain embryo-enhanced-transcripts that are differentially regulated during the transition of embryogenic competent callus to the mature embryogenic stage.
A total number of 200 clones (suspension as tester) and 69 clones (embryoid as tester)
from the forward and reverse subtraction cONA libraries, respectively, were randomly
isolated and preliminary analysed by reverse Northern. Sequence analysis of 30 clones
revealed that a large proportion of the genes, 57% were of unknown function while the
remaining 43% were related to various biological pathways.
Four SSH clones: 269-10-02 (ACC oxidase), 269-112-a2 (protein-disulphide
isomerase like), 269-155 -A5 (6-phosphogluconolactonase-like) and 2524-4-b1 (no
significant similarity) were selected for further characterisation. The transcripts of these
clones were found to accumulate only in embryogenic tissues. Although their expression
patterns signify a potential as an embryogenic marker, preliminary Northern analysis is
insufficient to draw a clear conclusion about their role in embryogenesis.


The technical complexity of ensuring that tax rolls are complete and valuations current is often perceived as a major barrier to bringing in more property tax revenues in developing countries. This paper shows how high-resolution satellite imagery makes it possible to assess the completeness of existing tax maps by estimating built-up areas based on building heights and footprints. Together with information on sales prices from the land registry, targeted surveys, and routine statistical data, this makes it possible to use mass valuation procedures to generate tax maps. The example of Kigali illustrates the reliability of the method and the potentially far-reaching revenue impacts. Estimates show that heightened compliance and a move to a 1 percent ad valorem tax would yield a tenfold increase in revenue from public land.


The University of Wisconsin-Madison Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) Fusion Research Group has been performing experiments on an IEC device known as HOMER. This device is a 65cm high, 91cm diameter cylindrical aluminum vacuum chamber that contains two concentric spherical wire grids, the outer grid acting as the anode and the inner grid as the cathode. The potential difference between the anode and cathode drives ions towards the center of the grids. Using this device, steady-state D-D fusion reactions are created in order to produce 2.45 MeV neutrons. With the goal of achieving maximum neutron production rates, the following parameters have been varied: cathode voltage, ion current, operating pressure, and the separation distance between the anode and cathode. The studies on pressure, voltage, and current have led to the discovery of trends that allow for the extrapolation of neutron rates at various conditions. The cathode/anode separation studies have offered valuable insight into how the distance between the electrodes effects the concentration of deuterium molecular ions and the ion energy spectra, and has led to the implementation of a configuration that better maximizes neutron production rates.


This study was conducted to investigate the effect of praestol, as a coagulant-aid, to improve coagulation-flocculation process in the removal of disperse red 60 from aqueous solutions. The effect of various parameters including coagulants dose (10-1000 mg l-1), praestol dose (0-1000 mg l-1), solution pH (3-11), initial dye concentration (100-500 mg l-1), flocculation speed (30-60 rpm), flocculation time (15-30 min), settling time (5-60 min) and ionic strength (0-6 mg l-1) was evaluated on the dye removal. The dye removal efficiency was substantially increased by using praestol in the concentration of 80 mg l-1 and 400 mg l-1 for coagulation with alum and polyaluminum chloride (PACl), respectively. The maximum dye removal by alum coupled with praestol (Al-P) and PACl coupled with praestol (PA-P) was found to be 97.8 and 98.7, respectively that were occurred at pH 7. The results showed that the application of PA-P or Al-P can be effectively used to remove disperse red 60 (DR 60) in aqueous solutions. © 2015 Global NEST Printed in Greece.


In the context of the Australian federal system industry development will be influenced by the policies of each sphere of government. When announcing a set of policies in 1997 to develop the renewable energy industry the Australian federal government acknowledged the need for a cooperative approach between all governments and industry. The objective of this article is to analyse the government policies over the 1997–2007 period to promote the development of the renewable energy industry in Australia. The article highlights a number of factors that have served as barriers to the development of the industry. The research provides important insight into the difficulties associated with establishing cooperative national arrangements in areas of state government responsibility in the Australian federation. The lessons also inform the current debate on the policy initiatives needed to more effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions from stationary energy from the increased availability of renewable energy.


Over the last few decades the Internet, World Wide Web, cyberspace and so forth have emerged as crucial cultural and political arenas, and thus of increasing relevance as objects and areas of ethnographic inquiry. The paper argues that the ethnographical entry-point for studying such technologically mediated arenas creates specific effects of 'path-dependence 'and attendant asymmetries of knowledge. Globally distributed networks of organizations, collaborating on issues relating to information- and communication technologies for development (ICT4Dev) provides context for the argument. Three sources of knowledge asymmetries are identified: limited presence, partial information and uncertain connections. Athough mediated ethnographies invariably create asymmetries of knowledge they also thrive on these asymmetries. This is because they also replicate features of the field itself: asymmetries of knowledge likewise characterize and influence the activities of globally distributed networks. In conjunction, the three sources of asymmetry create a predicament of mutual opacity as a condition of knowledge making in ICT4Dev networks as well as for the ethnographer. Focusing on the consequences of these asymmetries, the paper argues that mediated ethnography has central contributions to make in a) analyzing the specific formats of the social that emerges from globally distributed organizations and networks and b) bringing to light some alternative stories about what might be done with ICT4Dev.


Extreme regions in the feature space are of particular concern for anomaly detection: anomalies are likely to be located in the tails, whereas data scarcity in such regions makes it difficult to distinguish between large normal instances and anomalies. This paper presents an unsupervised algorithm for anomaly detection in extreme regions. We propose a Minimum Volume set (MV-set) approach relying on multivariate extreme value theory. This framework includes a canonical pre-processing step, which addresses the issue of output sensitivity to standardization choices. The resulting data representation on the sphere highlights the dependence structure of the extremal observations. Anomaly detection is then cast as a MV-set estimation problem on the sphere, where volume is measured by the spherical measure and mass refers to the angular measure. An anomaly then corresponds to an unusual observation given that one of its variables is large. A preliminary rate bound analysis is carried out for the learning method we introduce and its computational advantages are discussed and illustrated by numerical experiments.


The objective of the present work is to develop plastic bonded Alnico magnet for high-quality electronic display or other applications. Here Alnico powders were produced by water-atomization (W/A) instead of cast-crushing method as usual. When W/A Alnico powder was held in the range 1000-1100K for a few minutes and then aircooled, the magnetic properties was wholly improved: practically, 2%Co- and 24%Co-bearing Alnico powders showed the coercive force (Hcj) of more than 6000e and 9000e, respectively. Subsequently, plastic bonded magnet, when press-compacted, showed the maximum energy products (BH)max : 0.45MGOe for 2%Co and 0.67MGOe for 24%Co (packing factor: approximately 65%). As a whole, W/A Alnico powder is of almost the same magnetic properties and further, is expected to be less costy as compared with cast-crushed one.


AIMS
To take appropriate account of duration of follow-up in estimating age-specific associations of 'usual' blood pressure and cholesterol with death from coronary heart disease.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Blood pressure and cholesterol were measured in 18 841 men at entry to the Whitehall study, and coronary heart disease mortality was recorded during a 26-year period. Biennial re-measurements of these risk factors in the Framingham study were used to obtain period-specific corrections for 'regression dilution'. For coronary heart disease deaths at ages 40-64, 65-74 and 75+ years in the Whitehall study, the mean times since baseline were 9, 15, and 21 years, respectively. In uncorrected analyses of coronary heart disease risk in each age range, a 10 mmHg lower systolic blood pressure at baseline was associated with proportional risk reductions of only 19%, 14% and 10%, respectively (P<0.001 for trend with age). After period-specific correction for regression dilution, a 10 mmHg lower usual systolic blood pressure about 5 years before coronary heart disease death was associated with risk reductions of 25%, 23% and 21%, respectively (trend P=0.1). Similarly, a 1 mmol . l(-1)lower blood cholesterol was associated with proportional reductions in coronary heart disease risk of 21%, 17% and 11% (trend P<0.001) in uncorrected analyses, by contrast with proportional reductions of 27%, 26% and 21% (trend P=0.5) after period-specific correction.

CONCLUSIONS
After making appropriate allowance for the longer interval between baseline measurements and death at older ages, reductions in the risk of coronary heart disease death associated with differences in usual levels of blood pressure or cholesterol at some particular fixed time prior to death were about as great in old age as in middle age.


Long-term development finance provided by Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) is key to advancing the United Nations 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. However, MDBs are constrained in their lending by the availability of capital. This paper argues that Risk Transfer, as a complement to equity injections, could permit higher MDB lending by attracting a broader class of investors. We describe selected examples of actual Risk Transfer transactions and provide estimates of the potential expansion in lending these techniques could yield. But we also identify obstacles that limit investors willingness and ability to participate in these transactions. Therefore, we recommend an agenda for international policymakers to open the way for the wider use of Risk Transfer. Still, we recognize this will be a gradual process which cannot substitute for MDB expansion through additional ordinary capital resources.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the reasons of removal of non-tunneled double lumen catheters (NTDLC) in incident hemodialysis (HD) patients in a tertiary renal care hospital.

STUDY DESIGN
Observational retrospective study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY
Department of Nephrology, The Kidney Centre Postgraduate Training Institute (TKC PGTI), Karachi, from June 2015 to May 2016.

METHODOLOGY
All patients were selected who had naive NTDLC placement at TKC PGTI either in Emergency Room (ER) or Intensive Care Unit (ICU) during the study period. The reason for removal were observed. Data was analysed by SPSS 21 and mean, percentages and frequencies were calculated. Cross tabulation between variables was done to find significance.

RESULTS
A total of 429 NTDLCs were inserted in the study period, out of which 296 catheters were inserted for incident HD. One hundred and twenty-seven (42.9%) catheters were removed prematurely due to malfunction, and 50 (17%) due to catheter-related blood stream infection (CRBSI). Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest organism responsible for CRBSI. One hundred and five (35.47%) catheters were removed because the permanent vascular access (PVA) became usable.

CONCLUSION
Catheter malfunctions and infections frequently occurred in NTDLC used for HD, which culminated early removal of catheter. Early creation of PVA should be encouraged to reduce the complications in already immunocompromised patients.


Generic processes such as depth-selective laser scribing and the printing of insulating and conductive tracks that can be cured at low temperature, are a key requirement to enable cost efficient production of advanced thin-film PV concepts. In contrast to TCO glass based superstrate device concepts, no standard laser scribing processes and manufacturing tools to achieve fully monolithic series interconnection are presently available for so-called substrate type device concepts that are built on — often opaque and/orflexible — substrates. Three key features of such advanced interconnection processes are presented here: laser scribing, printing and electrical modeling. As vehicle to develop and demonstrate these interconnection processes, a novel roll-to-roll concept for fabrication of thin-film silicon solar cells on steel foil is chosen. We show that laser scribing of amorphous silicon solar cells with a 1064 nm ps laser leads to a minor loss in efficiency. The screen printing process of low-temperature curing Ag paste is also proven not to degrade the device performance, and by modeling the module interconnection, we calculated losses below 10% when going from individual cells to modules. Efforts are underway to realize large area solar cells with printed current collecting grids, and finally a fully series interconnected module by combining laser scribing and printing as cost-effective processing operation.


Background Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, limited lung fibrosing interstitial pneumonia of unknown cause with poor prognosis and few therapeutic options, with a median survival of 2–5 years from diagnosis. It is characterised by fibroblast proliferation and abnormal accumulation of extracellular matrix molecules, particularly collagen fibres. Pirfenidone is the first IPF-specific antifibrotic, with anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic properties whose mechanism of action has not been fully established. To date, pirfenidone is the only drug with proven efficacy in the treatment of IPF. It is considered an orphan drug, and is not yet marketed in all European countries, so that additional monitoring is required. Purpose To describe the progress of a patient treated with pirfenidone as well as the safety of this new treatment. Material and methods A prospective observational study was conducted. The patient, a 65-year-old male, stopped smoking 2 years ago (with a cumulative tobacco consumption index of 57 packs/year). He was diagnosed with IPF in 2012 by clinical and radiological criteria. Pirfenidone was approved as a foreign drug for a period of three months by the Ministry of Health. Results After titration, the usual pirfenidone dose was administered (2403 mg daily). After 3 months of treatment, forced vital capacity (FVC) experienced less than 10% decrease (only 1.2%) and diffusing capacity or transfer factor of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) decreased by 6.1% showing no radiological progression. There were no increase in transaminases, no digestive disturbances or weight loss. Conclusion Pirfenidone has been used successfully to date in our case, so it is possible to continue the treatment until a new patient evaluation at 6 months in order to prevent a lung transplant. Although more and longer treatment periods are needed, pirfenidone seems to be a well-tolerated treatment option for IPF. References and/or Acknowledgements http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/es_ES/document_library/EPAR_-_Product_Information/human/002154/WC500103049.pdf No conflict of interest.


There are a lot of services and mobile applications that allow simplifying a search, proactively providing information about famous attractions and user feedback; but travelers may have difficulty in choosing based on their real needs. Smart tourism, under the rapid growth of Internet of Things and machine learning techniques is developed for enhancing travellers' experience and satisfaction. In recent years, it is essential for most tourism industrialists to strengthen their competitive edge and to improve industrial sustainability through the adoption of smart tourism. In this chapter, the proposed model generates travel recommendations and related useful information to end users through an online platform, namely Niche-E-Travel (NET). This distinctive tourism solution aims to collect all the obscure attractions, to align them with visitors' interests, and to provide them with a new to-do list in Hong Kong. NET collects basic information from end users and uses the proposed travel analytic model with K-modes and K-means clustering methods to finish a clustering process, and provide some potential activity plans to fit the end user's interests and requirements. Recommendations made for each user are supported by collaborative filtering to compare different users' personal interests.


The total development of a child can only take place in an environment conducive for teaching and learning. It is in realization of the above that all educational services which can promote teaching and learning in schools are given prominent attention by educational planners. Counselling services are among the school educational services. It is believed that guidance and counselling services in school shall develop, assess and improve educational programmes; enhance teaching and improve the competence of the teacher and reduce cost for the children. Therefore, this paper focused on the need for effective counselling services in schools. Furthermore, the paper examined the concept of counselling, the different counselling services like educational, vocational and socio/personal, and associated problems of guidance and counselling as they affect teaching and learning in Cameroonian schools. Finally, the paper recommended that individuals be made to understand, appreciate and accept guidance and counselling services in schools because of the roles they play in effective teaching and learning.


The first part of this paper characterizes the filters whose reduced products are saturated with respect to quantifier free formulas. It is shown that filters with this property are exactly good filters whose Boolean algebra is compact. In the second part we investigate their set-theoretical properties and prove that such filters exist.


Issues surrounding legitimacy and the role of civil society are at the forefront of contemporary global governance debates. Examining the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and focusing on the specific issue areas of justice and gender, this article evaluates the effectiveness and accountability of the administration from the perspective of East Timorese civil society, whose voice is largely absent from previous analyses. Drawing on the archive of the prominent civil society group La'o Hamutuk. this study adds precision and nuance to an area of research characterized by broad-stroke assessments of the legitimacy of multinational interventions. It finds variations in the levels of overall legitimacy exhibited by particular issue areas and differences in terms of the configuration of accountability and effectiveness enjoyed by UNTAET. Although sounding a cautionary note about the degree of civil society influence in global governance, the study concludes that La'o Hamutuk nevertheless provided a more diffuse sense of discursive voice and accountability than would otherwise have been accorded the East Timorese during this crucial period in their history.


The last 40 years there has been a marked increase in the number of Great skuas (Catharacta skua) in Norwegian territory, and it seems as if the core distribution area is shifting, from Iceland and Shetland, northwards to the Barents Sea region. As a generalist and top predator in the marine ecosystem the Great skua has a broad range of available prey, and their impact on prey species, particularly other seabirds, is poorly understood. The diet of Great skuas during winter is largely unknown, because they live mostly out in the open ocean. As they come to shore to breed, it is possible to obtain an estimate of the diet during the breeding season through analysis of regurgitated pellets. The pellets were collected from a total of 25 Great skua nests in 2008 and 2009. Each nest was visited every fifth day from hatching, and chicks were weighed and measured at each visit. Almost all pellets contained remains from birds while 38 % contained remains from fish. On average, 62 ± 3.7 % of pellets from a pair contained only seabird remains. In 2008, dietary specialization toward seabirds was found in 33 % of the pairs, compared to 62 % in 2009. The overall diet composition did not differ between years, but the proportion of fish in pellets varied between pairs within years. As the breeding season progressed the probability of fish being found in pellets decreased. Body mass, tarsus length and wing length of chicks were negatively correlated with the proportion of pellets with only fish. Hatching dates varied between years, being delayed in 2009. Breeding success was higher in 2008 than in 2009. There was no relationship between the number of chick survival to age 15 days (D (15) = fledging success) and differences in specialization, but in 2009 there was a positive relationship between the survival of chicks at the end of the field work and a specialist diet. This indicates that dietary specialization among Great skua pairs on Bjørnøya can have positive effects on fledging success, and hence also breeding success.


In International Human Rights Law, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights defines the right to health as the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Millions of people use traditional and complementary medicine ('T&CM') to realise their right to health. This article analyses whether the scope of the right to health includes T&CM. Although not expressly provided for in the legally binding treaties, there is substantial evidence in international law to infer a right to T&CM as part of the right to health. The article analyses some of the failings of T&CM policy and regulation in Australia and offers a draft convention article in the recently proposed Framework Convention on Global Health ('FCGH') which codifies an express and legally binding right to T&CM. This would assist States Parties address the policy, legislative and regulatory gaps that currently exist regarding T&CM. A clear duty imposed on States Parties would ensure everyone including indigenous peoples have access to quality, safe, culturally appropriate, and effective T&CM health care facilities, goods and services. States Parties including the Australian Government might then more effectively harness the potential contribution of T&CM, and fundamentally reorientate health systems towards significantly more cost-effective wellness and people centred health care in realising the right to health for all.


[text start] + (Selected Images of 120 Days and Nights of STAGGERING + STAMMERING)

'..an ever always changing, cav, cav, cavor, cavorting carousel, that documents the transitory lives that pass, pass, pass, through our crystalline worlds.'

120 Days and Nights of STAGGERING + STAMMERING.

The young man at the beginning of Andrei Tarkovsky's The Mirror stammers and stutters, and then learns not to.

My grandmother, Rose-Marie, staggers out of The China Hall Public House, The White Horse Tavern, The Crystal Tavern, The Eagle and never learns. In the icy wastes of the French Alps she dives into freezing lakes. Followed by my grandfather, without a St. Bernard dog for company. 'Ice, No Brandy'. The very very late night Troy Bar in Soho always clings.

However far I try and get away from 'Grey Gardens' it still tugs me back to 'Tea for Two'. Just tea for two and two for tea Just me for you Just tea for two and two for tea Just me for you.

Our lives are smeared throughout the world, recalled through disparate, dissolute, fragmentary images, sounds and memories.

On the 27 of December 1960 Marilyn Monroe gave birth to a baby boy. Two weeks earlier she had flown to the town of Pointe-a-Pierre in Trinidad and Tobago to give birth. The father is unknown. She gave it up for adoption immediately. A Mexican divorce was granted to Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe on January 24, 1961. The boy, weighing 6lbs and 12oz was adopted by Sheila and Stephen Ingham

120 Days and Nights of STAGGERING + STAMMERING is an installation that sucks in and spews out images of the people and surroundings it encounters, real or imaginary, wherever it happens to stumble: New York, London, Venice, Iquitos, Ocho Rios.

Consisting of old SLR film cameras and LED spotlights each of the 120 'projectors' throws out images of people, events and the fabric surrounding wherever it is exhibited. A dense flickering array of images negotiated and dictated by the space, can be projected into, onto and outwards of any given situation/site. They prefer shady aspects but can flourish during daylight hours too. The larger less bright images are made visible by the descending gloom of the night. The smaller, closer to the wall/ceiling/floor, ones can cope with the intensity of other light sources.

The projectors can be clumped together in one location or be spread around different locales as needs be. The audience is enveloped in and disrupts this cacophony of images, creating and destroying as they wander through and around them. Shadows will appear and obliterate the wall images only to reappear on the bodies of the transgressors. The images will be instantly recognisable, as they will depict places just passed through on the way to the exhibition site.

There will be temporal shifts occurring sometimes of mere days alongside others of an indeterminate age. Referents will be lost and gained throughout this encounter.

'...an ever changing, cavorting carousel, that documents the transitory lives that pass through our crystalline world.'

The End The End To be continued…..

[text end]


In 2002, male village leaders and youth living near a transnational mining corporation's operation in rural Indonesia attacked a group of visiting environmental activists. I analyze the moral commitments of the corporate managers who provoked the attack and the village elites who organized and executed it, turning to the context of the burgeoning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) industry to grasp the broader dimensions of the beliefs and practices through which managers and elites legitimized their actions. This essay shows that the CSR industry is coevolving alongside environmental advocacy campaigns and grassroots corporate security models.


The objective of this article is to evaluate the potential of the X-Lib Library Automation System in Nigerian university libraries through an assessment of how it meets the current and future requirements of Babcock University Library. The current and future potential of X-Lib in Babcock University Library were examined using the R2ISC criteria. The criteria used to evaluate current potential included: the ability of Xlib to accommodate a large collection; ability to integrate the basic operations of acquisitions, cataloguing, and circulation; modular design; ease of use; ability to search and retrieve records by various fields; ability to produce end user reports; ability to define security or restrict users to specific screens; ability to perform specialized services; and backup and restore utility. The criteria analysed to determine future potential included: response time; level of configurability; operating system; upgrade; hardware; and the future of the developer or vendor. The result showed 62.6 and 45.5 percentage fits respectively to the current and future requirements of the Babcock University Library. The strengths and limitations of X-Lib are highlighted.


Smart phone can support a variety of functions in people's daily life. Notification is one of the basic core function of smart phone user experience. This research explored the college students ' behaviors when they deal with the notification system of smart phone. In order to know the behaviors of user, this study conducted a diary study method to record the information about notification users received from the smart phone. Before the one week diary study, a pre-experiment interview was conducted, the results of interview shown that they have a negative evaluation to receive notifications (disruptive). Hierarchical linear model analyses on the diary contents suggested that the current task types had significant influence on the college students' evaluation on notification disruptive. The evaluation on the importance of notification content can predict user's evaluate on the disruptive of notification content. Keywords—notification system; smart phone; dairy study; user experience.


Abstract Sediments of two dam reservoirs in SE Poland, Zalew Zemborzycki (ZZ) and Brody Iłżeckie (BI) were studied. The sediments from both reservoirs were sampled in the transects perpendicular to the shoreline, at the river inflow and the frontal dam. The total concentration of Mn, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cu, Cr and Ni was determined by ICP-EAS method after the sample digestion in the mixture of concentrated HNO3 and HClO4 acids. The statistical analyses: value intervals, mean values, variation coefficient, the median and the skewed distribution were performed. To estimate differences between the means for transects, Tukey's test was applied with least significant difference (LSD) determination. The maps of the metal spatial distribution were drawn and sediment quality according to the geochemical and ecotoxicological criteria evaluated. Differences between the reservoirs in terms of heavy metals concentration in bottom sediments, and regularities in their spatial distribution were found. In the ZZ sediments the concentration was at the level of geochemical background (Zn, Cr), slightly (Cd, Cu, Ni) or moderately (Pb) contaminated sediments. The metal concentration in the sediments of the BI was up to eight times higher as compared to the ZZ. Moreover, sediments from the BI reservoir showed a greater variability of metal concentration than those from ZZ, which resulted from the dredging operation performed in the part of the reservoir. Metal concentration in sediments of the dredged part was ca. 2–5 times lower than in the undredged one, which indicates that after the dredging operation, accumulation of these metals was slight. The concentrations of Zn, Pb and Cd from the undredged part of BI were at the level of contaminated sediments and exceeded the probable effects level (PEL). In the ZZ, the greatest accumulation of metals occurred in the upper part of the reservoir and at the frontal dam, and the lowest in the middle part of the reservoir. In BI, the lower outflow of water in this reservoir caused a lower metal concentration in the sediments at the frontal dam, as compared with the other sediments in the undredged part of the reservoir. The results indicate that in small and shallow reservoirs, areas of accumulation of heavy metals depend on such factors as a parent river current, reservoir depth, water waving, reservoir shape (narrowing, coves/bays), and type of water outflow.


Book synopsis: This original collection, edited by four of Europe's leading scholars and practitioners, provides new insights into the aftermath of the Second World War in Europe. The research on the neglected experience of many survivors after the war vividly demonstrates that persecution, fear, pain, and injustice continued, even after the formal end of the military conflict in 1945. In their totality, the survivors represented a great variety of experiences and fates, but their lives after 1945 were shaped by a number of shared themes and problems. Living in a state of flux in the turbulent post-war world, these survivors, together with their liberators and former captors, became drawn into the morass of Cold War politics and morality. The book's essays document how survivors navigated through bureaucratic and political obstacles in search of recognition, compensation, and justice. The book also reflects on their place in post-war public memory, commemoration, and history-writing.


ABSTRACT Toxoplasma gondii is a common life-threatening opportunistic infection. We used experimental murine T. gondii infection to optimize the PCR for diagnostic use, define its sensitivity, and characterize the time course and tissue distribution of experimental toxoplasmosis. PCR conditions were adjusted until the assay reliably detected quantities of DNA derived from less than a single parasite. Forty-two mice were inoculated intraperitoneally with T. gondii tachyzoites and sacrificed from 6 to 72 h later. Examination of tissues with PCR and histology revealed progression of infection from blood to lung, heart, liver, and brain, with PCR consistently detecting parasites earlier than microscopy and with no false-positive results. We then evaluated the diagnostic value of this PCR assay in human patients. We studied cerebrospinal fluid and serum samples from 12 patients with AIDS and confirmed toxoplasmic encephalitis (defined as positive mouse inoculation and/or all of the Centers for Disease Control clinical diagnostic criteria), 12 human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients with suspected cerebral toxoplasmosis who had neither CDC diagnostic criteria nor positive mouse inoculation, 26 human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients with other opportunistic infections and no signs of cerebral toxoplasmosis, and 18 immunocompetent patients with neurocysticercosis. Eleven of the 12 patients with confirmed toxoplasmosis had positive PCR results in either blood or cerebrospinal fluid samples (6 of 9 blood samples and 8 of 12 cerebrospinal fluid samples). All samples from control patients were negative. This study demonstrates the high sensitivity, specificity, and clinical utility of PCR in the diagnosis of toxoplasmic encephalitis in a resource-poor setting.


RATIONALE
Obliterative bronchiolitis in former coffee workers prompted a cross-sectional study of current workers. Diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione levels were highest in areas for flavoring and grinding/packaging unflavored coffee.

METHODS
We interviewed 75 (88%) workers, measured lung function, and created exposure groups based on work history. We calculated standardized morbidity ratios (SMRs) for symptoms and spirometric abnormalities. We examined health outcomes by exposure groups.

RESULTS
SMRs were elevated 1.6-fold for dyspnea and 2.7-fold for obstruction. The exposure group working in both coffee flavoring and grinding/packaging of unflavored coffee areas had significantly lower mean ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 s to forced vital capacity and percent predicted mid-expiratory flow than workers without such exposure.

CONCLUSION
Current workers have occupational lung morbidity associated with high diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione exposures, which were not limited to flavoring areas.


Recent research has focused on detecting the "gaming" behavior of students while using an intelligent tutoring system. For instance, Baker, Corbett & Koedinger (2004) reported detecting "gaming" by students, and argued that it explained lower learning results for these students. In this paper, we report that while our computer system's correlation with a student's actual state test score is well correlated (r=.7), we found that we were systematically under-predicting their scores. We wondered if that underprediction had to do with students engaging in some form of gaming. In this paper, we look to see if some of the online metrics (e.g. rate of asking for hints) Baker et al reported correlated with our under-prediction of student's scores. We report results from the Assistment Project's data set of about 70 students collected from May, 2004. We performed a stepwise regression to predict what metrics help to explain our poor prediction of state exam scores. We conclude that while none of the metrics we used were statistically significant, several of the metrics were correlated with our under-prediction, suggesting that there is information in these signals but that it might be too weak for the small sample size we have. For future work, we need to replicate this method with the dataset we are collecting this year that has 600 students using the system for 10 times as long.


Newspaper article about the digitization efforts by the UNT Libraries' digital newspaper unit resulting in over one million Texas newspaper pages available freely online at the Portal to Texas History. There is a photograph of Trista Barker in the upper-right corner of the article holding a roll of microfilm in front of her face with a computer, monitor, and Mekel Mach V Microfilm Scanner behind her. There is a partial article on the back of the clipping.


Coal fires cause severe environmental and economic problems. Although satellite remote sensing has been used successfully to detect coal fires, a satellite data based concept that can quantify the majority of the detected coal fires is still missing. Recently, the determination of fire radiative energy (FRE) has been introduced as a new remote sensing tool to quantify forest and grassland fires. This thesis tests the concept of remotely measured FRE, with a view to ascertaining its potential applicability to coal fires. It contains an investigation of a new generation of satellite instruments, including the operational Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) instrument, the experimental Bi-spectral InfraRed Detection (BIRD) satellite sensor and the experimental Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), which explores the potential of these sensors to determine coal fire radiative energy (CFRE). Additionally, based on the results of this analysis, the thesis presents a new, automated ETM and ASTER data based algorithm, adapted to quantify coal fires in semi-arid to arid regions in northern China.

Field observations carried out in September 2002 and 2003 in three coalfields in northern China (the Wuda, Gulaben and Ruqigou coalfields) demonstrate that coal fire related, surface anomalies are significantly cooler than forest and grassland fires. The theoretical investigation of the ASTER, ETM and BIRD instruments outlines the fact that the thermal infrared (TIR) or mid infrared (MIR) spectral channels of the ASTER, ETM and BIRD instrument are particularly effective in registering these 'warm spots', whilst the short wave infrared (SWIR) spectral range is, however, insufficiently sensitive to be able to register spectral coal fire radiances. The commonly used bi-spectral fire quantification method (Dozier, 1981) can be applied to BIRD data in order to quantify relatively large and / or hot coal fires. However, existing FRE retrieval approaches fail to quantify coal fires via ASTER and ETM instrument data. In this thesis, a new CFRE retrieval method is presented, which links the fire and background TIR spectral radiances to the CFRE through an empirical relationship.

This newly developed TIR method is applied to visually detected fire clusters from night-time ASTER data, and from both day- and night-time ETM data, taken from the three study coalfields in northern China. The ASTER and ETM CFRE values, calculated via the TIR method, are compared to CFRE estimates from BIRD data, calculated via the existing bi-spectral method. Despite the different spatial resolution and spectral properties of the ETM, ASTER and BIRD instruments, CFRE computed from ASTER, ETM and BIRD data show good correlations with one another. However, CFRE retrievals from daytime data appear to be very undependable to background temperature variations, while CFRE, estimated from night-time data, appears to be relatively stable. A comparison between night-time ETM-derived CFRE and the figures given by local mining authorities for total coal fire induced, coal loss estimates in the Wuda coalfield gives a clear indication that the overall dimension of the coal fire problematic can in fact be approximated via satellite data CFRE retrievals. It is thus expected that CFRE derived from night-time satellite data will become a crucial tool in obtaining reliable, quantitative information for coal fires.

A multi-temporal comparison of CFRE retrievals from night-time BIRD and ETM data, covering the Ruqigou and Wuda coalfields, indicates that only major shifts or activity changes in coal fire induced, surface anomalies can be observed by means of these data. These results, which could only partially be verified by field observations, indicate that ETM or BIRD data can be used to monitor major changes in coal fire related, surface anomalies. These data however cannot entirely replace detailed field observations, especially in case of smaller and / or cooler coal fire related, surface anomalies.


In this article we argue that the legal reshaping of public and private cannot at this stage be reconciled with the expectations of online writers who seek to conceal personal identity or to address a private audience. As bloggers, social networkers and other online content creators, we may find ourselves negotiating, sometimes with frustration, a position between our expectations of the internet as a system of places centred largely around ourselves and our imagined audiences, and the architecture of the internet as a limitless space, a 'non-place'. These conflicting notions of the internet constitute an uneven and contradictory 'internet imaginary', and shape our experience online. The law, when confronted with the ambiguities and equivocations of the internet imaginary, so far prefers to fall back on the simple idea of the internet as a public space, a space that is not protected from peering eyes and ears of outside observers, a space where activities cannot be made private (at least without special technological expertise), because accidents inevitably happen. So the law will not underwrite users' expectations of privacy. For now, however, many users of the internet continue to expect from the law a guarantee of privacy in our online experience, at least in some circumstances, even contrary to the assertions of those who insist that architecturally the internet is an open space.


Perfusion of the cerebral cortex of mice with a 4.5 and 12.5% hydroxyadipaldehyde (HAA) solution in a cacodylate buffer caused a biphasic change in the tissue conductivity. After a latency of a fraction of a minute the cortical conductivity dropped markedly, reaching a minimum in 1.5-2 min. Then the conductivity increased again. Electron micrographs (EMs) of material perfused with HAA for 15-20 min and post-fixed with osmium tetroxide showed electron-transparent swollen structures, some of which could be identified as dendritic. The extracellular space consisted of 100-200 A slits between the tissue elements and larger spaces in bundles of small profiles (unmyelinated axons). Cortex frozen after 2 min perfusion with HAA and subjected to substitution in acetone containing 2 % OsO4 at -85 °C showed swollen (dendritic) structures and a paucity of extracellular material in accordance with the conductivity drop. Often tight junctions between the tissue elements were present. Tissue frozen after 15-20 min of HAA perfusion when the conductivity had increased again yielded EMs which were characterized by an abundance of extracellular space between the small profiles. The mitochondria in the swollen (dendritic) structures were enormously enlarged. Cortex perfused for 15-20 min with HAA, post-fixed with OsO4 and then freeze substituted produced EMs resembling those of tissue fixed in the same way but not subjected to freeze substitution. The examination of the fixation process by freeze substitution demonstrated a sequence of major changes in the fluid distribution of the tissue which precludes any direct relationship between the spaces in the normal and fixed tissue.


BACKGROUND
Various rehabilitation treatments may be offered following carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) surgery. The effectiveness of these interventions remains unclear.

OBJECTIVES
To review the effectiveness of rehabilitation following CTS surgery compared with no treatment, placebo, or another intervention.

SEARCH METHODS
On 3 April 2012, we searched the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Group Specialized Register (3 April 2012), CENTRAL (2012, Issue 3), MEDLINE (January 1966 to March 2012), EMBASE (January 1980 to March 2012), CINAHL Plus (January 1937 to March 2012), AMED (January 1985 to April 2012), LILACS (January 1982 to March 2012), PsycINFO (January 1806 to March 2012), PEDRO (29 January 2013) and clinical trials registers (29 January 2013).

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised or quasi-randomised clinical trials that compared any postoperative rehabilitation intervention with either no intervention, placebo or another postoperative rehabilitation intervention in individuals who had undergone CTS surgery.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two reviewers independently selected trials for inclusion, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias according to standard Cochrane methodology.

MAIN RESULTS
In this review we included 20 trials with a total of 1445 participants. We studied different rehabilitation treatments including: immobilisation using a wrist orthosis, dressings, exercise, controlled cold therapy, ice therapy, multimodal hand rehabilitation, laser therapy, electrical modalities, scar desensitisation, and arnica. Three trials compared a rehabilitation treatment to a placebo comparison; three trials compared rehabilitation to a no treatment control; three trials compared rehabilitation to standard care; and 14 trials compared various rehabilitation treatments to one another.Overall, the included studies were very low in quality. Eleven trials explicitly reported random sequence generation and, of these, three adequately concealed the allocation sequence. Four trials achieved blinding of both participants and outcome assessors. Five studies were at high risk of bias from incompleteness of outcome data at one or more time intervals. Eight trials had a high risk of selective reporting bias.The trials were heterogenous in terms of the treatments provided, the duration of interventions, the nature and timing of outcomes measured and setting. Therefore, we were not able to pool results across trials.Four trials reported our primary outcome, change in self reported functional ability at three months or longer. Of these, three trials provided sufficient outcome data for inclusion in this review. One small high quality trial studied a desensitisation program compared to standard treatment and revealed no statistically significant functional benefit based on the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) (MD -0.03; 95% CI -0.39 to 0.33). One moderate quality trial assessed participants six months post surgery using the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire and found no significant difference between a no formal therapy group and a two-week course of multimodal therapy commenced at five to seven days post surgery (MD 1.00; 95% CI -4.44 to 6.44). One very low quality quasi-randomised trial found no statistically significant difference in function on the BCTQ at three months post surgery with early immobilisation (plaster wrist orthosis worn until suture removal) compared with a splint and late mobilisation (MD 0.39; 95% CI -0.45 to 1.23).The differences between the treatments for the secondary outcome measures (change in self reported functional ability measured at less than three months; change in CTS symptoms; change in CTS-related impairment measures; presence of iatrogenic symptoms from surgery; return to work or occupation; and change in neurophysiological parameters) were generally small and not statistically significant. Few studies reported adverse events.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
There is limited and, in general, low quality evidence for the benefit of the reviewed interventions. People who have had CTS surgery should be informed about the limited evidence of the effectiveness of postoperative rehabilitation interventions. Until the results of more high quality trials that assess the effectiveness and safety of various rehabilitation treatments have been reported, the decision to provide rehabilitation following CTS surgery should be based on the clinician's expertise, the patient's preferences and the context of the rehabilitation environment. It is important for researchers to identify patients who respond to a certain treatment and those who do not, and to undertake high quality studies that evaluate the severity of iatrogenic symptoms from the surgery, measure function and return-to-work rates, and control for confounding variables.


188 Background: Multidisciplinary Tumor Boards (MDTB) allow the review of cases and have been associated with improved decision making and outcomes. There is limited information regarding the performance of MDTBs in developing countries. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of MDTBs and its relationship with decision making at an academic hospital in Mexico City.

METHODS
We used a validated tool (MTB-MODe) to prospectively assess the quality of MDTBs at our institution. MTB-MODe assigns a score of 1-5 to various aspects of case presentations at a MDTB, including the quality of the information presented and the performance of team members, which are then averaged to obtain a mean score. The scores of MTDBs which reached a decision were compared against those who failed to do so using Mann-Whitney U-test.

RESULTS
100 cases presented at MDTBs between April and June 2015 were analyzed. Median patient age was 57 years (19 - 87). The most common diagnoses were hepatic (23%), breast (20%) and prostate cancer (15%). 50% of cases (n = 50) were localized. Mean MTB-MODe score was 3.27 (range 1.75-4.75), and a decision was reached in 83% of cases (n = 83). Cases in which a multidisciplinary decision was reached had a better MTB-MODe score than those without a decision (n = 17) (3.4 vs 2.8, p = 0.01). The ability of the MDTB to reach a decision was associated with the quality of case presentation (4.1 vs 3.2, p = 0.01), the presentation of comorbidities (3.5 vs 2.6, p = 0.006), better leadership of the coordinator (3.5 vs 2.5, p = 0.002) and better participation of team members (4.2 vs 2.9, p < 0.001). The patient's point of view was discussed in only 8% of cases (n = 8), while psychosocial issues were only considered in 10% of cases (n = 10).

CONCLUSIONS
We found that the quality of case presentations at MDTBs, and the performance of its members, are associated with the ability to reach multidisciplinary decisions. In contrast with reports from developed nations, we found that the patient's point of view and psychosocial issues were not only largely ignored, but also irrelevant for decision making. The continuous evaluation and improvement of MDTBs is necessary for successful decision making in order to improve patient outcomes.


This book chapter analyzes the Supreme Court's decision in National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Sebelius. Contra conventional wisdom, it argues that the pivotal opinion of Chief Justice Roberts is not well explained in federalism terms. Rather, the decision is best understood in light of entrenched historical understandings of the federal government's appropriate role in managing diverse species of risk.


Ninety subfertile couples were involved in the present study during their attendance at fertility clinic at Al-Sadder teaching hospital in Al- Najaf/Iraq throughout a period from March 2016 to January 2017. Details history and physical examination were done for every subject participated in this study. Body Mass Index (BMI) was measured for all male participants that divided according to it into three categories including normal weight, overweight and obese males. The objective of this study was to investigate whether increased male BMI has any impact on sperm parameters or on seminal antioxidants. Main results of this study revealed that there was a significant differences (p<0.05) in sperm parameters and in the antioxidants levels among different male BMI categories. With increasing male BMI there was a decrease in sperm parameters and in seminal antioxidants levels. It was concluded that increased male BMI have a negative impact on different sperm parameters including (concentration, motility, morphology and volume) and on the levels of seminal antioxidants including (Glutathione, catalase and Super Oxide Dismutase (SOD)).


There is a strong need to automate the retail businesses in the emerging markets. Many PC based solutions exist to address the issues involved in automating retail businesses. However, none of these information and communication technology (ICT) based solutions have been able to provide a simple, user friendly and a cost effective solution. We aim to build a low cost, easy-to-use appliance that can be used for automation in small and medium retail businesses. The architecture and design of this appliance is being developed using a multi-disciplinary approach where ethnographers, business researchers, designers and technologists work together to develop a solution that meets user needs. The aim of the project is to build a platform around which various specific instances of the SOMA appliances can be created for various other retail businesses. Apart from user needs for the particular domain, creation of product concepts have also taken into account frequent interruptions in electrical power supply, other environmental issues such as dust, pest-manifestation and customer's resistance to high spending on consumables or as service charges. This paper focuses more on the user needs, business, and design considerations.


This comprehensive view of carvings and paintings on stone by Native Americans from 200 B.C. through the nineteenth century surveys the rock art of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, northern Mexico, and west Texas, providing an incomparable visual record of Southwest Indian culture, religion, and society.Rock carvings and paintings are important sources in the archaeological and historical interpretation of Southwest Indians. Rock art reflects the cosmic and mythic orientation of the culture that produced it, and understanding of prehistoric peoples, both hunters and gatherers and the Hohokam, Anasazi, Mogollon, and Fremont cultures, and the Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache Indians. Culturally significant events such as the shift in prehistoric times from spear and atlatl to the bow, or, in the historic period, the introduction of the horse into the Southwest, are recorded in rock art.The illustrations--thirty-two color plates, nearly 250 photographs, and numerous line drawings--bring together in one volume petroglyphs and rock paintings that are scattered over thousands of miles of desert and mesa, giving the reader an overview of Indian rock art that would be nearly impossible to achieve in the field."Indian Rock Art of the Southwest" examines from an archaeological perspective the rich legacy of stone drawings and carvings preserved throughout the Southwest. Professional and amateur archaeologists and historians, as well as the general reader with an interest in Indian art, will find this volume a valuable resource.


This paper presents a study wherein we experimentally characterize the dynamics and control system of a lab-scale ocean kite, and then refine, validate, and extrapolate this model for use in a full-scale system. Ocean kite systems, which harvest tidal and ocean current resources through high-efficiency cross-current motion, enable energy extraction with an order of magnitude less material (and cost) than stationary systems with the same rated power output. However, an ocean kite represents a nascent technology that is characterized by relatively complex dynamics and requires sophisticated control algorithms. In order to characterize the dynamics and control of ocean kite systems rapidly, at a relatively low cost, the authors have developed a lab-scale, closed-loop prototyping environment for characterizing tethered systems, whereby 3D printed systems are tethered and flown in a water channel environment. While this system has been shown to be capable of yielding similar dynamic characteristics to some full-scale systems, there are also fundamental limitations to the geometric scales and flow speeds within the water channel environment, making many other real-world scenarios impossible to replicate from the standpoint of dynamic similarity. To address these scenarios, we show how the lab-scale framework is used to refine and validate a scalable dynamic model of a tethered system, which can then be extrapolated to full-scale operation. In this work, we present an extensive case study of this model refinement, validation, and extrapolation on an ocean kite system intended for operation in the Gulf Stream or similar current environments.


Background
Perceived neighborhood characteristics are linked to obesity, however, the mechanisms linking these two factors remain unknown.

Purpose
This study aimed to examine associations between perceived neighborhood characteristics and body mass index (BMI), establish whether indirect pathways through psychological distress and inflammation are important, and determine whether these associations vary by race/ethnicity.

Methods
Participants were 1,112 adults enrolled in the Texas City Stress and Health Study. Perceived neighborhood characteristics were measured using the Perceived Neighborhood Scale. Psychological distress was measured with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, Perceived Stress Scale and mental health subscale of the Short Form Health Survey-36. Markers of inflammation included C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor receptor-1. Associations were examined with Structural Equation Modeling.

Results
A model linking neighborhood characteristics with BMI through direct and indirect (i.e., psychological distress and inflammation) paths demonstrated good fit with the data. Less favorable perceived neighborhood characteristics were associated with greater psychological distress (B = -0.87, β = -0.31, p < .001) and inflammation (B = -0.02, β = -0.10, p = .035). Psychological distress and inflammation were also significantly associated with BMI (Bdistress = 0.06, β = 0.08, p = .006; Binflammation = 4.65, β = 0.41, p < .001). Indirect paths from neighborhood characteristics to BMI via psychological distress (B = -0.05, β = -0.03, p = .004) and inflammation (B = -0.08, β = -0.04, p = .045) were significant. In multiple group analysis, a model with parameters constrained equal across race/ethnicity showed adequate fit suggesting associations were comparable across groups.

Conclusion
Our study extends the literature by demonstrating the importance of neighborhood perceptions as correlates of BMI across race/ethnicity, and highlights the role of psychological and physiological pathways.


We describe a new coherent beam combining architecture based on passive phase locking of emitters in an extended cavity on the rear facet and their coherent combination on the front facet. This rear-side technique provides strong optical feedback for phase locking while maintaining a high electrical-to-optical efficiency. Two high-brightness high-power tapered laser diodes are coherently combined using a Michelson-based cavity. The combining efficiency is above 82% and results in an output power of 6.7 W in a nearly diffraction-limited beam with an M(4σ)(2)≤1.2. A semi-active automatic adjustment of the current enhances the long-term stability of the combination, while the short-term stability is passively ensured by the extended cavity. This new laser configuration exhibits the simplicity of passive self-organizing architectures while providing a power conversion efficiency of 27% that is comparable to master oscillator power amplifier architectures.


Equations of state attempt to describe the relationship between temperature (T), pressure (P), and molar volume (v) for a given substance or mixture of substances. The ideal gas law is the simplest form of an equation of state. An ideal gas can be considered as a large quantity of small molecules that have no friction, no attractive or repulsive forces. The ideal gas law is a reasonable approximation at low pressures and high temperatures, but not at higher pressures and lower temperatures. Thus, better methods for predicting real gas behavior have been continuously introduced over the past 200 years. Another approximation is to assume that gas atoms and molecules behave as hard spheres. These spheres are incompressible and only repulsive forces are significant at the moment of collision. A recent modification made to the van der Waals equation of state (VDW) incorporates the hard sphere model, giving better representation of the van der Waals parameters over a broader temperature and pressure range. The efficacy of this modified van der Waals equation of state was assessed for six previously researched compounds -ethane, propane, n-butane, n-pentane, argon and water. Physical property charts (specifically molar volume and molar enthalpy charts) were developed for these substances using the original VDW and modified VDW, as well as the Redlich-Kwong (RK) and Redlich-Kwong-Soave (RKS) equations of state. Results for molar volume revealed that for the four hydrocarbons, the modified VDW compared best with the given experimental data, but not for argon and water. Results for molar enthalpy showed the original VDW compared more favorably with experimental data than the original VDW, but not as well as the RK equation of state.


Notwithstanding claims that the election of President Barack Obama signals a post-racial epoch, one does not have to look far for evidence that race still matters. It is particularly evident in how we police, which remains very much racially inflected. Even when racial animus is absent, there often persists the perception that racial bias is present, even inevitable, as the recent firestorm over the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates attests to. Scholars such as Randall Kennedy have long argued that disparate treatment by police amounts to the imposition of a "racial tax." But this comparison, while descriptively apt, falls short of capturing the complexity and interconnectivity of the harms resulting from disparate treatment. It is time for a broader argument. It is time to identify such disparate treatment, as well as the perception of disparate treatment, for what it is: a flaw in our claim of equal citizenship. This Article makes that argument.To remedy this state of affairs, this Article proposes a new criminal procedure revolution, one that understands criminal procedure rights, and specifically the Fourth Amendment, as inextricably linked to citizenship rights. This new criminal procedure would re-conceptualize reasonable suspicion and consensual encounters, encourage randomization, and reinvigorate civil actions, all with a view of furthering the goal of equal citizenship. While these changes may not eliminate race-based policing entirely, they will move us significantly closer to the goal of equal citizenship. And they will move us closer to a post-racial America.


The early pathophysiology of diabetic retinopathy and the involvement of neural and vascular malfunction are poorly understood. Glial cells provide structural and metabolic support for retinal neurons and blood vessels, and the cells become reactive in certain injury states. We therefore used the streptozotocin rat model of short-term diabetic retinopathy to study glial reactivity and other glial functions in the retina in the first months after onset of diabetes. With a two-site enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we measured the expression of the intermediate filament glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). After 1 month, GFAP was largely unchanged, but within 3 months of the beginning of diabetes, it was markedly induced, by fivefold (P < 0.04). Immunohistochemical staining showed that the GFAP induction occurred both in astrocytes and in Müller cells. Consistent with a glial cell malfunction, the ability of retinas to convert glutamate into glutamine, assayed chromatographically with an isotopic method, was reduced in diabetic rats to 65% of controls (P < 0.01). Furthermore, retinal glutamate, as determined by luminometry, increased by 1.6-fold (P < 0.04) after 3 months of diabetes. Taken together, these findings indicate that glial reactivity and altered glial glutamate metabolism are early pathogenic events that may lead to elevated retinal glutamate during diabetes. These data are the first demonstration of a specific defect in glial cell metabolism in the retina during diabetes. These findings suggest a novel understanding of the mechanism of neural degeneration in the retina during diabetes, involving early and possibly persistent glutamate excitotoxicity.