Species abundance distributions are an essential tool in describing the biodiversity of ecological communities. We now know that their shape changes as a function of the size of area sampled. Here we analyze the scaling properties of species abundance distributions by using the moments of the logarithmically transformed number of individuals. We find that the moments as a function of area size are well fitted by power laws and we use this pattern to estimate the species abundance distribution for areas larger than those sampled. To reconstruct the species abundance distribution from its moments, we use discrete Tchebichef polynomials. We exemplify the method with data on tree and shrub species from a 50 ha plot of tropical rain forest on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. We test the method within the 50 ha plot, and then we extrapolate the species abundance distribution for areas up to 5 km2. Our results project that for areas above 50 ha the species abundance distributions have a bimodal shape with a local maximum occurring for the singleton classes and that this maximum increases with sampled area size.


Satellite Earth observation has led to the creation of global climate data records of many important environmental and climatic variables. These come in the form of multivariate time series with different spatial and temporal resolutions. Data of this kind provide new means to further unravel the influence of climate on vegetation dynamics. However, as advocated in this article, commonly used statistical methods are often too simplistic to represent complex climate-vegetation relationships due to linearity assumptions. Therefore, as an extension of linear Granger-causality analysis, we present a novel non-linear framework consisting of several components, such as data collection from various databases, time series decomposition techniques, feature construction methods, and predictive modelling by means of random forests. Experimental results on global data sets indicate that, with this framework, it is possible to detect non-linear patterns that are much less visible with traditional Granger-causality methods. In addition, we discuss extensive experimental results that highlight the importance of considering non-linear aspects of climate-vegetation dynamics.


Top Ten Global Justice Law Review Articles 2008 is a thorough and accessible review of the most salient, the most controversial, and the most illuminating essays on security law in the previous calendar year. In this edition, Professor Amos Guiora presents the ten most vital and pertinent law review articles from 2008 written by both scholars who have already gained international prominence as experts in global justice as well as emerging voices in the realm of international criminal law and human rights. These articles deal with issues of terrorism, security law, environmental law, and the preservation of civil liberties in the post-9/11 world. The chosen selections derive not just from the high quality and expertise of the articles' authors, but equally from the wide diversity of legal issues addressed by those authors. Guiora combines the expertise of scholars from both eminent law schools and government agencies to provide a valuable resource for scholars and experts researching this important subject area. This annual review provides researchers with more than just an authoritative discussion on the most prominent global justice debates of the day; it also educates researchers on new issues that have received far too little attention in the press and in academia. These expert scholars and leaders tackle and give voice to issues that range from the psychology of terrorism to the role of oil in the Sudanese genocide to the oppression of women in new Arab democracies to transnational environmental cooperation and beyond. Together, the vast knowledge and independent viewpoints represented by these ten authors make this volume, a valuable resource for individuals new to the realm of global justice and for advanced researchers with a sophisticated understanding of the field. Top Ten Global Justice Law Review Articles 2008 serves as a one-stop guidebook on how both the U.S. and the world generally are currently grappling with fundamental principles of social and political life.


This article looks at Internet use by insurgent groups in the North Caucasus in the context of a regional diffusion of violence. Using a mixed methods research design that combines hyperlink network analysis and micro-discourse analysis, it examines the online characteristics of the Caucasus Emirate and the main frames conveyed by the websites affiliated with the Emirate. It demonstrates the existence of a network of cross-referencing websites that, collectively, articulate the Emirate's political agenda online and allow for the dissemination of frames across the Web. It also shows that while jihadism provides a cultural resource that fosters a global sense of community, the jihadization of discourse does not eradicate local references as the local dynamics of the conflict have a strong impact on online communicative strategies. Finally, although based on a specific case study, this article highlights the potential of a mixed methods research design as applied to an analysis of virtual insurgent networks.


This study investigates whether the expansion of day-care places for under-three-year-old children in East and West Germany from 2007 to 2011 has improved the subjective wellbeing for mothers and fathers with a youngest child in this age group. We extend existing cross-sectional country comparisons and single country policy evaluations by comparing regional variations over time in two different contexts in terms of work-care ideals, labour market, and child care policies. The empirical analysis links administrative records on daycare use at youth welfare office district level from 2007 to 2011 to regionally aggregated data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for 2007 to 2011 and from the 'Families in Germany'-Study (Familien in Deutschland, FID) for 2010 and 2011. We apply fixed-effects models at the county level. We find that in regions with larger day-care growth mothers and fathers expressed greater satisfaction with the available child care. In West Germany, the daycare expansion was positively associated with an increase in maternal satisfaction with family life, health, personal income, and life overall, whereas fathers' subjective well-being was less affected. In East Germany, for mothers the associations with some domains were similarly positive but reached statistical significance only for maternal satisfaction with family life. The results suggest that the excess demand before the expansion in West and East Germany restricted maternal choice and well-being more than fathers'.


An updated grid of stellar yields for low- to intermediate-mass thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars is presented. The models cover a range in metallicity Z = 0.02, 0.008, 0.004 and 0.0001, and masses between 1 and 6M ⊙ . New intermediate-mass (M ≥ 3 M ⊙ ) Z = 0.0001 AGB models are also presented, along with a finer mass grid than used in previous studies. The yields are computed using an updated reaction rate network that includes the latest NeNa and MgAl proton capture rates, with the main result that between ∼6 and 30 times less Na is produced by intermediate-mass models with hot bottom burning. In low-mass AGB models, we investigate the effect, on the production of light elements, of including some partial mixing of protons into the intershell region during the deepest extent of each third dredge-up episode. The protons are captured by the abundant 12 C to form a 13 C pocket. The 13 C pocket increases the yields of 19 F, 23 Na, the neutron-rich Mg and Si isotopes, 60 Fe and 31 P. The increase in 31 P is by factors of ∼4 to 20, depending on the metallicity. Any structural changes caused by the addition of the 13 C pocket into the He intershell are ignored. However, the models considered are of low mass and any such feedback is likely to be small. Further study is required to test the accuracy of the yields from the partial-mixing models. For each mass and metallicity, the yields are presented in a tabular form suitable for use in galactic chemical evolution studies or for comparison to the composition of planetary nebulae.


Autistic people report trauma-related experiences through emotional misunderstandings with typically developing peers. Difficulties in emotion processing, including recognizing own and others' emotions leads to interpersonal conflicts and emotional injuries. This can result in chronic anger and hatred towards others. There are limited intervention methodologies for autism on the impact of emotional injuries and how to work with problem anger. In this presentation, a rational-empirical model of problem anger and emotional repair is presented. This model is constructed from a Task Analysis of emotionfocused group therapy with autistic adults (n=4) across treatment (n=9). Qualitative analysis of moment to moment shifts for each client and interactional analysis between group members is triangulated using an observer based rating scale. The model is presented with a case example illustrating sequential emotional processing shifts. The primary change processes include improving access to and symbolizing one's own painful emotional experiences. Followed by exploration and elaboration in understanding the strategic nature of expressing anger and hate. From activation of vulnerability markers, leading to an emotional deepening process that enables clients to access core pain. Facilitated mentalization of self-other dialogue that leads to insights into interpersonal function of the expressed emotion. Autistic adults are able to use Emotion-Focused Group Therapy as a therapeutic space to explore problem anger such as hate. This case conceptualization stands as a preliminary model for future hypothesis testing.


SPI is defined as an organized system and regular process of making a software step up so that a business body or company can produce and give classic software in a deadline of time as well as within the financial limitation. In the same concern I worked to produce a legal and established model for the same. The work is fully dedicated towards development of classic quality oriented software and for the welfare of the business body. The idea is fully based on the experience of the software project work of companies [1]. This work is with enclosed estimation, progression improvement of the software, reasons and causes that sway on the process of SPI. The decisive reason was to build up a model that could be practical in run through for the companies doing development work. There is a complete description of software principles, process of the software and models of improvement. Here is a system model is purposed that is fully generic and that is beneficial for a small as well as big organization. There are many existing models like CMM and Sigma Six and IDEAL. In the given work many drawbacks of these models are removed to increase the performance. Many new things, steps and policies are applied to do the same. It has eliminated the boundaries of the previous models. There are eight steps in the model those are if applied, used by any small, big company then there is a guarantee of getting a classic product in term of quality, performance as compared to other models. In this a mixture of many corrective actions has been used. The model is a growing and a step by step procedure but using the conventional method. It has limited the factor of risk up to a good extent.


During the 1980s, Americans ranging from Congressmen to political pilgrims tended to view and deal with Nicaragua's Sandinistas and the Contra War according to their own personal and political agendas. The Civil War in Nicaragua Is unique among the dozens of books on these events, because it gives an inside view of what was going on, how and why policies were made by Nicaragua's new clique of nine, and what Impact those policies had on Nicaragua, the United States, and beyond. With their seizure of power in 1979, the Sandinistas had an unprecedented opportunity to improve the lot of the Nicaraguan people. How they ultimately betrayed their countrymen and left the region worse off than they found It Is the hidden story related here. Miranda and Ratliff locate the source of failure and betrayal in three critical factors: absolute power and oppression of the nine-man National Directorate; the unnecessary, ideologically driven conflict with the United States; and statist economics pursued to reward support and suppress dissent. The authors divide their analysis into six parts. The first discusses the Sandinistas' institutional structures and controlling personalities, with an emphasis on the Ortega brothers. The second focuses on the Sandinistas' world view and use of deception to achieve their objectives, and on their allies, in particular Cuba and the Soviet Union. The third scrutinizes their attitudes to and relations with the United States. The next two discuss the institutional framework of domestic control and the Sandinista doctrines of war and peace that were played out In the Contra War. Miranda and Ratliff conclude with an analysis of factors leading to the collapse of the Saridinista regime. Its ouster in the free elections of 1990, and the early years of the Chamorro government. As this volume makes clear, the crisis in Nicaragua has not ended with the Cold War. Many contradictions remain. And sound American policy is still necessary to further the growth of democracy there and throughout Latin America. The Civil War in Nicaragua will be essential reading for policymakers, historians, and political scientists.


Dye lasers, with a gain medium in solid or liquid, or liquid in a solid matrix, states have been a valuable tunable laser source. With the evolution of fabrication techniques the size of the dye lasers has also shrunk to the micro scale. The size reduction has allowed the inclusion of micro cavity dye lasers in novel applications, "lab-on-a-chip" being one of them.The change in the near field of a fluorophore (the photon emitting part of the dye structure) near the surface of a metal (film or a particle) has been a topic attracting much research, due to its application in inducing an enhancement or quenching of dye fluorescence, a phenomena referred to as metal enhanced Fluorescence (MEF).In the thesis the effect of MEF due to the introduction of gold NPs to an aqueous Rh6G solution, as a gain medium in a Fabry-Perot cavity dye laser, on the 1) lasing intensity, 2) shift of the lasing spectrum, and the 3) photobleaching time was investigated. The project includes both experiment and simulations. Simulations were employed to visualize the two dimensional energy density pattern of a gold nanorod, and also its interaction with dipole with varying distance between the two.


Purpose of Review To report the findings in 12 members over 3 generations of a family with dominantly inherited Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT1B) due to a novel MPZ mutation, who all had moderately severe selective impairment of vestibular function with normal hearing. Methods used were video head impulse testing of the function of all 6 semicircular canals, Romberg test on foam, nerve conduction studies, and whole exome and Sanger sequencing. Recent Findings All affected patients had a demyelinating neuropathy and a novel MPZ mutation: c.362A>G (chr1: 161276584, p.D121G). All also had normal hearing for age but a moderately severe impairment of semicircular canal function and a positive Romberg test on foam. Summary Some CMT mutations can impair vestibular function, presumably because of a vestibular nerve involvement but spare hearing. In such patients, impairment of vestibular function and impairment of proprioception contribute to imbalance.


Growing food presents diverse challenges and opportunities within
the urban environment. As cities develop, population density rises, land prices
rise, and the opportunity to use land for traditional farming and gardening diminishes.
Counter to this trend there are a growing number of community gardens,
city farms, guerrilla gardening, rooftop and vertical gardens, pot plants,
windowsill herbs, and other balcony or backyard gardens cropping up in cities,
all with a purpose to produce food. This workshop brings together practitioners
and researchers in the field of urban agriculture and Human-Computer Interaction
to explore and opportunities for technology design to support different
forms of growing practice and foster local food production in cities.
This 1-day workshop will serve as an active forum for researchers and
practitioners across various fields including, but not limited to, agriculture and
gardening, education, urban planning, human-computer interaction, and
community engagement. This workshop has three distinct points of focus: i) Individual
and small-scale gardening and food production, and how to connect
like-minded people who are involved in these practices to share their knowledge
ii) Communities involved in urban agriculture, either through community
gardens, city farms, or grassroots movements, often dependent on volunteer
participation, providing the challenge of managing limited resources iii) Environmental
and sociocultural sustainability through urban agriculture..
The participants will have an opportunity to present their own work. This
will be followed by a visit to a nearby city farm, which will provide a local context
for a group design exercise. Finally the workshop will conclude with panel
discussions to review opportunities for further research and collaborations
beyond the conference.
For more information, please visit the workshop website, at
http://www.urbaninformatics.net/resources/interact2013cfp/


Today, an attractive smile is the vogue for many individuals. Gingival health and appearance are essential components for an attractive smile and removal of unsightly pigmented gingival is the need for a pleasant and confident smile. In some populations, gingival pigmentation seems to be a genetic trait and is irrespective of age and gender, hence gingival pigmentation is termed as physiologic or racial gingival pigmentation. Intraoral pigmentation is seen due to the presence of the fundamental pigment melanin that colors the tissues. Several treatment modalities have been suggested for gingival depigmentation. Many varying results have been observed, but the repigmentation has been documented to occur. The large variation in time of repigmentation may be related to the techniques used and the race of the patient. This case report demonstrates the probable cause of repigmentation where pigmentation has recurred limbs.


Bayesian persuasion studies the problem faced by an informed sender who strategically discloses information to influence the behavior of an uninformed receiver. Recently, a growing attention has been devoted to settings where the sender and the receiver interact sequentially, in which the receiver's decision-making problem is usually modeled as a Markov decision process (MDP). However, previous works focused on computing optimal information-revelation policies (a.k.a. signaling schemes) under the restrictive assumption that the receiver acts myopically, selecting actions to maximize the one-step utility and disregarding future rewards. This is justified by the fact that, when the receiver is farsighted and thus considers future rewards, finding an optimal Markovian signaling scheme is NP-hard. In this paper, we show that Markovian signaling schemes do not constitute the"right"class of policies. Indeed, differently from most of the MDPs settings, we prove that Markovian signaling schemes are not optimal, and general history-dependent signaling schemes should be considered. Moreover, we also show that history-dependent signaling schemes circumvent the negative complexity results affecting Markovian signaling schemes. Formally, we design an algorithm that computes an optimal and {\epsilon}-persuasive history-dependent signaling scheme in time polynomial in 1/{\epsilon} and in the instance size. The crucial challenge is that general history-dependent signaling schemes cannot be represented in polynomial space. Nevertheless, we introduce a convenient subclass of history-dependent signaling schemes, called promise-form, which are as powerful as general history-dependent ones and efficiently representable. Intuitively, promise-form signaling schemes compactly encode histories in the form of honest promises on future receiver's rewards.


In recent decades, new magnetic sensors based on giant magnetoresistance (GMR) have been studied and developed intensively. GMR materials have great potential for next-generation magnetic field sensing devices. The GMR material has many attrac - tive features, for example, its electric and magnetic properties can be varied in a very wide range, low power consumption, and small size. Therefore, GMR material has been developed into various applications of sensor based on magnetic field sensings, such as magnetic field sensor, a current sensor, linear and rotary position sensor, data storage, head recording, nonvolatile magnetic random access memory, and biosensor. In this chapter, the recent development of a GMR thin-film–based ferrite material will be reviewed. Furthermore, recent and future trend application of GMR sensor will be discussed.


According to social scientists the contemporary western societies manifest an unparalleled scientific, technological and economic development, and, at the same time, a normative, ethical and spiritual crisis. This imbalance makes the management of societal problems very difficult. In this research, the question of investigation is: what help does the contemporary scientific problem-management approaches provide to our postmodern societies? Hence in order to manage its problems, the contemporary western societies - that is us - have designed an amount of intellectual problem-solving instruments - called here systems approaches - such as Operations Research & Management Sciences, Systems Analysis, Systems Engineering, Decision Sciences, Cybernetics, Soft Systems Thinking, etc. This self-referentiality asks for investigation, that is, what is the relation between the characteristics of the contemporary western societies and the problem-solving instruments that these societies have conceived? By means of meta-modeling, a set of evaluation heuristics have been constructed and employed to some of the main contemporary problem-solving systems approaches. Two types of results have been obtained. First, evaluation heuristics have provided some new intelligibility that previous findings have not been able to do; therefore they seem to be a valuable addition to support an understanding of scientific problem-solving approaches. Second, the diversity of systems approaches promises to become a powerful support in managing societal problems when combined in the form of a toolbox, but, at the same time, an impotence of systems thinking has been identified with regard to its various religious ground-motives. The latter makes any prospects of human advancement pessimistic.


In recent years, many multi-type package air conditioning systems for buildings have become widespread in office buildings in Japan, and there are many cases where one air conditioning space is shared by using several indoor air conditioning units. The advantages of multi-type package air conditioning system are that it is possible to operate and control individually for each indoor unit, and that the user can arbitrarily change the temperature setting of the indoor unit. On the other hand, these advantages cause air conditioning control problems such as air quality deterioration and mutual interference between adjacent indoor units. Therefore, this study aims at developing a new air conditioning control method that reduces air quality deterioration and influence of mutual interference by using model predictive control (hereinafter MPC) when sharing one air conditioning space with multiple air conditioning indoor units. In this paper, we carried out CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) analysis incorporating multiple-input multiple-output (hereinafter MIMO) MPC that controls each zone while considering the thermal environment between adjacent zones in an office where the set temperature differs between zones. Furthermore, we showed the effectiveness of this method (MIMO MPC) by comparing the single-input singleoutput (hereinafter SISO) MPC. The following results were obtained: 1) when comparing the outlet air temperature, SISO MPC had a large fluctuation range of the outlet air temperature in the zone where the set temperature was 26 degree, but MIMO MPC was small. 2) The averaged room air temperature in the zone where the set temperature was 27 degree showed almost the same behavior in both control methods, but comparing the behavior of room air temperature at each point, the temperature fluctuation of SISO MPC was large, and the MIMO MPC was small. The reason for this is presumed that the fluctuation range of the room air temperature was suppressed in MIMO MPC in accordance with the difference in the behavior of the outlet air temperature in the adjacent zone. From the results of 1) and 2), the improvement of control performance and the reduction effect of mutual interference were confirmed by the introduction of MIMO MPC for the office with different set temperatures among each zone.


This paper explores "Techniques of Neutralization (Sykes and Matza, 1957)" and cheating in anational pool league. The American Poolplayers Association, founded in 1979, is a nationwide pool league with more than 250,000 members. The most difficult problem facing the APA operators is the deliberate cheating by the competing players. Players cheat to lower their skill levels which allow them to win more easily in important pool matches such as the APA national championships. Qualitative interviews revealed that when asked about cheating behavior, the players used all five "Techniques of Neutralization (Sykes and Matza, 1957)" to rationalize their actions.


ICT has been introduced in the Italian school system for more than 20 years (National Informatics Plan, 1985; 1991, National Digital School Plan, 2007; 2015) in order to facilitate teaching-learning processes for all. Researches show that besides access to technology, ICT-related educational innovation success depends above all on teacher training. In Italy, specialized teaching courses (Ministerial Decree 30/09/2011) prepare prospective teachers for working in inclusive classroom. Within these courses, a 75-hours class provides training for using ICT in the educational processes. The creation of a multimedia product is one of the demands of the final assessment. On the basis of the analysis of multimedia products presented by the prospective teachers who attended the course at University of Rome "Foro Italico" (2014/2015), the present work aims to highlight good practices but also critical aspects in SEN teachers training on ICT in order to reflect on how to improve training efficacy and impact.


This review explores effects of elevated CO2 concentrations on growth in relation to water use and salt balance of halophytic and non-halophytic species. Under saline conditions, the uptake and distribution of sodium and chloride must be regulated to protect sensitive metabolic sites from salt toxicity. Salt-tolerant species exclude most of the salt from the transpiration stream, but the salt flux from a highly saline soil is still considerable. To maintain internal ion concentrations within physiologically acceptable levels, the salt influx to leaves must match the capacities of leaves for salt storage and/or salt export by either retranslocation or secretion from glands. Hence the balance between carbon gain and the expenditure of water in association with salt uptake is critical to leaf longevity under saline conditions. Indeed, one of the striking features of halophytic vegetation, such as mangroves, is the maintenance of high water use efficiencies coupled with relatively low rates of water loss and growth. These low evaporation rates are further reduced under elevated CO2 conditions. This, with increased growth, leads to even higher water use efficiency. Leaves of plants grown under elevated CO2 conditions might be expected to contain lower salt concentrations than those grown under ambient CO2 if salt uptake is coupled with water uptake. However, salt concentrations in shoot tissues are similar in plants grown under ambient and elevated CO2 conditions despite major differences in water use efficiency. This phenomenon occurs in C3 halophytes and in both C3 and C2 non-halophytes. These results imply shoot/root communication in regulation of the salt balance to adjust to environmental factors affecting the availability of water and ions at the roots (salinity) and those affecting carbon gain in relation to water loss at the leaves (atmospheric concentrations of water vapour and carbon dioxide).


The recent increase in the demand for expert economic analysis in antitrust litigation has improved the welfare of economists; however, the law and economics literature is silent on the effects of economic complexity or judges' economic training on judicial decision making. We use a unique data set on antitrust litigation in federal district and administrative courts during 1996–2006 to examine whether economic complexity impacts antitrust decisions and provide a novel test of the hypothesis that antitrust analysis has become too complex for generalist judges. We also examine the impact of basic economic training on judges. We find that decisions involving the evaluation of complex economic evidence are significantly more likely to be appealed, and decisions of judges trained in basic economics are significantly less likely to be appealed than are decisions by their untrained counterparts. Our analysis supports the hypothesis that some antitrust cases are too complicated for generalist judges.


This paper assesses the operator functional state (OFS) based on a collection of psychophysiological and performance measures. Two types of adaptive fuzzy models, namely ANFIS (adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system) and GA (genetic algorithm) based Mamdani fuzzy model, are employed to estimate the OFSs under a set of simulated process control tasks involved in an automation-enhanced cabin air management system (aCAMS). The adaptive fuzzy modelling procedures are described and then validated using real-life data measured from such a simulated human-machine process control system.


The Reserve Bank oversees the payment system for the purpose of promoting the maintenance of a sound and efficient financial system. Consistent with the Reserve Bank's relatively light-handed payment system oversight powers, the Reserve Bank's approach is to be clear about its objectives and to encourage industry to develop solutions towards these objectives. However, as other central banks have found, industry-led solutions cannot always be delivered, or delivered in a timely manner. Consequently, the Reserve Bank is stepping up engagement with industry to expedite projects that help meet our policy objectives. A current payment system oversight issue for the Reserve Bank is settlement risk in the retail payment system. Empirical analysis shows that routing high-value transactions through the retail system significantly increases end-of-day inter-bank exposures. This article assesses this risk and possible ways to address settlement risk in the retail payment system.


Neave Brown's Alexandra Road Estate stretches over a quarter mile and houses 1,660 residents in 520 units. The 16.3-acre site contains three housing blocks, two pedestrian streets, public park, retail, school, and community center. Completed in 1979, the project was part of a major build¬ing program for new models of dense, social housing in the Camden Borough of London. Unlike the reductive post-war typologies of towers and slabs, Alexandra Road is a radical reinterpretation of traditional English housing and urban¬ism. This paper examines the project's design strategies and describes how these strategies provide uncommon freedoms in high-density housing.


The correlation between chlorophyll content and quantitative color parameters was investigated in order to find an indirect method for predicting green pigment in ripening soybean seeds. Five Brazilian soybean varieties harvested at different maturity stages (R(6) to R(8) according to the scale of Fehr & Caviness) and dried under two conditions (in oven at 40 degrees C with circulating air and at ambient temperature around 25 degrees C) were analyzed in two consecutive years. The slow-dried seeds at 25 degrees C lost chlorophyll faster, whereas drying at 40 degrees C did not result in yellowing of seeds. High and significant linear correlations between a value and total chlorophyll were obtained over the whole maturation period and on both conditions of drying. From an industrial point of view it appears that a value, obtained by the CIE-L*a*b* method, seems to be a good tool to be applied for quality control and classifying soybean seeds for different purposes.


Lead halide perovskite solar cells with multi-cation/mixed halide materials now give power conversion efficiencies of more than 20%. The stability of these mixed materials has been significantly improved through the addition of Cs+ compared to the original methylammonium lead iodide. However, it remains one of the most significant challenges for commercialisation. In this study, we use photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) in combination with visible laser illumination to study the photo-stability of perovskite films with different compositions. These include Br : I ratios of 50 : 50 and 17 : 83 and compositions with and without Cs+. For the samples without Cs and the 50 : 50 samples, we found that the surface was enriched in Br and depleted in I during illumination and that some of the perovskite decomposed into Pb0, organic halide salts, and iodine. After illumination, both of these reactions were partially reversible. Furthermore, the surfaces of the films were enriched in organic halide salts indicating that the cations were not degraded into volatile products. With the addition of Cs+ to the samples, photo-induced changes were significantly suppressed for a 50 : 50 bromide to iodide ratio and completely suppressed for perovskites with a 17 : 83 ratio at light intensities exceeding 1 sun equivalent.


In a two sectors dynamic model we analyze the process of tourism development based on the accumulation of capital (building of tourism facilities) and the reallocation of land from traditional activities to the tourism sector. The model incorporates the conflict between occupation of the territory by the tourism facilities, other productive activities and availability of cultural, natural and environmental assets that are valued by residents and visitors. We characterize the process of tourism development in two settings: the socially optimal solution and a situation where the costs of tourism expansion are external to the decision makers, where externalities on residents as well as intraindustry externalities are considered. Regarding the optimal solution, we show that it is optimal to limit tourism expansion before it reaches its maximum capacity even in a context where the economic attractiveness of tourism relative to other productive sectors rise continuously. However, in this context and when all the costs of tourism development are externalities the only limit to tourism quantitative expansion is its maximum capacity determined by the availability of land. Finally, we show that excessive environmental degradation from the future generations' point of view is not a problem of discounting the future but rather a problem of externalities that affects negatively the current and future generations.


The performance of a biometric system depends on the quality of interaction of the biometric subject and the system. Past research has shown that fingerprint image quality is improved when the subjects received feedback from the system. However, the availability of feedback from current fingerprint systems is very limited. Currently, no feedback exists regarding the subject's hand positioning and how to correct any undesirable positions. In a study by Guan, Theofanos, Choong, and Stanton, the researchers designed a rich, quality-driven interactive real-time algorithm for detecting hand positioning and analyzing fingerprint images. The current paper investigates if subjects can perform fingerprint self-captures by following the real-time system feedback and if an overlay guide will help with hand positioning. Eighty subjects participated in a controlled experiment with usability measures on efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction of the system. The findings show that the real-time feedback fingerprint system is a highly usable system. By following the real-time, on-screen textual instructions, participants quickly learned, and felt comfortable and confident to capture their own fingerprints without any assistance. The overlay was perceived as helpful with hand positioning and providing visual feedback of where users' hands were in relation to the scanner area. Based on the results, future research should focus on finding the best format to present the system feedback and investigating if users would benefit from all instructions in graphical format.


This article employs a nested state feedback compensation technique to a three-stage bulk-driven operational transconductance amplifier (OTA). The projected OTA circuit consists of a bulk-driven PMOS amplifier, gate-driven NMOS amplifier, and common source (CS) amplifier. The entire transistors in the amplifier core are configuredwith self-cascode transistor topology to increase its output impedance. All transistors are designed to operate in a weak inversion in order to dissipate less power. Cross-coupled transistor pair topology in the bulk-driven stage allows to improve the effective transconductance of OTA. The CS amplifier can drive a large load capacitor.  The polarities and transconductance gains of feedback blocks are controlled appropriately to obtain the desired DC gain and bandwidth. The capacitor-less compensation strategy allows the fabrication of the OTA using the minimum area. Conventional bulk-driven miler OTA, Bulk-driven stage improved indirect-feedback OTA (BSIF OTA), Gate-driven stage added bulk-driven OTA (GSIF OTA), and proposed bulk-driven OTA topologies are designed and simulated using cadence spectre tool at 25 mV supply voltage in the 65nm CMOS process. These OTA circuits are analyzed and compared in terms of parameters like DC gain, unity-gain frequency, phase margin, CMRR, power dissipated, slew rate, and input referred noise.


Transport of [3H]tetraethylammonium (NEt4W), an organic cation, has been studied by using apical-membrane vesicles isolated from cultured kidney epithelial cell line LLC-PK1. The uptake of NEt4W by apical-membrane vesicles was osmotically sensitive, time-dependent and saturable. The presence of an H+ gradient ([H+]i > [H+]0) induced a marked stimulation of NEt4W uptake against its concentration gradient (overshoot phenomenon), and this concentrative uptake was inhibited by HgCl2. These results suggest that apical membranes isolated from the LLC-PKI cells retain the transport characteristics of NEt4W similar to those observed in renal brush-border membranes.


SoC verification efforts involve multiple models of the design - RTL, FPGA, silicon and software models. With increasing design complexity, re-use of tests between models is a must. In this paper, we introduce a stimulus abstraction mechanism which greatly increases the re-usability of tests across models. We then demonstrate an implementation of the abstraction mechanism on two models of a PCI-Express based design. Identical tests are used to drive an RTL model via a BFM and a software model via stream sockets to achieve the same result.


On March 11 2020 WHO declares corona viral disease as a global pandemic .COVID 19 pandemic has
taken the world by storm and many countries like India is now experiencing a second surge due to mutant
strains. Global health emergency has been precipitated by this corona virus disease caused by SARS CoV2.Acute and
intermediate effects on cardiovascular system are becoming obvious with progression of time. SARS-CoV-2-related endothelial
dysfunction results in an augmented risk for venous thromboembolism, systemic vasculitis, endothelial cell apoptosis, and
inammation in various organs. Acute infections have troponin elevation more due to indirect cardiac damage though denite
patterns of direct damage do exist. Intermediate evaluation in patients with resolved infections shows increased incidence of
exercise induced arrhythmias and residual cardiovascular symptoms. The virus with its zoonotic origin based upon its genomic
identity to bat derived SARS corona virus has a human to human transmission mode.ACE 2 receptors facilitate cellular entry
and has been implicated in direct and indirect myocardial damage. Myocarditis, acute myocardial injury, arrhythmias and
thromboembolism dominates the clinical picture. Role of imaging must be dened in relation to relevant clinical ndings. With
arrival of vaccine and widespread vaccination global programs, we can look forward to understanding and managing long
term complications of this disease. Prognostic implications of a resolved disease need to be evaluated by future studies.


This paper addresses XML document classification by considering both structural and content-based features of the documents. This approach leads to better constructing a set of informative feature vectors that represents both structural and textual aspects of XML documents. For this purpose, we integrate soft clustering of words and feature reduction into the process. To extract structural information, we employ an existing frequent tree-mining algorithm combined with an information gain filter to retrieve the most informative substructures from XML documents. However, for extracting content information, we propose soft clustering of words using each cluster as a textual feature. We have conducted extensive experiments on a benchmark dataset, namely 20NewsGroups, and an XML documents dataset given in LOGML that describes the web-server logs of user sessions. With regards to the classifier built only using our textual features, the results show that it outperforms a naive support-vector-machine (SVM)-based classifier, as well as an information retrieval classifier (IRC). We further demonstrate the effectiveness of incorporating both structural and content information into the process of learning, by comparing our classifier model and several XML document classifiers. In particular, by applying SVM and decision tree algorithms using our feature vector representation of XML documents dataset, we have achieved 85.79% and 87.04% classification accuracy, respectively, which are higher than accuracy achieved by XRules, a well-known structural-based XML document classifier.


One of the main tasks of genetics and animal breeding is the assessment of genetic diversity and the study of genetic relationships between different breeds and populations using molecular genetic analysis methods. We analysed the polymorphism of microsatellites and the information on the state of genetic diversity and the population structure of local breeds in Russia: the Kemerovo, the Berkshire, the Liven, the Mangalitsa, and the Civilian; in the Republic of Belarus: the Large White and the Black-and-White; and in Ukraine: the White Steppe, as well as commercial breeds of imported origin of domestic reproduction: the Large White, the Landrace, and the Duroc. The materials used for this study were the tissue and DNA samples extracted from 1,194 pigs and DNA of the UNU "Genetic material bank of domestic and wild animal species and birds" of the L.K. Ernst Federal Research Center for Animal Husbandry. Polymorphisms of 10 microsatellites (S0155, S0355, S0386, SW24, SO005, SW72, SW951, S0101, SW240, and SW857) were determined according to the previously developed technique using DNA analyser ABI3130xl. To estimate the allele pool of each population, the average number of alleles (NA), the effective number of alleles (NE ) based on the locus, the rarified allelic richness (AR), the observed (HO ) and expected (HE ) heterozygosity, and the fixation index (FIS) were calculated. The degree of genetic differentiation of the breeds was assessed based on the pairwise values of FST and D. The analysis of the allelic and genetic diversity parameters of the local breeds showed that the maximum and minimum levels of polymorphism were observed in pigs of the Ukrainian White Steppe breed (NA = 6.500, NE = 3.709, and AR = 6.020) and in pigs of the Duroc breed (NA = 4.875, NE = 2.119, and AR = 3.821), respectively. The highest level of genetic diversity was found in the Large White breed of the Republic of Belarus (HO = 0.707 and NE = 0.702). The minimum level of genetic diversity was found in pigs of the imported breeds – the Landrace (HO = 0.459, HE = 0.400) and the Duroc (HO = 0.480, HE = 0.469) – indicating a high selection pressure in these breeds. Based on the results of phylogenetic analysis, the genetic origin of Large White pigs, the breeds, from which the Berkshire pigs originated, and the genetic detachment of the Landrace from the Mangalitsa breeds were revealed. The cluster analysis showed a genetic consolidation of the Black-and-White, the Berkshire, and the Mangalitsa pigs. Additionally, the imported breeds with clustering depending on the origin were characterised by a genetic structure different from that of the other breeds. The information obtained from these studies can serve as a guide for the management and breeding strategies of the pig breeds studied, to allow their better use and conservation.


Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) is a p-type semiconductor with high absorption coefficient and direct bandgap from 1 to 1.5 eV, which is ideal for making absorber layer for solar cell. However, it is difficult to get single phase of CZTS due to the competitive formation of binary and ternary secondary phases. In this paper, we prepared CZTS nanoparticles by hydrothermal method and investigate the influence of hydrothermal temperature on the product. Raman scattering, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microcopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and diffusion reflective measurement were applied to characterize the products. The products are high quality nanocrystals of kesterite phase with uniform size which is applicable for solar absorber layer fabrication.


The generation of DNA Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) data is a commonly applied approach for studying the genetic basis of biological processes, including diseases, and underpins the aspirations of precision medicine. However, there are significant challenges when dealing with NGS data. A huge number of bioinformatics tools exist and it is therefore challenging to design an analysis pipeline; NGS analysis is computationally intensive, requiring expensive infrastructure which can be problematic given that many medical and research centres do not have adequate high performance computing facilities and the use of cloud computing facilities is not always possible due to privacy and ownership issues. We have therefore developed a fast and efficient bioinformatics pipeline that allows for the analysis of DNA sequencing data, while requiring little computational effort and memory usage. We achieved this by exploiting state-of-the-art bioinformatics tools. DNAscan can analyse raw, 40x whole genome NGS data in 8 hours, using as little as 8 threads and 16 Gbs of RAM, while guaranteeing a high performance. DNAscan can look for SNVs, small indels, SVs, repeat expansions and viral genetic material (or any other organism). Its results are annotated using a customisable variety of databases including ClinVar, Exac and dbSNP, and a local deployment of the gene.iobio platform is available for an on-the-fly result visualisation.


Understanding the oceanic uptake of carbon from the atmosphere is essential for better constraining the global budget, as well as for predicting the air-borne fraction of CO2 emissions and thus degree of climate change. Gaining this understanding is difficult, because the 'natural' carbon cycle, the part of the global carbon cycle unaltered by CO2 emissions, also responds to climate change and ocean acidification. Using a global climate model of intermediate complexity, we assess the evolution of the natural carbon cycle over the next few centuries. We find that physical mechanisms, particularly Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and gas solubility, alter the natural carbon cycle the most and lead to a significant reduction in the overall oceanic carbon uptake. Important biological mechanisms include reduced organic carbon export production due to reduced nutrient supply, increased organic carbon production due to higher temperatures and reduced CaCO3 production due to increased ocean acidification. A large ensemble of model experiments indicates that the most important source of uncertainty in ocean uptake projections in the near term future are the upper ocean vertical diffusivity and gas exchange coefficient. By year 2300, the model's climate sensitivity replaces these two and becomes the dominant factor as global warming continues.


Primary spontaneous pneumothorax remains a significant problem, with high recurrence rate between 25-54% despite different therapeutic approaches.An important autosomal dominantly inherited disorder, caused by pathogenic FLCN mutations and associated with lung cysts and (recurrent) spontaneous pneumothorax (SP) is the Birt-Hogg-Dube (BHD) syndrome.Approximately 7.5-10% of all SP patients have a pathogenic FLCN mutation. Recurrence rate of SP among BHD patients has been described up to 75%.Optimal treatment of SP in BHD patients is unknown.

We collected data using a questionnaire, which was send to 53 patients with a proven pathogenic FLCN mutation with a history of SP.All patients had one or more episodes of spontaneous pneumothorax.We scored number of episodes, number of recurrences, type of treatment, classified in conservative (observations, needle aspiration or tube thoracostomy) or invasive (chemical - or mechanical pleurodesis, lung resection, bullectomy).Both lungs were scored separately.

We found among 53 FLCN mutation carriers with a mean age of 31.2 years a total of 77 episodes of spontaneous pneumothorax; 29 patients one-sided, 19 on both sides and 5 patients on both sides at the same time. In total 59% had one or more recurrent episodes of SP; 58% after conservative treatment and 29.4% after invasive treatment. We found in literature that approximately 15% of PSP patients have a history of SP on both sides and 1.5% on both sides at the same time.

Based on these results, we found a significant higher number of bilateral episodes of SP among BHD patients compared to PSP in literature. BHD patients might need a different approach of treatment of SP compared to non-BHD patients.


Abstract A taxonomic treatment for Boraginales (Boraginaceae s.l.) and Lamiales (Lamiaceae and Verbenaceae) in the Engenheiro Avidos Ecological Park, a full-protection reserve located in the semiarid region of Paraíba State in northeastern Brazil is presented in this study. At the Park, a total of 22 species were encountered, including nine species of Boraginaceae s.l., six species of Lamiaceae, and seven species of Verbenaceae. Vitex orinocensis (Lamiaceae) was found for the first time for Caatinga and also represents a new record for Paraíba state. Morphological descriptions, keys for separating the families and respective species; data concerning flowering, fruiting, geographic distributions, and of the preferred habitats of the species found in the study area are also provided.


Although detailed studies in the central Afar, in particular Hadar, have only recently begun, we feel that it is possible to present a provisional resumé of our research. The Pliocene deposits of Hadar, about 160 m thick, represent a series of lacustrine and perilacustrine sediments with four major marker horizons. These deposits contain a rich and well preserved fossil fauna comprising over 70 species. The nature of the faunal assemblage especially the frequent remains of Nyanzachoerus pattersoni, Notochoerus euilus, Ceratotherium praecox, early Elephas recki, Hipparion cf. primigenium, and the absence of Equus and tetraprotodont Hippopotamus, strongly suggests a biostratigraphic correlation with other sites in eastern Africa considered to be older than 3 million years. Fossil hominid remains, some uniquely complete, have been recovered from nine stratigraphic levels.


This paper deals with the quasi-static coupled thermoelastic problems of an infinitely long rotatingmultilayered hollowcylinder. Laplace transform and finite difference methods are used to analyze problems. Using the Laplace transformwith respect to time, the general solutions of the governing equations are obtained in transform domain. The solution is obtained by using the matrix similarity transformation and inverse Laplace transform. Also presented are the numerically transient distributions of stress and temperature in the real domain for the case of an infinitely long rotating hollowcylinder composed of three differentmaterials.Moreover, the computational procedures established in this article can solve the generalized thermoelasticity problem for rotating multilayered hollow cylinder with orthotropicmaterial properties.


In the temple of Luxor, Amenhotep III is given the epithet of Hrw nfr several times. This seemingly usual characterization of the king is not as frequent as it might appear to be at first sight. In this paper I will discuss the meaning of Hrw nfr from two aspects. On the one hand, it is a contribution to royal ideology by describing an aspect of the king as Horus. In order to understand what it signifies, we have to take a look at the meaning of nfr; therefore, on the other hand it also contributes to a better understanding of the meaning of the latter. After an overview of Hrw nfr as a god and the relationship of Amenhotep III and Horus in the inscriptions of Luxor temple, the meaning of the word nfr is investigated. The final conclusion of the paper is, that instead of the translation 'perfect/beautiful/gracious Horus who is in the palace' the translation 'actual/present/new/young Horus, who is in the palace' renders more precisely the meaning of this royal epithet.


We design and implement Netdiff, a system that enables detailed performance comparisons among ISP networks. It helps customers and applications determine, for instance, which ISP offers the best performance for their specific workload. Netdiff is easy to deploy because it requires only a modest number of nodes and does not require active cooperation from ISPs. Realizing such a system, however, is challenging as we must aggressively reduce probing cost and ensure that the results are robust to measurement noise. We describe the techniques that Netdiff uses to address these challenges.

Netdiff has been measuring eighteen backbone ISPs since February 2007. Its techniques allow it to capture an accurate view of an ISP's performance in terms of latency within fifteen minutes. Using Netdiff, we find that the relative performance of ISPs depends on many factors, including the geographic properties of traffic and the popularity of destinations. Thus, the detailed comparison that Netdiff provides is important for identifying ISPs that perform well for a given workload.


The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 20031 (PREA) is the first piece of federal legislation, which expressly and exclusively addresses sexual abuse of persons in custody. Notwithstanding passage of the Act, there is clear belief, echoed by correctional leaders, that prosecutors are reluctant at best, and unwilling at worst, to prosecute cases of sexual violence in correctional settings. In order to gather information on prosecutor interest in and capacity to prosecute these cases, the National Institute of Corrections Project on Addressing Prison Rape at the Washington College of Law the (the NIC/WCL Project) collected data from state and federal prosecutors. This article draws on that research and data to examine the perception that prosecutors are unwilling to prosecute cases of sexual violence in custody, discusses barriers to prosecution identified by prosecutors regarding investigating and prosecuting allegations of sexual abuse of persons under correctional supervision, and recommends tools to overcome those barriers.


For a period of one year beginning December 1977, drift card experiments were conducted off the western and southern coasts of Panay Island to determine the surface currents in the area. Of a total 2,384 drift cards released during the study, 382 (16.02%) were recovered, 92% of them within 30 days following dispatch. The surface currents in the study area are strongly influenced, in direction and speed, by the prevailing monsoon winds. During the NE monsoon period, the surface currents move away from the coast; during the SW monsoon, toward and/or parallel to the coast. Based on the results, the probable movement and transport of milkfish (Chanos chanos) eggs and larvae from the spawning ground to the fry collection ground are also discussed.


Marine Protected Areas (MP As) play an important role in meeting conservation,
tourism, and scientific study/education objectives. Most MPAs in Thailand are
established as Marine National Parks (MNPs). This study aims to enhance the
understanding of the benefits and negative impacts of MNPs in terms of economic,
socio-cultural and environmental uses and values, as well as analyse the management
status of Mu Ko Chang Marine National Park (MKCMNP), and the effectiveness of
existing management objectives in relation to tourism. MKCMNP is located in the Gulf
of Thailand. The condition, size and species diversity of its coral reefs are of
international significance, and it attracts more than two hundred thousand visitors per
year who engage in diving and other activities. Visitor management in the park includes
a visitors fee, ferry and boat access, activity management, information centres, zoning
management and visitors' services and facilities~ MKCMNP faces management issues
relating to tourism development, particularly protection of valued natural resources from
over-development by private operators. These issues make achievement of park
management objectives difficult.
Visitor surveys and an interview with a key informant were conducted to provide
information on the effectiveness of tourism management at MKCMNP. Site observation
was also undertaken to gain familiarity with the park and to complement the visitor
survey data. The visitor survey was administered in two languages (Thai and English) to
162 participants, and assessed visitor behaviour, values and attitudes in order to identify
the degree to which existing park management satisfied the needs and expectations of
visitors. The survey of visitor attitudes towards management revealed that the
communication of management approaches by park education materials and
interpretation program are not effective. Visitors perceived that management to achieve
the park management objectives was at least partly successful. The worst performing
objectives were preventing illegal activities and controlling litter and pollution.
The quality of existing visitor facilities should be maintained at the current level, but waste
disposal facilities, visitor information centres and information signs should be increased.
The interview with the park manager was significant for understanding park
management issues related to tourism impacts, sustainable tourism and ecotourism
activities. The park manager revealed that the major management problems of
MKCMNP were garbage and wastewater, and lack of water supply during the summer.
He recommended the four main factors to achieve sustainable tourism development
were: firstly, tourists must take any garbage away with them when they leave. Secondly,
local people must be able to sustain their livelihood from tourism. Thirdly, tourist
activities must not damage natural resources. Finally, co-operation between government
agencies and the private sector must form a significant component of future tourism
development.
Tourism management recommendations were derived from the results to assist the
management agency in better achieving sustainable tourism development. More
effective tourism management will require visitor education and an interpretation
program, waste management strategies and integrated land use planning process. Such
strategies need to match visitor needs with protecting the natural resources. In addition,
to ensure sustainable tourism public participation and co-management approaches
should be incorporated into the management plan.


Measures of "aided" speech intelligibility (SI) for listeners wearing hearing aids (HAs) are commonly obtained using rather artificial acoustic stimuli and spatial configurations compared to those encountered in everyday complex listening scenarios. In the present study, the effect of hearing aid dynamic range compression (DRC) on SI was investigated in simulated real-world acoustic conditions. A spatialized version of the Danish Hearing In Noise Test was employed inside a loudspeaker-based virtual sound environment to present spatialized target speech in background noise consisting of either spatial recordings of two real-world sound scenarios or quadraphonic, artificial speech-shaped noise (SSN). Unaided performance was compared with results obtained with a basic HA simulator employing fast-acting DRC. Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) with and without DRC were found to be significantly higher in the conditions with real-world background noise than in the condition with artificial SSN. Improvements in SRTs caused by the HA were only significant in conditions with real-world background noise and were related to differences in the output signal-to-noise ratio of the HA signal processing between the real-world versus artificial conditions. The results may be valuable for the design, development, and evaluation of HA signal processing strategies in realistic, but controlled, acoustic settings.


This paper presents the effect of solar collectors on the performance of solar tracking daylighting systems. A series of measurements were made for two different types of solar collectors mounted on double axis solar trackers: Parabolic dish concentrator and Fresnel Lens. Indoor light levels were measured at different locations of an office space (longitude: 126.33 E, latitude 33.45 N) as photo sensors were placed on a task plane 80 cm above the floor. To accurately monitor the applicability of the systems, measurements were performed under clear and overcast sky conditions with the roll-screen (on the south window) in the down position. Comparing the illuminance data, the system with Fresnel lens outperformed that of parabolic dish concentrator. On clear days, the former delivered the light levels of 400~600 lux on the task plane whereas the latter recorded 100~200 lux. Depending on the amount of cloud cover, on overcast days, illuminance readings fluctuated to some extent.


Flexural strength of a dental material reflects its ability to withstand tensile stresses and thus the fracture risk of a filling. The flexural strength of an experimental bioceramic Calcium aluminate-based (CA) dental restorative material was measured using three different methods with a composite (Tetric Ceram), a glass ionomer cement (Fuji II) and a phosphate cement (Harward) as references. The three test methods were: a) ISO 4049 for dental composites, 3-point bend test b) EN 843-1 for ceramic materials, 3-point bend test and c) ASTM F-394, biaxial ball-on-disc for ceramic materials. The strength of the CA-material, tested in the ball-on-disc method, is close to the theoretical strength based on the microstructure of the material (max. grain size of 15 μm). The composite material and the phosphate cement were rather insensitive to the test method, while the glass ionomer cement as the CA-material showed sensitivity towards the test method. A modified biaxial test method for evaluation of strength of dental materials in a close to real-life component is proposed.


BACKGROUND
Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) can identify patients with subtherapeutic asparaginase (ASNase) activity (silent inactivation, SI) and prospectively guide therapeutic adaptation. However, limited intra-individual variability is a precondition for targeted dosing and the diagnosis of SI.

METHODS
In the AIEOP-BFM ALL 2009 trial, 2771 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia were included and underwent ASNase-TDM in a central laboratory in Münster. Two biweekly administrations of pegylated ASNase during induction and a third dose during reinduction or the high-risk block, which was administered several weeks later, were monitored. We calculated (i) the incidence of SI; and (ii) the predictivity of SI for SI following the subsequent administration. ASNase activities monitored during induction were categorized into percentiles at the respective sampling time points. These percentiles were used to calculate the intra-individual range of percentiles as a surrogate for intra-patient variability and to evaluate the predictivity of ASNase activity for the subsequent administration.

RESULTS
The overall incidence of SI was low (4.9%). The positive predictive value of SI identified by one sample was ≤ 21%. Confirmation of SI by a second sample indicated a high positive predictive value of 100% for biweekly administrations, but not for administration more than 17 weeks later. Sampling and/or documentation errors were risks for misdiagnosis of SI.High intra-individual variability in ASNase activities, with ranges of percentiles over more than two quartiles and low predictivity, was observed in approximately 25% of the patients. These patients were likely to fail dose individualization based on TDM data.

CONCLUSION
To use TDM as a basis for clinical decisions, standardized clinical procedures are required and high intra-individual variability should be taken into account.Details of the treatment are available in the European Clinical Trials Database at https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/trial/2007-004270-43/DE.


In recent years, abrupt water pollution accidents have broken out frequently in watersheds and caused huge environmental and economic losses. These accidents have become one of the most serious environmental problems in China. Abrupt accidents in watersheds involve large scale, multiple sources, multiple stressors and complex risk spread relationships. An appropriate environmental risk assessment method that can solve these problems is needed to protect water quality and the safety of people and property. In this paper, we have adopted a risk rank method in ecological risk assessment and modify it to assess the risk of abrupt water pollution accidents in watersheds, and take a reach of Laoguan River in Xichuan County, Nanyang city as an example. After identifying risk factors and their relationships, the risk rank model is established accordingly, and then risk values are calculated. Finally, the assessment result is displayed and specific risk management decisions are provided.


The study was carried out for reviewing the hypothesis on the relationship between integrated fish farming (IFF) and human influenza A pandemic using study methods of longitudinal epidemiology, ecology and serology. Four rural villages with IFF, non-IFF and non-fish farming, selected from two provinces (Henan and Shandong of PRC) were investigated for the status about human influenza A epidemic and infections with human, duck, swine influenaz A viruses in those communities. The results put forward views on that there is no relation between IFF and the increase of incidence rate, infection rate and antibodies level to human influenza A virus. Duck may play an important role in the increase of infection rate to human influenza A viruses among human communities. Pigs seem not to play obvious role in the increase of infection rate to human influenza A viruses among human communities. Human, duck, swine influenza A viruses may spread among human duck and pigs communities interchangably.


Results of recent surveys suggest that there are significant health hazards involved with chronic exposure to waste anesthetic gases. While results of these surveys were significant, they did not prove a cause-effect relationship. Considerable evidence in experimental animals suggests such a relationship; it is reasonable to assume that this applies to the clinical situation. An anesthetic technique that uses a circle-system absorber with a scavenging trap and non-recirculating exhaust duct has been described. This system was combined with use of a closed-cell rubber sponge for an oropharyngeal pack that was impermeable to air or anesthetic gases. In addition, a tight-fitting nasal mask or sealed nasopharyngeal tube was used. Ventilation of room air also was improved. These changes produced a 93.3% reduction in halothane and 91.2% reduction in nitrous oxide in the dental operating room.


The retinal fractal dimension (FD) is a measure of vasculature branching pattern complexity. FD has been considered as a potential biomarker for the detection of several diseases like diabetes and hypertension. However, conflicting findings were found in the reported literature regarding the association between this biomarker and diseases. In this paper, we examine the stability of the FD measurement with respect to (1) different vessel annotations obtained from human observers, (2) automatic segmentation methods, (3) various regions of interest, (4) accuracy of vessel segmentation methods, and (5) different imaging modalities. Our results demonstrate that the relative errors for the measurement of FD are significant and FD varies considerably according to the image quality, modality, and the technique used for measuring it. Automated and semiautomated methods for the measurement of FD are not stable enough, which makes FD a deceptive biomarker in quantitative clinical applications.


Online Gaming Disorder causes serious pathological problems such as depression, social isolation, impulse control disorder, and drug abuse. Smart phone overflow is almost the same as Online Gaming Disorder in that smart phone addicts use smart phones so often and so long that they cannot restrain themselves, devastating their everyday life and studies. Preventive education on the part of home as well as school is important, as well. Internet addiction, however, has so many diversifying causes, and may devastate the life of teenagers, who are at the starting point to establish their own values and personality. The Internet is so inseparably intertwined in our society that you cannot just simply ignore it. On the contrary, the Internet may turn into a useful and convenient tool, instead of destroying teenage addicts and society as a whole. In order to make this scenario come true, all walks of society should play a role and guide our adolescents to get positive and healthy interests, away from the pathological Internet use. That way, the damage on the society as well as adolescent addicts themselves may be minimized and adolescents will be able to solidify desirable values and have healthy dreams about their future.


This bold and refreshing approach to Lie algebras assumes only modest prerequisites (linear algebra up to the Jordan canonical form and a basic familiarity with groups and rings), yet it reaches a major result in representation theory: the highest-weight classification of irreducible modules of the general linear Lie algebra. The author's exposition is focused on this goal rather than on aiming at the widest generality, and emphasis is placed on explicit calculations with bases and matrices. The book begins with a motivating chapter explaining the context and relevance of Lie algebras and their representations and concludes with a guide to further reading. Numerous examples and exercises with full solutions are included. Based on the author's own introductory course on Lie algebras, this book has been thoroughly road-tested by advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students and is also suited to individual readers wanting an introduction to this important area of mathematics.


Introduction. Tasmannia lanceolata (TL) is an endemic Australian plant, long used as a food and a medicine by Indigenous Australians. The medicinal bioactivities of this plant are poorly studied.
Methods. TL extracts were prepared with various solvents, dried and then re-suspended in water. Antibacterial activity of these preparations was determined by growth inhibition against a panel of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Toxicity (LC50) was assessed by the Artemia franciscanna (brine shrimp) nauplii bioassay.
Results. All extracts inhibited the growth of 50% of the bacteria tested and 100% of the fungi via disc diffusion assay. The ethyl acetate and hexane extracts proved to have the greater antibacterial activity with lower Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC) values. In comparison to the other extracts, the chloroform extract had a lower bacterial inhibitory activity with higher MIC's. All TL extracts were equally effective against Gram-positive (50 %) and Gram-negative bacteria (50 %), suggesting the phytochemical components are effective in penetrating the Gram-negative outer membrane lipopolysaccharide layer. The water, hexane and ethyl acetate extracts were non toxic, with no significant increase in mortality induction. The methanol extract toxicity was unable to be determined, at the concentration tested. The chloroform extract displayed low toxicity in the Artemia fransiscana bioassay (LC50 >1500 µg/ml).
Conclusions. The low toxicity of the TL extracts and their inhibitory bioactivity against a range of bacteria validate traditional Aboriginal usage of the Tasmannia lanceolata and indicates its medicinal potential.


The biological pump is a key component in the global biogeochemistry of carbon dioxide that is sensitive, through a multitude of ecological interactions of euphotic zone plankton, to climatic fluctuations. In this dissertation I address the biological control of vertical carbon flux out of the surface ocean in two regions of the Pacific Ocean. I begin by addressing the hypothesis that most export production in the equatorial Pacific is derived from the primary production of picophytoplankton. Using inverse ecosystem modeling techniques to synthesize detailed rate measurements I show that eukaryotic phytoplankton are the dominant producers of eventually exported material and that export comes after processing by mesozooplankton, but that the results of inverse modeling studies are dependent upon subjective decisions about model structure, input data, and solution schemes. I then move on to studies in the California Current Ecosystem (CCE), where a combination of my own in situ measurements of vertical carbon export and collaborators' measurements of key planktonic rates allow me to address the question of what constitutes sinking flux in this coastal upwelling biome. I begin with simple trophic cycling relationships that use phytoplankton growth, micro - and mesozooplankton grazing, and simple assumptions about organismal efficiency, and show that fecal pellet production could account for the magnitude and variability in carbon export measured by ²³⁴Th disequilibrium during a cruise in May 2006. I then utilize inverse modeling techniques to show that on two spring cruises the contribution of grazing products to export was substantially greater than that of gravitational sinking of phytoplankton, and also that Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods do an accurate job of solving inverse ecosystem models. Finally, I use sediment trap samples to directly assess the contribution of fecal pellets to vertical flux, finding that mesozooplankton pellets were the dominant component of flux during the spring, but that during a fall cruise their contribution was variable, with flux becoming increasingly dominated by non-pigmented small material and marine snow as productivity decreased


Abstract : This thesis continues the research begun by Storm, Bauer and Oxley in 2003 into the fusion of classifiers. It examines the fusion of up to three correlated classifiers using three different fusion techniques. The overall objective was to determine the optimal ensemble of classifiers to maximize the expected classification accuracy. The ISOC fusion method (Haspert, 2000), the ROC Within fusion method (Oxley and Bauer, 2002) and a Probabilistic Neural Network were the three fusion techniques employed in these set of experiments. Performance of the classifiers and the fusion methods is measured via ROC curves. Two possible configurations of feature correlations were examined. The expected true positive value relative to a prior distribution of correlation levels for each configuration was then used to compare the classifiers and the fused classifiers performance and thereby allowing for the selection of an optimal ensemble.


Gender Mainstreaming in Swedish Higher Education: the political directive reflected in institutional plans.
The Swedish government's latest reform of gender inequality in higher education set out to strengthen gender mainstreaming. Following this reform, the Swedish higher education institutions established gender mainstreaming plans for 2017-2019. In this article, we analyse and discuss the content of these plans, focusing on how they describe the organisation of gender mainstreaming, the understanding of gender inequality as a problem, and the planned activities to achieve gender mainstreaming. Drawing on interpretative frame theory, we identify challenges with the aims and scopes of these plans and the definitions they employ, e.g. in attempts to merge gender mainstreaming with the already on-going equal opportunity work based on the Swedish Discrimination Act. We conclude that many institutions have adopted an approach to gender mainstreaming that has the potential for transformation through long-term and sustainable cultural and structural change. To what extent the plans will be fully implemented, however, remains to be investigated, and depends on the organisation of work, commitment of leaders, and legitimacy of practitioners.


Introduction Ironically, American public education seems unable to learn and improve. Classroom instruction has remained virtually unchanged for decades, despite endless cycles of reform and a growing body of educational research (Weiss, Pasley, Smith, Banilower & Heck, 2003). This lack of progress is attributable to the current structure and culture of American education, which does not support rigorous practice. As each innovation gains widespread attention, a wave of superficial implementation efforts sweep across the educational community. Without the support required to do rigorous new work, the attempted innovation is stripped down to its simplest and most familiar elements; in the process, the most challenging elements, which are also necessary to the efficacy of the practice, are simply ignored (Fullan, 2007; Schmoker, 2006). Formative assessment is currently moving toward center stage on the national scene; and not surprisingly, it appears that most formative assessment efforts lack attention to the rigorous elements that are critical to potential effectiveness.


Tunable fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are key components for optical communications and sensing applications. Current tuning mechanisms include on-fiber electric heating, the piezo-electric effect, and mechanical stretching and bending. Unfortunately, all of these tuning mechanisms rely on external electrical power supplied by non-optical means. Additional electrical cabling increases manufacturing cost and the risks of failure associated with additional on-fiber electrical contacts and fragile packaging, which are susceptible to electromagnetic interference. These limitations make current fiber components no longer suitable for use in hostile environments, such as extreme temperature, corrosive, and humid environments.The research herein presents a tunable fiber Bragg grating device without sophisticated packaging and external electrical wiring. Shown for the first time, the resonance wavelength, spectrum width, and chirp can be directly controlled by in-fiber light as well as spectral responses of metal-coated fiber Bragg gratings. In-fiber diode laser light at 910-nm was leaked from the fiber and absorbed by the surrounding metallic coating to raise the grating's temperature and to change the background refractive index distribution of the gratings. Wide tunability of the resonance wavelength and spectral width was demonstrated in both uniform and linear chirped gratings.Applications of in-fiber light-powered active grating sensors are demonstrated for dual function temperature and flow sensors based on self-heated optical hot wire anemometry. A grating flow sensor has been experimentally evaluated for different grating lengths and input laser powers. The grating flow sensor demonstrated a minimum measurable flow velocity for nitrogen gas flow of 0.35-m/s at atmosphere pressure, which is comparable to or better than most MEMS-based flow sensors. Optical fiber is not used only for optical signal delivery, but also as a multi-function cable that can deliver optical power for on-fiber self-heating. This one-fiber solution provides a new dimension to designing multifunctional fiber sensors without compromising their intrinsic advantages, which include immunity to electromagnetic fields, low cost, long lifetime, and the capability to function in harsh environments.


Computerized image analysis, the discipline of using computers to automatically extract information from digital images, is a powerful tool for automating time consuming analysis tasks. In this thesis, image analysis and visualization methods are developed to facilitate the evaluation of osseointegration, i.e., the biological integration of a load-carrying implant in living bone.

Adequate osseointegration is essential in patients who are in need of implant treatment. New implant types, with variations in bulk material and surface structural parameters, are continuously being developed. The main goal is to improve and speed up the osseointegration and thereby enhance patient well-being. The level of osseointegration can be evaluated by quantifying the bone tissue in proximity to the implant in e.g., light microscopy images of thin cross sections of bone implant samples extracted from humans or animals. This operator dependent quantitative analysis is cumbersome, time consuming and subjective. Furthermore, the thin sections represent only a small region of the whole sample.

In this thesis work, computerized image analysis methods are developed to automate the quantification step. An image segmentation method is proposed for classifying the pixels of the images as bone tissue, non-bone tissue or implant. Subsequently, bone area and bone implant contact length in regions of interest are quantified. To achieve an accurate classification, the segmentation is based on both intensity and spatial information of the pixels. The automated method speeds up and facilitates the evaluation of osseointegration in the research laboratories.

Another aim of this thesis is extending the 2D analysis to 3D and presenting methods for visualization of the 3D image volumes. To get a complete picture, information from the whole sample should be considered, rather than thin sections only. As a first step, 3D imaging of the implant samples is evaluated. 3D analysis methods, which follow the helix shaped implant thread and collects quantified features along the path, are presented. Additionally, methods for finding the position of the 2D section in the corresponding 3D image volume, i.e., image registration, are presented, enabling a direct comparison of the data from the two modalities. These novel and unique 3D quantification and visualization methods support the biomaterial researchers with improved tools for gaining a wider insight into the osseointegration process, with the ultimate goal of improved quality of life for the patients.


Setyawan AD, Supriatna J, Nisyawati, Nursamsi I, Sutarno, Sugiyarto, Sunarto, Pradan P, Budiharta S, Pitoyo A, Suhardono S, Setyono P, Indrawan M. 2020. Predicting potential impacts of climate change on the geographical distribution of mountainous selaginellas in Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 4866-4877. Selaginella is a genus of non-flowering plant that requires water as a medium for fertilization, as such, it prefers mountainous areas with high level of humidity. Such unique ecosystem of Selaginella is available in some parts of Java Island, Indonesia, especially in highland areas with altitude of more than 1,000 meters above sea level. However, most mountainous areas in Java are likely to be affected by climate change due to global warming, threatening the habitat and sustainability of Selaginella. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of climate change on the geographical distribution of Selaginella opaca Warb. and Selaginella remotifolia Spring. In doing so, we predicted the suitable habitats of both species using Species Distribution Model (SDM) tool of MaxEnt under present climate conditions and future conditions under four climate change scenarios. Species occurrence data were obtained from fieldworks conducted in 2007-2014 across Java Island (283 points: 144 and 139 points for S. opaca and S. remotifolia, respectively) and combined with secondary data from Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (52 points: 35 and 17 points for S. opaca and S. remotifolia, respectively), and this dataset was used to model present geographical distribution using environmental and bioclimatic variables. Then, future distribution was predicted under four climate change scenarios: i.e. RCP (Representative Carbon Pathways) 2.6, RCP 4.5, RCP 6.0, and RCP 8.5 in three different time periods (2030, 2050, and 2080). The results of the models showed that the extent of suitable habitats of S. opaca and S. remotifolia will be reduced between 1.8-11.4% due to changes in climatic condition, and in the areas with high level of habitat suitability, including Mount Sumbing, Mount Sindoro and Mount Dieng (Dieng Plateau), the reduction can reach up to 60%. This study adds another context of evidence to understand the potential impacts of climate change on biodiversity, especially on climate-sensitive species, such as Selaginella, in climate-risk regions like mountainous areas of Java Island.


Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infections are frequent in HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infected patients. In those cases, genital herpes may have an atypical clinical presentation. Hypertrophic and vegetating variants are unusual. The authors describe a case of hypertrophic perianal herpes in an HIV patient with unsatisfactory response to acyclovir and valacyclovir, successfully treated with imiquimod. Hypertrophic genital herpes cases are frequently refractory to antiviral treatments. In our experience, imiquimod is an efficient, safe and well tolerated treatment that should be considered in therapeutic approach of these patients.


OBJECT
The aim of this study was to analyze a subgroup of patients harboring cerebellopontine angle meningiomas originating from the posterior petrous bone in regard to clinical presentation, surgical anatomy, complications, and long-term functional postoperative results.

METHODS
Data in a series of 51 patients with meningiomas of the posterior petrous bone who had undergone microsurgical treatment at the authors' institution between 1989 and 2002 were retrospectively reviewed. The patient population consisted of 46 women and five men with a mean age of 53 years (range 22-70 years). The main symptom on first admission was impaired hearing in 41%, dizziness in 20%, and tinnitus in 18% of the patients. Results of physical examination and audiological testing revealed hypacusis in 65% of patients, cerebellar ataxia in 31%, and impairment of the fifth cranial nerve in 26%. All patients underwent surgical treatment via a lateral suboccipital approach. Intraoperatively, the tumor was found to be attached to the postmeatal dura in 37%, the premeatal dura in 27.5%, the suprameatal dura in 19.6%, the inframeatal dura in 7.8%, and centered on the porus acusticus in 5.9% of cases. Tumor extension into the internal acoustic meatus was present in seven patients. Tumor resection was categorized as Grade I in 14 patients, Grade II in 29, Grade III in six, and Grade IV in two patients, according to the Simpson classification system. The site of displacement of the cranial nerves was predictable in up to 84% of patients, depending on the dural origin of the tumor as depicted on preoperative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging studies. Postoperatively, a new and permanent facial paresis was observed in five patients (9.8%). In 38 patients in whom both pre- and postoperative audiological data were available, hearing function deteriorated after surgery in 18.4% and improved in 7.9%. Clinical and MR imaging postsurgical data from a mean period of 5.8 years (range 13 months-13 years) were available in all patients. Forty-four patients (86%) resumed normal daily activity. Tumor recurrence was observed in two patients (3.9%), and both underwent a second surgery.

CONCLUSIONS
Preoperative detailed analysis of MR imaging data gives the surgeon a clue about the dislocation of critical neurovascular structures, particularly the cranial nerves. Nonetheless, the exact relationship of the cranial nerves to the tumor (dislocation, adherence, infiltration, and splaying of nerves) can only be fully appreciated during surgery.


The beginning of academic life is a period of great change for the student, who is often childishly treated in high school and faces the university's responsibilities and demands. The present work had the objective to review articles, published between 2005 and 2015, regarding the university adaptation related to the academic experiences, income and evasion, in the Engineering course. For that, research was carried out in the following electronic databases: Virtual Health Library (VHL), Scielo Brazil and Portal of Electronic Periodicals of Psychology (PePSIC). The following descriptors were used: academic adaptation, academic experiences, academic achievement, avoidance and engineering. We found 55 articles, but only 16 met the inclusion criteria. Most of the related empirical articles (66.7%) use the Questionnaire of Academic Experiences (QVA) or Questionnaire of Academic Experiences reduced version (QVA-r). Two of them (13.3%) used this instrument together with the Social Skills Inventory and another three (20.0%) with the Student Characterization Questionnaire. It is concluded that interpersonal relationships can favor academic achievement and delay evasion, as well as student support services; and the shortage of the subject in the courses of engineering was verified.


Contrary to the common belief, the Fifth Republic could not be established as a Republican monarchy. In France the idea of a republic was created by the French Revolution and its values were shaped in the fundamental confrontation with the monarchist tradition. The specifically understood idea of a nation's sovereignty the formation of which was influenced by Rousseau's though, as well as the ideas of the indivisibility and lay character of the republic, constituted a completely new model of statehood. In such a situation, the synthesis of antagonistic traditions was not possible. Although de Gaulle had been brought up in a family of pro-monarchist attitudes, he followed the state patriotism idea and was a supporter of the Republic as a durable basis for France's existence. His views matured under the influence of French Republican nationalists Charles a Peguy and Maurice Barres, who inspired young de Gaulle and shaped his state patriotism. Later in his life de Gaulle's idea was not so much to reconcile the monarchist and the republican tradition, but to create a republic that would integrate different families of ideas. This concept was also induced by manner of understanding the role of Christian obligations due to the public sphere. Following the spirit of the Catholic-liberal "Correspondent" de Gaulle believed that in the world shaped by the Revolution's heritage Christian ideas do not need to be deemed to be defeated. During World War II, de Gaulle, then the leader of Free France, consistently strengthened the French Republican tradition in the Vichy dispute. In the years 1944-1946, as head of the temporary government, he made sure that Republican principles constituted the foundations of the post-war France. De Gaulle developed the state model of economy and the social character of the French republic. His decisions laid the Republican principles in the French Constitution and refer clearly to the Declaration of Human and Civil Rights of 1989 in both French post war constitutions. That is why the 5th Republic could only be established as an institutional variation within the framework of the Republican axiology.


We evaluate the macroeconomic impacts of the European Social Fund (ESF) across the EU at both the national and the regional level. To this end, we use the RHOMOLO dynamic spatial Computable General Equilibrium model developed by the JRC for territorial impact assessment. We find out that the contribution of ESF funds is important for speeding up the economic recovery taking place in most European economies, with the ESF generating economic benefits which are higher than its costs by 2030. However, GDP and employment growth are not the main objectives of the policy. Given the wage benefits and productivity enhancing effects associated with the ESF, its distributional effects are also of interest.


Given the evolutionary significance of survival, the mind might be particularly sensitive (in terms of strength and speed of reaction) to stimuli that pose an immediate threat to physical harm. To rectify limitations in past research, we pilot-tested stimuli to obtain images that are threatening, nonthreatening-negative, positive, or neutral. Three studies revealed that participants (a) were faster to detect a threatening than nonthreatening-negative image when each was embedded among positive or neutral images, (b) oriented their initial gaze more frequently toward threatening than nonthreatening-negative, positive, or neutral images, and (c) evidenced larger startle-eyeblinks to threatening than to nonthreatening-negative, positive, or neutral images. Social-psychological implications for the mind's sensitivity to threat are discussed.


: What are recruiters promising? Many new hires say that they accepted a job because of a promised mentoring program--one that never materializes, and one that the manager doesn't know was part of the discussions. Where does that leave the manager who may not be aware of this expectation? Faced with anchoring mobile Gen Xers, organizations are exploring mentoring as an inexpensive way to improve retention. But mentoring is not a technique that can be applied like a warm blanket to solve the problems of orientation, training, skills development, and retention. There are two reasons why mentoring isn't foolproof--the mentor and the protege. If you are considering a mentoring program, or becoming a mentor yourself, here are some points to ponder: (1) If you can't (or won't) do it, give convincing reasons up front; (2) establish the rules of engagement; (3) a mentoring relationship doesn't guarantee loyalty; (4) having a protege has political risks; (5) you can't force anyone to take advice; and (6) expect a quid pro quo.


This paper explores the transmission of credit conditions into the real economy. Speciflcally, I examine the forecasting power of the term structure of credit spreads for future GDP growth. I flnd that the whole term structure of credit spreads has predictive power, even though the term structure of Treasury yields has none. Using a parsimonious macro-flnance term structure model that captures the joint dynamics of GDP, in∞ation, Treasury yields and credit spreads, I decompose the spreads and identify what drives the relationship between credit spreads and the real economy. I show that there is a pure credit component orthogonal to macroeconomic information that accounts for a large part of the forecasting power of credit spreads. The macro factors themselves also contribute to the predictive power, especially for long maturity spreads. Taken together, credit and macro factors capture virtually all predictability inherent in the actual spreads, while additional factors afiecting Treasury yields and credit spreads are irrelevant. The credit factor is highly correlated with the index of tighter loan standards, thus lending support to the existence of a transmission channel from borrowing conditions to the economy.