Since specific DNA binding proteins play many important roles in the regulation of cellular reactions including replication, transcription, and translation by the specific interactions of DNA binding proteins with DNA, the design and synthesis of sequence-specific DNA binding proteins is of great interest in modern chemistry and biology.

Chapter 1 introduces a strategy by which to design new protein structures recognizing new sequences of DNA. The results of experiments using new protein show that there is cooperation between the monomers in binding to DNA and each monomer recognizes the half-site of the dimer binding site.

Chapter 2 describes the advantage of palindromic sites and dimerization in DNA recognition according to the experimental results. The results also show that each monomer in a dimer recognizes one half-site of the dimer binding site irrespective of the relative orientation monomer in the dimer and the dimer binding site depends on the relative orientation of the two monomer in the dimer.

Chapter 3 shows that the monomer of DNA binding region of the v-Jun leucine zipper protein recognizes the dimer binding site. Our results support the possibility that two monomers of v-Jun might bind sequentially to the dimer site with dimerization of v-Jun occurring while bound.

Chapter 4 describes the design of a new protein recognizing a new 16 by site in DNA. Our results show that there is cooperation between monomers and all three monomers in the new peptide recognize unique half-sites in the proposed trimeric binding site.

Chapter 5 describes quantum mechanical calculations on the active site of cytochrome P-450cam to improve force constants for the molecular simulations of cytochrome P-450cam. Our results show that the size of iron ion is a function of its spin and oxidation state and plays a key role in the process of oxygenation.


Differences in perception of organic and conventional foods matter to food suppliers and retailers. Using survey data collected from 1,100 female residents of seven urban centers in Korea this study applies the logit technique to identify consumer and household characteristics that influence the perception differences regarding six attributes. Results indicate the importance of household income with regard to organic food preference and the opposite effect of education. Perceptions also differed across locations, while the effects of other characteristics varied in case of the six attributes. Food marketers must account for income, education and location of consumers to plan sales strategies.


The change in dielectric constant of ferroelectric materials as a function of electric field is the key to wide range of microwave application such as tunable filter, impedance matching network, and phase shifter. In this study, ferroelectric Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 (BST) films were grown on r-cut sapphire and polycrystalline sapphire (poly-sapphire) substrates by RF sputtering. The results of comprehensive structural diagnostics of the films are correlated with the dielectric constant and dielectric loss of a co-planar BST varactor, measured at a frequency range of 1~3 GHz. Textured BST films approximately 500 nm thick, grown on r-cut sapphire substrates, are characterized by high dielectric constant ≥ 650. However, polycrystalline BST films, grown on poly-sapphire substrates, are less strained, having dielectric constant range of 430 ~ 640.


With advancing age the left ventricle (LV) undergoes structural and functional changes, thereby creating the substrate for the development of diseases. One possible mechanism of the ageing of the heart is cellular senescence. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a marker of replicative ageing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diastolic function of LV and level of NT-proBNP in people of different ages free of cardiovascular diseases and to assess their relationship with LTL. Our data showed that old age is associated with diastolic dysfunction and increase in the levels of NT-proBNP. The group of older subjects had lower values of E/A (0.96+/-0.036 vs 1.27+/-0.03, p<0.001), Em/Am (0.9+/-0.035 vs 1.5+/-0.066) and higher values of IVRT (81+/-1.56 vs 70+/-1.23 s, p<0.001), DT (198+/-3.98 vs 175+/-2.82 s, p<0.001), that reflected impairment of LV relaxation. NT-proBNP level was higher in the elderly (100.82+/-7.1 vs 48.47+/-6.7 g/ml, p<0.01), but it did not correlate with LTL. The most sensitive to the age parameters of LV diastolic function (E/A and Em/Am ratio) were positively and independently of age associated with LTL (p<0.001). Older individuals with shorter LTL had significantly lower values of E/A ratio.

CONCLUSION
Telomere length appears to be a biomarker of myocardium ageing.


Comparing unintended pregnancy rates across states and within states across time could allow demographers to describe the impact of increasingly divergent state reproductive health policies. For example, California has greater access to subsidized contraception than Texas and comparing the two states' unintended pregnancy rates could illuminate the impact of their divergent policies. Unexpectedly, California's unintended pregnancy rate is estimated to be slightly higher. We identify and describe possible bias in the estimation of state unintended pregnancy rates arising from between-state variation in rates of induced abortion and the possibility of imperfect retrospective reporting of unintended pregnancies. We find that with imperfect (<90%) retrospective reporting of unintended pregnancy, the current method of estimating state unintended pregnancy rates could rank states inaccurately due differences in abortion rates. Between-state differences in rates of retrospective reporting of unintended pregnancy could also bias between-state comparisons of unintended pregnancy rates.


UNLABELLED
During last 50 years chemotherapy has played a very important part in the cancer treatment. However, success or failures of news drugs in one particular cancer its difficult to predict. In vitro chemosensitivity is an attractive method for knowing about responses of a tumor to ChT treatment and assess the best dose in the patient with cancer.

OBJECTIVE
To know brain tumors sensitivity against antineoplastic drugs.

METHODS
Five different drugs (carmustin, camptotecin, taxol, hydroxyurea and tamoxifen) were tested on short-term cultures from 7 patients with Glioblastoma multiforme, 15 patients with meningiomas and one patient with meduloblastoma. For testing chemosensitivity we used MTT assay, and we measured optic density by spectophotometry to 450 nm. RESULTS. A total of 49 measurement were done, getting 44 valid dose-result curves. For each drug we used from 10-2 M to 10-12 M gap, and IC50 result was representative of tumor sensitivity to the drug.

CONCLUSION
our data support MTT assays like valid method for measuring in vitro chemosensitivity in brain tumors to news drugs.


Studierstube is a system build to develop collaborative augmented reality applications. Interaction in this system is realised by means of the Personal Interaction Panel (PIP), composed of a notebook-sized handheld panel and a pen. Traditional interaction elements are projected on this panel to enable widget interaction and parameter manipulation. To create a user interface on this panel, each interaction object needs to be placed individually on the panel with an explicit transformation. This approach however implies that creating and changing the layout of a user interface takes a lot of time. This thesis presents a new system able to automatically generate graphical user interfaces in Studierstube. Therefore, all application's functions need to be specified by means of a tree of state variables and commands, whose structure is then analysed in order to compute a GUI for this application. The process used to generate the GUI is adopted by the PUC system presented by Nichols et al. in [4] [3].


DNA polymerase beta (pol beta) fills single nucleotide (nt) gaps in DNA produced by the base excision repair pathway of mammalian cells. Crystal structures have been determined representing intermediates in the 1 nt gap-filling reaction of pol beta: the binary complex with a gapped DNA substrate (2.4 A resolution), the ternary complex including ddCTP (2.2 A), and the binary product complex containing only nicked DNA (2.6 A). Upon binding ddCTP to the binary gap complex, the thumb subdomain rotates into the closed conformation to contact the otherwise solvent-exposed ddCTP-template base pair. Thumb movement triggers further conformational changes which poise catalytic residue Asp192, dNTP, and template for nucleotidyl transfer, effectively assembling the active site. In the product nicked DNA complex, the thumb returns to the open conformation as in the gapped binary DNA complex, facilitating dissociation of the product. These findings suggest that pol beta may enhance fidelity by an induced fit mechanism in which correct base pairing between template and incoming dNTP induces alignment of catalytic groups for catalysis (via thumb closure), but incorrect base pairing will not. The structures also reveal that pol beta binds both gapped and nicked DNA with a 90 degrees kink occurring precisely at the 5'-phosphodiester linkage of the templating residue. If the DNA were not kinked in this way, contact between the thumb and dNTP-template base pair, presumably important for the checking mechanism, would be impossible, especially when the gap is but a single nucleotide. Such a 90 degrees kink may be a mechanistic feature employed by any polymerase involved in filling gaps to completion.


Owing to the establishment of a procedure aiming at a reduction of the medical supply (numerus clausus), the French Community of Belgium had decided to introduce, at the end of the third year of medical studies (third candidature), a procedure of selective attribution of the certificate allowing for a unlimited medical practice. We assessed the predictive value of the results obtained during and at the end of the first candidature (first year of medicine) for the attribution of this certificate. We studied the results of the 225 students enrolled in the first candidature in medicine at the University of Liège during the academic year 1997-1998, and we correlated them to the subsequent attribution (1999-2000- and 2000-2001) of the certificate. The success of the first candidature in the first or second session is an important predicting factor towards the reception of the certificate. A non-authorization to continue the studies in medicine in case of failure in the first session or a non-authorization to repeat the first candidature in case of failure in the second session would have, respectively, a negative predictive value (NPV) of 91.9% and 97.4% and would allow to restream 111 students at the end of the first session or 39 students at the end of the first candidature. The results of the preliminary assessments mode during the month of January are also highly predictive of the chances to get the certificate. Among the 160 students who have not successfully passed a minimum of 3 exams, only 14 students obtained the certificate. The restreaming of those students would correspond to a NPV of 91.2%. Students who were not successful in a minimum of 2 exams would have less than 5% chance to obtain the certificate. In this case, 109 students would be restreamed (NPV = 95.4%). In conclusion, the selection of the students who will obtain, at the end of the third year of medicine, the certificate allowing them for an unlimited medical practice is obtained, in a large proportion, during the first candidature and especially after the session of January. In view of those results and considering the decree abolishing the selection at the end of the third year of medical studies, one could argue about the appropriateness of the current procedure, chosen by the French Community of Belgium, compared to other solutions prioritising an earlier selection of the future doctors.


The blast-furnace slag (BFS) has been characterized by chemical and phase composition to evaluate its hydration reactivity. It has high potential activity for its glassy structure, so its use to prepare new filling cementation material is possible. New backfilling cementation material composition has been formulated and optimized by activation of BFS. The optimal formula of new backfilling cementation material SL(Slag activated by lime) and SLG(Slag activated by lime and desulfurization gypsume) was 87% BFS ,13% lime and 78.4% BFS, 11.8% lime, 9.8% desulfurization gypsume respectively. Finally, the feature of cementation properties was analyzed through comparison between new cementation material and ordinary Portland cement with compressive strength, water requirement of normal consistence, setting time, bleeding water and slump. The result showed that material SL and SLG have superior performance to ordinary Portland cement used to mining cemented filling.


To explore the induction of monocyte/macrophage procoagulant activity in autoimmune disease, the BXSB murine model of systemic lupus erythematosus was studied. Splenic macrophage procoagulant activity rose coincident with age and the development of glomerulonephritis from 38 +/- 6 mU/10(6) macrophages at 1 mo to a maximum of 29,000 +/- 15,000 mU at 4 mo. Macrophages from 1-mo-old mice could be induced to express a 1,000-fold increase in monocyte/macrophage procoagulant activity when incubated with lymphocytes or lymphocyte supernatants from 5-mo-old mice. Plasma from 5-mo-old but not from 1-mo-old mice was able to induce the production of the lymphokine by cells from 1-mo-old animals. This lymphokine was not interleukin 1,2, or gamma interferon. We conclude that induction of monocyte/macrophage procoagulant activity parallels disease development in the male BXSB mouse, is dependent on the interaction between lymphocytes and plasma factors, and may be important in mediation of injury in lupus nephritis.


Mondor's disease or thrombophlebitis of the subcutaneous veins of the chest region is an uncommon condition and is rarely associated with breast cancer. From January 1980 to June 1990, 63 cases of Mondor's disease were diagnosed (57 women and 6 men). In 31 patients, no apparent cause was determined (primary disease), whereas in 32 cases, the disease was secondary because the etiopathogenesis could be discerned. The identified potential causes were three cases of myentasis (all in men), eight cases of accidental local trauma (seven in women), seven cases of iatrogenic origin (three surgical breast biopsies, one skin biopsy, one needle biopsy, one mastectomy, and one reconstruction operation), six cases of inflammatory process, and eight cases associated with breast cancer (all females). Three of the tumors were less than 1 cm in diameter. The authors performed conservative surgery in four patients and demolitive in the other four. In this series, the incidence of breast cancer in association with Mondor's disease was the highest yet reported (12.7%). It was concluded that Mondor's disease may at times be caused by breast carcinoma. This association is by no means exceptional and implies that mammography should always be performed for Mondor's disease, even when the results of a physical examination are negative.


PURPOSE
To describe an in vivo mouse model for the study of recurrent corneal erosion syndrome (RCES) in mice and to characterize the changes in alpha9 integrin expression during wound healing.

METHODS
Corneal epithelial debridement wounds of two sizes (1.5 and 2.5 mm) were made on the ocular surface of BALB/c mice and were evaluated at various times after wounding. Corneas were processed either as whole mounts and stained with propidium iodide and an antibody against alpha9 integrin or for bromodeoxyuridine analyses of cell proliferation. A separate study involved analyses of corneal wound healing over time in individual mice with large and small debridement wounds. Mice were anesthetized once per week and their corneas stained with fluorescein to assess the quality of the corneal epithelium. After 6 weeks, mice were killed and eyes processed for study by immunofluorescence in either whole mounts or frozen sections.

RESULTS
Whole mount confocal microscopy showed open wounds on the ocular surface of mice at 1 and 2 weeks after large wounds were created, but not after small wounds. In addition, alpha9 integrin was upregulated during healing, and changes were observed in alpha9 integrin localization at the limbus with large wounds but not with small wounds. Although only 1 of 16 corneas with small wounds had erosions at 1 and 2 weeks, 11 of 16 with large wounds had erosions. However, by 6 weeks, 13 of 16 eyes showed signs of erosion whether wounds were small or large. With large wounds, RCES corneas frequently showed numerous goblet cells adjacent to a limbus lacking alpha9 integrin. Corneas from mice with documented RCES showed both retention of alpha9 integrin and tenascin-C expression at the anterior stromal-epithelial interface as well as impaired relocalization of alpha3beta1 integrin to the basement membrane zone.

CONCLUSIONS
These data show that spontaneous recurrent corneal erosions occur in a mouse model after manual creation of a single wound by debridement. Differences between the healing of small (1.5 mm) and large (2.5 mm) wounds were observed. Large wounds often resulted in the presence of goblet cells on the central cornea and a loss of alpha9 integrin at the limbus. Small wounds never showed differences in the localization of alpha9 integrin at the limbus, and no goblet cells were observed in the central cornea. More studies are needed to understand the causes of erosions in these mice.


The in vivo high‐energy phosphorus metabolic profile and pH of an experimental intracerebral C6 glioma in rats was examined using surface coil 31P NMR spectroscopy. Initially, phosphorus‐containing metabolites of the glioma were characterized by in vivo 31P surface coil spectroscopy of subcutaneously implanted tumors and by high‐resolution NMR studies of perchloric acid (PCA) extracts of both freeze‐clamped subcutaneous tumor tissue and cultured cells. These studies demonstrated that the C6 glioma has reduced levels of phosphocreatine (PCr) compared to the levels found in normal rat brain. Thus, reduced spectral PCr levels were useful as a metabolic indicator for monitoring the spatial selectivity of tumor metabolism distinct from that of adjacent normal brain tissue. To maximize 31P NMR signals from intracerebral tumors, tumor cells were stercotaxically placed superficially in the brain. Proton magnetic resonance imaging (1H MRI) was used to determine the size and location of the resultant brain tumors in order to preselect rats with large superficial tumors for spectroscopic study. 31P NMR spectra of the glioma tumors revealed a consistent reduction in the PCr/ATP ratio, an increase in the Pi/ATP ratio, and a slightly increased tissue pH. No correlation was found between levels of Pi/ATP and tumor pH in subcutaneous or intracerebral gliomas and the amount of necrosis as determined histologically. This study demonstrates that phosphorus metabolites of an experimental brain tumor in the rat can be monitored in vivo with minimal contributions from adjacent normal brain tissue metabolites using surface coil 31P NMR spectroscopy. © 1988 Academic Press, Inc.


According to some literature, communities of practice should normally stem from a voluntary initiative within an organization, whose members share some knowledge or expertise they wish to improve. However, over time, we have seen that communities tend to be created within organizations, in order to attain objectives of learning and knowledge development. This represents a challenge in the context of a community of practice taking the form of a research network in partnership that brings together members with common interests certainly, but spread out in different organizations and even several countries in which they perform different types of work. Also, the community does not exist in a vacuum and the explanation for what happens within it does not lie solely within the way the group interacts; indeed the individuals are part of different organizations and thus have different priorities, in relation with these affiliations. In this context, our research objective was to determine the factors that facilitate or hinder cooperation within a community of practice composed by two groups of actors, community and university actors. We thus found that individuals' different work affiliations might not facilitate the work within the CoP and that ICT/web 2.0 tools are not always a solution to increase participation in a CoP. Although participants are somewhat familiar with the tools, they mostly seem content with receiving and accessing information, not searching for a more active participation. Some explications and solutions will be proposed.


Analysing the titles published in the research literature, Tochon (1991) observed that the thema of metacognition had its peak in 1988 and then a drop. A similar peak-then-drop phenomenon had been observed with a related concept in the '70s : confidence marking. This "wave" phenomena are not surprising when we consider the opacity and inoperability of many definitions, the absence of consensus on the main concepts, and, last but not least, the lack of valid and efficient instruments and methods having a high consequential validity, i.e. an important impact on learning, what Kirk (1997) calls "practical significance".


Asphalt binders have an inherent ability to reverse damage in the form of micro-cracks that is caused due to the repeated action of external loads. This reversal occurs during rest periods between load cycles. The phenomenon of crack reversal is referred to as autogenous or self-healing. The main objective of this project was to apply established principles of healing to investigate a novel technique to accelerate reversal of accumulated micro-crack in asphalt mixtures. This technique was developed and evaluated using a laboratory scale set up. Laboratory tests were used to evaluate the impact of thermal treatment on the fatigue cracking life of asphalt mixtures. Results from this study indicate that for two out of the three different types of asphalt mixtures, intermittent application of the thermal treatment resulted in approximately 50% increase in the fatigue cracking life of the mixture.


The tobacco-specific nitrosamine 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) was found to be a potent genotoxic agent, in the V79 cell line, when activated by liver and lung homogenates from polychlorinated biphenyl (Aroclor)-treated adult Syrian golden hamsters. The damage was observed in the metaphase as well as in the anaphase--telophase divisions. Liver and lung homogenates from non-induced adult hamster were less effective in activating NNK. Micronuclei were also induced by NNK activated by fetal liver and lung homogenates from fetuses on the 15th day of gestation. The observed aberrations: micronuclei, chromatid aberrations particularly chromatid-type exchanges, anaphase bridges with or without acentric fragments, were concentration (8-40 mM NNK)-dependent. A significant number of aberrations were observed. These results suggest that NNK induces chromosome damage when activated by adult and fetal tissues. This damage could play, at least in part, a role in the NNK-induced carcinogenesis observed in vivo and underlines the importance of this compound in the transplacental carcinogenesis induced by tobacco smoke.


BACKGROUND
Docosahexanoic acid (DHA) is an important constituent of the brain. Evidence from well-designed intervention trials of the long-term benefits of increasing DHA intake during pregnancy has been sparse.

OBJECTIVE
We evaluated global cognition, behavior, and attention at age 5 y in the offspring of Mexican women who participated in a randomized controlled trial of prenatal DHA supplementation.

DESIGN
A total of 1094 women were randomly assigned to receive 400 mg of either DHA or placebo/d from 18 to 22 wk of pregnancy until delivery. We assessed cognitive development and behavioral and executive functioning, including attention, in 797 offspring at age 5 y (82% of 973 live births) with the use of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA), the parental scale of the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2), and the Conners' Kiddie Continuous Performance Test (K-CPT). We compared the groups on raw scores, T-scores, and standardized scores, as appropriate. We examined heterogeneity by the quality of the home environment, maternal intelligence, and socioeconomic status.

RESULTS
There were no group differences for MSCA scores (P > 0.05), but the positive effect of the home environment at 12 mo on general cognitive abilities was attenuated in the DHA group compared with in the placebo group (P-interaction < 0.05). There were no differences between groups on the BASC-2. On the K-CPT, offspring in the DHA group showed improved mean ± SD T-scores compared with those of the placebo group for omissions (DHA: 47.6 ± 10.3; placebo: 49.6 ± 11.2; P < 0.01) with no differences (P > 0.05) for the other K-CPT scores or of the proportion who were clinically at risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorders after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons.

CONCLUSION
Prenatal exposure to DHA may contribute to improved sustained attention in preschool children. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00646360.


A 48-year-old woman presented to the emergency department complaining of a fiveto six-week history of persistent nasal drip, with fever and intermittent headaches for one month. She described a throbbing occipital headache radiating to the periorbital area bilaterally. She had been treated with several different antibiotics in the preceding four months for a presumptive diagnosis of sinusitis. Symptoms improved while on the medication, but then would quickly return once the antibiotic course was finished. At presentation, the patient had a temperature of 102.0°F, and her skin was flushed and hot to the touch. She appeared uncomfortable, lying on the stretcher holding her head. Nasal congestion with surrounding erythema and clear rhinorrhea were noted. Her tympanic membranes were normal bilaterally, and her pharynx appeared normal with no tonsillar hypertrophy or exudate. Her neck was supple with no tender lymphadenopathy. Her heart maintained normal rhythm and rate, and her lungs were clear to auscultation bilaterally. She was neurologically intact. The rest of her physical exam was unremarkable. Laboratory studies demonstrated a leukocytosis of 23.6 × 103/mcL with 89% segmented neutrophils and 6% lymphocytes. Besides an elevated alkaline phosphatase at 158, the rest of her laboratory evaluation and a CT scan of her brain were unremarkable. A lumbar puncture was attempted but unsuccessful. Ceftriaxone 2 g was given, and the patient was admitted for an MRI and fluoroscopic-guided lumbar puncture. An MRI of the brain subsequently demonstrated a left superior ethmoid cell defect causing CSF leakage through the ethmoid sinuses. (Photo.) CSF analysis was suggestive of bacterial meningitis, but no organisms were found. She was transferred to a tertiary care facility where she was successfully treated with endoscopic endonasal repair without recurrence of symptoms. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) fistulas can occur from traumatic and atraumatic causes. Although the occurrence of a CSF fistula is rare, traumatic causes are the most common etiology, occurring in 70 to 80 percent of cases. CSF fistulas can also occur from eroding tumors, congenital defects, ENT infections, or increased intracranial pressures such as those with pseudotumor cerebri. In any of these cases, there is a destruction or breakdown of the bony architecture resulting in a defect of the cribriform plate. Immediate action is necessary to prevent ascending meningitis, which occurs in a third of patients with CSF leaks. Whatever the cause of a CSF leak, patients most commonly present with unilateral clear rhinorrhea, which can easily be confused for allergic rhinitis. The fluid may be tested for beta-2 transferrin to confirm the CSF leak. The second most common presentation is active meningitis or a history of meningitis. Defects are most commonly in the sphenoid sinus and the ethmoid roof. Management depends on etiology. If due to traumatic events, patients who present with small fistulas may be treated conservatively with head elevation, bed rest, and antibiotics. For those who do not respond to conservative management or who have large or nontraumatic fistulas, immediate surgical repair is needed. IV acetazolamide is given for those with pseudotumor cerebri to attempt to decrease intracranial pressure. A VP shunt is placed for those who present with recurring leaks or who do not respond appropriately to diuretics. The etiology of this patient's CSF leak still remains uncertain. There was no recent trauma to suggest that a physical defect occurred. Cases of CSF leaks have been known to occur 20 years after a traumatic head injury, however, and this patient admitted to such an event 22 years previously. According to the patient, past CT scans and MRIs of the brain were negative, although small fistulas may be missed by radiological studies. Fatal Drip: Sinusitis and Meningitis


A salt metathesis reaction is a chemical process involving the exchange of bonds between two reacting chemical species, which results in the creation of products with similar or identical bonding affiliations. Hyperstructure theory is studied from the theoretical point of view and for its applications. In this paper, we provide some examples of hyperstructures associated with salt metathesis reactions, and we observe that these chemical reactions are examples of the phenomena when composition of two elements is a set of elements.


In theory, recourse to the grievance arbitration would appear to be an efficient means of controlling the abuse of powers (i.e. violations of the collective agreement) by the employer. Indeed, experience has borne out the truth of this affirmation. Mainly due to the management rights principle however, there still remain several important lacunae in this regard. On the one hand, by invoking the so-called management rights principle as a favorite means for circumscribing the arbitrator's jurisdiction, the Supreme Court of Canada has greatly diminished the efficacy of the arbitration process. This has occured primarily through the quashing of arbitration decisions either on the basis of error of law or else by limiting the arbitrator's discretion in disciplinary cases. On the other hand, it would be just as harmful to the efficiency of the arbitration process if arbitrators themselves were to abuse the management rights principle in interpreting and applying collective agreements. In general, arbitrators have proved to be highly conscious of this problem. By the same token, arbitrators have been faced with the problem of whether or not to discipline acts of insubordination even though employees may have been provoked by an abuse of authority on the part of the employer. All in all, arbitrators, by their attitude, appear to manifest a desire of ensuring the efficient functioning of the arbitration process, without acting to the detriment of management rights. In this regard, the Supreme Court of Canada, with the notable exception of Chief Justice Laskin, would seem to be fighting a rear-guard action by continually emphasizing management rights.


Technological improvements along with falling prices on photovoltaic (PV) panels and electric vehicles (EVs) suggest that they might become more common in the future. The introduction of distributed PV power production and EV charging has a considerable impact on the power system, in particular at the end-user in the electricity grid.In this PhD thesis PV power production, household electricity use and EV charging are investigated on different system levels. The methodologies used in this thesis are interdisciplinary but the main contributions are mathematical modeling, simulations and data analysis of these three components and their interactions. Models for estimating PV power production, household electricity use, EV charging and their combination are developed using data and stochastic modeling with Markov chains and probability distributions. Additionally, data on PV power production and EV charging from eight solar charging stations is analyzed.Results show that the clear-sky index for PV power production applications can be modeled via a bimodal Normal probability distribution, that household electricity use can be modeled via either Weibull or Log-normal probability distributions and that EV charging can be modeled by Bernoulli probability distributions. Complete models of PV power production, household electricity use and EV home-charging are developed with both Markov chain and probability distribution modeling. It is also shown that EV home-charging can be modeled as an extension to the Widen Markov chain model for generating synthetic household electricity use patterns. Analysis of measurements from solar charging stations show a wide variety of EV charging patterns. Additionally an alternative approach to modeling the clear-sky index is introduced and shown to give a generalized Angstrom equation relating solar irradiation to the duration of bright sunshine.Analysis of the total power consumption/production patterns of PV power production, household electricity use and EV home-charging at the end-user in the grid highlights the dependency between the components, which quantifies the mismatch issue of distributed intermittent power production and consumption. At an aggregate level of households the level of mismatch is shown to be lower.


Abstract The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential feasibility and utility of evidence-informed deliberative processes (EPDs) in low income country (LIC) contexts. EDPs are implemented in high and middle income countries and thought to improve the quality, consistency, and transparency of decisions informed by health technology assessment (HTA). Together these would ultimately improve the legitimacy of any decision making process. We argue—based on our previous work and in light of the priority setting literature—that EDPs are relevant and feasible within LICs. The extreme lack of resources necessitates making tough decisions which may mean depriving populations of potentially valuable health technologies. It is critical that the decisions and the decision making bodies are perceived as fair and legitimate by the people that are most affected by the decisions. EDPs are well aligned with the political infrastructure in some LICs, which encourages public participation in decision making. Furthermore, many countries are committed to evidence-informed decision making. However, the application of EDPs may be hampered by the limited availability of evidence of good quality, lack of interest in transparency and accountability (in some LICs), limited capacity to conduct HTA, as well as limited time and financial resources to invest in a deliberative process. While EDPs would potentially benefit many LICs, mitigating the identified potential barriers would strengthen their applicability. We believe that implementation studies in LICs, documenting the contextualized enablers and barriers will facilitate the development of context specific improvement strategies for EDPs.


Excerpt] The generic Central American shopping mall is an air-conditioned ark of plate glass and aluminum, tightly sealed against the city's boiling sea of poverty. Inside, scrubbed and suspicious cafeteria employees serve up expensive meals on orange trays. My lunch companion today is a young labor rights activist, in a country where military death squads run by big business have murdered thousands of union members. Currently a student of labor law, he has risked life and limb for the cause of international solidarity. It is the rule in this region of the world —much more so than in the U.S. — that to take on the boss is to play with your life. A couple years ago, he says, as I left work downtown, a truck pulled up behind me. Three guys in civilian clothes jumped out, forced me into my car, and made me to crouch down on my hands and knees. They were hitting me with their pistols and swearing at me. I was swearing back at them, to provoke them. I wanted them to kill me right there, not take me some place for torture. He has also witnessed how U.S. labor is in the cross hairs. Incredulously, he describes being clubbed by the Los Angeles police at a Justice for Janitors rally. I couldn't believe it — I didnt know the police were allowed to do that in the United States! he exclaims. Like other labor activists throughout the Americas, he is hoping that U.S. unions will invest more in strategic international campaigns. This, to him, is the key to saving lives, jobs, and living standards. His question is urgent: How are we going to link workers' struggles from country to country?


In this paper, we propose a feasible method to construct a virtual manipulator in a 3D graphics environment, which is equivalent to a real manipulator including its dynamics. For this purpose, we first calibrate the parameters of robot dynamics by the two classic algorithms. Unfortunately, both the classic methods are not practically stable because each motion pattern includes noise and error. To overcome this drawback, we indirectly absorb the position differences between experimental and calculated manipulators by three types of learning trees. Moreover, many neighbor dynamic motions are directly memorized by the same learning trees. As a result, when real and virtual robots are independently supervised by the PD control, their angular errors of rotational joints amount to zero. In addition, even though both robots are independently supervised as slave arms from a master arm by the same sequence of forces in a bilateral control based on the PD control, motion sequences of real and virtual slave arms equal to each other. As a result, a virtual manipulator can be used in a 3D graphics animation, which is truly replaced of a real manipulator.


Abundant evidence has been gathered in support of the concept that much of the Pacific margin of North America consists of allochthonous terranes that were accreted during Mesozoic and early Tertiary time. In particular, southern Alaska is almost completely composed of separate terranes whose stratigraphy and paleomagnetism indicate distant origins. The Bering Sea continental shelf is among the largest shelves in the world, almost half as large as Alaska itself. Some of the allochthonous terranes in Alaska probably continue beneath the continental shelf, but their distribution beyond the shoreline has not been determined. We believe that much of the continental shelf is probably composed of allochthonous terranes, in much the same way as southern Alaska. Geophysical data from the Bering continental shelf have been used to test this hypothesis. Although inconclusive without extensive drilling, multichannel seismic profiles and magnetic data indicate the composite character of the shelf basement. The magnetic anomalies can be separated into specific domains of limited extent. These magnetic variations suggest a corresponding variation of rock terranes beneath the shelf. In addition, multichannel seismic profiles show possible thrust faults within the shelf basement that could be sutures between separate terranes.


Significant lithological differences exist between the middle Wisconsinan Roxana Silt (loess) of the Upper Mississippi Valley (the valley north of 41.5°) and that of the type area near St. Louis, Missouri. Primary differences are that the Upper Mississippi Valley Roxana Silt is much thinner, finer textured, and more weathered than that of the type area. Extrapolation of radiocarbon dates brackets sedimentation of Upper Mississippi Valley Roxana Silt between 55 and 27 ka, which is in close agreement with dates from the type area. Radiocarbon dates and paleobotanical data indicate that the Upper Mississippi Valley Roxana Silt accumulated at a maximum long-term-average sedimentation rate of about 7 cm/1,000 yr within a boreal forest environment, whereas the type area Roxana Silt accumulated at a maximum long-term-average sedimentation rate of about 60 cm/1,000 yr within a prairie-like environment. Multiple regression analysis shows that more than 75% of the variance in thickness and texture between the Upper Mississippi Valley Roxana Silt and that of the type area is explained by parameters of source-valley width, source-valley azimuth, and distance of the depositional site from the source-valley. This indicates that although the lithologic characteristics and sedimentation rates between the two regions are quite different, they are consistent with a unified loess sedimentation sys- tem linked to the ancient Mississippi River valley.

A proglacial source for the Roxana Silt and a middle Wisconsinan advance of the Lauren-tide Ice Sheet is a topic of scientific debate because recent findings show a lack of Roxana-correlative till deposits in the Midwest. Alternative hypotheses include a glaciolacustrine source, a regional slope erosion source, and a cold-climate desert dust source. Tests of these hypotheses support a proglacial origin for the Roxana Silt. Multiple regression analysis of loess thickness and texture, along with paleobotanical evidence, indicates that the Roxana Silt was blown from the ancient Mississippi Valley, rather than from a cold-climate desert source or from flood plains linked to a glaciolacustrine source. Geochemical and mineralogical composition of the Upper Mississippi Valley Roxana Silt, compared to out-wash-derived Peoria Loess, indicates that detritus from regional hillslope erosion is not a unique component of the Roxana Silt. Combined data indicate that the midcontinental Roxana Silt was derived as loess blown from flood plains of middle Wisconsinan proglacial rivers between 55 and 27 ka.


Reliable data transmission in optical wireless communication is on the premise of the successful establishment of the optical link. In this paper, we propose an ultra-wide field-of-view (FOV) acquisition scheme, which combines the fisheye lens and Voigt anomalous dispersion optical filter (VADOF) to achieve rapid establishment of wireless optical links. Furthermore, the ultra-wide FOV signal-receiving model for this acquisition scheme is presented to analyze the receiving performance. This acquisition scheme utilizes the fisheye lens to obtain the ultra-wide FOV, not only simplifying the system architecture of the spatial acquisition, but also reducing the acquisition time; a VADOF with ultra-narrow-pass bandwidth is adopted to resist the strong background radiation induced by the ultra-wide FOV. For this ultra-wide FOV acquisition scheme, the mathematical model of long-term average acquisition probability (LTAAP) is derived based on the gamma-gamma (GG) distribution. In an atmospheric turbulence environment, the average signal count and the acquisition probability are both random variables; therefore, the probability density of the average signal count needs to be considered and LTAAP can be calculated based on the GG distribution. Comprehensive analysis and numerical results of the key parameters of this ultra-wide FOV acquisition scheme, such as LTAAP, false-alarm probability, signal-to-noise ratio, incident angle of beam, scintillation index, and acquisition threshold, provide an advantageous basis for the actual spatial acquisition system.


Guided bone regeneration has been shown to be a successful technique to increase the ridge width for dental implant placement. However, in cases of severe or localized horizontal bone deficiencies, achieving sufficient soft tissue mobilization to ensure primary wound closure over the augmented area can be difficult. This article describes a buccal periosteal pocket flap proposed to overcome these challenges. The flap design results in a periosteal pocket, which allows filling of bone-grafting material while facilitating primary tension-free soft tissue closure by splitting of the mucosa. The flap gives stability to the augmented volume within the pocket. Ridge widths of five patients consecutively treated with this technique were recorded before and 24 weeks after augmentation. Results from these cases showed a mean 389% ± 301% gain in bone width (range, 50% to 1,420%) when the periosteal pocket flap design was used. Data obtained from this study suggest that the periosteal pocket flap design could be a predictable alternative flap approach for correction of severe or localized horizontal bone deficiencies.


The main aim of this paper is to provide a characterization of the response space for questions using a taxonomy grounded in a dialogical formal semantics. As a starting point we take the typology for responses in the form of questions provided in (Lupkowski and Ginzburg, 2016). This work develops a wide coverage taxonomy for question/question sequences observable in corpora including the BNC, CHILDES, and BEE, as well as formal modelling of all the postulated classes. Our aim is to extend this work to cover all responses to questions. We present the extended typology of responses to questions based on a corpus studies of BNC, BEE and Maptask with include 506, 262, and 467 question/response pairs respectively. We compare the data for English with data from Polish using the Spokes corpus (205 question/response pairs). We discuss annotation reliability and disagreement analysis. We sketch how each class can be formalized using a dialogical semantics appropriate for dialogue management.


The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a large collaborative effort aimed at the design and operation of an observatory dedicated to very high-energy gamma-ray astrophysics in the energy range from a few tens of GeV to above 100 TeV, which will yield about an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity with respect to the current major arrays (H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS). Within this framework, the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics is leading the ASTRI project, whose main goals are the design and installation on Mt. Etna (Sicily) of an end-to-end dual-mirror prototype of the CTA small size telescope (SST) and the installation at the CTA Southern site of a dual-mirror SST miniarray composed of nine units with a relative distance of about 300 m. The innovative dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder optical solution adopted for the ASTRI Project allows us to substantially reduce the telescope platescale and, therefore, to adopt silicon photo-multipliers as light detectors. The ASTRI mini-array is a wider international effort. The mini-array, sensitive in the energy range 1–100 TeV and beyond with an angular resolution of a few arcmin and an energy resolution of about 10–15%, is well suited to study relatively bright sources (a few ×10−12 erg cm−2 s−1 at 10 TeV) at very high energy. Prominent sources such as extreme blazars, nearby wellknown BL Lac objects, Galactic pulsar wind nebulae, supernovae remnants, micro-quasars, and the Galactic Center can be observed in a previously unexplored energy range. The ASTRI mini-array will extend the current IACTs sensitivity well above a few tens of TeV and, at the same time, will allow us to compare our results on a few selected targets with those of current (HAWC) and future high-altitude extensive air-shower detectors.


Engineered two-dimensional
(2D) layered materials possess unique
physical properties with the potential to improve the performance
and endurance of future electronic and energy devices. Here, we report
the growth of complex 2D nanonetworks of crystalline tin selenide
(SnSe) via liquid injection chemical vapor deposition using a single-source
diselenoether precursor. Potential applications of SnSe span a wide
range of technological areas, particularly in energy devices. The
synthesized SnSe networks were composed of high surface area interconnected
junctions of one-dimensional (1D) nanowires in a 2D plane; such complex
SnSe nanonetwork structures have not previously been reported. The
SnSe networks possessed an orthorhombic Pnma 62 crystal structure
throughout, with the individual network branches uniformly orientated
along the and directions. The width
of the
individual interconnected nanowire branches ranged from 120 to 250
nm with lengths ranging from 1 to 4 μm. The networks of 1D nanowires
had a layer thickness of 88 ± 10 nm. A growth mechanism for the
formation of these networks is proposed based on the minimization
of high surface energy planes. We also highlight the potential of
SnSe nanonetworks as an anode material for Li-ion batteries with galvanostatic
testing showing an initial discharge capacity in excess of 1000 mAh
g–1 with a 92% capacity retention after 50 cycles
at a specific current of 100 mA g–1.


Climate change driven ocean warming and acidification is potentially detrimental to the sensitive planktonic life stages of benthic marine invertebrates. Research has focused on the effects of acidification on calcifying larvae with a paucity of data on species with alternate developmental strategies and on the interactive effects of warming and acidification. To determine the impact of climate change on a conspicuous component of the intertidal fauna of southeast Australia, the development of the noncalcifying lecithotrophic larvae of the sea star Meridiastra calcar was investigated in the setting of predicted ocean warming (+2 to 4 °C) and acidification (−0.4 to 0.6 pH units) for 2100 and beyond in all combinations of stressors. Temperature and pH were monitored in the habitat of M. calcar to place experiments in context with current environmental conditions. There was no effect of temperature or pH on cleavage stage embryos but later development (gastrula‐larvae) was negatively effected by a +2 to 4 °C warming and there was a negative effect of −0.6 pH units on embryos reaching the hatched gastrula stage. Mortality and abnormal development in larvae increased significantly even with +2 °C warming and larval growth was impaired at +4 °C. For the range of temperature and pH conditions tested, there were no interactive effects of stressors across all stages monitored. For M. calcar, warming not acidification was the dominant stressor. A regression model incorporating data from this study and projected increasing SST for the region suggests an increase in larval mortality to 70% for M. calcar by 2100 in the absence of acclimation and adaptation. The broad distribution of this species in eastern Australia encompassing subtropical to cold temperate thermal regimes provides the possibility that local M. calcar populations may be sustained in a warming world through poleward migration of thermotolerant propagules, facilitated by the strong southward flow of the East Australian Current.


The purpose of this study was to examine the inter-individual variability in the patterns of responses for mechanomyographic (MMG) and electromyographic (EMG) amplitude and mean power frequency (MPF) of the vastus lateralis (VL) and rectusfemoris (RF) muscles during isometric ramp muscle actions of the leg extensors. Fifteen participants (mean +/- SD age = 24 +/- 4 years) performed two or three 6-s isometric ramp muscle actions with linear increases in torque from 15% to 90% of the highest maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) torque. Surface MMG and EMG signals were simultaneously recorded from the VL and RF muscles. The composite (averaged across subjects) and individual patterns of responses for the normalized MMG and EMG amplitude and MPF vs. isometric torque relationships were analyzed. The composite patterns for MMG amplitude for the VL and RF muscles were fit with cubic models, although, only 87% of the individual patterns (13 of 15 subjects) exhibited the same cubic pattern as the composite. For MMG MPF, the composite relationships were also cubic, but only 27% (4 subjects) and 40% (6 subjects) of the individuals exhibited the same patterns for the VL and RF respectively. 60% (8 subjects) of the individual EMG amplitude patterns of responses matched the same curvilinear composite patterns for the VL and RE, while only 7% (1 subject) and 27% (4 subjects) of the EMG MPF responses were similar to the composite models for the VL and RF muscles, respectively. Therefore, since the individual patterns did not always match the composite relationships (i.e., inter-individual variability), these findings suggested that the MMG and EMG amplitude and MPF vs. isometric torque relationships should be examined on a subject-by-subject and muscle-by-muscle basis during isometric ramp muscle actions.


Aging refers to the processes by which the mobility and bioavailability/toxicity of metals added to soil decline with time. Although long-term aging is a key process that needs to be considered in the risk assessment of metals in field soils, the long-term aging of Cu added to soils has not been studied in detail. In this study, the effects of aging on Cu isotopic exchangeability, total Cu in soil pore water, pore water free Cu2+ activity, and "available" Cu measured by the technique of diffusive gradient in thin film (DGT-Cu) were investigated in 19 European soils at two total Cu concentrations shown to inhibit plant (tomato) growth by 10 and 90%. After addition of Cu, the soils were leached, incubated outdoors, and sampled regularly over a 2-year period. The results showed that when water soluble Cu was added to soils, concentrations of Cu determined by each of the techniques tended to decrease rapidly initially, followed by further decreases at slow rates. Soil pH was a vital factor affecting the aging rate of Cu added to soils. The relatively low solubility products and low isotopic exchangeabilities of Cu in calcareous soils immediately after addition of soluble Cu2+ suggested Cu2+ probably precipitated in these soils as Cu2(OH)2CO3 (malachite) and Cu(OH)2. Isotopic dilution was found to be a robust technique for measuring rates of long-term aging reactions. A semi-mechanistic model was developed to describe the rate and extent of Cu aging across soils as affected by soil pH and other physicochemical parameters. Although not measured directly, it is inferred from soil physicochemical controls on Cu aging that processes of precipitation/nucleation of Cu in soils and hydrolysis of Cu2+ followed by a diffusion process controlled the decrease in Cu availability with time. The model was validated by testing it against field soils with different contamination histories and was found to successfully predict the isotopic exchangeability of Cu added to soils based on two parameters: soil pH and time. Introduction


The articles found in this issue of the Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch (53, 2018) stem from a conference held in Zurich in October 2016. The theme was to discern the role and processes of conscious selection in the medieval transmission of texts. The present introduction surveys basic methodological considerations. First, assessing the dissemination of a text depends on studying manuscripts. Oral transmissions left only indirect testimony. Manuscript transmission was itself subject to considerable losses related to respective types of content, physical packaging, and the use made of the implicated texts and books. (Acts of god were a different matter, and of course a blanket phenomenon with variable but important local consequences.) Changes of medium, including recopying in new types of script and in new forms of assemblage (e.g., joining texts previously transmitted in booklets), likewise caused losses. Merely counting extant manuscripts can mislead and must be complemented by the evidence of textual reception and presence, such as quotations and mentions in early library catalogues. The three processes named in the present title reflect the lessons of the case studies presented at the conference. Collecting texts made for a basis from which selecting occurred, and that selecting sometimes, but not always, promoted the building of a canon.


Using data from Australia and the United States, the authors explore the effect of spouses' contribution to family income on how housework is divided. Consistent with exchange‐bargaining theory, women decrease their housework as their earnings increase, up to the point where both spouses contribute equally to income. In other respects, gender trumps money. The base level of housework for women is much higher. Among the small percentage of couples who are in the range where women provide 51%–100% of household income, the change in housework is opposite what exchange theory predicts: couples that deviate from the normative income standard (men make more money than women) seem to compensate with a more traditional division of household work.


The study assessed the problem of Human-Elephant Conflicts in Vilima Vitatu village in Manyara region Tanzania. The study aimed at Determining the causes of human-elephant conflicts in Vilima Vitatu village,Examining the most common human-elephant conflicts occurring in Vilima Vitatu village, exploring the attitudes of local community at Villima Vitatu village towards the problem of elephants and evaluating the measures taken by local communities to mitigate existing human- elephant conflicts in Vilima Vitatu village. In this study both secondary and primary data were collected from a sample of 135 respondents who were selected randomly and purposively. Content analysis, Excel and SPSS were applied in data analysis generated for this study which involved both qualitative and quantitative data. The study revealed that the increase of human population and expanding agriculture activities has increased the potential for conflicts between elephants and human beings in Vilima Vitatu village. The majority of respondents had a negative attitude towards elephants. Elephants bring out the supreme fear to the local people because of their potential to damage large ranges of crops, property and cause injury and loss of life. HEC extremely affected the life standards of farming communities particularly by damaging crops, thereby leading to food insecurity in households. Consequently, farmers kill elephants or turn a blind eye to poaching when they reflect on the damage they have caused. In mitigating HEC, local people use different traditional methods to minimize them. These include: using fire around field margins or at animal access points to fields, disturbance, and guarding and use of chili as a buffer crop. The study suggested that, land use planning and law enforcement are necessary in resolving the HEC.


Background— The aim of this study was to estimate the impact of thrombophilia on risk of first childhood stroke through a meta-analysis of published observational studies. Methods and Results— A systematic search of electronic databases (Medline via PubMed, EMBASE, OVID, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library) for studies published from 1970 to 2009 was conducted. Data on year of publication, study design, country of origin, number of patients/control subjects, ethnicity, stroke type (arterial ischemic stroke [AIS], cerebral venous sinus thrombosis [CSVT]) were abstracted. Publication bias indicator and heterogeneity across studies were evaluated, and summary odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated with fixed-effects or random-effects models. Twenty-two of 185 references met inclusion criteria. Thus, 1764 patients (arterial ischemic stroke [AIS], 1526; cerebral sinus venous thrombosis [CSVT], 238) and 2799 control subjects (neonate to 18 years of age) were enrolled. No significant heterogeneity was discerned across studies, and no publication bias was detected. A statistically significant association with first stroke was demonstrated for each thrombophilia trait evaluated, with no difference found between AIS and CSVT. Summary ORs (fixed-effects model) were as follows: antithrombin deficiency, 7.06 (95% CI, 2.44 to 22.42); protein C deficiency, 8.76 (95% CI, 4.53 to 16.96); protein S deficiency, 3.20 (95% CI, 1.22 to 8.40), factor V G1691A, 3.26 (95% CI, 2.59 to 4.10); factor II G20210A, 2.43 (95% CI, 1.67 to 3.51); MTHFR C677T (AIS), 1.58 (95% CI, 1.20 to 2.08); antiphospholipid antibodies (AIS), 6.95 (95% CI, 3.67 to 13.14); elevated lipoprotein(a), 6.27 (95% CI, 4.52 to 8.69), and combined thrombophilias, 11.86 (95% CI, 5.93 to 23.73). In the 6 exclusively perinatal AIS studies, summary ORs were as follows: factor V, 3.56 (95% CI, 2.29 to 5.53); and factor II, 2.02 (95% CI, 1.02 to 3.99). Conclusions— The present meta-analysis indicates that thrombophilias serve as risk factors for incident stroke. However, the impact of thrombophilias on outcome and recurrence risk needs to be further investigated.


Background: The universal importance of breastfeeding and human milk are demonstrated by different researches but despite the importance only 37% of children are exclusively breastfed worldwide. Women employment is one way of ensuring women's empowerment but it is also one of the commonly mentioned factors contributing for the low prevalence of breastfeeding. Hence, there needs to be a conducive work environment that accommodates maternal needs not to fall back from empowerment and to improve breastfeeding practice. There are not many studies that focus on work environment in relation with employers' experience and their perception of breastfeeding of employed mothers. Therefore this study aims to explore employers' experience and perception of employed mothers' breastfeeding experience in different working environments in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Methods: A descriptive phenomenology strategy was employed in this study and purposive sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. Data was collected from 10 employers from private, governmental and non-governmental institutions through an in-depth interview. Thematic data analysis was performed where collected data was organized, coded and categorized into themes to give meaningful contributions to answering the research questions.Results: Understanding breastfeeding, current maternity leave, perception of breastfeeding supporting conditions and mother-friendly work environment were the themes generated after analysis. Almost all employers in this study recognized the importance of breastfeeding despite the different work environments they worked in and they also acknowledged the importance of making working environment mother-friendly for stability and motivation of employed mothers.Conclusions: Providing mothers with a friendly environment is understood as a positive thing by employers. The current maternity leave of three months has low acceptance and both onsite child care center and six-month maternity leave are believed to help in creating a mother-friendly work environment despite their pros and cons.


The literature on shamanism and related topics is extensive, but has in general been biased toward curing and trance; the political and historical significance of shamanic activities has been largely neglected. The contributors to" Shamanism, History, and the State"--distinguished anthropologists and historians from England, Australia, and France--show that shamanism is not static and stable, but always changing as a result of political dynamics and historical processes.Contributors are Tamsyn Barton, Sysan Bayly, Mary Beard, Maurice Bloch, Peter Gow, Roberte N. Hamayon, Stephen Hugh-Jones, Caroline Humphrey, and Nicholas Thomas."The importance of this collection lies in the painstaking, many-sided ways in which it shows 'shamanism' to be a multifarious and continuously changing 'dialogue' or interaction with specific, local contexts. . . . Thus, rather than tackling the issue in principle, this collection tries to demonstrate through 'case studies' just how different 'shamanism' becomes if seen through a lens sensitive to history and the influence of institutions, such as the state, which seem far removed from it. I think the demonstrations add up to an impressive force." --Michael Taussig"This new, ably edited volume provides . . . chapters that are rich in historic detail and that provide insights into general cultural processes and social interactions." --"Historian"Nicholas Thomas is Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow, Department of Prehistory and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra. He is the author of "Out of Time: History and Evolution in Anthropological Discourse. "Caroline Humphrey, author of "Karl Marx Collective: Economy, Society and Religion in a Siberian Collective Farm, " is Fellow of King's College and Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge.


Unfettered global communication through the internet has facilitated a massive intrusion of unsolicited commercial email messages, commonly known as spam. Currently accounting for as much as 65 per cent of all email, spam leads to productivity costs for businesses each year and is increasingly being used for the commission of crime. This paper discusses the increasing sophistication of the techniques used to obtain email addresses, and outlines and critiques a selection of legislation which aims to reduce or remove spam. It also examines a range of measures aimed at preventing spam from reaching its intended targets. It is argued that the mitigation of spam can only be achieved through a holistic approach taken by governments, law enforcement agencies, internet service providers, corporations and consumers. Toni Makkai Director Context 'Spam' is an electronic version of the direct 'junk mail' placed in domestic and business post, and/or in newspapers and magazines on a daily basis. The key differences between spam and junk mail are that the volume of spam is far greater, the intrusion of spam is far greater and the avoidance of spam is far more difficult. Spam is email sent to a large number of people who do not request it, detailing products or services in which they may have no interest. It is sent by people who disguise their identity and whom it is difficult, if not impossible, to locate or deter. About 95 per cent of spam is concerned with marketing the provision of goods and/or services (Gaudette & Chouinard 2004). Although the United States remains the largest source of spam (an estimated 60 per cent of spam messages originate from the US), it is clearly a global phenomenon (Gaudette & Chouinard 2004). Figures concerning the volume of spam tend to be produced by email filtering companies and/or from projections based on current spam activity identified by such filtering. Because the volume and nature of spam filters differ, so too do the figures produced. However, what remains clear is that the proportion of spam present in ordinary email is rising. A global filtering company, Symantec (2004), noted that in June 2003, 49 per cent of the email messages it filtered were spam. In June 2004, of the 104 billion email messages it filtered, 65 per cent were spam. By December 2004 that figure was 67 per cent (Dunn 2005). Why send spam? Spam is simply a more pervasive form of direct marketing and works on the simple premise that, although the vast number of recipients will reject it, a minority will read and/or respond to the message. The costs of communicating via email are very competitive, the response rate required to generate a profit is minuscule, and the likelihood of some responses being received is a certainty. For example, the cost of sending a single email has been estimated at between US$0.000082 and US$0.000030 (McCurley 1998) and the cost of obtaining a single email address has been estimated at US$0.00032 (Cerf & Swindle 2002). In one case, a response rate of 0.0023 per cent led to sales of US$1 ,500 at a cost to the spammer of only US$350 (Wall Street Journal 2002, cited in OECD 2004: 9). In a recent US study, 33 per cent of respondents clicked on the spam email to solicit further details and seven per cent actually ordered a product or service (Fallows 2003: 26). If spam recipients respond in any way to the emails they receive, they will inevitably assist in the continued perpetuation of spam. Dissemination Spam can only be sent to genuine email addresses. Although spammers originally obtained their addresses from internet sites such as chat rooms, they have begun to use a more complex range of methods. Some of these rely upon the reaction of the email recipient to the action of the spammer. Thus, a spammer may target corporate email addresses, such as or . Because such sites are created to facilitate customer relations, all emails receive a response and confirm the validity of the email address. …


Novel functional temperature-sensitive amphiphilic P-containing polymers were synthesized by complex-radical ternary polymerization of vinylphosphonic acid (VPA), styrene (S), and maleic anhydride (MA). Charge transfer complexes (CTCs), complex-formation constants (Kc) between acceptor and donor monomer systems and the complexed monomer reactivity ratios were investigated by 1H-NMR analysis. Contrary to theoretical predictions, the VPA…S complex is more active as compared to MA…S complex in the ternary system since VPA monomer can form the CTC both with S monomer and strong H-bonded complex with MA monomer. The terpolymer compositions, characterizations, and structure–property relationships of a series of poly(VPA-co-S-co-MA)s were investigated by GPC, FTIR, Raman, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, DEPT-135, 31P-NMR, TGA-DSC, DMA, XRD, viscometry, and titration. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012


The prodigiosin was isolated from Serratia marcescens and the production process was optimized by response surface methodology-central composite design (CCD). The bactericidal efficiency of prodigiosin was analyzed against antibiotic resistant pathogens. The maximum yield of prodigiosin (70.4023 g) was achieved per kg of tannery fleshing at optimized condition time, 81.2 h; temperature, 29°C; pH, 6.8; moisture, 50%. The prodigiosin exhibited complete inhibition of the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa compared with other conventional antibiotics which is confirmed by disc diffusion method, LIVE/DEAD assay and fluorescence emission image. Prodigiosin, the bioactive compound was produced from tannery solid waste in solid state fermentation. The antimicrobial effect prodigiosin antibiotic resistant pathogens may make a possible platform in future for bacterial disinfection in clinical/ pharmaceutical wastewater.


Liberia has had a turbulent recent history, and today deals with extreme poverty, high crime, ethnic tensions, widespread impunity and corruption. In addition to this, there is a complex and contradictory relationship between law and religion, which further complicates the ongoing efforts towards peace building and reconstruction. This paper aims to highlight the fundamental question of whether certain laws and human rights - in this case, religious or cultural freedom - can or should be actively promoted by the state and by society in such a unique scenario as fragile, post-conflict Liberia. The paper first addresses this question with respect to the country's contradictory dual-justice system, highlighting the problems that arise when the weak state struggles to enforce statutory and human rights law, while much of the population still sees legitimate justice to be rooted in traditional mechanisms, such as trials by ordeal, which oppose these laws. The second section of the paper considers the extent to which all Liberians enjoy religious freedom. It is shown that, while Liberia is de facto a secular state, it is essentially de jure a Christian country. Although there are historically and presently few indications of unrest based strictly on religion, it is argued that there is underlying religious tension that makes it dangerous for the state or society to suggest any major integration of Islam into public life. Some of this tension can be attributed to the growing number of Pentecostal and charismatic churches, which are especially vocal about the encroachment of non-Christians. However, because of Liberia's fragility, it might be the case that promoting religious equality and actively eliminating the Christian bias might cause more harm than good in Liberia today.


Preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction (FGR) are common and costly obstetric complications. Both conditions are associated with immediate and remote mortality and morbidity for the mother and the offspring. Impaired placentation and aberrant maternal systemic responses are implicated as pathophysiological mechanisms in preeclampsia and FGR. Both preeclampsia and FGR are known to have a clear genetic basis. This study has investigated the roles of several candidate genes including those previously associated with diabetes (TCF7L2, FTO, PPAR-g, CDKN2B-AS1 and KCNJ11), and epidermal growth factor (EGF). Functional consequences of variants within the EGF gene were also investigated.

A bidirectional association between type 2 diabetes (T2D) and preeclampsia is consistently reported, whereby each condition is associated with an increased risk of the other. Furthermore, fetal growth restriction, which complicates 30% of preeclamptic pregnancies, predisposes the offspring to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) later in life. 11 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) reproducibly associated with T2D in the TCF7L2, FTO, PPAR-y, CDKN2B-AS1 and KCNJ11 genes were investigated as susceptibility loci for preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction in a maternal case control study. The study group consisted of 448 white western European women with preeclampsia, 673 controls with no evidence of preeclampsia, 243 women with pregnancies complicated by FGR, and 570 controls with no evidence of growth restriction. A maternal haplotype on the T2D region of the CDKN2BAS1 gene on chromosome 9p21 was found to be a risk variant for fetal growth restriction (P=O.005).The other 9 investigated SNPs in TCF7L2, FTO, PPAR-y, and KCNJ11 showed no association with growth restricted pregnancies. None of the SNPs investigated showed an association with preeclampsia. These findings suggest that some maternal diabetogenic risk variants are associated with an altered risk of FGR pregnancy but not preeclampsia. The results require replication in a larger sample and fetal-maternal gene interactions merit investigation.

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is described as a major regulator of the placentation process. It also helps to maintain an adequate blood supply to the growing fetus through its effects on umbilical vessel tone. Investigating the role of two genetic variants of the EGF gene in susceptibility to preeclampsia and FGR showed that the maternal variants, rs4444903 in the 5'UTR and rs2237051 in exon 14 of the EGF gene has no effect on the risk of preeclampsia or FGR pregnancy. The G allele of the SNP rs4444903 was associated with higher systolic blood pressure measures in the control group.

The G allele of the rs4444903 and the A allele of rs2237051 have been associated with increased risk for FGR and lower birth weight in a previous study from our laboratory. This led to investigations to characterize the functional consequences of the two SNPs in the EGF gene on transcription, translation and ribonucleic acid (RNA) splicing using a variety of methods. These experiments have shown that the G allele of rs4444903 was transcriptionally more active than the A allele in hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) and more active than EGFP on its own in choriocarcinoma (Jeg-3) cell lines using a luciferase reporter gene assay. There was no effect of this variant on translational efficiency in the cell lines investigated using reporter gene assays, or in a cell free environment using an in vitro translation assay. DNA-protein interaction was investigated using nuclear extract from HepG2 cells to further define the mechanism by which the G allele exerts its higher transcriptional activity. Initial experiments suggest that the Sp1 transcription factor interacts with and represses the A allele of the rs4444903 SNP. The study also demonstrated no evidence of higher activity of the G allele on EGF expression in vivo using term placental tissues. It was expected that higher EGF expression as a function of genotype at rs4444903 SNP may lead to down regulation of the EGFR in the placenta, which was not confirmed in this study. SNP rs2237051 in exon 14 of the EGF gene is in strong linkage disequilibrium with rs4444903, and disrupts a predicted exon splicing enhancer region. This polymorphism was investigated using a minigene assay, but there was no evidence that it affected splicing of exon 14. Taken together, these findings provide no evidence that EGF genetic variants alter the risk of preeclampsia or FGR though functioning.


Two protozoa, Ochronumas malhamensis and Tetrahyrnena pyriformis, were used to study the mode of action and side effects of three antihistamines: diphenhydramine, tripelennamine and pheniramine. The mode of action was studied by inhibition analysis and the side effects by motility tests. The use of these methods as preliminary screening procedures for new chemotherapeutic agents is discussed.


Vehicle2Grid is a new technology that allows bi-directional charging. Bi-directional charging enables electric vehicles (EVs) to charge and to give energy back to the electricity grid. The goal of this technology is to balance the electricity grid and avoid peak usage times. The technical side of Vehicle2Grid is in development, but the system lacks a user centered solution which meets the demands of the EV drivers and enables them to use the system. The goal of this master thesis was to discover wishes, needs and fears of EV drivers concerning Vehicle2Grid as well as difficulties which might come along with the use of this technology. The gained insights were used to develop a service concept which addresses these needs, fears and wishes, fits in the daily practices of EV drivers. This master thesis is partly framed within a pilot project which aims to test Vehicle2Grid in Amsterdam. The project is called V2X and is a cooperation of the Hoogschool van Amsterdam, Alliander, Cofely, Amsterdam Smart City and Mitsubishi. Previous user research performed within this pilot project was analyzed, literature research was done and stakeholder interviews were conducted to comprehend the full scope of the project. In order to understand the target group and to find out what their needs and fears concerning Vehicle2Grid are, a co-creation session with six EV drivers was conducted. The results were translated into necessary features for a service concept. The first part of the Master thesis was performed in collaboration with the MediaLAB Amsterdam and targeted the development of a working mobile application which will be used by 10 participants within the V2X pilot in Amsterdam. The app enables EV drivers to use Vehicle2Grid. A mobile application called Greengrid 2.0 was designed and developed. The second part of the thesis was done individually and concentrated on the development of a full service concept aimed to enable the use of Vehicle2Grid on a bigger scale. Research showed that a large part of the Dutch EV drivers are also energy producers and have a strong interest in direct energy trade. Therefore Vehicle2Grid and a platform allowing direct energy trade were combined within one service concept. A prototype of a mobile application and a website were designed. These digital products are the means which facilitate the service. The final concept was tested and evaluated with seven EV drivers, E- mobility experts and the pilot project stakeholders. This evaluation led to requirements for further development and research areas.


Abstract.— As a first examination of the additive genetic variance of thermoregulatory traits in a natural population of endotherms, we studied the quantitative genetics of key physiological ecology traits in the leaf‐eared mouse, Phyllotis darwini. We measured basal metabolic rate (BMR), nonshivering thermogenesis (NST), maximum metabolic rate for thermoregulation (MMR), thermal conductance (CT), body temperature (Tb), and factorial aerobic scope (FAS) in individuals acclimated to cold and warm conditions. For comparability with previous studies, we included the following morphological traits: foot length (FL), total length (TL), body mass (mb, at birth, sexual maturity, 6 months, and 8 months). Variance components were obtained from two different procedures: the expected variance component in an ANOVA Type III sum of squares and an animal model approach using restricted maximum likelihood. Results suggest the presence of additive genetic variance in FL(h2= 0.47, P = 0.045), CT of cold‐acclimated animals (h2= 0.66, P = 0.041), and night body temperature, measured in cold‐acclimated animals (h2= 0.68, P = 0.080). Heritabilities of mb were near zero at all ages, but maternal effects and common environment effects were high and significant. We found no evidence of additive genetic variance in BMR, NST, MMR, or FAS (i.e., estimates were not significantly different from zero for all tests). Our results are in general agreement with previous studies of mammals that reported low heritability for: (1) BMR and MMR; (2) daytime body temperature; and (3) body mass for wild, but not laboratory or domestic, populations.


The HelioClim-1 database contains daily values of the solar radiation reaching the ground. This GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) Data Collection of Open Resources for Everyone (Data-CORE) covers Europe, Africa and the Atlantic Ocean, from 1985 to 2005. It is freely accessible at no cost through the SoDa Service (www.soda-is.com). Several assessments of the HelioClim-1 data against measurements made in meteorological networks reveal that the HelioClim-1 database offers a reliable and accurate knowledge of the solar radiation and its daily, seasonal and annual variations over recent years. The HelioClim-1 data may help in qualifying in situ measurements and may supplement them, thus offering 21 years of accurate daily means of surface solar irradiance. Several published works benefited from openness, availability and accuracy of the HelioClim-1 database in various domains: oceanography, climate, energy production, life cycle analysis, agriculture, forestry, architecture, health and air quality. This demonstration of the benefit of the HelioClim-1 database draws attention to resources open to everyone such as those labeled GEOSS Data-CORE.


The W3C Rule Interchange Format (RIF) is a forthcoming standard for exchanging rules among different systems and developing intelligent rule-based applications for the Semantic Web. The RIF architecture is conceived as a family of languages, called dialects. A RIF dialect is a rule-based language with an XML syntax and a well-defined semantics. The RIF Basic Logic Dialect (RIF-BLD) semantically corresponds to a Horn rule language with equality. RIF-BLD has a number of syntactic extensions with respect to traditional textbook Horn logic, which include F-logic frames and predicates with named arguments. RIF-BLD is also well integrated with the relevant Web standards. It provides Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs), XML Schema datatypes, and is aligned with RDF and OWL. This paper is a guide to the essentials of RIF-BLD, its syntax, semantics, and XML serialization. At the same time, some important RIF-BLD features are omitted due to the space limitations, including datatypes, built-ins, and the integration with RDF and OWL.


Surgeons use a number of devices to create incisions in tissue. These include steel and gem blades, radio frequency, high-pressure waterjet, and electrocautery technologies. Interestingly, while lasers have an established place in the operating room, as cutting tools they play a minor role. Until recently, a major limiting factor was the lack of three-dimensional precision found with each of three types of laser-tissue interaction: photocoagulation, photoablation, and photodisruption.


PURPOSE
Animal models suggest that early markers of Sjögren syndrome (EMS)-antibodies against salivary protein 1, parotid secretory protein, and carbonic anhydrase 6 (CA6)-are more accurate signals of early Sjögren when compared with classic markers (anti-Ro and anti-La). To further understand the relationship between EMS and dry eye (DE), we compared symptoms and signs of DE in subjects who tested positive versus negative for EMS.

METHODS
In this cross-sectional study, patients at the Miami Veterans Affairs Eye Clinic who were tested for EMS underwent a standard ocular surface examination. Indications for EMS testing included DE symptoms in combination with dry mouth symptoms, low tear production, corneal staining, or a Sjögren disease-associated autoimmune disease. Statistical tests performed were the χ test, Fisher exact test, independent sample t test, and Spearman correlation.

RESULTS
Seventy-three percent of 44 patients tested positive for 1 or more EMS. CA6 IgG was most frequently elevated, followed by CA6 IgM and parotid secretory protein IgG. EMS-positive versus EMS-negative subjects were more likely to escalate DE treatment past artificial tears to topical cyclosporine (n = 32, 100% vs. n = 9, 75%, P = 0.02). There were no demographic or comorbidity differences between EMS-positive and EMS-negative subjects, and marker levels did not correlate with more severe tear film measures.

CONCLUSIONS
Most of the individuals with DE tested positive for 1 or more EMS antibodies, including men and Hispanics. Future studies will be needed to understand how to incorporate EMS data into the care of an individual with DE.


During World War II, Prof. Dr J.H. Oort, the famous Dutch astronomer and discoverer of the origin of our comets, was living in the countryside of The Netherlands. At that time, it was an occupied country. He decided one day to ride his bicycle to visit the observatory at Leiden University, which in fact had been closed for some time. Halfway on this 120 km trip to Leiden, which is near the North Sea coast of The Netherlands, he got a flat tyre and was forced to interrupt his trip at the residence of one of his promising students. With this student, the future Prof. Dr. H.C. van de Hulst, he discussed potential new means, in addition to the well-known optical methods, to observe gaseous clouds in the galaxy. It was probably the first time that professional astronomers discussed the possibilities of radio astronomy. In the following postwar years, radio astronomy in Australia, England, and the United States led to many fascinating discoveries. The article outlines developments at Kootwijk, in the center of The Netherlands, and throughout the world.


Background: The precise quantification of negative symptoms is necessary to improve differential diagnosis and prognosis prediction in Schizophrenia. In chronic psychotic patients, the representation of verbal reports as word graphs provides automated sorting of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and control groups based on the degree of speech connectedness. Here we aim to use machine learning to verify whether speech connectedness can predict negative symptoms and Schizophrenia diagnosis during first episode psychosis. Methods: PANSS scores and memory reports were collected from 21 patients undergoing first episode psychosis followed for 6 months to establish DSM-IV diagnosis, and 21 healthy controls. Each report was represented as a graph in which words corresponded to nodes, and node temporal succession corresponded to edges. Three connectedness attributes were extracted from each graph, z-scores to random graph distributions were measured, correlated with the PANSS negative subscale, combined into a single Fragmentation Index, and used for predictions. Findings: Random-like speech was prevalent among Schizophrenia patients (64% x 5% in Control group, p=0.0002). Connectedness explained 92% of the PANSS negative subscale variance (p=0.0001). The Fragmentation Index classified low versus high scores of PANSS negative subscale with 93% accuracy (AUC=1), and predicted Schizophrenia diagnosis with 89% accuracy (AUC=0.89). Interpretation: The structural randomness of speech graph connectedness is increased in Schizophrenia. It provides a quantitative measurement of "word salad" as a Fragmentation Index that tightly correlates with negative symptoms and predicts Schizophrenia diagnosis during first episode psychosis.


Cold storage of platelets for transfusion is desirable to extend platelet storage times and to prevent bacterial growth. However, the rapid clearance of cold-stored platelets prevents their use. A novel method for preventing the rapid clearance of cold-stored platelets has previously been developed in a murine model. Cold storage induces the clustering and recognition of exposed beta-N-acetylglucosamine (betaGlcNAc) on platelet surfaces. Glycosylation of betaGlcNAc residues with uridine 5'-diphosphogalactose (UDP-galactose) results in the normal survival of short-term (2 h) 0 degrees C-stored murine platelets. Based on this finding, we developed a similar glycosylation process by adding UDP-galactose to human apheresis platelets. A phase 1 clinical trial was conducted transfusing radiolabeled autologous apheresis platelets stored for 48 hours at 4 degrees C with or without pretreatment with UDP-galactose. In contrast to the murine study, galactosylation of human platelets did not prevent the accelerated platelet clearance routinely observed after 4 degrees C storage. We next developed a murine model of platelet storage for 48 hours at 4 degrees C and showed that UDP-galactose treatment of murine platelets also did not prevent their rapid clearance, in agreement with the human platelet study. We conclude that different mechanisms of clearance may exist for short- and long-term cold-stored platelets.


Endogenous content of abscisic acid was studied in a set of two winter cultivars of barleys (Lunet, Cenader), one spring cultivar (Akcent) and five winter cultivars of wheat (Mironovská, Samanta, Šárka, Zdar, Apache) and one spring cultivar (Leguan) in the course of cold hardening of hydroponically grown plants. Freezing tolerance was also determined in all barley and wheat cultivars under study. In none of the barley varieties did cold hardening of plants induce any significant change in abscisic acid content. In wheat plants exposed to cold hardening, the cultivars Apache and Leguan showed a slight transitory increase in abscisic acid content. Abscisic acid content in leaves was very similar in the other wheat cultivars. Neither in barley nor in wheat was the level of freezing tolerance associated with endogenous abscisic acid content or with its transitory changes during cold hardening.


When constructing viruses that have desired hybrid phenotypes, anticipated difficulties include the nonviability of many, possibly most, of the hybrid genomes that can be constructed by incorporation of DNA fragments. Therefore, many different hybrid genomes may have to be constructed in order to find one that is viable. To perform this combinatorial work in a single experiment, we have used bacteriophage T7-infected cell extracts to transfer DNA in vitro. In an extract, we have incubated T7 DNA, together with DNA obtained by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the gene (gene 17) for the tail fiber of the T7-related bacteriophage, T3. After in vitro packaging of DNA in the extract, hybrid progeny bacteriophage were detected by probing with a T3-specific oligonucleotide; hybrids are found at a frequency of 0.1%. By determination of the nucleotide sequence of the entire gene 17 of 14 independently isolated hybrids, both right and left ends of the PCR fragment are found to be truncated in all hybrids. For all 14 hybrids, the right end is in the same location; the left end is found at 3 different locations. The nonrandom location of the ends is explained by selection among different inserts for viability; that is, most of the hybrid genomes are nonviable. Some hybrids acquire from T3 the desirable phenotype of nonadherence to agarose gels during agarose gel electrophoresis.


Multispectral vegetation reflectance measurements were used as an indirect method of sensing CO2 gas leaking from underground in a controlled release experiment in Bozeman, Montana, USA. The leak location is identified through time-series analysis of the reflectances and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), evaluated at a test location and a control location. Vegetation reflectance changes that correlated with root-level CO2 exposure were distinguishable from changes attributed to seasonal factors including precipitation, wind, air temperature variation, etc. The NDVI of the vegetation became steadily smaller until saturating approximately twenty days after the beginning of the release. However, before reaching the threshold values, both reflectance and NDVI values changed more rapidly when exposed to elevated CO2 fluxes.


With the fast development of China-Africa relations, the African community in China becomes an impressive phenomenon and an attraction for international academia. Various African diasporic groups exist in China such as traders, students, artists, professionals, etc., with students forming the second largest group. Although there have been debates about whether international students can be considered as immigrants, the opinion that they are largely prevails in he scholarly literature. Studying African students in the context of China-Africa relations, the article is divided into five parts. The first provides a survey on the research on the topic, followed by an overview of the history of African students in China. The third part is an analysis of China's policy towards African students. Why do the African students want to come to China? What attracts them? What are their purposes? The fourth part will discuss the favorable conditions for their coming to China and their motivations.The last part will describe their contribution to both the African and Chinese societies. I will argue that by their initiative the African students' existence in China and their interaction with the Chinese people has brought various new things to China and made a great contribution to Africa as a


The complex extended Gaussian image (CEGI), a 3D object representation that can be used to determine the pose of an object, is described. In this representation, the weight associated with each outward surface normal is a complex weight. The normal distance of the surface from the predefined origin is encoded as the phase of the weight, whereas the magnitude of the weight is the visible area of the surface. This approach decouples the orientation and translation determination into two distinct least-squares problems. The justification for using such a scheme is twofold: it not only allows the pose of the object to be extracted, but it also distinguishes a convex object from a nonconvex object having the same EGI representation. The CEGI scheme has the advantage of not requiring explicit spatial object-model surface correspondence in determining object orientation and translation. Experiments involving synthetic data of two polyhedral and two smooth objects are presented to illustrate the feasibility of this method. >


Argument Created in 1884, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has been the major federal source for data in the United States on labor-related topics such as prices, unemployment, compensation, productivity, and family expenditures. This essay traces the development and transformation of formal and informal consulting relationships between the BLS and external groups (including academic social scientists, unions, businesses, and other government entities) over the twentieth century. Though such a history cannot, of course, provide a comprehensive analysis of how political values have shaped the construction of labor statistics during this period, I argue that it can nevertheless provide important insights into the political context for the construction of knowledge about American workers and their living and working conditions.


It is widely recognized that a major constraint to development of a mud crab aquaculture industry is the availability and formulation nutritionally adequate but relatively low cost diets. Development of artificial diets, which seek to minimize inclusion of expensive feed ingredients such as fish and terrestrial meals, is considered to be a priority for improving the profitability of this emerging industry. Typically, carbohydrates such as starches are relatively cheap and therefore offer opportunity to supply dietary energy at low cost. The study examines the capacity of mud crab, Scylla paramamosain to utilize a range of dietary cassava meal as carbohydrate source. Four levels of cassava meal were used at inclusion levels of 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% in diets. Mud crabs will readily accept the diet containing relatively high levels of cassava meal. This experiment proved that mud crab which fed 10% dietary cassava meal gains weight more than the one fed diet without dietary cassava meal. The increasing level of cassava meal to more than10% in diet reduced final weight and weight gain. To some extent, mud crab, Scylla paramamosain is capable to use dietary carbohydrate from cassava meal. The finding raises the possibility to include 10% cassava meal in formulation low cost diet for mud crab.