We would like to comment on the study by Samsoon and Young (Anuesihesh 1987; 42: 487-90) since we also have experience with the test which forms the basis of their report. Mallampati's test scores the visibility of pharyngcal structures (faucial pillars, soft palate and uvula) in an attempt to predict difficult tracheal intubation. Three of us used this test as part of a pre-operative asscssmcnt in a study about tracheal intubation. Sainsoon and Young did not make it clear in their paper hut thcy did not make the assessment in the way described by Mallampati. We also chosc to examine our patients with 'the head in the neutral position' and the observer sitting 'opposite a t eye level'. We graded paticiits class 1 to 3 as originally described because Mallampati did not describe a class where none of the soft palate was visible. All three of us suggested indepcndcntly that the test should be abandoned after a relatively short period because we considered that it was subjective and far too inconsistent in any given patient. The class 3 assessment (soft palate only visible) was found in 9/28 (32%) of patients by one of us and 4/32 (12.5%) by another. The third person involved, who is also a qualified dentist, exhausted his patience with the inconsistency of the test before a similar nunibcr of cases were documented. Only one of the 13 patients who were class 3 presented any difficulty at intubation: she had grade 3 laryngoscopy (tip of epiglottis only visible)," and for the remainder, the laryngoscopy was grade 1 . This information does not. of course, permit us Lo infer that the newly described class 4 (soft palate not visible) is not important. We did not, like Mallampati, recognise this category and suggest that Samsoon and Young need to be more precise about how it is defined (when limited to visual inspection). Howcver, we can reasonably assume that the patients we recorded as class 3, would also be assigned similarly by these authors. Our experience does not allow us to agree with their contention that class 3 is a useful predictor of difficult intubation. Royal Liverpool Hospital, P.O. BO.Y 17, Liverpool L69 3BX P. CHARTERS S. PERERA W.A. HORTDN


OBJECTIVE: To identify sensitive periods of postnatal growth for preterm infants relative to neurodevelopment at 18 months' corrected age. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied 613 infants born at <33 weeks' gestation who participated in the DHA for Improvement of Neurodevelopmental Outcome trial. We calculated linear slopes of growth in weight, length, BMI, and head circumference from 1 week of age to term (40 weeks' postmenstrual age), term to 4 months, and 4 to 12 months, and we estimated their associations with Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 2nd Edition, Mental (MDI) and Psychomotor (PDI) Development Indexes in linear regression. RESULTS: The median gestational age was 30 (range: 2–33) weeks. Mean ± SD MDI was 94 ± 16, and PDI was 93 ± 16. From 1 week to term, greater weight gain (2.4 MDI points per z score [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.8–3.9]; 2.7 PDI points [95% CI: 1.2–.2]), BMI gain (1.7 MDI points [95% CI: 0.4–3.1]; 2.5 PDI points [95% CI: 1.2–3.9]), and head growth (1.4 MDI points [95% CI: −0.0–2.8]; 2.5 PDI points [95% CI: 1.2–3.9]) were associated with higher scores. From term to 4 months, greater weight gain (1.7 points [95% CI: 0.2–3.1]) and linear growth (2.0 points [95% CI: 0.7–3.2]), but not BMI gain, were associated with higher PDI. From 4 to 12 months, none of the growth measures was associated with MDI or PDI score. CONCLUSIONS: In preterm infants, greater weight and BMI gain to term were associated with better neurodevelopmental outcomes. After term, greater weight gain was also associated with better outcomes, but increasing weight out of proportion to length did not confer additional benefit.


Hypertension has been associated with risk of cognitive impairments. The American Heart Association recommended the use of the harmonized neuropsychological protocol suggested by the National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke and the Canadian Stroke Network (NINDS-CSN) for studying related cognitive impairments. Initially designed for vascular cognitive impairment, empirical data of results from NINDS-CSN protocol has not been well-established in hypertension. The present study recruited 58 adults diagnosed with hypertension and 44 normotensive controls. Tests from the NINDS-CSN protocol were given in three lengths, including neuropsychological tests and neuropsychiatric inventories. The results showed higher proportions of hypertensive adults with impairments on tests of memory and executive functions and that they performed worse as a group on several tests from the 30-minute protocol, but not on the other additional tests in the full-length version, nor on cognitive screening test in the 5-minute protocol such as the Mini-Mental State Examination or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. There was no significant group difference on neuropsychiatric symptoms. These findings suggested that the 30-minute version of the NINDS-CSN protocol with the two supplemental tests was able to reveal selective cognitive deficits in hypertensive adults and provide a practical solution for related studies, balancing between the requirement of sensitivity, domain variety, and brevity.


Virtualisation is a key tool on the grid. It can be used to provide varying work environments or as part of a cloud infrastructure. Virtualisation itself carries certain overheads that decrease the performance of the system through requiring extra resources to virtualise the software and hardware stack, and CPU-cycles wasted instantiating or destroying virtual machines for each job. With the rise and improvements in containerisation, where only the software stack is kept separate and no hardware or kernel virtualisation is used, there is scope for speed improvements and efficiency increases over standard virtualisation. We compare containerisation and virtualisation, including a comparison against bare-metal machines as a benchmark.


After 12 years of faithfully reading and enjoying Conservation Biology , I was never inspired to write a letter to the editor, but after the "Conservation in Context" articles appeared in the December 2002 issue, my fingers eagerly sought the keyboard. The issues concerning the relationship between sustainability and spirituality raised by Orr and elaborated upon by McDaniel, Porritt, and Christie are, I believe, critical to our progress as a society, both at large and within our respective disciplines of conservation biology. I use the word progress without presuming that material progress, such as the accumulation of knowledge or wealth, is our primary goal. Rather, let me pose another idea of progress: increased harmony between human society and the remainder of the natural world. Will science alone move us forward on this path? Many good scientists would unambiguously answer yes, but others are beginning to align themselves with Orr, who requires "a higher level of spiritual awareness." As described in the McDaniel article, however, there remains a strong belief in the god of scientism, which was well summarized by a famous evolutionary ecologist who recently told me that "science is my religion." It is as though scientists are expected to excise from their minds all other ways of knowing, like a misdirected ascetic seeking enlightenment by gouging out his eyes and chopping off his tongue. Society, in turn, has done the same by developing a strong faith that science will prevail and that, in partnership with monetary capital, it can reduce all problems and solutions to these currencies. Such arrogance, which is often perpetuated by the university and by scientists, not only limits our ability to effectively engage with nonscientists, but also weakens our resolve to critically reflect on our own scientific epistemology. We must courageously ask whether the products of scientific inquiry are the only guideposts to aid our progress or whether higher human qualities such as compassion and love might be important to cultivate within our educational institutions and within ourselves. Are we incapable of integrating multiple ways of knowing, which, when fully scrutinized, all arise from the same place? I argue that as conservation biologists we must strive to promote an ongoing dialogue about the limits of science. There are three levels at which I propose we work.


Amphibians face a variety of anthropogenic environmental perturbations that could act alone or in combination to influence population size. We investigated interactive effects of warming conditions, a moderate pulse of nitrogen pollution, and conspecific density on larvae of the common frog, Rana temporaria. The 16-day experiment had a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design implemented in 80-l outdoor mesocosms. High density and warm temperature both resulted in reduced activity and visibility; tadpoles grew and developed more quickly at low density and high temperature. The high-nitrogen treatment did not influence behavior, growth, or development rate. We attribute this to several realistic features of our study, including a pulsed treatment application and natural denitrification within the mesocosms. There was only a single interaction among the three factors: higher temperature exacerbated density-dependence in growth rate. These results illustrate that climate warming may benefit temperate amphibians, although the benefits may be counteracted by enhanced larval crowding.


This article considers how Doctor Who's 50th anniversary was strategically utilised by the BBC. Framed within a neoliberal consumer-cultural context, the programme was extensively merchandised and commodified by BBC Worldwide, with profits going back into BBC public service programming. But at the same time as commercial exploitation threatened to encroach on the BBC's identity as a public service broadcaster – especially via events such as the ExCeL 'Celebration' – Who's commemoration was positioned as a matter of public value, providing the 'social glue' to unite a nation, if not a global array of fan-viewers, whilst drawing on 'BBC nostalgia' (Holdsworth 113). By analysing tensions between commercialism and public service broadcasting, I argue that the contemporary BBC displays a doubled attention to public service television, seeking discursively to separate public value from exchange value (via binaries such as UK–global or past–present), and yet also to legitimate commercial activity as a necessary supplement to licence-fee funding. Doctor Who's 50th, conceptualised and marketed as a 'media event', enabled the BBC performatively to align itself with historical value and social unification, but it also unevenly blurred together commercial and public value in a range of ways that were typically left uncontested by neoliberal 'common sense'.


We present a system that consists of one camera connected to a personal computer that can (a) select and track a number of high-contrast point features on a sequence of images, (b) estimate their three-dimensional motion and position relative to an inertial reference frame, assuming rigidity, (c) handle occlusions that cause point-features to disappear as well as new features to appear. The system can also (d) perform partial self-calibration and (e) check for consistency of the rigidity assumption, although these features are not implemented in the current release. All of this is done automatically and in real-time (30 Hz) for 40-50 point features using commercial off-the-shelf hardware. The system is based on an algorithm presented by Chiuso et al. (2000), the properties of which have been analyzed by Chiuso and Soatto (2000). In particular, the algorithm is provably observable, provably minimal and provably stable- under suitable conditions. The core of the system, consisting of C++ code ready to interface with a frame grabber as well as Matlab code for development, is available at http://ee.wustl.edu/-soatto/research.html. We demonstrate the system by showing its use as (1) an ego-motion estimator, (2) an object tracker, and (3) an interactive input device, all without any modification of the system settings.


In this paper, we propose using joint equalization and coding to improve on-chip communication speeds by signaling at rates beyond the rate governed by resistance-capacitance (RC) delay of the interconnect. Operating beyond the RC limit introduces inter-symbol interference (ISI). We mitigate the effects of ISI by employing equalization. The proposed equalizer employs a variable threshold inverter whose switching threshold is modified as a function of past output of the bus. We demonstrate even higher speedups by combining equalization with crosstalk avoidance coding. Specifically, simulation results for a 10-mm 32-bit bus in 0.13-mum CMOS technology show that 1.28 speedup is achievable by equalization alone and 2.30 speedup is achievable by joint equalization and coding.


Some scholars would limit courts to the text of written agreements when interpreting contracts on the theory that parties meant what they said, and said what they meant. Other scholars would have courts take into account the factual context surrounding contract formation. Both sides of this debate assume that contract interpretation is largely limited to reconstructing contracting parties' intentions.

This assumption is mistaken. Since the overturning of Lochner v. New York, contracting parties no longer have exclusive authority over contracts. State authority to regulate contract came at the expense of unbridled private authority. A more limited conception of contracting parties' authority justifies what is here described as "normative triangulation" in contract interpretation.

Under the shadow of the modern regulatory state, contractual promises create 'content-dependent' reasons for the state to enforce agreements. That is, while we have reason to keep our promises just because we made them, whether and how the state should enforce our promises depends in part on what we have promised. Courts are not bound to enforce terms just as parties are most likely to have intended them. Instead, obligations in contract are properly read in light of background duties that apply to contracting parties, including soft legal norms. Applying a kind of 'rule of charity', where contracts are ambiguous, they should be construed to comply with those background norms. Such a rule parallels the canon of constitutional avoidance in the context of statutory interpretation.

The Article elaborates the role of party intent in interpretation, the kinds of background norms that should inform interpretation, and shows how courts presently apply this kind of analysis.


The Northeast Under/Graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience (NEURON) was established 12 years ago in order to foster the training, education, and research of both undergraduate and graduate neuroscience students. NEURON hosts two annual conferences (Boston in the fall; New York City in the spring) to promote and support neuroscience training, education, and research. For 12 years, the organization has promoted neuroscience by exposing neuroscience trainees to research and educational perspectives (Edinger et al., 2004, 2005; Frye and Edinger, 2004; Goyette et al., 2008; Rhodes et al., 2006, 2007, 2008). Conferences are supported by an NIH R13 grant, and serve as a valuable experience for both students and mentors with a passion for neuroscience. This paper describes the proceedings of the fall 2007 meeting at Northeastern University.


To adherents of the classical role and nature of planning in economic systems, decentralised planning would appear a contradiction in terms. The orthodox literature on planning had at its core a process of centralised investment decision-making, which had as its corollary central access to and allocation of the surpluses available in the system. On the other hand, if decentralisation is to be meaningful, resources need to be devolved to lower levels of decision making, which must have the right to allocate resources based on local priorities. The intent of this essay is to examine and challenge this apparent contradiction between the orthodox planning principle and decentralisation as is being adopted in contexts like Kerala. The search for a more humane alternative to capitalism, which even when 'successful' in terms of the growth in output in some parts of the world, is characterised by national and international inequality, unemployment, poverty and environmental degradation, is as old as the system itself. Socialism, in theory and in its actually existing form, provided an alternative with a grand design: that of replacing private property and the market mechanism, which were seen as underlying capitalist failure, with social ownership and centralised planning. The subversion of "actually existing socialism" in the erstwhile Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and its radical transformation in the direction of a more 'market-driven' system elsewhere in the world, has encouraged a critical appraisal of the functioning of the erstwhile centrally planned systems. The aim of that appraisal would be to combine the advances the centrally planned economies (CPEs) had made in overcoming the anarchy of capitalism and ensuring the provision of basic needs to all at an early stage of development, with


This manuscript presents a detailed narrative of the history, accomplishments, and evolution of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Monitoring and Measurement Technology (MMT) Verification Program. This includes a discussion of how fundamental concepts of a performance testing/verification program were developed in response to the 1986 Congressional legislation that was enacted to bring together technology developers, users, and EPA's credibility in a national testing program. One impetus for the program was the technology developers' need for a cost effective and technically credible program for showcasing the performance of their technologies to EPA regions, other federal agencies, and other clients. The SITE Program was EPA's first technology verification program and it has served as a model for subsequent evaluation programs. The performance characteristics of 70 technologies have been verified by the SITE MMT Program. A survey of developers that have participated in the program indicated their overall satisfaction and a summary of their observations is presented. The outcome of the program and its legacy represents an important contribution to the EPA Superfund Program and the use of field analytical technologies.


In quantitative palaeoecology modern species-environmental relationships can be statistically modelled, and recent development has made the calibration models more statistically robust. These models are used to transform fossil assemblages to quantitative estimates of past environmental conditions. The aim of this thesis is to infer Holocene temperatures from fossil pollen data sampled from lakes in central and southern Sweden. This reconstruction is done by using a north-European pollen-climate calibration model, which was extended with 37 modern pollen samples from the southern deciduous vegetation zone in Sweden within this project. A statistical method is used for deriving the pollen-climate calibration model, weighted averaging partial least square (WA-PLS) method. The long term trends in pollen inferred temperatures from this study reflect low, but rapidly rising temperatures in the early-Holocene, a trend that was temporarily interrupted by a cool period about 8500 cal yr BP, but continued after 8000 cal yr BP. A Holocene thermal maximum (HTM) with temperatures roughly 2°C higher than at present was recorded about 7000 cal yr BP and by 4000 cal yr BP pollen inferred temperatures starts to decline. In order to create a more comprehensive picture of past climate patterns in the investigated area inferred temperatures from this study are compared with independent palaeorecords, a stable oxygen isotope record for moisture variability (paper I) and chironomids for summer temperature (paper II). Taken all together, these records reflect a coherent Holocene climate pattern which also is supported by several studies from Scandinavia and the north Atlantic region. Pollen inferred temperatures and the moisture record are indicating markedly dry, continental climate conditions in southern Sweden during the HTM possibly as a result of reorganisations in regional atmosphere circulations. The local observations in this study of regional climate events, such as the cold period at about 8200 cal yr BP and the dry period at about 7000 to 4000 cal yr BP are of particular interest because they suggest that vegetation in the study region has responded sensitively both to long-term climatic trends and more transient climate events.


We use data from eBay to identify hundreds of thousands of instances in which retailers posted otherwise identical product listings with targeted variation in pricing and auction design. We use these matched listings to measure the dispersion in auction prices for identical goods sold by the same seller, to estimate nonparametric auction demand curves, to analyze the effect of buy it now options, and to assess consumer sensitivity to shipping fees. The scale of the data allows us to show that the estimates are robust to narrower criteria for matching listings, thereby addressing plausible concerns about endogeneity and selection biases. (JEL D44, L11, L81)


There is a continuously growing interest on 'Sustainable Construction (SC)' both within the UK and globally. In the UK, a myriad of policies and guidance have been published in this regard by various government offices, departments and other industry related institutions. However, similar to sustainable development, SC is without an agreed upon definition. There is lack of agreement on the interpretation of SC, both within the industry and in academic literature. Further evidence point at a gap between the technological abilities of the construction industry and what is actually achieved in terms of SC. Therefore, it appears that the problem may lie with the understanding of and the effective implementation of SC at project level. The aim of this research therefore, was to understand the interpretations of SC and to develop a framework that can assist in its effective uptake and implementation within construction project environments.
A more qualitative research approach was used to achieve the aforementioned aim. An analysis of 18 advisory documents (chosen using criterion sampling) was carried out using qualitative content analysis to ascertain how SC was interpreted in these documents. Case study methodology and the principles of grounded theory analysis were used in order to allow for an understanding on the interpretation of and the process of implementing SC to emerge at project level. Three case studies were selected and semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from four different stakeholder groups (i.e. client, contractor, design team and facilities management) within each case.
Through the advisory document analysis, a view of SC at strategic level was developed comprising of 15 characteristics and 80 objectives of SC. The study found that there was a strong focus on the environmental element of SC within the advisory documents. At the construction project level, there was a tendency to focus upon the issues that are capable of bringing in tangible, 'quick-wins' in terms of cost savings.
The proposed framework for uptake and implementation of SC within a construction project environment consists of four main sections. The first section addresses the contextual considerations in developing SC agendas for construction projects. The second section provides a comprehensive view of the nature and objectives of SC. This provides the basis upon which SC objectives can be set for a particular construction project. The third and fourth sections of the framework address the implementation of SC at project level. The actions for SC implementation are presented within the third section divided into four lifecycle phases. The internal and external influence factors affecting the said process are presented within the fourth section of the framework. The developed framework also highlighted the need for feedback at two levels (i.e. within the construction project level and from project level to strategic level).
The findings of the research emphasise the need for streamlining the development of advisory documents on SC and increasing the level of comparability between the existing advisory documents. Further attention should also be given towards providing more conceptual understanding on SC, especially for those project team members, who do not possess specific educational backgrounds or experience in addressing SC. At project level, there is a need to consider SC as an integral part of the construction process itself rather than something superfluous or extra that has been necessitated through mandatory legislations. The project level SC objectives should align with the national and sector level policies and guidance on SC. However, the ultimate applicability of these SC objectives for projects should be decided taking into consideration the specific requirements of each project.

The study was limited to PPP/PFI projects in the healthcare sector. Hence, opportunities for further investigation exist by expanding the number of case studies to widen the scope of the research; for example by including projects in other sectors and using other types of procurement. The outcomes of the research can be used by the project level stakeholders, particularly clients, in adopting pro-active approaches in the uptake and implementation of SC within construction project environments.


Theory: At least four models of alliance duration exist, namely the capabilityaggregation, security-autonomy, domestic politics, and institutionalization models of alliances. The independent tests of these models have been underspecified, however, as no simultaneous comparative testing of the hypotheses from these models has been conducted. Hypothesis: Alliance duration may be a function of security threats, changes in national capabilities, the security-autonomy tradeoffs between larger and smaller states in an alliance, regime type and changes in regime, and the time the alliance has had to become institutionalized. Methods: A hazard model employing time-varying covariates applied to 207 alliances from 1816 to 1984. Results: Key elements of the security-autonomy and domestic politics models have effects on alliance duration as expected. It does not appear, however, that institutionalization over time has an effect on alliance duration, as alliances appear to become more likely to dissolve the longer they last. Additionally, while one hypothesis advanced by the capability-aggregation model receives some support, a second variable is statistically significant in the opposite direction of the model's expectation, suggesting possible problems with the model's validity.


Previously, we reported that okadaic acid, a specific inhibitor of serine/threonine protein phosphatases, induced apoptosis in human osteoblastic cells. However, it is not clear whether calyculin A, another inhibitor of protein phosphatases, would induce apoptosis in human osteoblastic cells and if so, which mechanisms are involved and whether the phosphorylation status of NF-kappaB could be affected by the treatment with calyculin A. In this report, we demonstrate that calyculin A induced apoptosis in MG63 cells, as judged by WST-8 assay, nuclear fragmentation, and DNA ladder formation. Expression of PTEN, FasL, and FasR mRNA was stimulated by calyculin A treatment in MG63 cells. Calyculin A also enhanced the phosphorylation level of NF-kappaB, as judged from the results of Western blot analysis and an in vitro dephosphorylation assay. Western blot analysis with anti-phospho-p65NF-kappaB antibody disclosed that the NF-kappaB was phosphorylated on serine 536 in cytosol and translocated into nucleus with calyculin A-treatment. The phosphorylation status of p65NF-kappaB was further confirmed by using the phosphorylation site-mutated p65NF-kappaB gene transfected into HEK293 cells. Unlike TNF-alpha, calyculin A treatment did not degraded IkappaBalpha within 10 min, while it degraded IkappaBalpha at 2-h treatment. Our findings indicate that calyculin A elicit phosphorylation of NF-kappaB on serine 536 in MG63 cells, resulting in the translocation of phospho-NF-kappaB to the nucleus, thereby promoting transcriptional activity of NF-kappaB-related genes.


Portomesenteric vein thrombosis (PMVT) is a rare, life-threatening pathology associated with increased prevalence in laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) versus other gastric bypass procedures. Gaining popularity, LSG is becoming the first choice of patients and physicians alike due to its low complication profile compared to the gastric bypass procedure. We present the case of a 34-year-old woman who underwent an uncomplicated LSG for the treatment of morbid obesity, and presented on postoperative day 13 with PMVT. The patient underwent mechanical thrombectomy and thrombolytic therapy. After 2 days, patency was restored and the patient was discharged in stable condition. A high index of suspicion for PMVT should be considered in patients reporting diffuse abdominal pain after LSG. Owing to its lethality, upon confirmation of PMVT, therapy should begin immediately along with extended anticoagulation therapy on discharge.


Background: The introduction of care pathway plans for end-of-life cares such as the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) reveals a unique possibility for inter professional collaboration. Knowledge of symptom relief and how to meet the patients' needs at the last stage of the palliative phase are essential for the nurses' approach and care actions, but the documentation of such implementations is still rare and sometimes criticized. Aim: To explore and describe nurses' experiences of using the LCP plan with patients hospitalized with heart failure at the end-of-life stage. An explorative design was applied, using qualitative content analysis of 20 interviews with nurses practicing the LCP plan in two district hospitals in Norway. Results: The nurses found the LCP plan as quality assurance for treatment and care in patients with heart failure in the last hours and days of life. The use of the LCP plan implied: 1) individualized adjustment, 2) symptom relief and 3) a holistic approach. Conclusion: Nurses experienced that using the LCP plan as a comprehensive action plan contributed in the decision making process and improved inter professional communication. Using the LCP plan should be seen as a tool to practice individualized and holistic nursing to patients at the end-of-life and their families, as well as a purposeful relief of symptoms associated with heart failure.


This series presents substantial results from around the globe in selected areas of educational research. The field of education is consistently on the top of priority lists of every country in the world, yet few educators are aware of the progress elsewhere. Many techniques, programmes and methods are directly applicable across borders. This series attempts to shed light on successes wherever they may occur in the hope that many wheels need not be reinvented again and again.


OBJECTIVE : To analyze adherence to the Food Guide for the Brazilian Population. METHODS : Sample composed of participants in the Health Survey for Sao Paulo (n = 1,661) who completed two non-consecutive 24-hour recalls. A bivariate mixed model was created for the ratio of energy from a food group and total energy intake. The estimated ratio was used to calculate the percentage of individuals with intake above or below the recommendation. RESULTS : At least 80.0% of the individuals consume below the recommendation for milk and dairy; fruit and fresh juice; and cereals, tubers and roots; about 60.0% for vegetables; 30.0% for beans; and 8.0% for meat and eggs. Adolescents had the greatest inadequacy for vegetables (90.0%), and the highest income group had the lowest inadequacy for oils, fat and seeds (57.0%). CONCLUSIONS : The intake of food groups related to increased risk of chronic diseases were found to be inadequate.


Sedimentologic, stratigraphic, compositional, and structural data from four elongate basins (,15 km wide, .30 km long) in the Nangqian-Yushu region of east-central Tibet (near the headwaters of the Mekong and Yangtze Rivers) indicate nonmarine sedimentation synchronous with Paleocene–Eocene northeast-southwest shortening. Sedimentation in the Nangqian, Niuguoda, Xialaxiu, and Shanglaxiu basins involved (1) mud and carbonate accumulation in offshore to nearshore lacustrine environments and (2) gravel and sand deposition in fan-delta to alluvial-fan environments localized near basin margins. Growth strata in both fineand coarsegrained deposits, primarily in upper levels of basin fill, provide evidence for sedimentation contemporaneous with motion on foldthrust structures. Provenance data collected from 25 measured stratigraphic sections, including .1500 paleocurrent measurements and .150 conglomerate compositional analyses, show that each basin was fed sediment from several directions by proximal source areas composed of Carboniferous–Triassic rocks. The source-area proximity and a stratigraphic variability among the basins suggest that each basin evolved independently and was filled by sediment derived from relatively small drainage networks (,103 km2). Age control for basin fill is based on Paleogene fossils, 38–37 Ma 40Ar/39Ar ages from volcanic rocks interbedded with uppermost strata of *E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com. the Nangqian basin, and 51–49 Ma 40Ar/ 39Ar ages from igneous rocks that intrude and unconformably overlie strata of the Shanglaxiu basin. Strata containing middle Cretaceous palynomorph and ostracod assemblages are present only locally in the lowermost part of the Nangqian basin. Although the tectonic setting for Cretaceous sedimentation is unclear, early Tertiary basin development was controlled by thinskinned fold-thrust deformation. We interpret the narrow widths of Paleocene– Eocene basins to be a result of thrust spacing, which in turn may have been controlled by the depth to the décollement (;5 km deep according to our balanced cross section) from which imbricate thrusts ramped up through the Carboniferous–Triassic section. Sedimentologic and provenance evidence for internal drainage, limited unroofing, and relatively low average sediment-accumulation rates in these syncontractional, plateau-interior basins indicates generally small drainage systems, short main-stem rivers, shallow regional slopes, and limited denudation in east-central Tibet during early Tertiary time. Such geomorphic conditions, which are similar to the modern low-relief interior of the Tibetan plateau, suggest that the deeply incised Mekong and Yangtze Rivers of eastern Tibet were not established until after the termination of Paleogene basin development


As the highest award platform in cheerleading competitions, the World Cheerleading Championship is participated by the elite teams and international judges and experts from all over the world. This paper aims to explore the similarities and differences between excellent teams from the aspects of complete sets of dance movements, difficult movements, complete sets of music, and stage visual effects. To collect data, we searched relevant documents and materials through China Knowledge Net, Wanfang data periodical net, and other information networks. Meanwhile, we watched videos of the top eight teams that participated in the 2019 World Cheerleading Championship. In addition, we conducted face-to-face and telephone interviews with cheerleading field senior experts. Comparative analysis was conducted to analyze the data. The analysis revealed a few patterns. First, almost all teams used a large number of collective movements and rich formation changes to give the audience a visual impact. Second, the choreographers made reasonable arrangements for difficult movements based on the team members' abilities. Third, most teams chose the classical or current popular songs to arouse the audience. Fourth, choreographers decided on the theme of the music before choreographing dance moves and difficult moves, and how the set would be displayed at the climax of the program. Based on the results, we recommend Jazz cheerleading teams to consider adjusting the frequency of formation changes to stage space. Difficult movements should be chosen based on appropriateness and quality under the rules of collective jazz events. We also recommend using appropriate arrangement styles to showcase the physical qualities of athletes.


Background and Hypothesis:
Cutaneous wound healing involves: hemostatic, inflammatory, proliferative, and tissue remodeling phases. Re-epithelialization can be modeled in vitro using human keratinocytes and artificial wounds. Previous work showed undifferentiated keratinocytes closing wounds in vitro using individual cell migration (ICM), whilst differentiated keratinocytes utilize collective cell migration (KCCM). Therefore, we hypothesize that ICM in vitro is equivalent to keratinocyte migration during squamous cell carcinoma metastasis in vivo and KCCM is a model for wound re-epithelialization. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the integrated stress response (ISR) is important in ICM and KCCM. The ISR is activated by environmental stresses that protein kinases (GCN2 and PERK) can detect and phosphorylate translation factor, eIF2a. Our goal is to define how the ISR, specifically GCN2 and PERK, influence keratinocyte migration.
Methods:
We will evaluate in vitro wound healing and kinetic variation in protein expression and cytoskeleton remodeling. We will utilize four keratinocyte cell lines, control human keratinocyte NTERTs, and CRISPR-derived gene knockouts of GCN2, PERK, and ISR effector gene ATF4. Quantitative analysis of wound healing is accomplished using an IncuCyte ZOOM instrument. Protein expression is measured via immunoblots following high density wounding. Cytoskeletal analyses was done by immunofluorescence.
Results:
Preliminary results show PERK-KO and GCN2-KO cells have reduced expression of F-actin. Immunoblots showed actin-binding protein, phospho-cofilin, at lower levels in PERK-KO and GCN2-KO cells than in NTERT cells. Wound healing assays showed differentiated keratinocytes healing faster than undifferentiated in all cells, except GCN2-KO. GCN2-KO cells healed significantly slower than other differentiated cells and undifferentiated GCN2-KO cells. Wound healing assays showed undifferentiated PERK-KO cells healing slower than other undifferentiated cell lines.
Conclusion/Potential Impact:
The results indicate PERK and GCN2 could be key components in ICM and CCM respectfully. GCN2 and PERK could thus be potential therapeutic targets to provide cost-effective therapeutics to enhance/inhibit keratinocyte migration.


Despite the fact that it was never realized at full scale, Vladimir Tatlin's long-lost model for his Monument to the Third International (1920) remains to this day the most widely known work of the Soviet avant-garde. A visionary proposal for a four-hundred-meter tower in iron and glass conceived at the height of the Russian Civil War, the monument was to house the headquarters of the Third International, or Comintern, the international organization of Communist, socialist, and other left-wing parties and workers' organizations founded in Moscow in the wake of the October Revolution with the objective of fomenting revolutionary agitation abroad. Constructed in his spacious Petrograd studio, which was once the mosaics workshop of the imperial Academy of Art, Tatlin's approximately 1:80 scale model comprises a skeletal wooden armature of two upward-moving spirals and a massive diagonal girder, within which are stacked four revolving geometrical volumes made out of paper, these last set in motion by means of a rotary crank located underneath the display platform. In the proposed monument-building, these volumes were to contain the Comintern's legislature, executive branch, press bureau, and radio station. According to the later recollection of Tevel' Schapiro, who assisted Tatlin in his construction of the model, two large arch spans at ground level were designed so that the tower could straddle the banks of the river Neva in Petrograd, the birthplace of the 1917 revolutions.


Objectives
Our purpose was to determine the incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) in cancer patients receiving an intrathecal drug delivery system (IDDS) and compare that rate with the incidence of SSI in the general population receiving an IDDS or spinal cord stimulator. We attempted to describe risk factors for SSIs in cancer patients treated with IDDS in terms of exposure to cancer treatments.

Design
Retrospective review.

Setting
Large tertiary care center.

Patients
Cancer patients receiving an IDDS in 2006-2013.

Methods
The incidence of SSI was determined according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition. Medication regimens and current cancer treatment were investigated to identify immunocompromised patients during IDDS placement. Microbacteriology, treatment, and overall outcomes were investigated.

Results
Sixty-four patients had an IDDS implanted in 2006-2013. SSI developed in four patients (6.2%). All four patients had received chemotherapy or radiotherapy within three months before implantation. Three of the three were receiving dexamethasone, and three of the four required explantation of the IDDS.

Conclusion
The incidence of SSI was at the upper end of the published infection rates for IDDS. The risk of SSI may be increased in this population because of factors that alter the patient's immune status, including concomitant corticosteroid use, radiotherapy near the SSI, and presence of immunomodulators. The identification and mitigation of certain risk factors for this population may prevent infection in future patients.


Drug interaction with P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) may influence its tissue disposition including blood-brain barrier transport and result in potent drug-drug interactions. The limited data obtained using in-vitro models indicate that methadone, buprenorphine, and cannabinoids may interact with human P-gp; but almost nothing is known about drugs of abuse and BCRP. We used in vitro P-gp and BCRP inhibition flow cytometric assays with hMDR1- and hBCRP-transfected HEK293 cells to test 14 compounds or metabolites frequently involved in addiction, including buprenorphine, norbuprenorphine, methadone, ibogaine, cocaine, cocaethylene, amphetamine, N-methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, nicotine, ketamine, Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), naloxone, and morphine. Drugs that in vitro inhibited P-gp or BCRP were tested in hMDR1- and hBCRP-MDCKII bidirectional transport studies. Human P-gp was significantly inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner by norbuprenorphine>buprenorphine>methadone>ibogaine and THC. Similarly, BCRP was inhibited by buprenorphine>norbuprenorphine>ibogaine and THC. None of the other tested compounds inhibited either transporter, even at high concentration (100 microm). Norbuprenorphine (transport efflux ratio approoximately 11) and methadone (transport efflux ratio approoximately 1.9) transport was P-gp-mediated; however, with no significant stereo-selectivity regarding methadone enantiomers. BCRP did not transport any of the tested compounds. However, the clinical significance of the interaction of norbuprenorphine with P-gp remains to be evaluated.


Purpose: To assess the feasibility of utilizing pre‐made IMRT leaf patterns in IMRT system evaluation. Methods and Materials: A TG1 19 evaluation set consisting of five IMRT test cases were optimized using a pencil‐beam algorithm and delivered on a 30 cm × 30 cm × 15 cm solid water phantom. Per‐field measurements were collected using a diode array, and composite measurements were collected using film and ion chamber. Measurements were compared to calculation to determine confidence limit values per TG1 19 methodology. The phantom image set, associated contours, and leaf patterns were then transferred to a separate treatment planning system utilizing different treatment planning software previously commissioned for the same LINAC. Dose calculations utilizing a convolution‐superposition algorithm were performed on this planning system utilizing the pre‐made IMRT leaf patterns and image set. These calculations were compared to previously collected measurements, and TG1 19 confidence limits were determined. Results: The TG1 19 evaluation utilizing the pencil‐beam treatment planning system resulted in confidence limits of 1.55%, 8.06%, and 3.13% for diode array, film, and ion chamber comparisons, respectively. The TG1 19 evaluation utilizing the same leaf patterns within the convolution‐superposition treatment planning system resulted in confidence limits of 10.5%, 14.9%, and 5.46% for diode array, film, and ion chamber comparisons, respectively. The TG1 19 confidence limit values for the two planning systems differed by 8.95%, 6.84%, and 2.33%.Conclusion: This study has demonstrated the feasibility in utilizing pre‐made leaf patterns to evaluate the dose model for an IMRT system. In this case, the pencil‐beam TPS calculations were closer to measured values, as quantified by the TG119 assessment.


Drifting buoys can observe wave data in the open ocean far from land. The buoys can observe in the area of strong currents such as western boundary current. Significant wave heights observed by drifting buoys in the North Pacific area for 17 years are compared with ERA interim wave heights. The accuracy of ERA interim wave heights is good in total. The accuracy of ERA wave heights for surface current speeds estimated from the buoy position is evaluated. It is evident that the accuracy of ERA wave heights becomes poor as larger surface current speeds. The large overestimation and underestimation of ERA wave heights for larger surface current speeds can be seen in the Kuroshio extension area, where currents are variable by the mesoscale eddies. The large overestimation is not so frequent as underestimation in the Kuroshio area, where currents are less variable compared with the Kuroshio extension.


> There is nothing permanent except change.

> Heraclitus, 535–475 BCE, Greek philosopher

> When you are through changing, you are through.

> Bruce Barton, 1886–1967, American author and politician

Change is as inevitable, and important, in education as it is in life. The recent Vision and Change report on the state of postsecondary biology education clearly calls on us to change how biology is taught (AAAS, 2011). Alas, not everyone is as enthusiastic about change as the rest of us. And therein lies the problem. We need to reach beyond enthusiastic individuals to transform whole departments.

My teaching career started with a project immersed in change. I was a TA and then a research assistant for the Workshop Biology Project at the University of Oregon. This project was driven by a self-selected group of award-winning faculty at the University of Oregon who were dissatisfied with the state of general-education biology classes (Udovic et al., 2002). As part of that project, I participated in their discussions of biology education research, aided curricular experiments in classes, observed the postclass discussions, assisted in data analysis, and attended presentations at various conferences. Three years later, I began my own …


AIMS
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of orally administered naltrexone, alone or in combination with nicotine patches, as a treatment for cigarette smoking.

DESIGN
Randomized, partially-blinded, 2 x 2 factorial trial using naltrexone (active vs. placebo) and nicotine patches (active vs. none).

PARTICIPANTS
One hundred cigarette smokers.

INTERVENTION
Twelve weeks of either placebo-only, naltrexone-only, placebo with nicotine patches or naltrexone with nicotine patches. The naltrexone dose was 50 mg taken once daily, and the nicotine patch dose was 21 mg/24-hour for the first 8 weeks and 14 mg/24-hour for the remaining 4 weeks. Brief behavioral intervention was provided at each visit.

MEASUREMENTS
One-week point-prevalence smoking abstinence rates confirmed by an expired air carbon monoxide level of 8 parts per million (ppm) or less, daily cigarette smoking and cigarette craving.

FINDINGS
At the end of treatment, there was no effect of naltrexone on smoking abstinence. The smoking abstinence rates were 19% and 22% for the placebo only and naltrexone only treatment groups, respectively, and 48% and 46% for the placebo with nicotine patch and naltrexone with nicotine patch groups, respectively. However, the effect of the nicotine patch at this time was significant (p = 0.006), but not at the 6-month follow-up. No significant effect of naltrexone was observed on daily cigarette smoking on cigarette craving during the study.

CONCLUSIONS
The opioid antagonist naltrexone was not found to be effective for smoking cessation and had no significant effect on daily cigarette consumption or craving. The results of the present study provide no support for the use of naltrexone, alone or in combination with nicotine patches, as a therapeutic treatment for smoking cessation.


of the original article: Behaving organisms are continually choosing. Recently the theoretical and empirical study of decision making by behavioral ecologists and experimental psychologists have converged in the area of foraging, particularly food acquisition. This convergence has raised the interdisciplinary question of whether principles that have emerged from the study of decision making in the operant conditioning laboratory are consistent with decision making in naturally occurring foraging. One such principle, the "parameter-free delay-reduction hypothesis," developed in studies of choice in the operant conditioning laboratory, states that the effectiveness of a stimulus as a reinforcer may be predicted most accurately by calculating the decrease in time to food presentation correlated with the onset of the stimulus, relative to the length of time to food presentation measured from the onset of the preceding stimulus. Since foraging involves choice, the delay-reduction hypothesis may be extended to predict aspects of foraging. We discuss the strategy of assessing parameters of foraging with operant laboratory analogues to foraging. We then compare the predictions of the delay-reduction hypothesis with those of optimal foraging theory, developed by behavioral ecologists, showing that, with two exceptions, the two positions make comparable predictions. The delay-reduction hypothesis is also compared to several contemporary psychological accounts of choice. Results from several of our experiments with pigeons, designed as operant conditioning simulations of foraging, have shown the following: The more time subjects spend searching for or traveling between potential food sources, the less selective they become, that is, the more likely they are to accept the less preferred outcome; increasing time spent procuring ("handling") food increases selectivity; how often the preferred outcome is available has a greater effect on choice than how often the less preferred outcome is available; subjects maximize BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES (1987) 10:2 315 Continuing Commentary reinforcement whether it is the rate, amount, or probability of reinforcement that is varied; there are no significant differences between subjects performing under different types of deprivation (open vs. closed economies). These results are all consistent with the delay-reduction hypothesis. Moreover, they suggest that the technology of the operant conditioning laboratory may have fruitful application in the study of foraging, and, in doing so, they underscore the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to behavior. Mechanisms of optimal choice


A good paraphrase is semantically similar to the original sentence but it must be also well formed, and syntactically different to ensure diversity. To deal with this trade-off, we propose to cast the paraphrase generation task as a multi-objectives search problem on the lattice of text transformations. We use BERT and GPT2 to measure respectively the semantic distance and the correctness of the candidates. We study two search algorithms: Monte-Carlo Tree Search For Paraphrase Generation (MCPG) and Pareto Tree Search (PTS) that we use to explore the huge sets of candidates generated by applying the PPDB-2.0 edition rules. We evaluate this approach on 5 datasets and show that it performs reasonably well and that it outperforms a state-of-the-art edition-based text generation method.


Since its inception, Visual Question Answering (VQA) is notoriously known as a task, where models are prone to exploit biases in datasets to find shortcuts instead of performing high-level reasoning. Classical methods address this by removing biases from training data, or adding branches to models to detect and remove biases. In this paper, we argue that uncertainty in vision is a dominating factor preventing the successful learning of reasoning in vision and language problems. We train a visual oracle and in a large scale study provide experimental evidence that it is much less prone to exploiting spurious dataset biases compared to standard models. We propose to study the attention mechanisms at work in the visual oracle and compare them with a SOTA Transformer-based model. We provide an in-depth analysis and visualizations of reasoning patterns obtained with an online visualization tool which we make publicly available1. We exploit these insights by transferring reasoning patterns from the oracle to a SOTA Transformer-based VQA model taking standard noisy visual inputs via fine-tuning. In experiments we report higher overall accuracy, as well as accuracy on infrequent answers for each question type, which provides evidence for improved generalization and a decrease of the dependency on dataset biases.


A double-row anti-slide pile system can effectively control large landslide thrusts within a large-scale talus landslide. In such a system, the separation of the up-slope and down-slope rows of piles is a key factor that impacts the distribution of their internal forces. Common large-scale talus landslides, which are characterized by a curved slip surface that is gentle in the front and steep in the rear, are discussed in this paper. The mechanical characteristics of double piles positioned at a net separation between rows of 23.8a (where a is the length of the long side of rectangular cross section of a pile), 16.3a, 10.7a, 6a and 2a have been investigated by finite element analyses. Based on this investigation, internal forces of the pile body are found to not change with row separation monotonously. Rather, they are closely related to the pile positions (i.e. within the anti-slide or slide section of the slip surface). When the rear piles are fixed at the anti-slide section of the landslide mass, the landslide thrust on the up-slope side of the rear piles and the slope resistance on the down-slope side increase gradually as the row separation becomes larger. As a result, the comprehensive mechanical effect of double piles tends to worsen. We advise that the optimal net separation between rows of piles is 2a to 4a.


Real-time in-situ neutron diffraction data reveal for the first time that the Li(Co0.16Mn1.84)O4 cathode undergoes current-free discharge. We find that current-free discharge occurs in a partially charged Li(Co0.16Mn1.84)O4 cathode during its first charge cycle over a period of 11 h resulting in a 44(2)% expansion of the crystal lattice. The rate of change in the lattice parameter during the current-free discharge process is half the rate and more linear than for an applied-current discharge of −0.5 mA. The origins of current-free discharge are discussed along with the implications of nonequilibrium relaxation processes in in-situ neutron and X-ray diffraction studies. We show that the lattice does not return to the predischarge values after either current-applied or current-free discharge, indicating a limited ability for Li reinsertion (capacity loss) in partially charged Li(Co0.16Mn1.84)O4 batteries.


Recent evidence has demonstrated that dissociated fetal rat brain cells in culture synthesize an angiotensin II (ANG II)-like peptide that shares common properties with authentic ANG II, suggesting that brain has a complete renin angiotensin system that is independent of peripheral substrates. Although ANG II has been postulated to function as a neurotransmitter/neuromodulator, the release of ANG II from presynaptic nerve terminals has not been established. To investigate the mechanism of ANG II release, brain cells from 20-day gestational age Sprague-Dawley rats were dissociated by mild trypsinization and grown in culture. The cells were maintained in serum-free medium for 5 days prior to experimental analysis. Cultured brain cells were challenged with 59 mM KCl in the presence or absence of 5 mM CaCl2, and the incubation medium was measured for the release of ANG II by radioimmunoassay and high-performance liquid chromatography. The data demonstrate that K+ stimulation results in a rapid and time-dependent release of ANG II-like peptide that is Ca2+ dependent. We have concluded that these findings are consistent with those for other neurotransmitter/neurohormone systems and therefore provide further support for the role of ANG II as a chemical transmitter in the brain.


We identify three approaches to understanding niches: (1) the wellspring as a stable ecology where resources are exogenously defined, (2) the firm's forte as a specific location created by a company in its development and use of resources, and (3) emergence through collective discovery as a site of novelty through interacting resources across different agents. We assess the tractability of these three approaches empirically in assessing the exploration, development and production activities in deepwater in the US Gulf of Mexico. Niches are distinct from clusters. Niches exhibit extensive bounds at particular moments in time and temporal bounds in which endogenous tendencies foresee their demise. The resources of niches develop through interacting both autonomously and through agents' deliberation in realising entrepreneurial plans through experimental activities. We find that Approach (2) is most convincing in capturing the early phases in forming a niche, with Approach (3) being more visible towards its end, although neither captures the niche exclusively. Approach (1) is more appropriate to clusters. Geels (2002) envisages a break between an established socio-technical regime or cluster and a niche, with the niche being an experimental location from which the sociotechnical regime selects among proto-technological trajectories. In contrast, we find communication and continuation between the realms of the niche and the socio-technical regime.


We programmed a system and it programmed us. (1) --Gyorgy Konrad, The City Builder "We managed to rearrange the city down to the last grain of sand," declares Gyorgy Konrad's frantic, impassionate, obsessive, idealistic city builder. (2) He has gone through all the trials of communist rule: a distinctly bourgeois background, enchantment, postwar professional success, ambitious building assignments, arrest, imprisonment, disenchantment, and, finally, release from prison into a world without Stalin but still with total planning. His unnamed socialist city, like Konrad's text, is dense, polluted, sprawling, and layered. The scale of urban planning appears both awesome and terrifying, provoking in the builder disgust just as much as pride. One minute he is mighty, with his bird's eye view and 600 convicts working under him; the next he is languishing in a Stalinist prison designed by his own father. His bold plans for remaking the fabric of society seem to radically depart from anything ever done before, yet they merely introduce "a modified system of inequalities in place of older systems." (3) Both the provincial East European city and its builder seem inextricably tied to the same fate. Indeed, at the root of his delirious wanderings is the awareness that he--like any of his drawings--is also a product of planning. This paradox of feeling power and powerlessness, ambition mixed with resignation, pride with pessimism, while being in control of everything yet seemingly ruled by the terms of others, pervades the mind of the city builder, just as it does the system around him. Taking a cue from two rigorous and insightful books--Stephen Bittner's account of the "many lives" of the Soviet Thaw and Greg Castillo's study of the Cold War as a series of battles in design and the domestic sphere--as well as a recent explosion of interest among historians in the Khrushchev era, "spatial history," material culture, and East-West exchanges, this article addresses the paradoxes of the Thaw as exemplified in urban form. (4) It argues for the interconnected nature of domestic, international, and Eastern bloc-level dynamics by viewing processes of the Thaw simultaneously from the angles of neighborhood, city, and empire. (5) These angles capture the evolving relationship with the Soviet past, the expansion of the Cold War into everyday city life, and the burgeoning exchange in knowledge, technology, and planning instruments among socialist countries. More suggestive than prescriptive, the choice of these three levels of analysis does not imply that the concomitant processes were discrete from one another. (6) Indeed, a number of threads run throughout the essay: local battles over the meaning of socialist material culture, with their unexpected turns and twists; the participation of socialist planning in an international arena; but also, equally important, the earnest effort to devise a common planning model and architectural vocabulary across socialist space. The resulting "socialist design" was an amalgam produced by formal and informal exchange, an institutionalized logic of planning, invention, and imported technology, but also a self-induced competition with the capitalist West. Bittner's work, reviewed in the first section of this article, elucidates the domestic dilemmas of the Soviet Thaw. Castillo's analysis, taken up in the middle section, sheds light on the transnational entanglements of a Cold War battle over consumption and design supremacy. My third section examines an architectural episode in Moscow in 1958 to argue for both the relevance and the specificity of the "Eastern bloc arena" in these international postwar currents. The context is Khrushchev's Thaw, the decade or so after Stalin's death, which has produced everything from detailed studies on Khrushchev's personality to analyses of the post-Stalin succession struggle, the release of Gulag prisoners, the tumultuous year 1956, and on to studies of de-Stalinization, state designs, and domesticity. …


Parental participation is very basic in the development of a child's character, one of which is intelligence. Intrapersonal intelligence is very important for children, if someone has a high level of intelligence, he will be able to control his emotions so that the actions taken are based on the correct knowledge. Therefore, in developing this intrapersonal intelligence, a stimulus from parents is needed. The purpose behind this research is to describe the role of parents in developing intrapersonal intelligence of children aged 5-6 years. The researcher uses a case study approach approach, the type of instrumental case study approach. The selection of research subjects was carried out by purposive sampling, which consisted of two families. This information collection method is carried out using interviews, observation, and documentation. This study uses data analysis techniques created by Miles and Huberman. The results showed that parents play a role in providing support, parents play a role in providing guidance, parents play a role in uniting children's activities, parents play a role in providing understanding for children, parents teach children in emotions, parents play a role in habituation to children.


Hülya Kandemir's book, Himmelstochter (Daughter of heaven), chronicles her transformation from a well-known regional pop singer to a pious Muslima in Germany. Kandemir describes her turn to Islam and the ensuing fine-tuned construction of a modern pious Muslim subjectivity in the contexts of a growing Muslim German public sphere, Muslim German cultural production, and the public sphere at large. Kandemir's transformation unfolds in Germany in the middle of an often young and visible larger movement of Muslim piety. Her narrative and experience transcend her individual life and demonstrate debates among groups of younger Muslims across ethnic lines. In this paper I introduce Kandemir's book and trajectory to illustrate aspects of dynamic transformations underway among groups of younger European Muslims. Drawing on a reading of the book and ethnographic observation at a major cultural event, I illustrate how Islam powerfully remakes the lives of young Muslims like Kandemir in ways that are also uniquely German or European. I argue that in particular young Muslimas enter debates and lifeworlds of piety regardless of considerable animosity or even rejection from dominant society. In the process they further Muslim German cultural production and establish themselves as pious Muslimas in the public sphere at large.


Introduction: Alcohol consumption in excess leads to various consequences, either short term or long term. Acute alcohol impairment is a very important analysis topic for traffic safety, and a wide range of studies have indicated that alcohol is one of the root causes of driving impairment across the world. Methodology: The study was conducted at the emergency department (ED) of Christian Medical College, Vellore, from December 2014 to March 2015. After obtaining informed written consent, all patients above the age of 18 were included and data were analyzed. Results: During the study period, 153 patients presented with alcohol-related emergencies. Among them, 45.75% belonged to the age group of 21–30 years. The most common time of presentation to ED was in the evening from 15:30 to 22:30 (59%). Seventy-six percent of the patients presented with road traffic accidents (RTAs), of which 89.6% were two-wheeler-related RTAs. Among the two-wheeler RTAs, 98.2% did not wear a helmet. Nine percent of the total emergencies were related to acute poisoning incidents. Conclusions: Alcohol-related acute presentations to the ED are common but preventable emergencies, with RTAs and acute poisonings comprising the majority.


The role of 14C-aminoacyl-tRNAs in the formation of aminoacyl phosphatidyl glycerols in isolated chloroplasts of haricot bean leaves was studied. The formation of 14C-aminoacyl-tRNAs was more intensive in the case when 14C-aminoacyl phosphatidyl glycerols were the source of amino acids. On incubation of lamellae with 14C-aminoacyl phosphatidyl glycerols, 14C-amino acids proved to be incorporated intensively in protein of the lamellae. Membrane-bound chloroplast ribosome-like particles were observed on the outermost thylakoid membranes of the grana stacks as well as on the stroma thylakoids. It is concluded that aminoacyl phosphatidyl glycerols play an important role in lateral transport of amino acids within the chloroplasts lamellar system.


Efficient air-cooling systems for hot climatic conditions, such as Southern Europe, are required in the context of nearly Zero Energy Buildings, nZEB. Innovative air-cooling systems such as regenerative indirect evaporative coolers, RIEC and desiccant regenerative indirect evaporative coolers, DRIEC, can be considered an interesting alternative to direct expansion air-cooling systems, DX. The main aim of the present work was to evaluate the seasonal performance of three air-cooling systems in terms of air quality, thermal comfort and energy consumption in a standard classroom. Several annual energy simulations were carried out to evaluate these indexes for four different climate zones in the Mediterranean area. The simulations were carried out with empirically validated models. The results showed that DRIEC and DX improved by 29.8% and 14.6% over RIEC regarding thermal comfort, for the warmest climatic conditions, Lampedusa and Seville. However, DX showed an energy consumption three and four times higher than DRIEC for these climatic conditions, respectively. RIEC provided the highest percentage of hours with favorable indoor air quality for all climate zones, between 46.3% and 67.5%. Therefore, the air-cooling systems DRIEC and RIEC have a significant potential to reduce energy consumption, achieving the user's thermal comfort and improving indoor air quality.


Using molecules radiolabelled with positron emitters, positron emission tomography (PET) imaging provides information relating to a multitude of physiological and metabolic functions. Whereas primary PET images give a qualitative insight into these functions, when PET images are combined with data of the time course of the PET radiopharmaceutical in the blood, in an appropriate biological model, the extraction of quantified parameters of the observed function becomes possible. This chapter gives an introduction into kinetic modelling used with PET and the related mathematical procedures. Additionally, some basic and often used applications are described and are followed by an overview of the application of kinetic modelling in the case of MR-PET.


Abstract. Because of the slow accumulation and long residence time of carbon in biomass and soils, the present state and future dynamics of temperate forests are influenced by management that took place centuries to millennia ago. Humans have exploited the forests of Europe for fuel, construction materials and fodder for the entire Holocene. In recent centuries, economic and demographic trends led to increases in both forest area and management intensity across much of Europe. In order to quantify the effects of these changes in forests and to provide a baseline for studies on future land-cover–climate interactions and biogeochemical cycling, we created a temporally and spatially resolved reconstruction of European forest management from 1600 to 2010. For the period 1600–1828, we took a supply–demand approach, in which supply was estimated on the basis of historical annual wood increment and land cover reconstructions. We made demand estimates by multiplying population with consumption factors for construction materials, household fuelwood, industrial food processing and brewing, metallurgy, and salt production. For the period 1829–2010, we used a supply-driven backcasting method based on national and regional statistics of forest age structure from the second half of the 20th century. Our reconstruction reproduces the most important changes in forest management between 1600 and 2010: (1) an increase of 593 000 km2 in conifers at the expense of deciduous forest (decreasing by 538 000 km2); (2) a 612 000 km2 decrease in unmanaged forest; (3) a 152 000 km2 decrease in coppice management; (4) a 818 000 km2 increase in high-stand management; and (5) the rise and fall of litter raking, which at its peak in 1853 resulted in the removal of 50 Tg dry litter per year.


The aim of the research was to assess the chemical composition and sanitary state of sandboxes in Krakow. Samples of sand were collected from 42 sandboxes located on playgrounds in housing estates and municipal (urban) parks. In the samples the following were determined: reaction, organic matter and the content of total and soluble forms of several elements. The sand in the analyzed sandboxes had highest content of Zn, while the concentrations of other metal appeared in the following decreasing order: > Pb > Cr > Ni > Cu > Cd (total forms) and Zn > Pb > Cu > Ni > Cr > Cd (soluble forms). The highest potential for ingesting heavy metals by humans due to accidental consumption of sand was found for Zn, followed by Pb > Cu > Ni > Cr > Cd. Children were at a higher risk of exposition to heavy metals than adults. On no occasion, the permissible limits of heavy metals for urbanized and built-up areas (group B) – set up by the regulation of the Minister for Environment on soil and earth quality – were exceeded. The same applies to the threshold levels of contaminants established for soils polluted by man-made sources. However, the sandboxes were found to be in poor sanitary conditions. Key word: heavy metals, sanitary condition, sandbox, children, environmental hazard.


We present high-cadence optical, ultraviolet (UV), and near-infrared data of the nearby (D ≈ 23 Mpc) Type II supernova (SN) 2021yja. Many Type II SNe show signs of interaction with circumstellar material (CSM) during the first few days after explosion, implying that their red supergiant (RSG) progenitors experience episodic or eruptive mass loss. However, because it is difficult to discover SNe early, the diversity of CSM configurations in RSGs has not been fully mapped. SN 2021yja, first detected within ≈ 5.4 hours of explosion, shows some signatures of CSM interaction (high UV luminosity and radio and x-ray emission) but without the narrow emission lines or early light-curve peak that can accompany CSM. Here we analyze the densely sampled early light curve and spectral series of this nearby SN to infer the properties of its progenitor and CSM. We find that the most likely progenitor was an RSG with an extended envelope, encompassed by low-density CSM. We also present archival Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the host galaxy of SN 2021yja, which allows us to place a stringent upper limit of ≲ 9 M ☉ on the progenitor mass. However, this is in tension with some aspects of the SN evolution, which point to a more massive progenitor. Our analysis highlights the need to consider progenitor structure when making inferences about CSM properties, and that a comprehensive view of CSM tracers should be made to give a fuller view of the last years of RSG evolution.


Abstract This paper uses a difference-in-differences approach to analyze the treatment effect of a hail weather shock in a specific Swiss wine-growing region. We exploit a natural experiment from Switzerland's Three Lakes wine region in 2013 and examine its impact on the country's retail market. We find statistically significant (1%-level) effects of –22.8% and +2.8% for the volume and price of wine consumed, respectively. These effects can be interpreted as average treatment effects, which is the difference in outcomes between treatment and control groups using a pre-post shock study methodology. Several robustness checks confirm the statistical significance of the estimated effects and the initial assumptions.


Remittances by migrants to their countries of origin constitute the largest source of external finance for developing countries after foreign direct investment . To shed light on this important fact, in this paper we consider a model of micro-foundations of the links between remittances finance and endogenous growth. Our theoretical set up helps to show how local financial system development and the quality of institutions influence a country's capacity to take advantage of remittances. Among others new findings , we show that remittances foster economic growth in countries with less developed financial sector by providing a substitute tool to finance investment and contribute to overcome liquidity constraints and help undertake profitable investment.


BackgroundAmphora coffeaeformis, a unicellular diatom, can accumulate large amounts of lipids under nitrogen (N) limitation, because of which it can act as a promising raw material for biodiesel production. However, the molecular mechanism underlying lipid accumulation in A. coffeaeformis remains unknown. ResultsIn this study, we investigated the mechanism underlying lipid accumulation under N deprivation conditions in A. coffeaeformis using RNA-seq. The results showed that the total lipid (TL) content of A. coffeaeformis in normal f/2 medium was 28.22% (TL/DW), which increased to 44.05% after 5 days of N deprivation, while the neutral lipid triacylglycerol (TAG) content increased from 10.41% (TAG/DW) to 25.21%. The transcriptional profile showed that 591 genes were up-regulated, with false discovery rate cutoff of 0.1%, and 1,021 genes were down-regulated, indicating that N deprivation induced wide-ranging reprogramming of regulation, and that most physiological activities were repressed. In addition, ribosome biogenesis, carbon fixation, and photosynthesis in A. coffeaeformis were considerably affected by N deprivation. ConclusionsIn summary, the findings shed light on the molecular mechanisms of neutral lipid accumulation and revealed the key genes involved in lipid metabolism in A. coffeaeformis, which will be useful in designing strategies for improving microalgal biodiesel production.


This paper provides an overview of the state of financial literacy of Malaysians using data from the OECD (INFE) Financial Literacy Survey conducted in year 2015 and 2018. Besides the three components of financial literacy, namely, financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behaviour, this paper also analyses the financial vulnerability of individuals. The effects of socio-demographic factors excluding gender are significant in determining financial literacy levels. Generally, Malaysians do not think that they have high financial knowledge, and the objective financial knowledge assessment reflects this as less than 40% of the respondents meet the minimum financial knowledge target score. There are no significant differences in the level of financial knowledge between 2015 and 2018 but financial attitude towards money usage worsened in 2018 compared to 2015. However, in terms of financial behaviour, Malaysians are generally active savers, set long-term financial goals, make considered and informed purchases, and keep a close watch on their personal affairs. Malaysians are financially vulnerable, but they seem more prepared in weathering the storm and having financial cushions for emergencies in 2018 compared to 2015. The findings suggest more effort is needed in educating Malaysians on fundamental financial concepts and ways to enhance their financial cushion.


This study is about a single-component cylindrical structured lens with a gradient curve that was used for bending laser beams. It operates under atmospheric conditions and bends the laser beam independently of temperature, pressure, polarity, polarization, magnetic field, electric field, radioactivity, and gravity. A single-piece cylindrical lens that can bend laser beams was developed. Lenses are made of transparent, tinted, or colored glass and are used to undermine or absorb the energy of laser beams. This study is not a work of a plasma filamentation, nor is related to a self-accelerating wave packet. Rather, it focuses on bending the laser beam as required. The dimensions of the light-bending curvatures vary depending on the source and the lens. This is an application of laser beam bending. The dimensions of the captured images are 500 $\times $ 700 mm.


In the recent years, the Web has been changing more and more towards the so-called Social Semantic Web. Rather than being based on the link structure between Web pages, the ranking of search results in the Social Semantic Web needs to be based on something new - we believe that it can be based on user preferences and underlying ontological knowledge. Modeling uncertainty is also playing an increasingly important role in these domains, since uncertainty can arise due to many uncontrollable factors. In this paper, we propose an extension of the Data log+/- ontology language with a model for representing preferences of groups of users and a model for representing the (probabilistic) uncertainty in the domain. Assuming that more probable answers are more preferable, this raises the question of how to rank query results, since the preferences of single users may be in conflict both with the probability-based preferences as well as with each other. To this end, we propose preference merging and aggregation operators, respectively, and study their semantic and computational properties. Based on these operators, we provide algorithms for answering k-rank queries for DAQs (disjunctions of atomic queries), which generalize top-k queries based on the iterative computation of classical skyline answers, and show that, under certain reasonable conditions, they run in polynomial time in the data complexity.


In this research, we propose an architectural solution to integrate the video voice over IP (V2oIP) services in campus environment network. Voice over IP (VoIP) technology has become a discussion issue for this time being. Today, the deployment of this technology on an organization truly can give a great financial benefit over traditional telephony. Therefore, this study is to analyze the V2oIP and investigate the performance areas evolved with the Quality of Service (QoS) delivered by video phone system. This study focuses on quality of voice and video, packet loss, delay time and jitter through the USB Video Phone and soft phone. In this study, network management system (NMS) is used to monitor and capture the performance of V2oIP in campus environment. In addition, the most apparent of implementing soft phone and USB phone in campus environment is to define the best situation (peak and non peak hours) that can be used in operational environment. Based on the finding result, it shows that users may experience V2oIP quality service degradations due to delays and losses in the LAN during peak hours.


Research over a period of 20 years has resulted in development of a battery operated unitary acoustic emission (AE) sensor which, when used with a standard active waveguide installation, can quantify soil slope displacement rates continuously and in near real‐time. The active waveguide is installed in a borehole through existing or anticipated shear zones, and comprises a steel tube with granular soil surround. The AE sensor is located at ground level and with the waveguide is encased in a cover. Deformation of the slope strains the granular backfill, which generates AE through rearrangement of the particles. The AE propagate
 as stress waves along the steel tube to the ground surface where they are detected and quantified by the sensor, which is used to provide alert text messages if pre‐determined thresholds are exceeded. The use of a reproducible waveguide allows standard interpretation of the generated AE to provide information on soil
 slope displacement rates, and the granular soil backfill generates measureable AE when the system is installed in slopes formed in 'quiet' fine grained soils. The approach monitors AE at high frequencies to exclude environmental background noise and hence ensure that false alarms are not generated. In rock
 slopes, the grouted waveguide is passive, with measured AE generated by rock deformation mechanisms. The sensors have been deployed on multiple sites in the UK and in Italy, Austria and Canada. At all sites performance of the AE sensors has been compared with traditional deformation monitoring instrumentation
 including ShapeAccelArray, inclinometer, extensometer and time‐domain reflectometry. Measurements from these field studies have demonstrated that generated AE are proportional to slope displacement rates. This paper outlines the AE measurement and the interpretation techniques developed, and presents field
 comparisons of measured AE trends and slope displacement rates obtained from extended trials at several sites. It is concluded that the AE technique can be used as a reliable early warning system for soil slope instability. Applications in rock slopes are promising but further work is required to link detected AE to rock deformation mechanisms and hence to derive thresholds as a basis for early warnings.


Background: Globally, diarrhea kills almost 1500 children daily. In diagnostics, molecular methods are replacing traditional assays. We aimed to investigate enteropathogens in children with and without diarrhea in Luanda, the capital of Angola. Methods: One hundred and ninety-four stool samples from 98 children with acute diarrhea and 96 children without diarrhea were investigated for 17 enteropathogens with multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: The median age of children was 10.5 months. Enteropathogens, bacteria, viruses and parasites were detected in 91%, 78%, 50% and 25%, respectively. A positive finding was significantly (P = 0.003) more common in diarrhea when testing for all pathogens combined, for bacteria alone and for viruses alone. More than one pathogen was found more frequently in diarrhea than in non-diarrhea stool samples, in 87% and in 59% (P < 0.0001), respectively. The median number (interquartile range) of pathogens detected was 3 (2) versus 1.5 (2; P < 0.0001), respectively. When age was taken into account, diarrhea was found to be associated with enterotoxigenic and enteroaggregative Escherichia coli, Shigella, Campylobacter, rotavirus, sapovirus and Cryptosporidium. Conclusions: Multiplex polymerase chain reaction detected enteropathogens in almost all stool samples of children in Luanda, albeit this occurred more often in diarrhea. Children with diarrhea showed more mixed infections than children without diarrhea.


This is the third volume in the series Studies in Ancient Greek narrative. It deals with the narratological category of space: how is space, including objects which function as 'props', presented in Greek narrative texts and what are its functions (thematic, symbolic, psychologising, or characterising)?How are longer descriptions organised and integrated into the story? Long deemed a mere ancilla narrationis, especially in narratives which precede the age of the realist novel, space turns out to play an important and multifaceted role in Greek literature.


Introduction: HIV/AIDS is a major public health problem with approximately 1600 new cases occurring every day. According to the global estimates by UNAIDS, the people living with HIV/AIDS was 33.4 million by the end of 2008, with 3.8 million being in South and South East Asia. In Malaysia, the introduction of HIV virus was estimated to be around early 1980's. Since then, according to the Ministry of Health Statistics, 87,710 confirmed HIV infected cases, 15,317 AIDS cases and 13,394 HIV/AIDS related deaths are reported by the end of 2009. Adults aged between 20 and 39 years constitute for more than half of the new HIV infections. Every day, more than 10 Malaysians are tested positive for HIV infection. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of HIV/AIDS infection among the medical students of Universiti Malaysia Sabah, a public medical school in Malaysia. Method: This study was a cross sectional questionnaire based study conducted at the School of Medicine, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. A specifically designed questionnaire was distributed to all the medical students on the first day of the semester. The questionnaires regarding knowledge were focused on various methods of transmission, high risk behaviours and preventative measures. Attitude towards HIV/AIDS patients, sexual behaviours, condom usage, sex education and resource allocation for HIV/AIDS patients were assessed. Result: A total of 155 medical students participated in this study, with the age ranging from 19 to 25 years. Majority gave correct responses for mode of transmission while only 60.6% had knowledge that HIV can be transmitted via kissing an infected person when oral ulcer is present. Concerning mother to child transmission, 72.3% responded that the transmission is in-utero and only 65.2% realized the transmission through breast milk. Regarding knowledge on high risk population for HIV infection, only 17.4% agreed for youth. 146 students (94.2%) had knowledge that HIV infection can be prevented by condom usage but only 69 students (44.5%) responded correctly the effectiveness of the condom. Majority of the respondents (83.2%) disagree for showing no sympathy towards HIV positive persons. Regarding various sexual behaviours, 43.2% and 35.5% approved for masturbation and oral sex respectively while 78.7% and 86.5% disagreed for anal sex and sex with changing partner respectively. 88 respondents (56.8%) agree for condom usage with every sexual encounter whereas 1 student believed that condom should never be used. Most of the students (98.7%) agreed for the need of sex education sessions. 90.3% did not believe that resource allocation for caring of HIV/AIDS patients is unworthy. Conclusion: Even among the medical students, the knowledge of mother to child transmission through breast feeding is weak and most of them believe that transmission is mainly in utero. Only a small International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health Vol. 4 No. 4 (2012) 318 percentage of medical students regard the youth as one of the high risk populations for HIV infection. Majority of the students acknowledge that condom can be preventive of HIV infection but they did not know the extent of effectiveness of the condom usage. Furthermore, only 56.8% agree for condom usage with every sexual encounter. Based on the findings of this study, knowledge regarding mother to child transmission and condom usage must be more emphasized in the medical curriculum so that the future doctors could play the leading role in better prevention of HIV/AIDS infection in the community.


The control of light with plasmonic devices in practical applications require dynamic tunability of localized surface plasmons. Employing phase change materials in plasmonic structure enables it to respond to light dynamically depending the external stimulate. This study investigates the response in presence of vanadium dioxide (VO2) phase transition for numbers of novel and classic problems. To illustrate the significance of optical spectrum tunability by VO2 two important functionalities for the phenomenon have been introduced. In the first application, a compact and ultrathin plasmonic metasurface is suggested for an ultra-short pulse shaping of transmitted pulse based on linear filtering principle of electromagnetic wave. It is demonstrated that the tunable optical filter by VO2 phase transition can compensate realtime input carrier frequency shifts and pulse span variations to stabilize the output pulse. Second application is dedicated to the field of intrachip optical communication which shows how VO2 phase transition can effectively switch a communicating antenna on and off. A substantial directional gain switching is obtained by employing VO2 phase transition to alternate resonances of a Yagi-Uda antenna elements. VO2 scattering functionality in absence of localized surface plasmons is studied to illustrate their promising performance in light reflection. Finally the behavior of localized surface plasmon resonators is studied and chimera stats which are the concurrent combination of synchronous and incoherent oscillations in a set of identical oscillators is shown for the first time in the optical regime. The effect of coupling strength on the phase scape/synchronization of the spaser-based devised oscillators is investigated.


In 1991, the transition of government in Ethiopia provided a new situation for religious communities. In 1995, the new constitution of Ethiopia made a separation between religion and state. The official religious policy has facilitated religious diversity, and communities that were marginalized during the Derg period have gained access to public space. This paper focuses on relations between Christian communities in the city of Awasa in the Southern Nations and Nationalities People's Regional State (SNNPRS), Ethiopia. The city of Awasa and the Sidama region has played an important role in the history of Protestant Christianity in Ethiopia. During the last two decades there has been an increase in the number of new denominations in Awasa. This has created new dynamics and negotiation of relations between the communities, resulting in cooperation and competition in public space.


: Polymer flooding is a chemical enhanced oil recovery method that improves the recovery of oil by controlling the mobility of water to oil phase. It uses polymer solutions to increase the viscosity of the displacing water thereby decreasing water/oil mobility ratio (Speight, 2013). The volumetric and displacement sweep efficiencies are positively affected by polymer flooding. The viscosity of the aqueous phase is increased due to the molecular size and structure of the polymer used. The main objective of this research was to study the ability of cornstarch (local polymer) to recover additional oil after conventional water flooding. The objective was successfully achieved by injecting four different unconsolidated samples (sand pack) with cornstarch solution at varying concentration of 500ppm, 1000ppm, 3000ppm, and 9000ppm. From the results of the experiment conducted, it was deduced that Cornstarch has the ability to recover an additional volume of oil about half the volume of oil recovered during conventional water flooding (i.e. if 50% of oil initially in place was recovered during water flooding, cornstarch can recover an additional 25% of the residual oil after water flooding). Also, higher concentrations of cornstarch reduce the recovery factor due to polymer adsorption on the rock surfaces which alters the rock wettability. To reduce the adsorption effect of Cornstarch, it is recommended that the concentration of Cornstarch be measured after the flooding experiments for a better understanding of the adsorption mechanism of cornstarch.


We study spatially non-homogeneous kinetic models for vehicular traffic flow. Classical formulations, as for instance the BGK equation, lead to unconditionally unstable solutions in the congested regime of traffic. We address this issue by deriving a modified formulation of the BGK-type equation. The new kinetic model allows to reproduce conditionally stable non-equilibrium phenomena in traffic flow. In particular, stop and go waves appear as bounded backward propagating signals occurring in bounded regimes of the density where the model is unstable. The BGK-type model introduced here also offers the mesoscopic description between the microscopic follow-the-leader model and the macroscopic Aw-Rascle and Zhang model.


This paper describes a structure and electrotransport properties of poly(ethylene terephthalate) track membrane (PET TM) modified by plasma of thiophene. It is shown that the deposition of the polymer on the track membrane surface by plasma polymerization of thiophene in case of forming a semipermeable layer results in creation of composite nanomembrane having in electrolyte solutions of asymmetry of conductivity - a rectification effect. It is caused by presence in the membrane of two layers with various functional groups, and also by changing of the pore geometry. Such type membranes can be used for creation of chemical and biochemical sensors.


This one-year qualitative, multiple case study investigates identity as constructed by four Arab women attending the preparatory programme of a Saudi Englishmedium university and then moving on to their freshman year. From a broadly poststructuralist perspective, constructions of identity are investigated in two different ways: firstly, from a longitudinal view, continuities and changes in participants' big narratives are examined and secondly, subject positions which emerge in selected small stories are analysed in more detail. Interpretation and analysis were guided by a second language learning theoretical framework which views the learner as integrated in their learning context. However, in order to reach a more nuanced understanding than narrative inquiry studies of identity which focus on extracting themes in terms of the individual learner, self-presentation, performance/positioning devices, the interactive accomplishment of talk and the wider social context were also examined. Shifting identity positions problematized continuity which created a complex picture of EL2 learner identity. Subject positions emerged in interaction which linked participants' wider social identities to their investments in language learning and their imagined selves. In positioning themselves as members of social groups, participants developed voices of resistance to contest institutional and patriarchal discourses and to create agentive spaces. Thus, through the use of an innovative methodology, this thesis contributes to an understanding of language learner, gender, language and religious identities in the Saudi context. It also makes a contribution to the understanding of transition into Englishmedium higher education in Saudi Arabia. Transition is seen as a destabilizing stage in a learning career and as a renegotiation of identity in order to engage with new learning practices and groups. Post-transition identities were constructed in escape narratives and performances of critical turning points. Only one participant performed a transitional narrative identity which indicated social, linguistic and academic engagement with her new learning/discourse community.