Ground stone technology for processing starchy plant foods has its origins in the late Pleistocene, with subsequent intensification and transformation of this technology coinciding with the global emergence of agriculture in the early Holocene. On the island of New Guinea, agriculture first emerges in the highland Wahgi Valley, potentially from c. 9 kya, and clearly evident by 6.5 kya. Approximately 400 km further east in the highland Ivane Valley, long-term occupation sequences span the Holocene and late Pleistocene, but there is currently no direct evidence for wetland agriculture. Here, we report rare evidence for ground stone implements from a secure mid-Holocene archaeological context in the Ivane Valley. The Joe's Garden site has flaked and ground stone artefacts with significant starch assemblages dating to approximately 4.4 kya. We present the first empirical evidence for the function of stone bowls from a New Guinea highland setting. Usewear and residues indicate the grinding and pounding of endemic starch-rich plant foods. Geometric morphometric analysis of starch grains shows that at least two taxa were processed: Castanopsis acuminatissima (nut) and Pueraria lobata (tuber). This regional example adds to our understanding of the trajectories of diverse plant food exploitation and ground stone technology development witnessed globally in the Holocene.


Literary texts that deal with traumatic experience develop a specific language: the language in which trauma is recitable, thus it can be dissolved. Trauma texts are often read as testimonies, narrative recoveries. The aspects of trauma theories may help the investigation of several literary texts from the end of the 20th century and from the first years of the 21st century, as trauma fiction may seem detached, emotionless or disturbingly explicit to readers for the first time. Reading trauma fiction demands an open state of mind and stronger fortitude than a usual literary text, as the trauma can be experienced in reading to some extent. In my paper I demonstrate strategies of interpretation based on trauma theory, through the analysis of Gabriella Nagy's text, Eset.


Antibiotic resistance and the shortage of novel antimicrobials are among the biggest challenges facing society. One of the major factors contributing to resistance is the use of frontline clinical antibiotics in veterinary practice. In order to properly manage dwindling antibiotic resources, we must identify antimicrobials that are specifically targeted to veterinary applications. Nisin is a member of the lantibiotic family of antimicrobial peptides that exhibit potent antibacterial activity against many gram-positive bacteria, including human and animal pathogens such as Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Listeria, and Clostridium. Although not currently used in human medicine, nisin is already employed commercially as an anti-mastitis product in the veterinary field. Recently we have used bioengineering strategies to enhance the activity of nisin against several high profile targets, including multi-drug resistant clinical pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and also against staphylococci and streptococci associated with bovine mastitis. However, newly emerging pathogens such as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) pose a significant threat in terms of veterinary health and as a reservoir for antibiotic resistance determinants. In this study we created a nisin derivative with enhanced antimicrobial activity against S. pseudintermedius. In addition, the novel nisin derivative exhibits an enhanced ability to impair biofilm formation and to reduce the density of established biofilms. The activities of this peptide represent a significant improvement over that of the wild-type nisin peptide and merit further investigation with a view to their use to treat S. pseudintermedius infections.


Discharging wastewater from industries without any treatment causes environmental pollution and endangers biotic life. In this study, pollutant removal by electrocoagulation (EC) process was investigated using wastewater of the ore processing plant (magnesite crushing and screening plant). In the EC process, iron-iron and copper-copper electrodes were used in parallel in the reactor. Chemical oxygen demand (COD), Sulphate, Chromium (VI), Nickel, Zinc, Magnesium, and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) removals were investigated in the EC process of mineral processing industry wastewater with the iron electrode. These pollutants were calculated as %97.6, %95.1, %98.2, %98.1, %97.8, %88.2, and %98.9, respectively. COD, Sulphate, Chromium (VI), Nickel, Zinc, Magnesium, and TSS removals in the EC process of mineral processing industry wastewater with the copper electrode are %92.8, %94.9, %99.5, %98.7, %96.1, %91.6, and %96.9 respectively. It has been observed that high removal efficiency can be achieved by using the electrocoagulation process in the treatment of ore washing wastewater resulting from the crushing and screening processes in the Chrome Magnesite processing plant.


This work deals with the economic and developmental challenges facing contemporary Algerian society. The social structures, the political institutions, the movements and ideologies, as well as cultural dilemmas, are considered in depth to give the fullest picture of the twenty-first century development. The volume considers the major changes, which are either underway or desperately needed, if Algeria is to move towards economic and social progress and away from the permanent seething conflict with which it is afflicted. The contributor's framework for understanding modern Algeria moves on to map out possible pathways for future development rather than relying on the repetition of old formulae and rehashing of polemical debates. The contributors represent a range of expertise in economics, business management, sociology, linguistics, political science and cultural studies. Their diverse backgrounds and perspectives permit this publication to explore new avenues of debate, which represent a significant contribution to the understanding of the present problems and potential solutions.


Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are emerging technologies that have the ability to sense, process, communicate, and transmit information to a destination, and they are expected to have significant impact on the efficiency of many applications in various fields. The resource constraint such as limited battery power, is the greatest challenge in WSNs design as it affects the lifetime and performance of the network. An energy efficient, secure, and trustworthy system is vital when a WSN involves highly sensitive information. Thus, it is critical to design mechanisms that are energy efficient and secure while at the same time maintaining the desired level of quality of service. Inspired by these challenges, this dissertation is dedicated to exploiting optimization and game theoretic approaches/solutions to handle several important issues in WSN communication, including energy efficiency, latency, congestion, dynamic traffic load, and security. We present several novel mechanisms to improve the security and energy efficiency of WSNs. Two new schemes are proposed for the network layer stack to achieve the following: (a) to enhance energy efficiency through optimized sleep intervals, that also considers the underlying dynamic traffic load and (b) to develop the routing protocol in order to handle wasted energy, congestion, and clustering. We also propose efficient routing and energy-efficient clustering algorithms based on optimization and game theory. Furthermore, we propose a dynamic game theoretic framework (i.e., hyper defense) to analyze the interactions between attacker and defender as a non-cooperative security game that considers the resource limitation. All the proposed schemes are validated by extensive experimental analyses, obtained by running simulations depicting various situations in WSNs in order to represent real world scenarios as realistically as possible. The results show that the proposed schemes achieve high performance in different terms, such as network lifetime, compared with the state-of-the-art schemes. Keywords– Wireless sensor networks, energy, efficient, security, game theory, routing, clustering, attack, defense, duty cycle, network lifetime, optimization, quality of service.


This study examines the social network aspects of mentoring in order to suggest ways to manage alienated public employees. It also explores the impact of mentoring that requires closer relationships between mentors and mentees to develop network ties. Networks of trust, respect, and friendship among soldiers in four barracks of the Republic of Korea Army (two experimental groups and two control groups) were measured using a social network survey. Alienated soldiers in the experimental groups were mentored by fellow soldiers with stronger ties, while no such mentoring was conducted in the control groups. After three months of mentoring, changes in network strengths were found among alienated soldiers in the experimental groups, while no significant changes were found among alienated soldiers in the control groups. This study is expected to contribute to human resource management by suggesting ways to strengthen the network ties of alienated personnel through mentoring.


Freestanding Ta2O5 nanotubes were prepared by an anodizing method. As-anodized amorphous nanotubes were calcined at high temperature to obtain a crystalline phase. All materials were studied by means of BET analysis, XRD, TEM, SEM, XPS, and FTIR and were evaluated in the catalytic oxidation of CO. An XPS study confirmed the formation of different tantalum surface species after high temperature treatment of amorphous Ta2O5 nanotubes. Calcination at 800 °C generated Ta(4+) while higher temperature (1000 °C) treatment led to the formation of Ta(3+) species. These materials also showed significant differences in catalytic activity. Higher activity was observed for samples calcined at 800 °C than at 1000 °C, suggesting that Ta(4+) species are active sites for CO oxidation.


We combined histofluorescence with in situ hybridization to identify GABAergic neurons in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) following electrophysiological recording, using GAD65 as a marker. Intracellular recordings 91 were made in hypothalamic slices prepared from ovariectomized guinea pigs. Over 90% of ARC neurons tested with the GABA(B) receptor agonist baclofen responded with a membrane hyperpolarization or an outward current. The hyperpolarization was dose dependent, and the GABA(B) receptor antagonist CGP 35,348 produced a rightward shift in the agonist dose-response curve. Agonist potency was lower, and the efficacy greater, in GAD-positive neurons. The use of this novel technique for identifying GABAergic neurons thus reveals differences in the pharmacodynamics of GABA(B) receptor activation between GABAergic and non-GABAergic ARC neurons.


This book provides the first comprehensive examination of the urban phenomenon known as Ballroom culture that first gained notoriety in the documentary Paris Is Burning in 1990. Butch Queens Up in Pumps uniquely explores the ways in which Black LGBT people in Detroit use performance and other cultural practices--such as alternative identity, kinship, and community formations--to contend with or alter the conditions in which they live. Butch Queens Up in Pumps is as much an examination of Black queer cultural formations as it is an ethnographic account of Ballroom culture in Detroit. Marlon M. Bailey's rare perspective as both participant and observer in the Ballroom scene makes for compelling reading and lends his analysis an uncommon immediacy and authenticity, producing a remarkable performance ethnography that delves deeply into this subcultural phenomenon. The book will appeal to scholars and students across a wide range of disciplines, including African American studies, gender and sexuality studies, performance studies, dance, and anthropology, and to anyone interested in the politics, prevention, and activism surrounding HIV/AIDS.


The empirical results of the Bielefeld Research Project "Violence in Schools" provide information about the kind and frequency of violent behaviors of pupils, about a possible increase in the level of violence in German schools since the 1970s and about relevant risk factors inside and outside of the school which influence the number of violent acts committed by pupils. The identification of specific conditions in different areas of socialization makes it possible to determine to what degree violence is imported into the school from outside or is produced from within. On the basis of these findings, recommendations are made for the prevention of violence in schools. Language: de


National Development itself includes whole array of Human Activities be they social, economic, commercial. industrial, educational, professional, political, cultural, and others. Out of the three Ms of Money, Material, and Man, the development and harnessing of manpower i.e.. Human Resources is most crucial as they are the driving force behind any activity. As such their all round development has been in the focus of the Governments of the day globally. To achieve this goal the governments at all level create necessary infrastructure by way of schools, colleges, universities, research laboratories and support them with necessary Library and Information support centers equipped with up-to-date information resources in different kinds and types of medias such as print, digital, electronic with 24x7 Internet connectivity with the required bandwidth. For example UGC Infonet Digital Library Consortium is facilitating 159 universities to have access to 5584 full text corejournals in different subject fields through 19 website besides giving bibliographic access to 9 other websites. In order to assess the impact of LIes their resources, their services; their personnel-number-level of education and training - skill competencies, depth of subject knowledge - ease in handling different subject databases - familiarity with major search engines - work culture - user friendliness need to be looked into.


ABSTRACT Background College-age students are a particularly important population regarding establishing beliefs about vaccines that carry on into later adulthood. One of the primary ways these beliefs can be influenced is via the source of information that students turn to concerning vaccine information. Method We administered a survey to 180 college-age students based on the WHO Report of the SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy (2014). Questions focused on vaccine beliefs, perceived knowledge, perceived safety and perceived risk. Participants were also measured on sources they would use to obtain information on vaccines (e.g. healthcare providers, news media, government official, social media, friends, and parents). Results Based on regression analyses, vaccine beliefs were significantly impacted by safety (β = .44) and risk perceptions (β = .29) at the expense of knowledge perceptions. Furthermore, various information sources influenced perceptions of safety (healthcare provider (β = .24)), risk (social media (β = −.19)), and knowledge (social media (β = −.20) and healthcare providers (β = .16)). Specifically, increases in social media source usage resulted in more negative vaccine beliefs. Conversely, utilization of healthcare providers resulted in more positive vaccine beliefs. Conclusion Results suggest, in cases of college-age students, vaccine information should focus on issues dealing with students' perceptions of risk and safety, not their level of knowledge. Additionally, while parents and friends may act as a primary information sources, more attention needs to be paid to the negative impact of social media and the positive impact of healthcare providers.


County has played an important role in the history of China since it was first established as a basic administrative unit in the Qin Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. Historic counties have not only performed administrative and economic functions but also carried and preserved basic information about culture and traditions of China. Not long ago, the Photographic Exhibition on the Cultural


Valeriana jatamansi is an important medicinal and aromatic plant used as sedative in modern  and traditional medicines butthere is dearth of literature regarding how elevated CO2 and temperature affect on this plant. Therefore,an experiment was conducted to study the effect of elevated CO2 (550±50 µmol mol-1) and elevated temperature (2.5±0.5°C above ambient) and vermicompost on growth, phenology and biomass accumulation in V. jatamansi under Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) and Free Air TemperatureIncrement (FATI) facilities at Palampur, India, during 2013-2015. Growth parameters and biomass accumulation into different parts were observed at 4, 12 and 16 months after exposure (MAE). Plant height, total dry biomass and leaf area plant -1 increased in elevated CO2 treatment applied with vermicompost as compared to the other treatments. Elevated CO2 significantly enhanced leaf area (3.5-23.5%), leaf biomass (12.7-33.2%), stem (15.3-15.6%), root (3.2-72.5%), rhizome (2.1-42.2%) and total biomass (7.7-52.7%), whereas elevated temperature increased aboveground biomass (15.0-45.3%), belowground biomass (11.6-55.5%) and total biomass (12.4-7.9%), respectively, as compared to ambient. Phenological stages were advanced by 1.2-3.9 days under FACE and FATI as compared to ambient. The results indicate that aboveground, belowground and total biomass increased under elevated CO2 and elevated temperature as compared to ambient.


Adhesive bonding is a proven technology in the manufacture of automotive assemblies, helping carmakers achieve weight reduction goals without compromising body stiffness, crash performance, and noise-vibration-handling characteristics. This article discusses the advantages and limitations of adhesive-bonded aluminum joints and the procedures used to produce them. It addresses surface preparation, the addition of interfacial coatings and primers, and the application of thermoplastic and thermosetting resins. The article examines the nature and role of the various layers that constitute the joint and explains how each contributes to performance. It also discusses adhesive selection factors, joint design, and testing procedures.


Background: Safety assessment of fire protection system is very important. Especially, Fire Protection system is central to minimizing damage to human lives and property. They're not in demand at normal times but are definitely needed in times of fire or other disasters. Concerns of performance loss or failure owing to yearly variation remain but the nature of fire protection system challenges users from detecting equipment failure or defects early on. Methods: This study sets a certain inspection score to defect probability, which is calculated by quantitative defect probability arising from yearly variation in fire protection systems by part of fire protection systems observed by time and use the score as the basis to determine replacement and inspection of parts. This study also aims at suggesting hazard calculation associated with aging based on criticality and yearly variation of fire protection systems. This method can realize active and quantitative management and the old fire protection system. Findings: Presented in this study Performance Assessment Tool allows a more effective replacement and inspection of firefighting equipment in structures and eventually calculate hazard of firefighting equipment performance in a quantitative manner, thereby serves as an effective diagnosis tool for maintaining and improving performance of aging firefighting equipment. Improvements: For improvements of this study, data on defect rate of fire protection systems should be recorded to deliver higher reliability and aging of fire protection systems arising from time variance should also be monitored by building detailed data to come up with a methodology that ensures reliable management.


Abstract. Rainfall-derived infiltration and inflow (RDII) can interfere with the performance of domestic wastewater drainage systems. It is also a major cause for the deterioration of the functional performance in those systems and for the occurrence of domestic wastewater untreated discharges to the water environment. In most cases, the actual size and location of these inflows are unknown. To assess this subject of RDII, a detailed knowledge of the network is required as well as a diagnosis of the problem, namely, the type of inflows, the magnitude of their occurrence and the location of the most relevant impacts. This paper presents the application of a methodology to estimate RDII on a Portuguese case study.


The extensive usage of open communication networks in power system control causes inevitable time delays. This paper studies impacts of such delays on the stability of one-area and two-area load frequency control (LFC) systems and proposes an analytical method to determine delay margins, the upper bound on the delay for stability. The proposed method first eliminates transcendental terms in characteristic equation of LFC systems without making any approximation and transforms the transcendental characteristic equation into a regular polynomial. The key result of the elimination process is that real roots of the new polynomial correspond to imaginary roots of the transcendental characteristic equation. With the help of new polynomial, it is also possible to determine the delay-dependency of system stability and root tendency with respect to the time delay. An analytical formula is then developed to compute delay margins in terms of system parameters. For a large set of controller gains, delay margins of LFC systems are computed to investigate the qualitative effect of controller gains on the delay margin. Finally, simulations studies are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.


In this paper, we consider the operation optimization for a microgrid (MG) aggregator, which can procure energy from various sources including the pool market and local distributed energy resources to serve MG customers. We assume that the MG aggregator sells electricity to customers at a predefined retail rate and it also offers customers various contracts for adjusting their loads. Our design objective is to determine the optimal hourly bids that the MG aggregator submits to the day-ahead market to maximize its profit. To deal with various uncertainties, a risk-constrained scenario-based stochastic programming framework is proposed where the MG aggregator's risk aversion is modeled using conditional value at risk method. The proposed formulation enables customers' demand response (DR) aggregation to be integrated into the operation of the MG aggregator via contractual agreements. This design is not only beneficial for both MG aggregator and customers, but also facilitates the operation of the system operator (SO), since a single entity (i.e., the MG aggregator) is visible to the SO instead of two separate entities (i.e., a MG aggregator and a DR aggregator). Extensive numerical results are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.


An extensive low‐temperature thermochronology study of the Swiss part of the North Alpine Foreland Basin has been conducted with the aim of deciphering the late Neogene basin development. Apatite fission‐track (AFT) ages from wells located in the distal and weakly deformed Plateau Molasse reveal rapid, km‐scale erosion with an onset in early Pliocene times. The distribution of erosion implies that there was a strong gradient in late Miocene deposition rates along the strike of the basin, with an increase towards the northeast. Additionally, renewed tectonic activity and km‐scale out‐of‐sequence thrusting during Plio‐Pleistocene times is indicated by AFT data from wells within the thrusted, proximal Subalpine Molasse. Several different mechanisms driving late Neogene basin erosion and accelerated erosional discharge from the European Alps have been considered in the literature. Based on our AFT results, we reevaluate previously published hypotheses, and suggest that a change in climate and/or drainage reorganisation coincided and possibly interacted with preexisting tectonic and geodynamic forces in the Alpine region.


The development of South Korea and its growth to become the world's eleventh largest economy has been accompanied by the introduction of Christianity and its increase to become the major religious group, to which nearly thirty per cent of the population are affiliated. This article probes the connection between these two spectacular examples of development; economic and religious. By highlighting moments or episodes of Christian contribution to aspects of development in Korean history and linking these to relevant aspects of Korean Christian theology, there is shown to be a constructive, although not always intentional, link between Korean Christianity and national development. The nature of the Christian contribution is seen not primarily in terms of the work ethic it engenders (as argued by Max Weber in the case of European capitalism) but mainly in the realm of aspirations (visions, hope) of a new society and motivation (inspiration, empowerment) to put them into effect. In other words, it was the public theology of Christianity that played a highly significant role in the modernization and revitalization of Korean society in the twentieth century.


Bed-wetting is a common and disturbing problem for children and their families. Underlying causes are rarely found and should be suspected from the history rather than from investigations. Children older than 7 years can usually be cured if they are motivated enough to use an alarm conditioning device. Intranasal desmopressin acetate, the current drug of choice, will produce only temporary relief.


Programming language implementers rely heavily on benchmarking for measuring and understanding performance of algorithms, architectural designs, and trade-offs between alternative implementations of compilers, runtime systems, and virtual machine components. Given this fact, it seems a bit ironic that it is often more difficult to come up with a good benchmark suite than a good implementation of a programming language.
 This paper presents the main aspects of the design and the current status of bencherl, a publicly available scalability benchmark suite for applications written in Erlang. In contrast to other benchmark suites, which are usually designed to report a particular performance point, our benchmark suite aims to assess scalability, i.e., help developers to study a set of performance points that show how an application's performance changes when additional resources (e.g., CPU cores, schedulers, etc.) are added. We describe the scalability dimensions that the suite aims to examine and present its infrastructure and current set of benchmarks. We also report some limited set of performance results in order to show the capabilities of our suite.


The prevention of terrorist attacks is an important concern for many governments. In democracies, officials also fear the electoral consequences of successful attacks. As a result, counterterrorism policy-making and electoral concerns are tightly intertwined. To understand the implications of this link, I develop a game-theoretic model and show that left-wing incumbents respond to terror threats more aggressively than their right-wing counterparts in order to convince voters that they can be trusted in fighting terrorism. Terrorist attacks improve right-wing incumbents' reputation, while they worsen the reputation of left-wing incumbents. When the terrorist threat is high, voters ignore right-wing incumbents' reputation, reelecting them independently of their performance. Finally, I consider the strategic consequences of maintaining counterterrorism policies hidden from the public eye.


Critics of the field of positive organizational psychology have expressed reservations with validity and utility of positive constructs, such as hope. The purpose of this article is to systematically review the existing research on hope at work and to determine the 'true' relationship between hope and work outcomes by meta-analyzing 133 effect sizes across 45 primary studies based on 11,139 employees. As predicted, we found that the overall corrected mean effect sizes between hope and work performance and employee well-being were positive and statistically significant. Gender and study location were significant moderators of these relationships, with women and US-based studies having stronger hope to work outcomes effects. Taken together, results demonstrate that positive psychology constructs, such as hope, play an important role in understanding and predicting employee behavior.


Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for all living organisms. This thesis focuses on the spectroscopic studies of two species that participate in the global biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen: N_2O and HNO_4. Both play important roles in the radiative and chemical processes in the terrestrial atmosphere. In terms of experimental instrumentation, this thesis takes great advantage of the recent
advances in both Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) and high power, narrow-linewidth
pulsed laser technology. Chapter 1 describes a β-BaB_2O_4 (BBO) OPO pumped by a high
repetition rate Nd:YAG laser (Coherent Infinity^(TM). This combination provides a unique
light source with wide tunability and high average output power, making it ideally suited
for the photochemical and spectroscopic studies carried out in this thesis. N_2O is a prominent greenhouse gas and the major natural source of NO that initiates the
catalytic NO_x ozone destruction cycles in the stratosphere. It has been suggested (Yung
and Miller 1997, Science 78, 1778, referred to as YM97 hereafter) that N_2O should be
isotopically fractionated as a result of photolysis in the upper atmosphere, which represents
the primary sink of N_2O. Chapter 2 studies the photolytic fractionation of N_2O in an
attempt to test the YM97 model. These measurements have consistently shown large heavy
enrichment of the residual N_2O isotopomers. The magnitude of the observed fractionation,
however, is significantly larger than predicted but in accord with the sizable fractionation
observed in the stratosphere. An attempt to reconcile the differences is given which notes
the existence of vibrationally "hot" N_2O molecules at room temperature and the possible
involvement of more than two electronic states in the photolysis. A fully quantitative test
of YM97 theory will require accurate wavelength and temperature dependent differential
cross sections for each of the N20 isotopomers that are not yet available. HNO_4 is an important reservoir species coupling the HO_x and NO_x families in the upper
troposphere and lower stratosphere. Chapter 3 investigates the cleavage of the HOO-NO_2
bond in HNO_4 via absorption of red/near infrared (NIR) solar radiation. Experiments are
designed to determine the cross sections and quantum yields for gas phase HN04 photodissociation.
HN04 is found to dissociate at wavelengths as long as 1600 nm. It is argued
that molecular internal energy available for thermal excitation in addition to the photon energy
can explain the observed dissociation of HN04 beyond its thermodynamic dissociation
threshold. Accordingly, a temperature-dependent quantum yield is predicted. The 1st OH
stretching overtone is found to be partially dissociative. Because it is significantly brighter
than the 2nd overtone, it contributes significantly to the photodissociation of HNO_4. Based
on these experimental results, the strength of the HOO-NO_2 bond is constrained and compared
to literature values. The atmospheric significance of the NIR photodissociation of
HNO_4 is then discussed.


In response to the perception that climate change is too abstract and its consequences too far-reaching for us to make a difference, recent feminist environmental humanities scholars have drawn attention to connections that can be forged by noticing the intermingling of bodies, relations, materials, places and movements in the world. Inspired by these ideas, Tonya Rooney has proposed that there is potential in working with child–weather relations as a pedagogical response to making climate change more connected and immediate for young children. Mindy Blaise and her colleagues have also shown how 'matters of fact' dominate early childhood teaching, and call for new pedagogies that attend to 'matters of concern', such as climate change. In this article the authors build on these ideas by drawing also on María Puig de la Bellacasa's suggestion that we extend our concern to 'matters of care' as an 'ethically and politically charged practice'. The authors report on their work with educators and children in an Australian-based preschool where they have started to engage with matters of concern and matters of care to create new types of pedagogies that they call 'weathering-with pedagogies'. These are situated, experimental, embodied, relational and ethical, and, the authors suggest, reflect a practice of care, thus providing young children with new ways of responding to climate change. The authors take as their starting point Donna Haraway's invitation to 'muddy the waters' as a way to stir up the possibilities, tensions and challenges in doing such work.


Background: Prior research has described the anthropometric and physical performance characteristics of professional, collegiate, and high school American football players. Yet, little research has described these factors in American youth football and their potential relationship with injury. Purpose: To characterize anthropometric and physical performance measures, describe the epidemiology of injury, and examine the association of physical performance measures with injury among children participating within age-based divisions of a large metropolitan American youth football league. Study Design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Demographic, anthropometric, and physical performance characteristics and injuries of 819 male children were collected over a 2-year period (2011-2012). Injury data were collected by the league athletic trainer (AT) and coaches. Descriptive analysis of demographic, anthropometric, and physical performance measures (40-yard sprint, pro-agility, push-ups, and vertical jump) were conducted. Incidence rates were computed for all reported injuries; rates were calculated as the number of injuries per 1000 athlete-exposures (AEs). Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify whether the categories of no injury, no-time-loss (NTL) injury, and time-loss (TL) injury were associated with physical performance measures. Results: Of the 819 original participants, 760 (92.8%) completed preseason anthropometric measures (mean ± SD: age, 11.8 ± 1.2 years; height, 157.4 ± 10.7 cm; weight, 48.7 ± 13.3 kg; experience, 2.0 ± 1.8 years); 640 (78.1%) players completed physical performance measures. The mean (±SD) 40-yard sprint and pro-agility measures of the players were 6.5 ± 0.6 and 5.7 ± 0.5 seconds, respectively; the number of push-ups and maximal vertical jump height were 16.5 ± 9.3 repetitions and 42.3 ± 8.4 cm, respectively. Players assigned to different teams within age divisions demonstrated no differences in anthropometric measures; 40-yard dash and pro-agility times differed significantly (P < .05) between players assigned to different teams. A total of 261 NTL and TL injuries were reported during 35,957 AEs (games: 22%, n = 7982 AEs; practices: 78%, n = 27,975 AEs). The overall incidence rate was 7.26 per 1000 AEs (95% CI, 6.37-8.14). Physical performance measures did not predict NTL or TL injuries (P > .05). Conclusion: No practically meaningful differences existed in anthropometric or physical performance measures between teams within age-based levels of play. Findings suggest that age-only criterion for player groupings can evenly match in terms of physical performance.


This article deals with the selection of words for curriculum materials, in the light of the choice made in a cdrom on vocabulary learning and a language learning method in primary education. First, some criteria for vocabulary selection are discussed. Next, it is shown that the selection of words feeds on two sources: on the theme in question, and on a word frequency list. Further, examples are given to show that the selection of words is dependent on the medium of instruction and the type of interaction. Finally, the different roles of teachers and those who develop curriculum materials are discussed.


Abstract The objective of the study is to conduct an exploratory review of the Covid-19 pandemic by focusing on the theme of Covid-19 pandemic morbidity and mortality, considering the dynamics of artificial intelligence and quality of life (QOL). The methods used in this research paper include a review of literature, anecdotal evidence, and reports on the morbidity of COVID-19, including the scope of its devastating effects in different countries such as the US, Africa, UK, China, and Brazil, among others. The findings of this study suggested that the devastating effects of the coronavirus are felt across different vulnerable populations. These include the elderly, front-line workers, marginalized communities, visible minorities, and more. The challenge in Africa is especially daunting because of inadequate infrastructure, and financial and human resources, among others. Besides, AI technology is being successfully used by scientists to enhance the development process of vaccines and drugs. However, its usage in other stages of the pandemic has not been adequately explored. Ultimately, it has been concluded that the effects of the Covid-19 are producing unprecedented and catastrophic outcomes in many countries. With a few exceptions, the common and current intervention approach is driven by many factors, including the compilation of relevant reliable and compelling data sets. On a positive note, the compelling trailblazing and catalytic contributions of AI towards the rapid discovery of COVID-19 vaccines are a good indication of future technological innovations and their effectiveness.


In the weighted paging problem there is a weight (cost) for fetching each page into the cache. We design a randomized O(log k) -competitive online algorithm for the weighted paging problem, where k is the cache size. This is the first randomized o(k)-competitive algorithm and its competitiveness matches the known lower bound on the problem. More generally, we design an O(log(k/(k - h + I)))-competitive online algorithm for the version of the. problem where, the online algorithm has-cache size k and the online algorithm has cache size h les k. Weighted paging is a special case (weighted star metric) of the well known k-server problem for which it is a major open question whether randomization can be useful in obtaining sub-linear competitive algorithms. Therefore, abstracting and extending the insights from paging is a key step in the resolution of the k-server problem. Our solution for the weighted paging problem is based on a two-step approach. In the first step we obtain an O(log k)-competitive fractional algorithm which is based on a novel online primal-dual approach. In the second step we. obtain a randomized algorithm by rounding online the fractional solution to an actual distribution on integral cache, solutions. We conclude with a randomized O(log N)-competitive algorithm for the well studied Metrical Task System problem (MTS) on a metric defined by a weighted star on N leaves, improving upon a previous O(log2 N)-competitive algorithm of Blum et al. [9].


In this study we consider the relationship between profitability and market share for 2,438 U.S. bank observations between 2001 and 2008.  We examine the relationship between both aggregate market share and the change in market share on measures of bank profitability for large and for community banks. We find that traditional relationships between market share and profitability generally do not hold for either large or community banks during our sample period. There appears to be fewer advantages to large banks making market share gains in terms of subsequent performance. Higher funding costs are negatively related to profitability for community banks but not large banks. Also, a higher proportion of interest income relative to total income is negatively related to profitability for both large and community banks.


There is consistent evidence showing that driver behaviour contributes to crashes and near miss incidents at railway level crossings (RLXs). The development of emerging Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure technologies is a highly promising approach to improve RLX safety. To date, research has not evaluated comprehensively the potential effects of such technologies on driving behaviour at RLXs. This paper presents an on-going research programme assessing the impacts of such new technologies on human factors and drivers' situational awareness at RLX. Additionally, requirements for the design of such promising technologies and ways to display safety information to drivers were systematically reviewed. Finally, a methodology which comprehensively assesses the effects of in-vehicle and road-based interventions warning the driver of incoming trains at RLXs is discussed, with a focus on both benefits and potential negative behavioural adaptations. The methodology is designed for implementation in a driving simulator and covers compliance, control of the vehicle, distraction, mental workload and drivers' acceptance. This study has the potential to provide a broad understanding of the effects of deploying new in-vehicle and road-based technologies at RLXs and hence inform policy makers on safety improvements planning for RLX.


Our main purpose was to explore how teenagers used mobile face-to-face collaborative computer games. In this report we therefore describe the development and use of what we call mobile face-to-face collaborative computer games. These games are played among co-located people on a handheld devices connected in an ad hoc network. The research was conducted in three phases: the workshop phase, the development phase and finally the evaluation phase. In the first phase we studied three traditional games, both on a theoretical level and empirically. The aim was to identify the design patterns that made people collaborate and interact face-to-face. The workshops resulted in three collaborative design patterns; the multiple keys pattern, the shared screens pattern and the guide-and-follow pattern. During the development phase we selected three famous computer games: Pac-man, Tetris and Asteroids. These games were then redesigned to incorporate one of the collaborative design patterns each. During the evaluation phase we studied teenagers at a local high school cafeteria play these games during a period of two weeks. Our evaluation showed that the developed computer games generate collaboration and interaction among the co-located gamers. Teenagers also seem to enjoy playing this type of computer games and used a trial-and-error approach when learning how to play. The games will soon be available for free download on the web.


Grasslands play a significant role in the global ecosystem, livestock production and millions of household livelihoods. However, grassland degradation has become a worldwide problem, and rural poverty has become exacerbated in some pastoral areas. The sustainable management and use of grasslands that maintain the productive and adaptive capacity of ecosystems while providing for the well-being of human communities are crucial concerns. In practice, various policy interventions have been initiated by governments all over the world to devote to grassland conservation, livestock production and improving local household livelihoods. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy interventions for grassland ecosystems and livestock production in the pastoral areas of China. The conceptual framework for this research is based on Ostrom's Social-Ecological Systems (SESs) framework. Four specific research questions are addressed. It is hoped that the research findings of this thesis can make a contribution to providing some references for policy development in light of the sustainable management and use of grasslands.


Tabatabaei, Seyed Mohammad Mehdi On Approaches for Solving Computationally Expensive Multiobjective Optimization Problems Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2016, 68 p.(+included articles) (Jyväskylä Studies in Computing ISSN 1456-5390; 254) ISBN 978-951-39-6860-1 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-39-6861-8 (PDF) Finnish summary Diss. In this thesis, we consider solving computationally expensive multiobjective optimization problems that take into account the preferences of a decision maker (DM). The aim is to support the DM in identifying the most preferred solution for problems that have several conflicting objectives and when the evaluation of the candidate solutions is time consuming. This is conducted by replacing computationally expensive functions with computationally inexpensive functions, known as surrogates. First, based on a literature survey, we introduce two frameworks, i.e., a sequential and an adaptive framework, based on which surrogate-based methods are classified and compared. We then identify relevant challenges that warrant more research efforts. In order to deal with the challenges, we develop two surrogate-based methods: SURROGATE-ASF and ANOVAMOP. As an interactive method, SURROGATE-ASF has two phases: initialization and decision-making. In the first phase, the decision space is decomposed into a finite number of hyper-boxes. For each hyper-box, a single-objective surrogate problem is built. By solving an appropriate surrogate problem in the latter phase, a solution corresponding to the preferences of the DM is obtained. Numerical results support that SURROGATEASF can solve problems with at most 12 decision variables, 5 objective functions and nonconvex and/or disconnected sets of Pareto optimal solutions. To solve problems with high-dimensional decision and objective spaces, we develop the ANOVA-MOP method. Based on information obtained from sensitivity analysis, a problem is decomposed into a few sub-problems with low-dimensional decision and objective spaces. These sub-problems are solved, and the solutions obtained are composed to form approximated solutions for the original problem. ANOVA-MOP can be applied either as a non-interactive or an interactive method. Finally, we discuss the potential of a new metamodeling technique, called T-splines, to be incorporated into ANOVA-MOP to solve problems including non-differentiable functions. By applying the methods developed in this thesis, we extend the applicability of interactive methods to solving computationally expensive problems.


BACKGROUND
While excess dietary sodium impairs vascular function by increasing oxidative stress, the dietary incorporation of dairy foods improves vascular health. We demonstrated that single-meal cheese consumption ameliorates acute, sodium-induced endothelial dysfunction. However, controlled feeding studies examining the inclusion of cheese, a dairy product that contains both bioactive constituents and sodium, are lacking.

OBJECTIVES
We tested the hypothesis that microcirculatory endothelium-dependent dilation (EDD) would be impaired by a high-sodium diet, but a sodium-matched diet high in dairy cheese would preserve EDD through oxidant stress mechanisms.

METHODS
We gave 11 adults without salt-sensitive blood pressure (<10 mmHg Δ mean arterial pressure; 64 ± 2 y) 4 separate 8-d controlled dietary interventions in a randomized, crossover design: a low-sodium, no-dairy intervention (LNa; 1500 mg/d sodium); a low-sodium, high-cheese intervention (LNaC; 1500 mg/d sodium, 170 g/d cheese); a high-sodium, no-dairy intervention (HNa; 5500 mg/d sodium); and a high-sodium, high-cheese intervention (HNaC; 5500 mg/d sodium, 170 g/d cheese). On Day 8 of each diet, EDD was assessed through a localized infusion (intradermal microdialysis) of acetylcholine (ACh), both alone and during coinfusion of NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (NO synthase inhibitor), L-ascorbate (nonspecific antioxidant), apocynin [NAD(P)H oxidase inhibitor], or tempol (superoxide scavenger).

RESULTS
Compared with LNa, microvascular responsiveness to ACh was attenuated during HNa (LNa: -4.82 ± 0.20 versus HNa: -3.21 ± 0.55 M logEC50; P = 0.03) but not LNaC (-5.44 ± 0.20 M logEC50) or HNaC (-4.46 ± 0.50 M logEC50). Further, ascorbate, apocynin, and tempol administration each increased ACh-induced vasodilation during HNa only (Ringer's: 38.9 ± 2.4; ascorbate: 48.0 ± 2.5; tempol: 45.3 ± 2.7; apocynin: 48.5 ± 2.6% maximum cutaneous vascular conductance; all P values < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
These results demonstrate that incorporating dairy cheese into a high-sodium diet preserves EDD by decreasing the concentration of superoxide radicals. Consuming sodium in cheese, rather than in nondairy sources of sodium, may be an effective strategy to reduce cardiovascular disease risk in salt-insensitive, older adults. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03376555.


Euripides' "Suppliant Women" is an unfairly neglected master work by the most controversial of the three great tragedians of Ancient Greece. It dramatises the story of one of the proudest moments in Athenian mythical history: the intervention of Theseus in support of international law to force the burial of the Argives who were killed during their attack on Thebes. But Euripides adds new characters to the story and presents the myth in a different and sometimes ambiguous light. A sense of uncertainty and undercutting pervades this play, which dramatises the sufferings of the innocent in war and then at the end foretells more war. As well as presenting a scene-by-scene analysis, this book will discuss the date and background of the play, whether people and events from contemporary Athens can be glimpsed in the drama; the problems of staging, and finally the story in later tradition.


Soft errors caused by particle strikes are expected to increase as technology scales down. This is partially because more single-event transients (SET) are latched by memory elements at the primary output of combinational circuits. To speed up the assessment of SET-induced soft errors, we propose a systematic analysis method to examine the probability of a SET eventually being latched. In previous work, the latching probability of SET is only modeled as a function of SET pulse width and clock period. As soft error rate also strongly depends on other timing parameters, our novel analytical model additionally includes logic gate delays and setup/hold time of memory elements. In this work, a set of closed-form expressions for the latching probability are provided for various logic gate delays and SET pulse widths. Simulation results show that the soft error rate predicted by our model matches to that obtained from random simulations. The proposed systematic analysis method achieves up to 97% average accuracy, without using extensive Monte-Carlo simulation.


In modern conditions, the prediction of the morbidity of the population is becoming one of the most urgent tasks of public health worldwide. For state and international health services, with the help of forecasting the possible incidence and prevalence of various diseases in the general population, it becomes necessary to improve the system of providing specialized care due to the possibility of an updated calculation of the necessary resources. Purpose of the study is to analyze the methodological basis for predicting the morbidity of the population based on the study and generalization of literary sources. Materials and methods. The materials for the analysis were scientific publications on the issues of forecasting and modeling of morbidity in various subgroups of the population and territories of the Russian Federation and other countries. In the course of the research, such methods as comparative analysis, study and generalization of experience, bibliographic were used. Results. Currently, there are a number of studies devoted to disease prediction, and the number of methodological approaches to predicting possible changes in the epidemiological situation in various territories is growing. The study provides an overview of existing methodological approaches to predicting the morbidity of the population in Russia and in the world community. Findings. Thus, the analysis of the experience of predicting morbidity made it possible to determine the features of the use of certain mixed methods of forecasting different classes, groups and types of diseases, especially when identifying new viruses and infectious diseases.


Background Investigations into the regulation and functional roles of kinases such as cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) increasingly rely on cellular assays. Currently, there are a number of bioluminescence-based assays, for example reporter gene assays, that allow the study of the regulation, activity, and functional effects of PKA in the cellular context. Additionally there are continuing efforts to engineer improved biosensors that are capable of detecting real-time PKA signaling dynamics in cells. These cell-based assays are often utilized to test the involvement of PKA-dependent processes by using H-89, a reversible competitive inhibitor of PKA. Principal Findings We present here data to show that H-89, in addition to being a competitive PKA inhibitor, attenuates the bioluminescence signal produced by Renilla luciferase (RLuc) variants in a population of cells and also in single cells. Using 10 µM of luciferase substrate and 10 µM H-89, we observed that the signal from RLuc and RLuc8, an eight-point mutation variant of RLuc, in cells was reduced to 50% (±15%) and 54% (±14%) of controls exposed to the vehicle alone, respectively. In vitro, we showed that H-89 decreased the RLuc8 bioluminescence signal but did not compete with coelenterazine-h for the RLuc8 active site, and also did not affect the activity of Firefly luciferase. By contrast, another competitive inhibitor of PKA, KT5720, did not affect the activity of RLuc8. Significance The identification and characterization of the adverse effect of H-89 on RLuc signal will help deconvolute data previously generated from RLuc-based assays looking at the functional effects of PKA signaling. In addition, for the current application and future development of bioluminscence assays, KT5720 is identified as a more suitable PKA inhibitor to be used in conjunction with RLuc-based assays. These principal findings also provide an important lesson to fully consider all of the potential effects of experimental conditions on a cell-based assay readout before drawing conclusions from the data.


Normal bovine colostral immunoglobulin G1 was subjected to enzymic digestion (pepsin, papain and trypsin) and the resulting fragments separated by a combination of molecularsieve and phosphocellulose chromatography. Fragments F(ab')2 derived from peptic digestion, fragment Fab from papain digestion and fragment Fab(t) from tryptic digestion showed complete antigenic identity with each other. Although fragment F(ab')2 (peptic digestion) had a sedimentation coefficient (S2o,w) of 5.3S, those for fragments Fab' (peptic digestion), Fab (papain digestion) and Fab(t) (tryptic digestion) were found to be 3.9S, 3.7S and 3.7S respectively. The mol.wts. calculated for the various fragments from the sedimentation equilibrium data were: F(ab')2, 104000 +/-200; Fab', 51900+/-340; Fab, 50900+/-230; Fab(t) 50900+/-300. Fragment Fc' (peptic digestion) had an S20,w of 3.2S and a mol. wt. of 42900+/-650; fragment Fc (papain digestion) had an SI0,w of 3.7S and a mol.wt. of 50800+/-300; fragment Fc(t) had an S20,w of 3.7S and a mol.wt. of 50800+/-300; fragment Fc(t) had an S20,w of 3.7S and a mol.wt. of 50800+/-450.


cDNA species encoding a large DNA-binding protein (NP220) of 1978 amino acids was isolated from human cDNA libraries. Human NP220 binds to double-stranded DNA fragments by recognizing clusters of cytidines. Immunofluorescent microscopy with antiserum directed against NP220 revealed a punctate or "speckled" pattern and coiled body-like structures in the nucleoplasm of various human cell lines. These structures diffused in the cytoplasm during mitosis. Western blot analysis showed that NP220 is enriched in the lithium 3,5-diiodosalicylate-insoluble fraction of nuclei. The domain essential for DNA binding is localized in C-terminal half of NP220. Human NP220 shares three types of domains (MH1, MH2, and MH3) with the acidic nuclear protein, matrin 3 (Belgrader, P., Dey, R., and Berezney, R.(1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 9893-9899). MH1 is a 48-amino acid sequence near the N terminus of both human NP220 and rat matrin 3. MH2 is a 75-amino acid sequence homologous to the RNA recognition motifs of heterogeneous nuclear RNP I and L. It is repeated three times in NP220 and twice in matrin 3. MH3 is a 60-amino acid sequence at the C terminus of both NP220 and matrin 3. NP220 has an arginine/serine-rich domain commonly found in pre-mRNA splicing factors. Close to the domain essential for DNA binding, there are nine repeats of the sequence LVTVDEVIEEEDL. Thus, NP220 is a novel type of nucleoplasmic protein with multiple domains.


This paper discusses the potential use of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) to improve the mechanical properties of short glass fiber composites. Two methods to incorporate MWCNTs in short glass fiber composite fabrication were examined. First, Carboxylic-functionalized MWCNTs were dispersed in a silane fiber sizing material and then were allowed to bond to the surface of glass fibers. Second, MWCNTs were grown on the surface of glass fibers using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were used to examine the significance of MWCNTs on fiber surface. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis was also used to identify chemical reactions between MWCNTs, the glass fiber surface, and the sizing material. Short MWCNTsmodified glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites were also fabricated. Mechanical properties of the MWCNTs-modified composites were compared with short glass fiber composites produced with neat fibers using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The experimental investigation showed that dispersing MWCNTs in a silane sizing agent is more efficient than growing MWCNTs on the surface of glass fibers. A significant improvement in the storage elastic modulus was observed when MWCNTs were dispersed in silane. FTIR analysis confirmed the formation of chemical bonds between both COOH–MWCNTs and the glass fiber surface. No significant difference in the loss modulus (i.e. time dependent behavior) of the glass fiber composites was found with the different methods of incorporating MWCNTs during composite fabrication.


This article seeks to test if Twitter is opening communication flows between parties and paving the way for the appearance of network leaderships or if it is reducing them to representatives of the same party or ideology and empowering party leaders. The study is based on a dataset spanning from 1 January 2013 to 31 March 2014 which covers all relationships (4,516), retweets (6,045) and mentions (19,507) of Catalan parliamentarians. The data sustain that the political polarisation of Catalan parliamentarians' Twitter flows is deeper in the relationship and retweet networks than it is in the mention and that even if party leaders are still at the centre of communication flows, other parliamentarians are taking the floor and becoming network leaders.


Scholars have long understood the American states as "laboratories of democracy," exploring how mechanisms of learning and competition lead to the diffusion of successful state policy experiments across the federal system. Drawing from policy feedback literature, I develop a new framework for studying policy interdependence in American federalism. I argue that state policies can, in addition to promoting learning and competition, also feed into the interest group politics in other states. Broadly speaking, the organized interests that benefit from, and are strengthened by, particular policy reforms might apply newfound strength to propagate them. Empirically, I study rooftop solar policy, an area in which state-level decisions have been fundamental to industry growth and the emergence of installers as political actors. Bringing together a variety of administrative, lobbying, and policy data, I demonstrate that solar installers used resources accumulated in early adopter of favorable rooftop solar policies to influence policy decisions elsewhere. For reformers, I suggest that subnational policy can be a crucial ingredient in building coalitions for (geographically) broader policy reform.


This paper investigates the impact of bank's consolidation targeted variables (capital adequacy, concentration, bank-size and liquidity) in conjunction with economic growth and inflation on the industry's performance in Nigeria. Data from 1980 – 2010 were used for the assessment, and were sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Deposit Insurance Cooperation (NDIC) and Annual Reports of the banks. Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) was used for the examination. Findings reveal that contrary to the expectation of the consolidation policy, concentration, bank-size and liquidity negatively impacted the industry. It was only capital adequacy that exerted positive impact on the performance. Based on the findings, the consolidation targeted variables as there were should have been relied upon solely as the means of improving the performance of the Nigerian banking industry. Consequently, it is recommended that the regulatory authority; CBN should constantly ensure that banks maintained regulated capital adequacy ratio. The industry should not further be concentrated; banks should be categorized into different sizes and be allowed to choose any category they can efficiently manage depending on their capacity, experience, and mode of operation. The banks should improve on their long term deposits mobilization as a vital source of meeting their liquidity needs and should design financial products that meet the needs of all income groups for more all-inclusive banking and economy that will positively impact the banks.


To identify proteins that regulate microtubule assembly in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we screened for multicopy suppressors of a conditional mutation in alpha-tubulin. Cells expressing the recessive allele tub1-729 as their sole alpha-tubulin gene grow normally at permissive temperature. However, at 15 degrees C the cells lose viability and arrest primarily with large buds and quantitatively diminished microtubule structures. Transformation of mutant cells with genomic libraries repeatedly identified three different suppressors: the two wild-type alpha-tubulin genes, TUB1 and TUB3; and BUB3. BUB3 is a checkpoint gene that permits entry into mitosis depending upon the assembly state of microtubules. Excess BUB3 rescues both the loss of viability and microtubule defects but not the benomyl supersensitivity associated with tub1-729. The suppression is specific for the mutation ALA422VAL in TUB1, and does not affect several other mutations in TUB1 that produce the 'no microtubule' phenotype. Overexpression of BUB1, which interacts genetically with BUB3 and which is involved in the same checkpoint pathway, also rescues the cold sensitivity of tub1-729, but another checkpoint gene, MAD2, does not. Overexpression of BUB3 in wild-type cells has no detectable growth or microtubule defect, but disruption of the BUB3 gene produces slow growth and benomyl supersensitivity. Our results suggest that BUB1 and BUB3 overexpression modulate an event required for mitotic spindle function which is rate limiting for tub1-729 cells at the restrictive temperature.


Inorganic paddies system has a negative impact as pests become resistant, environmental pollution and residual hazard. People who are aware of the impact of the application of synthetic chemicals have been applying organic farming. This research aimed to compare the abundance, diversity and dominance of soil macroarthropods  in the organic and inorganic paddies field in Village Bakalrejo, Susukan District of Kabupaten Semarang. Sampling of soil macroarthropods method used pit fall traps . Fifteen pit fall traps were set up in the research area and they were divided into three line whith respective line are 5 pit fall traps. Soil macroarthropods  which has been found were identified up to family taxon. The results of the research shows abundance of soil macroarthropods organic rice in paddy fields higher (297) than in inorganic paddy fields (236). Diversity of soil macroarthropods in every phase of rice growth (vegetative, reproductive, ripening and post-harvest) was higher in organic paddy fields (1,479; 1,644; 1,561; 1,019) than inorganic paddy fields (1.391; 0.595; 1.286; 1.002). Based on the relative abundance index, soil macroarthropods family dominated organic paddy fields in every phase of rice growth (vegetative, reproductive, ripening, and post-harvest) was lower (Gryllidae: 39.4%; Carabidae: 46.7%; Formicidae: 44.1 %; Formicidae: 48.8%) than in the inorganic paddy fields (Carabidae: 35.5%; Carabidae: 57.4%; Formicidae: 56.3%; Formicidae: 77.6%). Key words :  biodiversity, soil macroarthropods, organic farming.


Applications of formal methods for state space exploration have been successfully applied to evaluate robust critical software systems. Formal methods enable discovery of error conditions that conventional testing may miss, and can aid in planning complex system operations. However, broad application of formal methods has been hampered by the effort required to generate formal specifications for real systems. In this paper we present State Linked Interface Compliance Engine for Data (SLICED), a methodology that addresses the complexity of formal state machine specification generation by leveraging conventional engineering models to derive compositional formal state models and to generate formal assertions on the state machines. We demonstrate SLICED using the Virtual ADAPT model published by NASA and validate our results by replicating them using Simulink.


Techniques for assessment of toxicity in whole organisms Integrative measures of toxicant exposure in zebrafish (Danio rerio) at different levels of biological organization. Roel Smolders, Wim De Coen, and Ronny Blust Use of disease challenge assay to assess immunotoxicity of xenobiotics in fish. Mary R. Arkoosh, Deborah Boylen, Coral L. Stafford, Lyndal L. Johnson, and Tracy K. Collier Enhanced frog embryo teratogenesis assay - Xenopus (FETAX) model using Xenopus tropicalis.Douglas J. Fort and Robert L. Rogers A short-term mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) bioassay to assess endocrine responses to hormone-active compounds and mixtures. Deborah L. MacLatchy, Karen L. Gormley, Rebecca E. M. Ibey, Rainie L. Sharpe, Kevin S. Shaughnessy, Simon C. Courtenay, Monique G. Dube, and Glen J. Van Der Kraak Conducting dose-response feeding studies with salmonids: growth as an endpoint. James P. Meador, Frank C. Sommers, Robert J. Wolotira, and Leslie Kubin Field experiments with caged bivalves to assess chronic exposure and toxicity. Michael H. Salazar and Sandra M. Salazar Application of computer microscopy for histopathology in isopod toxicity studies. Damjana Drobne and Samo Drobne Sperm cell and embryo toxicity tests using the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (LmK). Annamaria Volpi Ghirardini, Alessandra Arizzi Novelli, Chiara Losso, and Pier Francesco Ghetti Assessment of metal toxicity to sulfate reducing bacteria through metal concentration methods. Vivek P. Utgikar, and Henry H. Tabak Techniques for measurement of cellular and subcellular toxicity Cellular diagnostics and its application to aquatic and marine toxicology. Craig A. Downs A non-destructive technique to measure cytochrome P4501A enzyme activity in living embryos of the estuarine fish Fundulus heteroclitus. Diane Nacci, Laura Coiro, Deena M. Wassenberg, and Richard T. Di Giulio Determination of lipid classes and lipid content in tissues of aquatic organisms using a thin layer chromatography/flame ionization detection (TLC/FID) microlipid method. Gina M. Ylitalo, Gladys K. Yanagida, Lawrence Hufnagle, Jr., and Margaret M. Krahn Larval molting hormone synthesis and imaginal disc development in the midge Chironomus riparius as tools for assessing the endocrine modulating potential of chemicals in aquatic insects. Torsten Hahn The electro-olfactogram: an in vivo measure of peripheral olfactory function and sublethal neurotoxicity in fish. David H. Baldwin and Nathaniel L. Scholz Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for screening estrogen receptor binding activity Tomoko Koda, Yoshihiro Soya, and Masatoshi Morita Lysosomal destabilization assays for estuarine organisms. A. H. Ringwood, D. E. Conners, J. Hoguet, and L. A. Ringwood IMCOMP-P: an assay for coral immuno-competence. Craig A. Downs, Aaron G. Downs, Robert B. Jonas, Kay Briggs, Thomas Capo, and Cheryl M. Woodley Monitoring gene expression in Rana catesbeiana tadpoles using a tail fin biopsy technique and its application to the detection of environmental endocrine disruptor effects in wildlife species. Nik Veldhoen and Caren C. Helbing Techniques for identification and assessment of contaminants in aquatic ecosystems Coral reproduction and recruitment as tools for studying the ecotoxicology of coral reef ecosystems. Robert H. Richmond Using the stickleback to monitor androgens and anti-androgens in the aquatic environment. Ioanna Katsiadaki Simple methods for estimating exposure concentrations of pesticide resulting from non-point source applications in agricultural drainage networks. Wenlin Chen Design and analysis of toxicity tests for the development and validation of biotic ligand models for predicting metal bioavailability and toxicity. Karel A.C. DeSchamphelaere, Dagobert G. Heijerick, and Colin R. Janssen Rapid toxicity fingerprinting of polluted waters using lux-marked bacteria. Nigel L. Turner Aquatic in situ bioassays to detect agricultural non-point source pesticide pollution: a link between laboratory and field. Ralf Schulz Improvements to high-performance liquid chromatography/photodiode array detection (HPLC/PDA) method that measures dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls and other selected organochlorines in marine biota. Gina M. Ylitalo, Jon Buzitis, Daryle Boyd, David P. Herman, Karen L. Tilbury, and Margaret M. Krahn Estrogenic activity measurement in wastewater using in vitro and in vivo methods. Yelena Sapozhnikova, Anne McElroy, Shane Snyder, and Daniel Schlenk A toxicity assessment approach for evaluation of in-situ bioremediation of PAH contaminated sediments. Henry H. Tabak, James M. Lazorchak, Mark E. Smith, and Jim Ferretti Application of solid-phase microextraction fibres as biomimetic sampling devices in ecotoxicology. Roman Lanno, James M. Conder, Jason B. Wells, and Thomas W. La Point Passive dosemeters for measurement of ultraviolet radiation in aquatic environments. C.S Sinclair, R.H. Richmond, E.T. Knobbe, C. Basslear, and G.K. Ostrander Techniques for aquatic toxicologists Spectral models for assessing exposure of fish to contaminants. Donald C. Malins, John J. Stegeman, Virginia M. Green, Naomi K. Gilman, and Katie M. Anderson Design and use of a highly responsive and rigidly controllable hypoxia exposure system. D. W. Lehmann, J. F. Levine, and J. M. Law Fish models in behavioral toxicology: automated techniques, updates and perspectives. Andrew S. Kane, James D. Salierno, and Sandra K. Brewer Measuring metals and metalloids in water, sediment, and biological tissues. Michael C. Newman and Yuan Zhao Estimation of inorganic species aquatic toxicity. James P. Hickey Determining aromatic hydrocarbons and chlorinated hydrocarbons in sediments and tissues using accelerated solvent extraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. C.A. Sloan, D.W. Brown, R.W. Pearce, R.H. Boyer, J.L. Bolton, D.G. Burrows, D.P. Herman, and M.M. Krahn Histological preparation of invertebrates for evaluating contaminant effects. Esther C. Peters, Kathy L. Price, and Doranne J. Borsay Horowitz Isolation of genes in aquatic animals using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and rapid amplification of cDNA ends. Jeanette M. Rotchell Analysis of mutations in ? transgenic medaka using the cll mutation assay. Richard N. Winn and Michelle B. Norris Improved methods of conducting microalgal bioassays using flow cytometry. M. Franklin, Jennifer L. Stauber, and Merrin S. Adams


We analyze observations of eight quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries in globular clusters and combine them to determine the neutron star mass-radius curve and the equation of state of dense matter. We determine the effect that several uncertainties may have on our results, including uncertainties in the distance, the atmosphere composition, the neutron star maximum mass, the neutron star mass distribution, the possible presence of a hotspot on the neutron star surface, and the prior choice for the equation of state of dense matter. The distance uncertainty is implemented in a new Gaussian blurring method which can be directly applied to the probability distribution over mass and radius. We find that the radius of a 1.4 solar mass neutron star is most likely from 10 to 14 km and that tighter constraints are only possible with stronger assumptions about the nature of the neutron stars, the systematics of the observations, or the nature of dense matter. Strong phase transitions in the equation of state are preferred, and in this case, the radius is likely smaller than 12 km. However, radii larger than 12 km are preferred if the neutron stars have uneven temperature distributions.


A total of 1,241 calculi corresponding to 1,000 patients were treated with the piezoelectric EDAP-LTO1 lithotriptor. All but 1% of the calculi could be localized by ultrasonic imaging. Stone localization was easily achieved in 80% and with some difficulty in 19% of the cases. All patients had a minimum follow-up of 3 months. Stone fragmentation was accomplished in 91% of pyelic, 86% of upper, 55% of mid, 90% of lower caliceal, and 37% of staghorn calculi. Fragmentation was achieved in 4 of 5 calculi in the lumbar ureter and 5 of 11 calculi in the pelvic ureter that were treated in situ. The material and method for extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy using ultrasonic imaging are described. The advantages and disadvantages of ultrasound versus radiologic stone localization are discussed.


The coating of having the capability of reflecting solar heat is the requirements of the world of saving energy. This kind of coating can reduce the need of electronic and water power besides protecting and decorating the covered objects. The gray color coating with insulating heat and lowering temperature is one of the most difficult topics. In this research, on the basis of choosing reasonably resin,pigments and fillers and assistant agents , a kind of special gray coating is obtained. It can obviously lower the temperature of coated objects in comparision to the common gray coating. Its refletivity can be up to above 50% to solar light.


This study concerns the potential sociotechnical transition of the current UK centralised alternating current (AC) electricity system to one where distributed direct current (DC) systems may proliferate. The development of the new distributed DC system has the potential to address a number of global challenges including the UN's 17 Sustainability Challenges, particularly in terms of city and disaster resilience, energy security and energy independence. With the development of renewables and small-scale storage, among other technologies, this transition becomes a technical possibility. As transitions theory identifies energy systems as sociotechnical, transitions are a complex and people-centred process, an issue that has been identified that creates barriers to technical transitions. The multi-level perspective (MLP) is used as the theoretical framework and its applicability for future transitions is considered.
The research proposes a "bottom-up" approach, focused on the demand side within the built
environment, to avoid the transition developing into a wicked problem. Using a mixture of primary interview data, analysed using thematic analysis, supported by data, from published academic and industry/governmental literature, a multi-method case study approach is used to develop a transitions model between the "as is" state and the potential future state with DC systems. Also identified were the institutions within the social and technical networks of the electricity regime, barriers and enablers to the transition, boundary points between the networks and the structurations of institutions within these networks.
Key findings are a lack of interdisciplinary thinking among different academic disciplines, a lack of DC standards and home appliances, and that DC is in focus for the office rather than the home. Knowledge dissemination especially via education, government procurement and energy policy, and the importance of independence from the market are key components for a successful proliferation. A conundrum connecting renewable generation, the carbon debate and energy policy, is identified. With a deeper understanding of the regime, landscape and with a multi-systems approach, a tentative solution is provided.
Contributions to knowledge are: the transitions model; the sociotechnical characterisation of the electricity system; a better understanding of how liability, living standards, disaster risk reduction and city resilience can be impacted by failure chains associated with power cuts; and a deeper understanding of the MLP model.


The White Rose Extension Project is pursued by Husky Energy, and it will be completed by 2016 or 2017. The project is mainly used by extending the field of White Rose platform. There are two options to finish this project well. One option is using the wellhead platform to further extend the field; the other one is using much more subsea drill to finish this task. Unfortunately, Husky Energy does not
decide which one should be applied for the project. The wellhead platform is more stable and safe than subsea drill in the White Rose field. Because the wellhead platform is fixed at the offshore site, it will not be affected seriously by kinds of environmental conditions. Subsea drill will be much more dangerous in the harsh environment of the
White Rose field. No matter how good the wellhead platform is, it has a terrible problem which cannot be avoided. Because the designed wellhead platform will be too large, it will cost too much work hours and money. It is not easy to decide which option will be the better one.
The following details will provide the advantage, disadvantage and challenge for these two options. The paper will also provide which option should be a better choice for such significant White Rose Extension Project.


We thank Karlheinz Kautz for organizing this debate and the four respondent groups for their thoughtful and challenging comments. In this rejoinder, we take the opportunity to amplify and clarify some points that were perhaps unclear or misunderstood in our initial article and to respond to areas where we disagree. We also acknowledge proposed extensions of the scholarly capital model (SCM) to include the assessment of the impact on practitioners and on others outside of academia. Our main point throughout the dozen years we have pursued this project is that for the field to progress we must have an open democratic discourse in which all ideas and all comers have access to the discourse. That does not mean that "anything goes". Rather, we advocate a disciplined metatheoretical pluralism in which we evaluate work for admission to the discourse not by conformance to "normal science" but rather by its conformance to its stated metatheoretical commitments. The marketplace of ideas then determines which of the proffered ideas has the most use. Scholars can then be evaluated based on a profile of measures assessing their impact to the field such as those produced by the SCM.


This paper describes a modification of the method of direct elution of substances from chromatographic plates and the method based on preliminary concentration on a small area of the sorbent and its subsequent extraction. These methods can be used for simultaneous extraction of several samples from chromatographic plates on a flexible support in 30-50 microliter of the solvent. The paper discusses the selection of solvent systems to be applied for substance extraction from plates. It also considers advantages and disadvantages of the methods as illustrated by nucleic acid elution from the plates Silufol UF-254 and amino acid elution from the plates Fixion 50X8. The elution of the components reaches 97-99%. The process can be performed in routine laboratory glassware.


Background Pancreatic cancer remains a fatal and difficult to-treat disease. Gemcitabine (G) is a cytotoxic agent that is potent against pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Nab-paclitaxel (nab-P), an albumin-bound formulation of paclitaxel, appears to decrease levels of cytidine deaminase, which is the primary gemcitabine catabolic enzyme. This probably increases sensitivity to G when these agents are combined. Purpose To evaluate the effectiveness of G plus nab-P in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), as well as to compare results with the pivotal trial. Materials and methods Retrospective observational study from January 2011–October 2012. The inclusion criteria were all patients with PDA who received 100 mg/m 2 nab-P followed by G 1,000 mg/m 2 , administered intravenously on days 1, 8, and 15, every 28 days. The information was extracted from patients' medical records and from pharmacy service records. Treatment was continued until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Variables: demographics, previous treatment and duration of treatment. Response to treatment was assessed using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours (RECIST) parameters. Disease control rate was defined as the percentage of patients with complete and partial response and stable disease. Results Eighteen patients with PDA were identified (61% males). The median age was 63 (range 41–80) years. Site of metastasic disease: liver (33%), bone (33%), abdomen/peritoneal (28%), lung (17%) and liver only (11%). Five patients had previous treatment: GEM and oxaliplatin (3), GEM and erlotinib (1), GEM monotherapy (1). The median duration of treatment was 3.5 cycles (range 1–12). Two patients were not assessed for response due to early clinical progression and poor tolerance. Only one complete response to treatment was obtained, while four patients achieved stable disease and five partial response. Six patients experienced disease progression. At 12 months, the survival rate was 35% (6 patients). Conclusions Similar results in relation with one year overall survival were shown in the pivotal trial. It is important to highlight that the disease control rate was 56%. No conflict of interest.


Henrik GAHMBERG is Professor in the Department of Management and Organizations at the University of Vaasa, Finland.
His researches are devoted to strategic management, organizational communication, narrative semiotics and leadership. Since several years he has been working on an Art and Aesthetics point of view in management.

Henri BROMS is retired chief librarian of the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration and Professor Emeritus of Oriental Languages at the University of Helsinki.


Nowadays interactive electronics products offer a huge functionality to prospective customers, but often it is too huge and complex to be grasped and used successfully. In this case, customers obviate the struggle and return the products to the shop. Also the variability in scope and features of a product is so large that an up-front specification becomes hard if not impossible. To avoid the problem of an inadequate match between customer expectations and designer assumptions, new sources of product usage information have to be developed. One possibility is to integrate observation functionality into the products, continuously involving real users in the product development process. The integration of such functionality is an often overlooked challenge that should be tackled with an appropriate engineering methodology. This paper presents on-going work about a novel design for observation approach that supports early observation integrations and enables the cooperation with various information stakeholders. We show how observation can be embedded seamlessly in a model-driven development process using UML. An industrial case-study shows the feasibility of the approach.


The success of a golf green construction cannot be fully judged until after some years after establishment when the green has been exposed to stress from players, maintenance and weather. This project aimed to investigate the changes of different biological, chemical and physical soil parameters in a green over a 6 year period. The green was built in 1999 as a research green at Fullero Golf Club in the Malar region in central Sweden. It was built according to USGA recommendations and included treatments with different levels of organic matter content (2, 3 and 4 % of weight) and two different types of organic amendment (fen peat and composted chicken manure mixed with Sphagnum peat). Changes in soil biological activity (C-mineralization), total C and N, nutrient elements, water holding capacity, porosity and bulk density were determined during the period 1999-2004. The effects on soil biological activity of different organic matter contents and qualities in the rootzone mix only lasted during the first year after establishment. Thereafter, the production of fresh organic matter residues, mainly roots, seemed to be the most important factor regulating the biological activity in the soil. Total C slightly decreased in all treatments, whereas there was a tendency for total N to increase in some of the treatments. The soil pH and concentrations of all studied nutrients except phosphorus increased in all treatments,. The rootzone with 4% peat withstood compaction better than the rootzones with 2% or 3% peat. There was a significant loss of pores 100-600 μm in size over the 6 year period, especially in treatments with 2% and 3% organic matter content. This dramatically decreased the saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat). Ksat was more related to the presence of pores >100 μm (air-filled porosity) than to organic matter content in the soil mix in the 6 year old green. Turf grass production was highest in the rootzones with 4% peat and lowest in rootzones with 3% peat. There were no difference in root distribution between the different rootzones 6 years after construction.


This study aimed to assess the anxiety-depression levels and the perceptions of quality of life, as well as the factors affecting these variables, in adolescents with dysmenorrhea. The participants included 60 adolescents with dysmenorrhea and 41 healthy adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18. This study used the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) for assessing the perceptions of quality of life, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) for measuring anxiety levels, and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) for measuring depression levels. It was determined that compared to healthy controls, the depression and anxiety scores were higher and the quality of life was impaired in adolescents with dysmenorrhea. In addition, it was shown that the depression and anxiety levels increased and the psychosocial health subscale scores of quality of life decreased with increasing dysmenorrhea severity. However, the likelihood of dysmenorrhea was found to be higher with increasing depression scores, while the anxiety levels had no effect on dysmenorrhea.


IMPORTANCE
Previous epidemiologic research on concussions has primarily been limited to patient populations presenting to sport concussion clinics or to emergency departments (EDs) and to those high school age or older. By examining concussion visits across an entire pediatric health care network, a better estimate of the scope of the problem can be obtained.

OBJECTIVE
To comprehensively describe point of entry for children with concussion, overall and by relevant factors including age, sex, race/ethnicity, and payor, to quantify where children initially seek care for this injury.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
In this descriptive epidemiologic study, data were collected from primary care, specialty care, ED, urgent care, and inpatient settings. The initial concussion-related visit was selected and variation in the initial health care location (primary care, specialty care, ED, or hospital) was examined in relation to relevant variables. All patients aged 0 to 17 years who received their primary care from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's (CHOP) network and had 1 or more in-person clinical visits for concussion in the CHOP unified electronic health record (EHR) system (July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2014) were selected.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Frequency of initial concussion visits at each type of health care location. Concussion visits in the EHR were defined based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis codes indicative of concussion.

RESULTS
A total of 8083 patients were included (median age, 13 years; interquartile range, 10-15 years). Overall, 81.9% (95% CI, 81.1%-82.8%; n = 6624) had their first visit at CHOP within primary care, 5.2% (95% CI, 4.7%-5.7%; n = 418) within specialty care, and 11.7% (95% CI, 11.0%-12.4%; n = 947) within the ED. Health care entry varied by age: 52% (191/368) of children aged 0 to 4 years entered CHOP via the ED, whereas more than three-quarters of those aged 5 to 17 years entered via primary care (5-11 years: 1995/2492; 12-14 years: 2415/2820; and 15-17 years: 2056/2403). Insurance status also influenced the pattern of health care use, with more Medicaid patients using the ED for concussion care (478/1290 Medicaid patients [37%] used the ED vs 435/6652 private patients [7%] and 34/141 self-pay patients [24%]).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
The findings suggest estimates of concussion incidence based solely on ED visits underestimate the burden of injury, highlight the importance of the primary care setting in concussion care management, and demonstrate the potential for EHR systems to advance research in this area.


The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the Kenyan Constitution provide for the protection of children from all forms of harm, violence or abuse. Despite these legal provisions and efforts to reduce and eliminate violence against children, particularly girls, violence and abuse are still widespread at home, in schools, and in the community at large in Kenya. This study, therefore, examined the experience of school-related genderbased violence by primary school pupils in Kasarani District, Nairobi County, Kenya. Using both probability and non-probability techniques, 156 pupils and 8 teachers were sampled from 10 primary schools. Data were collected using questionnaires, interview guides and focus group discussion guides, and analyzed using qualitative techniques. The study results indicated that school-related gender-based violence is common in the schools covered by this study. About 9.6% of the respondents reported that they had been sexually assaulted at one time within the school environment. While 53% reported that they had experienced one form of psychological abuse or the other, 75% had suffered physical violence. The results further revealed a significant disparity in reporting patterns of each form of violence. For instance, reporting acts of sexual abuse was undermined by the fear of reprisals from the perpetrators. Cases of sexual abuse by teachers were also reported. The pupils who had experienced one form of violence or another reported that this had adverse effects on their learning experiences, their health and well being. This study concluded that there existed serious cases of violence in schools that went unreported or unnoticed owing to the skewed nature of the relationships between the pupils and the perpetrators. This study recommends that prompt measures need to be instituted through the Ministries of Health and Education to build the skills and confidence of the pupils to be able to report and appropriately respond to all forms of School-Based GBV perpetrated against them.


This research establishes that the emergence, prevalence, recurrence, and severity of intrastate conflicts in the modern era reflect the long shadow of prehistory. Exploiting variations across national populations, it demonstrates that genetic diversity, as determined predominantly during the exodus of humans from Africa tens of thousands of years ago, has contributed significantly to the frequency, incidence, and onset of both overall and ethnic civil conflict over the last half-century, accounting for a large set of geographical and institutional correlates of conflict, as well as measures of economic development. Furthermore, the analysis establishes the significant contribution of genetic diversity to the intensity of social unrest and to the incidence of intragroup factional conflict. These findings arguably reflect the contribution of genetic diversity to the degree of fractionalization and polarization across ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups in the national population; the adverse influence of genetic diversity on interpersonal trust and cooperation; the contribution of genetic diversity to divergence in preferences for public goods and redistributive policies; and the potential impact of genetic diversity on economic inequality within a society.


BACKGROUND
Caspase-6 is an important member of the executioner caspases in the caspase family of cell death proteases. The executioner caspases are the major active caspases detected in apoptotic cells and are generally considered to mediate the execution of apoptosis by cleaving and inactivating intracellular proteins. However, the complete characterization of mRNA and protein of caspase-6 in rat and its expression in normal kidney and in disease state has not been previously elucidated.

METHODS
A rat kidney cortex lambdagt10 cDNA library was screened to isolate the full-length caspase-6 cDNA. The recombinant caspase-6 protein was characterized by expression in bacteria and by transient transfection in mammalian cells. The expression in various tissues was analyzed by Northern blot, and localization in normal and ischemic kidney was performed by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS
The predicted amino acid sequence of rat caspase-6 contains 277 amino acids, with two potential glycosylation sites, an integrin binding site (KGD), the caspase active site pentapeptide QACRG and the caspase family signature, HX2-4(S,C) X4(L,I,V,M,F)2(S,T)HG (HVDADCFVCVFLSHG). Rat caspase-6 is unique among known caspases by possessing a relatively long 5' untranslational region. Among various tissues tested, cas-pase-6 was expressed in varying levels in kidney, liver, spleen, heart, muscle, testis, and lung. Bacterial expression of recombinant rat caspase-6 resulted in production of both of the pro-form and active form of the enzyme suggesting autoactivation. Transient overexpression of rat caspase-6 in COS-1 cells induced DNA fragmentation, a hallmark of apoptosis. We also examined the localization and expression of caspase-6 by immunohistochemistry in kidneys subjected to 40 minutes of ischemia followed by 24 hours of reperfusion injury. Normal kidney showed mostly cytoplasmic and some nuclear staining of the tubules. Kidneys 24 hours after 40 minutes of ischemia showed more intense and diffused cytoplasmic staining with prominent nuclear staining, indicating increased expression and translocation from the cytoplasm to the nuclei. The staining in glomeruli was negative in both normal and ischemic kidney.

CONCLUSIONS
These studies demonstrate cloning, expression and characterization of the full-length rat caspase-6 and its localization in normal kidneys and kidneys subjected to ischemia/reperfusion injury. Since caspase-6 is involved in the degradation of nuclear matrix proteins and in activation of caspase-3, it may play an important role during renal ischemic injury.


This article deals with two general arguments about how nuclear weapons might produce or prevent war, both based on themes present in pre-nuclear eras. The first debate is over whether traditional military policies increase or decrease the likelihood of war, whether a policy relying on implicit or explicit threats deter or provoke. The second debate centers on how nuclear weapons are brought into the framework of force and threats, and how deterrence can be mode most effective, through a posture of deterrence by denial versus deterrence by punishment. Involved in these arguments are disputes over international politics, the nature and intentions of the Soviet Union, and the changes brought about by nuclear weapons.


Is the institution of contract law in crisis? Contract and other rights are an institution of the Gesellschaft, the sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies's metaphor for modern society. There entitlements reify in abstract principles and rules, whether or not the state enforces them. Moral and social norms, customs, and courtesies are more evocative of the Gemeinschaft, the corresponding metaphor for the traditions of religion, family, tribe, or community. The irony is the similarity between appeals to authoritative sources, whether legal or divine. The arc of history is only metaphorically from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft. We can still react to crises, like financial meltdowns or global pandemics, by the invocation of rights or the granting of courtesies. This essay considers whether the reification of entitlements in legal rights (including contract) contributes or detracts from our ability to get along in a reasonable and humane way. The "crisis" is far less about elements of doctrine than it is of morality; less about the enforcement of rights and more about the holders' willingness to set them aside. During crisis, tunnel-visioned and slavish devotion to abstract contract rights may well be a culprit, not a hero.