This report describes the activities in the project HK 06-1509/AL50 "System analysis ofpermanent magnet traction drives" conducted at KTH in collaboration with BombardierTransportation between January 2007 and December 2010. The driving aim of the investigationswas to support the testing of PM traction motors in the Green Train during summer 2008 andanalyse the results.The technology of traction electrical motors for train application has evolved from DCmotors to AC drives with both synchronous and induction motors in the last decades. Threephasepermanent-magnet (PM) synchronous motors are both smaller and lighter than inductionmotors (IM) for a given torque with same cooling conditions. However, this also implies newsystem challenges to be solved.Besides supporting the activities involving design, prototyping and testing of the PMmotors in laboratory and vehicle environment, a number of theoretical investigations have beenconducted by KTH researchers. Thermal modelling and loss calculation tools were developed.The main effort was dedicated to the investigation of winding failure and its possibleconsequences from original short-circuit to worst possible conditions of the PM motor afterfailure propagation without mitigation strategies. A new algorithm to implement sensor-lesscontrol of PM motor was also developed in a semi-parallel project and is therefore shortlydescribed as well.


In singular models, the optimal set of parameters forms an analytic set with singularities, and a classical statistical inference cannot be applied to such models. This is significant for deep learning as neural networks are singular, and thus", dividing" by the determinant of the Hessian or employing the Laplace approximation is not appropriate. Despite its potential for addressing fundamental issues in deep learning, a singular learning theory appears to have made little inroads into the developing canon of a deep learning theory. Via a mix of theory and experiment, we present an invitation to the singular learning theory as a vehicle for understanding deep learning and suggest an important future work to make the singular learning theory directly applicable to how deep learning is performed in practice.


Traditional fracture fixation teaching suggests that fully threaded screws do not provide interfragmentary compression unless placed through a glide hole. Based on this assumption, pelvic surgeons typically use fully threaded screws in the treatment of comminuted transforaminal sacral fractures to limit iatrogenic neuroforaminal stenosis. Clinical experience with fully threaded screws suggests that interfragmentary compression actually does occur. We hypothesized that the use of a fully threaded screw does not produce any interfragmentary compression and that there is no difference in insertional torque between partially threaded and fully threaded screws. To test this hypothesis, fully and partially threaded 7.0 millimeter (mm) cannulated screws were placed across two synthetic bone blocks fabricated to simulate normal and osteoporotic bone. We compared two groups of normal and osteoporotic blocks for compression achieved and maximal insertional torque generated with fully threaded and partially threaded screw insertion. A micro computed tomography (CT) scan of the composite blocks was obtained to investigate for structural changes created during screw insertion. For both groups, compression was achieved with fully threaded screws and the maximal insertional torque was higher using fully threaded screws. Micro CT analysis demonstrated local bone damage with structural disruption in the near segment of the fully threaded screw path in comparison to the partially threaded. Clinical significance: this study demonstrates that compression is generated using fully threaded screws without using a predrilled glide hole. The insertional torque required to generate compression with fully threaded screws is increased but is clinically applicable. © 2017 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 36:1099–1105, 2018.


Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to use psychological measures of pre-schoolers who stutter and their parents to inform causal theory development and influence clinical practices. This was done using data from a substantive clinical cohort of children who received early stuttering treatment. Method The cohort (N = 427) comprised parents and their children who were treated with the Lidcombe Program, the Westmead Program, and the Oakville Program. The study incorporated demographic information, stuttering severity, and child and parent psychological measures prior to treatment. Result The cohort revealed nothing unusual about behavioural and emotional functioning, or the temperaments, of pre-school children that would influence treatment, be targeted during treatment, or influence causal theory development. However, a third of parents were experiencing moderate to high life stressors at the time of seeking treatment, and half the parents failed first-stage screening for Anankastic Personality Disorder. Conclusion The present results are consistent with a number of previous reports that showed that the population of pre-schoolers who stutter have no unusual psychological profiles. Hence, these results suggest that the association between mental health and stuttering later in life is a consequence of the disorder rather than being a part of its cause. The finding of the life stress of parents who seek stuttering treatment for pre-school children has potential clinical importance and warrants further investigation. Further psychological research is required about parents of pre-school children who stutter, because half the parents in the cohort failed the screener for Anankastic Personality Disorder. This is of interest because a previous study associated screening failure for another personality disorder (Impulsive Personality Disorder) with treatment dropout for early childhood stuttering.


Investigations toward an enantioselective total synthesis of ineleganolide (1) are disclosed. These studies have driven the development of a novel asymmetric ketone alkylation to form C(α)-tetrasubstituted carbonyl compounds. Products of these alkylations have been converted to α-hydroxy ketones, acids, and esters, completing an asymmetric formal synthesis of (–)-quinic acid. Additionally, one of these products, a chloroalkene, has been advanced in the synthesis of the [6–7–5–5]-fused core of ineleganolide. The chloroalkene can be converted through a mild oxidative bromination, Wittig olefination, and Luche reduction sequence to rapidly access the enantioenriched cyclopentenol fragment of ineleganolide. Two of these alcohols can be coupled with a cyclohexenone-derived carboxylic acid to append the six-membered ring fragment. These flexible vinylogous β-ketoesters can be advanced to a rigid [5–5–3]-fused cyclopropane. At the outset of this work, we envisioned the advancement of a [5–5]-fused cyclopropane through a tandem Wolff/Cope rearrangement to access the [6–7–5–5]-fused core of ineleganolide. Synthetic studies toward this rearrangement are described. Additionally, we explore a translactonization/Cope rearrangement and a cyclopropanation/Cope/epoxidation cascade sequence to access the [6–7–5–5]-fused scaffold. In the course of these efforts, a rich body of chemistry has been developed exploring translactonizations in cis-substituted cyclopentane diols, including the translactonization/Cope cascade.


Face detection techniques have been developed for decades, and one of remaining open challenges is detecting small faces in unconstrained conditions. The reason is that tiny faces are often lacking detailed information and blurring. In this paper, we proposed an algorithm to directly generate a clear high-resolution face from a blurry small one by adopting a generative adversarial network (GAN). Toward this end, the basic GAN formulation achieves it by super-resolving and refining sequentially (e.g. SR-GAN and cycle-GAN). However, we design a novel network to address the problem of super-resolving and refining jointly. We also introduce new training losses to guide the generator network to recover fine details and to promote the discriminator network to distinguish real vs. fake and face vs. non-face simultaneously. Extensive experiments on the challenging dataset WIDER FACE demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method in restoring a clear high-resolution face from a blurry small one, and show that the detection performance outperforms other state-of-the-art methods.


Oliinychenko, Bugaev and Sorin [arXiv:1204.0103 [hep-ph]] considered the role of conservation laws in discussing possible weaknesses of thermal models which are utilized in describing the hadron multiplicities measured in central nucleus-nucleus collisions. They argued to analyse the criteria for chemical freeze-out and to conclude that none of them were robust. Based on this, they suggested a new chemical freeze-out criterion. They assigned to the entropy per hadron the ad hoc value 7.18 and supposed to remain unchanged over the whole range of the baryo-chemical potentials. Due to unawareness of recent literature, the constant entropy per hadron has been discussed in Ref. [Fizika B18 (2009) 141-150, Europhys.Lett. 75 (2006) 420]. Furthermore, it has been shown that the constant entropy per hadron is equivalent to constant entropy normalized to cubic temperature, an earlier criterion for the chemical freeze-out introduced in Ref. [Europhys.Lett. 75 (2006) 420, Nucl.Phys.A764 (2006) 387-392]. In this comment, we list out the ignored literature, compare between the entropy-number density ratio and two criteria of averaged energy per averaged particle number and constant entropy per cubic temperature. All these criteria are confronted to the experimental results. The physics of constant entropy per number density is elaborated. It is concluded that this ratio can't remain constant, especially at large chemical potential related to AGS and SIS energies.


How and why does urban planning challenge local governance? This article develops a theoretical model for studying the interplay among citizens, politicians and bureaucrats in urban planning processes. It incorporates insights from several research fields and addresses key issues in renewal controversy: citizen participation; government responsiveness and planning's political legitimacy. The model is applied in a preliminary study of the renewal of the Slussen area in Stockholm. This renewal controversy shows similarities with other planning controversies in Sweden and abroad. But an important diference is the dominant role played by expert citizens (former high level politicians, civil servants and other professionals) who have employed their work experience and networks to oppose the city's plan; many continue to protest even after their ideas have been voted down in Stockholm City Council and rejected by courts. Preliminary results show weaknesses in the interplay between expert citizens, politicians and bureaucrats in this case of urban renewal.


BACKGROUND
 Excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) is common and can result in maternal and child health complications. Pragmatic behavioral interventions that can be incorporated into standard obstetric care are needed, and financial incentives are a promising approach.

 OBJECTIVE
 The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of recruitment, randomization, and retention, as well as treatment engagement and intervention satisfaction, in a behavioral program. The program provided small incentives for meeting behavioral goals of self-weighing and physical activity as well as larger outcome incentives for meeting GWG goals.

 METHODS
 We recruited 40 adult women in their first trimester of pregnancy from February 2019 to September 2019 at an obstetric clinic. Participants were randomized to 3 intervention components using a 2×2×2 factorial design: daily incentives for self-weighing (lottery vs certain loss), incentives for adhering to the Institute of Medicine's GWG guidelines based on BMI category (monthly vs overall), and incentives for reaching physical activity goals (yes vs no). Participants were asked to complete daily weigh-ins using the Withings Body wireless scale provided by the study, as well as wear a physical activity tracker (Fitbit Flex 2). Feasibility outcomes of recruitment, randomization, and retention, as well as treatment engagement and intervention satisfaction, were assessed. Weight assessments were conducted at baseline, 32-week gestation, and 36-week gestation.

 RESULTS
 Participants were enrolled at, on average, 9.6 (SD 1.8) weeks' gestation. Of the 39 participants who were oriented to their condition and received the intervention, 24 (62%) were Black or African American, 30 (77%) were not married, and 29 (74%) had an annual household income of less than US $50,000. Of the 39 participants, 35 (90%) completed the follow-up data collection visit. Participants were generally quite positive about the intervention components, with a particular emphasis on the helpfulness of, and the enjoyment of using, the e-scale in both the quantitative and qualitative feedback. Participants who received the loss incentive, on average, had 2.86 times as many days of self-weighing as those who received the lottery incentive. Participants had a relatively low level of activity, with no difference between those who received a physical activity incentive and those who did not.

 CONCLUSIONS
 A financial incentive–based pragmatic intervention was feasible and acceptable for pregnant women for promoting self-weighing, physical activity, and healthy GWG. Participants were successfully recruited early in their first trimester of pregnancy and retained for follow-up data collection in the third trimester. Participants demonstrated promising engagement in self-weighing, particularly with loss-based incentives, and reported finding the self-weighing especially helpful. This study supports further investigation of pragmatic, clinic-based financial incentive–based interventions for healthy GWG behaviors.

 CLINICALTRIAL
 ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03834194; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03834194


Drawing on comparative institutional theory, this paper examines post-acquisition integration in international acquisitions, which has seldom been examined through this perspective. Based on a longitudinal and comparative study of three blue-chip French acquirers in the UK that shared similar integration intentions but realized those to varying degrees, this paper theorizes this variation in integration outcomes as a dynamic interplay of institutional distance, market structure and power dependencies. Whilst all important, those effects do not equally explain integration outcomes and can only be understood in conjunction with one another. Thus, contrary to a core assumption of institutional theory that institutional distance is consistently a dominant influence on multinational firms' behaviour, the study shows that its effect is varied. It will only become extremely constraining when the market structure is highly localized, and both dynamics combine to make the acquirer largely dependent on the target firm. The study's first contribution is to provide a fuller conceptual understanding of post-acquisition integration. Secondly, it introduces the role of market structure into a politico-institutional framework and, thirdly, it demonstrates complex relationships among three effects located at multiple levels. The results have important implications for the debate about environmental determinism vs multinationals' agency at host-country level.


The ever-greater integration of new technologies in work equipment is regarded by some as the fourth industrial revolution1 and referred to as 'smart industry'2. Examples that come to mind include automation through the use of embedded software, remotely controlling heavy materials, and the connecting of work equipment to local and public networks such as the internet (for some examples, see the text box on page 6). As well as the opportunities this entails for industry, new threats are also presenting themselves. This includes employees who have to move among robots or autonomous freight vehicles, but also malicious actors who can penetrate computers and computer networks and thereby disrupt processes or bring them to a standstill. The focus in this report lies on the connection between work equipment and cyberspace, including connections to local and public networks such as the internet.


With the requirements of natural language applications, multi-task sequence labeling methods have some immediate benefits over the single-task sequence labeling methods. Recently, many state-of-the-art multi-task sequence labeling methods were proposed, while still many issues to be resolved including (C1) exploring a more general relationship between tasks, (C2) extracting the task-shared knowledge purely and (C3) merging the task-shared knowledge for each task appropriately. To address the above challenges, we propose MTAA, a symmetric multi-task sequence labeling model, which performs an arbitrary number of tasks simultaneously. Furthermore, MTAA extracts the shared knowledge among tasks by adversarial learning and integrates the proposed multi-representation fusion attention mechanism for merging feature representations. We evaluate MTAA on two widely used data sets: CoNLL2003 and OntoNotes5.0. Experimental results show that our proposed model outperforms the latest methods on the named entity recognition and the syntactic chunking task by a large margin, and achieves state-of-the-art results on the part-of-speech tagging task.


OBJECTIVES
To compare coagulation and fibrinolysis activation in off-pump coronary artery bypass operation and in patients in whom a closed phosphorylcholine-coated cardiopulmonary bypass system was applied. Cardiopulmonary bypass induces activation of coagulative and fibrinolytic systems, which together with intraoperative haemodilution augment the risk of postoperative bleeding and transfusion of blood products.

METHODS
Thirty-six off-pump coronary artery bypass and 36 coronary artery bypass grafting patients in whom a closed, phosphorylcholine-coated cardiopulmonary bypass system with a closed-collapsible venous reservoir (Physio group) was used were prospectively enrolled. Activation of coagulation and fibrinolytic systems was assessed evaluating the release of prothrombin fragment 1.2 and plasmin-antiplasmin complex preoperatively (T0), 30 min after heparin administration (T1), 15 min after protamine administration (T2), 3 h after protamin administration (T3) and on postoperative days 1 (T4) and 5 (T5). Platelet function was evaluated through Platelet Function Analyzer 100(®).

RESULTS
During the operation, prothrombin fragment 1.2 and plasmin-antiplasmin levels were slightly higher in the Physio group, the difference being not statistically significant. In the off-pump coronary artery bypass group, prothrombin fragment 1.2 was significantly higher at T3 (618.7 ± 282.7 vs 416.6 ± 250.2 pmol/l; P = 0.006), T4 (416.7 ± 278.8 vs 310.2 ± 394.6 pmol/l; P < 0.001) and T5 (629.3 ± 295.2 vs 408.4 ± 409.7 pmol/l; P = 0.002), and plasmin-antiplasmin was significantly higher at T4 (731.1 ± 790 vs 334 ± 300.8 ng/ml; P = 0.019) and T5 (1744.4 ± 820.7 vs 860.1 ± 488.4 ng/ml; P = 0.003). Platelet Function Analyzer 100® closure time values were significantly higher in the Physio group patients at T3 (131.3 ± 105.7 vs 215.6 ± 58.9 s; P = 0.002). The off-pump coronary artery bypass patients had greater chest tube drainage (874.3 ± 371.5 vs 629.1 ± 334.5 ml; P = 0.005). The mean priming volume was 1240 ± 215 ml in the Physio group. Much more Physio patients received red blood cell transfusions (14 vs 25 patient; P = 0.009), because of higher intraoperative transfusion rates (6 vs 15 patients; P = 0.016). Despite similar preoperative haemoglobin levels (13 ± 1.2 vs 12.6 ± 1.4 g/dl; P = 0.2), postoperative haemoglobin levels were significantly lower in the Physio group.

CONCLUSIONS
The Physio cardiopulmonary bypass approach does not significantly alter haemostasis during the operation compared with off-pump coronary artery bypass providing a reduced activation in the postoperative period reducing also chest tube drainage. However, further priming volume reduction is required to decrease intraoperative red blood cell transfusion.


Inland waterway transport (IWT) is one of the three main modalities for inland transport of dry, liquid and containerized cargo. As IWT performs well on cost-competitiveness, environmental friendliness, and congestion-related issues, authorities strive to shift freight transport from road to water. Inland waterway connections, however, are vulnerable to the growing impact of climate change. A combination of higher temperatures and more extreme seasonal differences in precipitation is expected to increasingly impact river discharge in the future. In summer, this will result in low water events happening more frequent and more intense. The effects of climate change on IWT could result in a reduced annual transport capacity, thereby weakening the reputation of IWT and increasing the costs of cargo shipment. The objective of this research is to provide more insight into the consequences of climate change-induced low discharges on the performance of IWT and to assist in making justified adaptation decisions. During this research, an IWT performance model has been developed that is capable of studying the capacity and vulnerability of the inland waterway system to low water depths, and simultaneously can be used to propose measures to strengthen the position of IWT. To assess the quality of the logistic simulations, the model has successfully been subjected to a number of validity tests. Consequently, the model was calibrated on two parameters that have a high uncertainty and a significant impact on the simulation. After calibration, the model shows correlation coefficients of r=0.794 and r=0.921 so that it can be concluded that the results of the IWT performance model are relatively accurate with reality. Daily projections of the water depth on the Rhine are obtained by extrapolation of the representative, dry year 1976 with two climate scenarios to the year 2050. The water depths encountered have been compared to the base scenario. To put into perspective these impacts, a model run for the reference scenario of 2018 has been incorporated in the comparison. It follows from this thesis that low discharges, in combination with navigational restrictions, could cause substantial losses for the IWT in 2050 in terms of transported cargo and transport costs. Following from literature, the accurate modelling of IWT should include various local effects that follow from regulations, fleet composition or waterway characteristics. This research is the first study on the impact of low water depths on the IWT performance that does not take the load factor as the only variable but that includes other network parameters as the active fleet size and the number of trips to provide a comprehensive picture of the IWT performance in periods of low discharge.


The source potential and organic maturity of the shales alternating with the reservoir beds in the Lower Pliocene Productive Series – the major oil-bearing unit in the South Caspian Basin – are inadequate to have formed the observed petroleum accumulations. A geochemical study of rocks collected from wells and outcrop localities has been carried out to assess the oil- and gas-generative properties of the Middle Jurassic to Lower Pliocene sediments of the basin. On the whole the section under review is characterized by poor to good organic richness and low hydrogen index, suggesting type 2 and 3 kerogens. Organic-rich sediments are relatively frequent in parts of the Oligocene–Miocene interval. Source-to-oil correlation based on carbon isotope signatures points to a largely epigenetic origin for the oils reservoired in the Lower Pliocene. Isotopically, the oils in these Productive Series reservoirs are best correlated with organic matter contained in the Miocene sediments.


Rather than being involved merely in the effector arm of inflammatory processes that contribute to autoimmune organ destruction, a primary involvement of TNF may be in some of the more basic mechanisms that occur in autoimmune disease. In this review, data are presented on TNF-alpha that suggest the involvement of this cytokine in the genetic predisposition to autoimmune diseases such as lupus nephritis.


Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutations are a common event in secondary glioblastoma multiforme
 and lower-grade adult infiltrative astrocytomas and independently confer a better prognosis. These
 are highly conserved mutations during glioma progression and thus also a useful diagnostic marker
 amenable to modern molecular sequencing methods. These mutations can even be detected in sites
 distant from the primary tumour. We use an illustrative case of a patient with radiologically suspected
 recurrent astrocytoma and negative histology, but positive IDH-mutated tumour DNA detected within
 CSF. Our results demonstrated the usefulness of liquid biopsy for recurrent glioma within the context of
 equivocal or negative histopathological results, whilst also showing the ability to detect a de-novo IDH-2
 mutation not present in the previous resection. Building on this 'proof-of-concept' result, we also take
 the opportunity to briefly review the current literature describing the various liquid biopsy substrates
 available to diagnose infiltrative gliomas, namely the study of circulating tumour DNA, circulating
 tumour cells, and extracellular vesicles. We outline the current challenges and prospects of liquid biopsies
 in these tumours and suggest that more studies are required to overcome these challenges and harness
 the potential benefits of liquid biopsies in guiding our management of gliomas.


2013. Retno Wulandari Thesis THE ANALYSIS OF ADDRESS FORMS USED BY
THE CHARACTERS IN THE FILM ENTITLED SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME
OF SHADOWS (A Pragmatics Approach) This research was conducted to find out the
terms of addressing used by the characters in the film entitled Sherlock Holmes: A
Game of Shadows, to reveal the way the characters express address forms, to find out
the reason and meaning hidden by using forms of addressing.
This research uses Pragmatics approach. It is a qualitative descriptive research,
which took total sampling technique in collecting data. The data of this research were
taken from the dialogues of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows which contains
address forms. Firstly, the data were divided based on Brown and Ford theory about
address forms and then analyzed by using SPEAKING formula by Dell Hymes.
The results of this research are as follows; first, there are six forms of
addressing used by the characters, namely Title (T), Title plus Last Name (T+LN),
Title plus Name (T+N), Multiple Name (MN), You plus Multiple Name (You+MN)
and First Name (FN). Second, the characters express the addressing using low
intonation, normal intonation and high intonation. The characters also employ some
non verbal acts, such as happy expression, the speaker doesn't see at the hearer, the
speaker brings the body closer to the hearer, the speaker put the hat down, the speaker
stares at the hearer, the speaker bulges at the hearer, the speaker takes the hearer's
cigarette, the speaker puts his hand to the hearer's shoulder, the speaker cries and the
speaker hits the hearer strongly. Third, the reasons of each character employing
certain address forms are the speaker feels annoyed, irritated, angry toward the
hearer, the speaker feels sad, sorry, confident, happy, disbelief toward the hearer,
angry, hate the hearer's behavior, feels cautious and the speaker is bothered by the
hearer.


This thesis consists of three self-contained essays concerned with the microeconomics of housing.In Essay 1 I examine the determinants of residential mobility among Swedish households within the framework of duration models. The results give support to the widely acknowledged life cycle - housing cycle connection. Demographic factors are important; age, household size, and the stability of household size all influence residential mobility to a great extent. The notion of a housing career is very plausible. The analysis also indicates that economic factors are important. Changes in the economic environment may disrupt the planned housing career. A higher household income tends to shorten stays in a particular dwelling. An increased cost of owning a home reduces the probability that a renter household should move. This might be interpreted as evidence that the planned housing career is disturbed, i.e. the move from renting to owning is postponed for many households.Essay 2 expands on the findings in essay 1 in that the link between the stage in the life cycle and the choice of housing tenure is looked at more closely. The main questions that I address in the second paper are how changing circumstances in the domestic sphere and on the labor market affect transitions between different housing tenures, and thereby also the resulting housing tenure distribution in the economy. On the individual level these factors are found to influence tenure transitions greatly. However, I also find that the resulting long-term distribution of households over housing tenures is little affected by increases or decreases in the arrival rate of these events.In Essay 3 I explore how the pattern of owner occupation has evolved during the period 1970-97, and examine how a few "typical" households have been able to further their housing situation during this period. Results from the study show that the pattern of owner occupancy differs markedly between age cohorts; households today are much more likely to go through a housing career than they were 30 years ago. Moreover, gender effects vanish over time and household composition is not as important for home ownership in the end of the period as in the beginning. Results also show that the negative impact of being foreign born on the probability of owner occupancy has increased since 1970, and that the influences of household income and relative cost of owned housing have become more pronounced over time.


The injection of low-harmonic current to the electrical grid is nowadays regulated by international standards. In order to accomplish these standards, selective harmonic compensation is carried out in grid-connected photovoltaic inverters by means of resonant harmonic compensators. This paper gives a systematic design procedure for selecting the gains and parameters of these harmonic compensators. Other factors considered in the design process include frequency deviation, grid synchronization, and transient response. Both a design example meeting the requirements of grid interconnection and selected experimental results from a digital-signal-processor-based laboratory prototype are also reported.


An annual well-being index constructed from thirteen socioeconomic factors is proposed in order to dynamically measure the mood of the US citizenry. Econometric models are fitted to the log-returns of the index in order to quantify its tail risk and perform option pricing and risk budgeting. By providing a statistically sound assessment of socioeconomic contentment, the index is consistent with rational finance theory, enabling the construction and valuation of insurance-type financial instruments to serve as contracts written against it. Endogenously, the VXO volatility measure of the stock market appears to be the greatest contributor to tail risk. Exogenously, "stress-testing" the index against the politically important factors of trade imbalance and legal immigration, quantify the systemic risk. For probability levels in the range of 5% to 10%, values of trade below these thresholds are associated with larger downward movements of the index than for immigration at the same level. The main intent of the index is to serve as an early-warning mechanism for negative changes in the mood of citizens, thus alerting policy makers and private agents to potential future market downturns.


Bee sting causes mild symptoms such as urticaria and localized pain, and severe symptoms including anaphylaxis, cardiovascular collapse, and death. We reported on a patient with arterial thrombotic occlusion and severe ischemia in the lower limb after multiple bee stings. The patient was stung 5 times and complained of pallor, pain, and coldness in the left toe, and did not have dorsalis pedis pulsation. Computed tomography angiography showed multiple thrombotic occlusion of the anterior and posterial tibial artery below the knee. Local thrombolytic therapy using urokinase was administered and the occluded arteries were successfully recanalized.


The purpose of this study was to examine the status of technology use and integration in music programs throughout the state of Ohio. Factors under investigation were: (a) the types of technology used in music teaching and learning; (b) levels of teacher comfort with technology; (c) teacher training and preparation in the use of technology for teaching; and (d) teachers' views of obstacles toward integration. An anonymous, online questionnaire was completed by 552 K-12 music teachers in Ohio. Results indicated that teacher technology use is more frequent than student technology use, and certain technologies such as CD burning and the use of notation software were the most common. There was a moderate positive correlation between comfort with general technology and comfort with music technology [r = .49, p Technology in education is a topic receiving great attention (Johnson, 2006; Levin & Wadmany, 2006-2007; Smith, 2006). This is also the case in music education, as evidenced by the work of organizations such as the Technology Institute for Music Educators and the Association for Technology in Music Instruction. Yet only a few researchers have examined how music teachers are using technology, and little is known about the types of technology music teachers use, the training they have in the uses of technology, and the obstacles integration faces. In addition, the unique environments of schools and geographic regions, along with the quickly evolving nature of technology, means that questions like these should be examined with some regularity and in a variety of teaching contexts. In two studies conducted in the state of Illinois, researchers found that over a four year period there was a substantial increase in the integration of technology into school music programs (Reese, 2003; Reese & Rimington, 2000). School districts in Illinois are diverse, comprised of urban, suburban and rural settings, but there exist infinite differences between Illinois and other states. It may be possible to generalize the findings of these studies to other states, but there is little research that compares the status of music technology integration across state lines. An additional study was conducted regarding technology integration in Kentucky's school music programs (Sehmann & Hayes, 1997), but a comparative analysis is not truly possible until data are collected from additional states or regions. In addition to the lack of research into the uses of music technology throughout the country, many of the factors that aid or hinder that integration remain uninvestigated. In the general education literature, teacher dispositions toward technology have been shown to influence curricular and pedagogical choices as they relate to inclusion or exclusion of technology (Levin & Wadmany, 20062007; Vannatta & Fordham, 2004). Variables such as school setting, administrative support, teacher attitude, opportunity for professional development, and lack of technical support, among many others, may influence the extent to which technology is integrated into classrooms (Littrell, Zagumny, & Zagumny, 2005; Rakes, Fields, & Cox, 2006; Russell, Bebell, O'Dwyer, & O'Connor, 2003; Staples, Pugach, & Himes, 2005; Strickland, Salzman, & Harris, 2000). From the music education literature, Reese & Rimington (2000) discussed the disparity between teacher use of technology and engagement of students in direct technology use. Several large studies, again from the general education field, have been conducted that have examined technological integration; many of these investigations have focused on the alignment of technology-based practice with published sets of standards in various curricular areas (Barron, Kemker, Harmes, & Kalaydjian, 2003). …


Starch from hardleaf oatchestnut was isolated, and its chemical composition and physicochemical properties were determined and compared with those of corn or potato starch. The yield and purity of the starch were 386.5 g kg-1 and 912.6g kg-1, respectively, and the starch granules were in spherical and irregular shape ranging from 8μm to 18μm in diameter. It contained 275.4 g kg-1 amylose and had relatively low gelatinization temperature with 60.38°C, and moderate solubility as well as swelling power. The starch gel showed weak freeze-thaw stability with high syneresis of 20.5%, and high viscosity (667BU), hardness (75.06g) and gumminess (30.68g), therefore, making it potentially useful as thickening agent in sweets processing, baking industry and seasoning, but was not appropriate in frozen foods.


BACKGROUND
Sjogren's syndrome is characterized by T-cell infiltration of exocrine glands leading to parenchymal destruction and impaired glandular function. This process is orchestrated by cytokines, whose secretion can be regulated by genetic polymorphisms.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of interleukin-6 -174G/C, interleukin-10 -1082G/A, tumor necrosis factor-α -308G/A, interferon-γ +874A/T gene polymorphisms in (RA) and secondary Sjögren's syndrome (sSS). A study sample that comprised of 138 Brazilian patients was divided into three groups: RA (n = 66), sSS (n = 20), and healthy controls - C (n = 52). Patients were subjected to Schirmer's test, unstimulated salivary flow rate, biopsy of minor salivary glands, and serological tests for diagnosing SS. Genomic DNA was obtained from saliva samples and submitted to genotyping. The association between genotypes/alelle frequency and SS susceptibility was tested, as well as their association with clinical features of SS.

RESULTS
Tumor necrosis factorα (TNFα)-308GA polymorphisms differed significantly between AR, SS, and C patients (P = 0.008). IL-6 overall G carriers and TNFα A carriers had a higher risk of presenting SS (P = 0.021). IL-6 polymorphism distribution was also distinctive regarding lymphocytic infiltration at the minor salivary glands (P = 0.026) and Schirmer's test (P = 0.035).

CONCLUSION
These results suggest that IL-6 -174GC and TNFα-308GA gene polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to SS. Additionally, IL-6 polymorphism could influence lymphocytic infiltration of salivary glands and diminish lachrymal gland function.


Glucose represents the principal brain energy source. Thus, not unexpectedly, genetic glucose transporter 1 (Glut1) deficiency (G1D) manifests with encephalopathy. G1D seizures, which constitute a prominent disease manifestation, often prove refractory to medications but may respond to therapeutic diets. These seizures are associated with aberrant thalamocortical oscillations as inferred from human electroencephalography and functional imaging. Mouse electrophysiological recordings indicate that inhibitory neuron failure in thalamus and cortex underlies these abnormalities. This provides the motivation to develop a neural circuit testbed to characterize the mechanisms of thalamocortical synchronization and the effects of known or novel interventions. To this end, we used mouse thalamocortical slices on multielectrode arrays and characterized spontaneous low frequency oscillations and less frequent 30-50 Hz or gamma oscillations under near-physiological bath glucose concentration. Using the cortical recordings from layer IV, we quantified oscillation epochs via an automated wavelet-based algorithm. This method proved analytically superior to power spectral density, short-time Fourier transform or amplitude-threshold detection. As expected from human observations, increased bath glucose reduced the lower frequency oscillations while augmenting the gamma oscillations, likely reflecting strengthened inhibitory neuron activity. This approach provides an ex vivo method for the evaluation of mechanisms, fuels, and pharmacological agents in a crucial G1D epileptogenic circuit.


During a study of ecosystems of the thermal mineral springs inKamchatka Peninsula, Anthoceros agrestis Paton (Anthocerotophyta) was found. This is the first record of the species, as well as of the hornworts as a whole for Kamchatka. A description of the collection site and of the characteristic features of the species that distinguish it from its closest morphological taxa is provided.


Powerdomains like mixes, sandwiches, snacks and scones are typically used to provide semantics of collections of descriptions of partial data. In particular, they were used to give semantics of databases with partial information. In this paper we argue that to be able to put these constructions into the context of a programming languages it is necessary to characterize them as free (ordered) algebras. Two characterizations — for mixes and snacks — are already known, and in the first part of the paper we give characterizations for scones and sandwiches and provide an alternative characterization of snacks. The algebras involved have binary and unary operations and relatively simple equational theories. We then define a new construction, which is in essence all others put together (hence called salad) and give its algebraic characterization. It is also shown how all algebras considered in the paper are related in a natural way, that is, in a way that corresponds to embeddings of their powerdomains. We also discuss some semantic issues such as relationship between the orderings and the semantics and justification for choosing the orderings. Finally, we outline prospects for further research. Comments University of Pennsylvania Department of Computer and Information Science Technical Report No. MSCIS-93-70. This technical report is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/cis_reports/494 Algebraic Characterization of Edible Powerdomains MS-CIS-93-70 LOGIC & COMPUTATION 71


Background: Survival rates after a total gastrectomy with adequate lymphadenectomy are improving, leading to a shift in outcomes of interest from survival to postoperative outcomes and symptoms. In this systematic review, we investigate gastrointestinal symptoms that occur after a gastrectomy in relation to exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and the effect of pancreatic exocrine enzyme supplementation on these symptoms. Methods: Online databases PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. Studies that researched gastrointestinal symptoms, exocrine pancreatic function, and enzyme supplementation were identified and assessed. Results: The search resulted in a total of 1,023 articles after exclusion of duplicates. After performing a thorough assessment, 4 studies were included for systematic review. Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency was investigated by 2 studies; the results showed a significant decrease of total exocrine pancreatic function of up to 76%. The other 2 studies investigated the effect of pancreatic enzyme supplementation and found minor improvement in fecal consistency and a decrease in high-degree steatorrhea. No differences in individual symptom scores were reported. Conclusion: Gastrointestinal symptoms such as steatorrhea, bloating, and dumping syndrome may be related to exocrine pancreatic function, initiated by total gastrectomy. Treatment with pancreatic enzymes had a minor positive effect on patients. It should be noted that these studies were of a small sample size and low quality. New and larger RCTs are necessary to either prove or disprove the benefit of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy in the treatment of the gastrointestinal symptoms after total gastrectomy.


This paper reviews developments in qualitative research in language teaching since the year 2000, focusing on its contributions to the field and identifying issues that emerge. Its aims are to identify those areas in language teaching where qualitative research has the greatest potential and indicate what needs to be done to further improve the quality of its contribution. The paper begins by highlighting current trends and debates in the general area of qualitative research and offering a working definition of the term. At its core is an overview of developments in the new millennium based on the analysis of papers published in 15 journals related to the field of language teaching and a more detailed description, drawn from a range of sources, of exemplary contributions during that period. Issues of quality are also considered, using illustrative cases to point to aspects of published research that deserve closer attention in future work, and key publications on qualitative research practice are reviewed.


Technology is an essential tool in development of any nation; electronic commerce is currently booming in Tanzania and the rest of the world. There have been dramatic increase in transaction and trades which use or performed electronically. The current laws under the commercial laws in Tanzania, as identified in this study, assume the existence of paper based records and documents should bear signatures for legal recognition. Still in Tanzania there is no legal framework that support this new era. It is dangerous to accept that without having proper laws to guide that kind of development. The study guides the reader in understand the current structure of e-commerce and the proposed one with their benefits and challenges. The study also discussed some cases and crimes related to e-commerce and ICT which were directed to the court of law but it's sad because the judgments were not balance due to lack of laws concern e-commerce in Tanzania. Furthermore, the study come up with a conclusion and recommendations; generally there is a need for a re-examination and revision of the fundamental principles of the commercial laws in Tanzania to accommodate business and contract conducted in electronic form. Also legislature should work with experts, consumers and e-commerce users to come up with number of legal support in order to maintain and improve e-commerce and technology as whole. The study recommends enactment of a comprehensive legislation which gives electronic transactions legal recognition, including evidence generated in electronic form. The proposed legal framework for recognition of electronic evidence in Tanzania would create the dependability and certainty for computer -related transactions vital for growth of e-commerce.


We consider permutations of a given set of n different symbols. We are given two unordered training sets, T1 and T2, of such permutations that are each assumed to contain examples of permutations of the corresponding type, t1 and t2. Our goal is to train a classifier, C(q), by computing a statistical model from T1 and T2, which, when given a candidate permutation, q, decides whether q is of type t1 or t2. We discuss two versions of this problem. The ranking version focuses on the order of the symbols. Our Separation Average Distance Matrix (SADiM) solution expands on previously proposed ranking aggregation formulations. The grouping version focuses on contiguity of symbols and hierarchical grouping. We propose and compare two solutions: (1) The Population Augmentation Ratio (PAR) solution computes a PQ-tree for each training set and uses a novel measure of distance between these and q that is based on ratios of population counts (i.e., of numbers of permutations explained by specific PQ-trees). (2) The Difference of Positions (DoP) solution is computationally less expensive than PAR and is independent of the absolute population counts. Although DoP does not have the simple statistical grounding of PAR, our experiments show that it is consistently effective.


In a notable departure from long-standing childcare policy in Australia, in January 2016 fee relief was extended to nannies providing in-home care in a 2-year pilot program. This policy is significant as fee relief is not tied to the meeting of regulatory requirements designed to ensure quality early learning and care for young children. Drawing on Carol Bacchi's approach to policy analysis, this paper extends previous problematising of evidence-based policy by highlighting the value of first considering how a policy 'problem' has been constructed. We propose that the nanny pilot is an ideologically driven policy that has emanated from a construction of childcare that is adult (parent)-centred and marginalises the needs and interests of young children. Accordingly, certain evidence is privileged while other evidence is ignored, with the ensuing policy focused on economic imperatives rather than quality early learning and care experiences for young children. We draw on an analysis of parent, peak body and researcher submissions to the Productivity Commission's 2013-2014 childcare inquiry, nanny-focused research, and data from three national surveys to explore the limitations of such a policy approach. The utility of problem reconstruction as a means of disrupting policy-informed evidence and the legitimisation of purported evidence-based policy is considered.


Recent studies have demonstrated that hypertension correlates with tumorigenesis and prognosis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC); however, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. By analyzing bulk and scRNA-seq data and experimental examining of surgical excised ccRCC samples, we found that TIMP3, a pivotal paracrine factor in suppressing tumor progression, was significantly reduced in the tumor endothelial cells of hypertensive ccRCC patients. Besides, in tumor xenograft of NCG mouse model, compared with saline normotensive group the expression of TIMP3 was significantly decreased in the Ang II-induced hypertension group. Treating human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) with the plasma of hypertensive ccRCC patients and miR-21-5p, elevated in the plasma of hypertensive ccRCC patients, reduced the expression of TIMP3 compared with normotensive and control littermates. We also found that the inhibition of TIMP3 expression by miR-21-5p was not through directly targeting at 3'UTR of TIMP3 but through suppressing the expression of TGFBR2. In addition, the knockout of TGFBR2 reduced TIMP3 expression in HUVECs through P38/ EGR1 (early growth response protein 1) signaling axis. Moreover, via co-culture of ccRCC cell lines with HUVECs and mouse tumor xenograft model, we discovered that the TIMP3 could suppress the proliferation and migration of ccRCC. Implications: Overall, our findings shed new light on the role of hypertension in promoting the progression of ccRCC and provide a potential therapeutic target for ccRCC patients with hypertension.


The structural characteristics of Hf-silicate films and nitrogen incorporated Hf-silicate films, prepared using a NH3 annealing treatment, were investigated by various measurements. Hf-silicate films annealed in a N2 ambient at 900°C show the evidence of crystallization in local regions, resulting in the phase separation of HfO2 and SiO2. In addition, a SiO2 overlayer is formed on the Hf-silicate films, due to the diffusion of Si by postannealing in an ambient of N2 at 900°C. However, in nitrogen incorporated Hf-silicate films, prepared using a NH3 annealing treatment, phase separation is effectively suppressed and no SiO2 overlayer is present. The incorporated N is distributed into the film and interfacial layer, and obstructs the diffusion of Si from the substrate as well as the film. Structural changes in films affect electrical characteristics such as the dielectric constant and flatband voltage.


An increased requirement for validation of computational electromagnetic simulation and modelling through the publication of IEEE Standard 1597.1 brings to light some interesting issues surrounding the validation of transients. The structure of a transient event has three particular regions of interest that can have an influence on the results, of which only two are generally well defined. These are the initial quiescent phase from t = 0 to the transient event; the transient event itself up to the point where the energy has fallen to a predefined limit, and the post-transient phase where residual energy is still present in the system. This latter region is generally ill-defined and changes the way that a validation comparison should be made, from, for example a frequency domain coupling study where the region of interest is usually well defined. This study looks at the influence of the three regions on the validation results and suggests how the Feature Selective Validation (FSV) method can be applied in transient studies.


We review silicon photonic integrated circuits for high-capacity optical communications. These circuits include highly integrated dual-polarization in-phase/quadrature modulators, single-chip polarization-diversity receivers, multi-channel discrete multi-tone modulation and detection circuits, and Stokes vector receivers. The high-degree integration of silicon photonics leads to low-cost and compact high-capacity optical modules.


Brucellosis is an endemic disease in Turkey, and epididymo-orchitis is a rare complication of brucellosis. A 21-year-old married male presented to infectious diseases clinic with 4 weeks history of swelling, increased temperature on right testicle and acute scrotal pain for 2 days. His physical examination pointed an epididymoorchitis within his radiological findings; patient was started on standard epididymo orchitis treatment. Upon increase in the patient's complaint, control radiological evolution was carried out after the completion of antibiotic therapy and showed no resolution of lesions, so patient underwent surgery. Herein, a case of a brucellar epididymo-orchitis that does not respond to the treatment which was resulted in orchiectomy is presented.  J Microbiol Infect Dis 2015;5(2): 89-92 Key words: Brucella, epididymo-orchitis, radiodiagnostic imaging, orchiectomy


Finite element analysis has been carried out to investigate the effect of various parameters on axisymmetric hot extrusion process using aluminum alloy. The objective of the present work is to investigate the effect of friction coefficient, die angle, die-profile radius and predefined temperature of workpiece through FEM simulation of extrusion process. Nodal temperature distribution, heat flux, peak temperature at nodes and peak flux induced are identified as the output variables to assess the thermo-mechanical deformation behavior of aluminum alloy. Mesh sensitivity analysis is performed for the evaluation of mesh convergence as well as depicts the accuracy of present FEM model. The higher the coefficient of friction between interacting surfaces of die-billet assembly, the higher will be the increment in nodal temperature in billet. The higher the coefficient of friction, the higher will be the generation of heat flux within billet, as this is achieved for highest coefficient of friction. Peak nodal temperature diminishes with increase in die profile radius nearly by 17 %.Maximum heat flux diminishes non-linearly by 30% with increase in die profile radius. Maximum nodal temperature increases nearly linearly by 14% with increment in predefined temperature of billet. Maximum heat flux decreases non-linearly by 5 % with increment in the initial temperature of workpiece. Validation of present numerical model is established on the basis of deformation behavior in terms of evolution of nodal temperature distribution upon comparison with previous studies available in literature.


Lahars triggered by mobilization of deposits from volcanic explosions have occurred at Volcán Cotopaxi, Ecuador on the average of once every century over the last two millennia. Lahars from Cotopaxi may flow down three main drainages, impacting a present day population of around 3 million inhabitants. Río Cutuchi, the main drainage to the south of Cotopaxi, headwaters on the flanks of Rumiñahui and Cotopaxi Volcanoes. This river flows southwards through several communities, including the city of Latacunga (population 52,000). Its path is generally parallel to the Pan American highway. Many small scale lahars have followed this drainage, as well as some large scale historical flows, such as the great 1877 debris flow that severely impacted the population along the Río Cutuchi. This study used the Titan2D model to simulate lahars of various volumes that correspond to actual deposits along the Río Cutuchi in the vicinity of Latacunga. The purpose was to investigate the hazard that lahars might present to the current population should Cotopaxi become active again and produce debris flows. The study area is restricted to the region adjacent to Latacunga where detailed field data are compared with the model results. Simulations utilized topographic, stratigraphic, and historical inundation data collected in the field in the summer of 2005 to determine probabilistic lahar inundation zones for the debris flows of various sizes. These inundation zones have been analyzed in conjunction with infrastructure data for Latacunga so that the impact of various scale lahars on the city can be assessed.


Translation of the genetic code is a complex process performed by the ribosome, a 2.5-MDa ribonucleoprotein complex, and its associated factors. To fully comprehend how translation is accomplished requires comprehensive structural and functional analyses of its molecular components at each stage throughout the process. The following work summarizes investigations into the three-dimensional properties of bacterial elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) and stringent response factor, RelS. Each is a ribosome-associated protein capable of binding guanosine nucleotides, although their cellular roles are quite different. Crystallographic investigations of wild type and mutant complexes of EF-Tu, as described herein, help to provide new insights into the mechanisms of GTP hydrolysis, nucleotide exchange, and macromolecular switching. The successful crystallization, phase determination and preliminary structure analysis of a bifunctional RelS fragment is also detailed.


To help meet the challenges of climate change and a growing global population, it has never been more critical that the yields of agricultural crops are increased: new breeding technologies such as genetic engineering can play a major role in achieving increased food production. Despite several decades of study there are still limitations to plant transformation technologies. These include transformation methods based on vector-mediated introduction of gene constructs using Agrobacterium, or direct gene transfer methods such as particle bombardment or transformation of protoplasts using polyethylene glycol or other methods to disturb cell membranes. Such limitations have slowed applications to generate genetically engineered plants with improved properties.

One potentially new approach to transform cells is based on nanoparticle-mediated transformation. The use of nanoparticles as gene vectors may overcome some current limitations when applied to plant systems. The small size and novel properties of nanoparticles can be exploited since the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles can be modified to suit different applications, so that they can deliver a diverse range of biomolecules. One such novel system is termed 'magnetofection', where superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles coated with biomolecules (magnetofectins) are directed towards target cells by application of a strong external magnetic field. Magnetofection has been studied for almost two decades in animal systems, but to date there are only two reports of magnetofection being applied to plant cells.

This study was a 'proof-of-concept' to determine whether magnetofection could be used as a transformation system for tobacco mesophyll protoplasts, including optimisation of conditions, and to study the effects of magnetofection treatments on the viability of protoplasts.

In initial experiments, a transgenic line of cotton was obtained which expressed the reporter gene β-glucuronidase (GUS), and systems were developed to assay GUS expression both by histochemical staining and fluorescence. A GUS expression plasmid (pCAMBIA1303) was obtained for experimental work and its identity checked.
pCAMBIA1303 was bound via electrostatic interactions to PEI derivatised 100nm superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. After application of a powerful external magnetic field, the magnetofectins were attracted towards protoplasts, and transient gene expression of GUS was demonstrated 48 hours post transfection. Of the tested complexes, the transformation efficiency was highest when magnetofectins were assembled with 1:5 and 1:10 MNP:DNA weight ratios. It was shown that the density of MNPs affected the viability of magnetofected protoplasts, and that increasing MNP density significantly reduced protoplast viability. An optimal density of MNPs (1.0μg/mL) was found that resulted in transient GUS expression and did not affect protoplast viability.

This work provides a starting point for further development of magnetofection as a novel plant transformation system, the advancement of which may broaden the scope of plant molecular biology and genetic engineering.


The role of time pressure on individual employees' creativity remains ambiguous, with prior studies reporting positive, negative, and curvilinear relations. The present research aims to address this issue. Drawing from the attentional focus model, we (a) distinguish the consequences of time pressure for radical versus incremental creativity and (b) introduce external and internal knowledge scanning as distinct mediating mechanisms. Moreover, we cast employees' long‐range and short‐range planning as moderators of the indirect time pressure–creativity linkages. Time‐lagged data from 203 employees and their supervisors revealed that time pressure hampered employees' radical creativity by undermining their external scanning, with long‐range planning alleviating this negative indirect relationship. In contrast, we found an indirect, inverted U‐shaped linkage between time pressure and incremental creativity through internal scanning. Unexpectedly, this indirect relation was not contingent on employees' short‐range planning. These results offer a new theoretical perspective that helps to reconcile previous, seemingly contradictory findings on the relationship between time pressure and creativity. Moreover, our results offer practical implications for modern workplaces that require employees' creative contributions under conditions of time scarcity.


A thorough analysis of the literature and own data confirmed a lively interest of vascularsurgeons in alterations in venous haemodynamics in patients presenting with chronic obliterating diseases oflower-limb arteries. The presence of close relationships between impaired arterial and venous blood flow and a compensatory pattern of the development of venous hypertension in the ischaemia zone was proved. This should be taken into consideration during conservative therapy of patients sufferingfrom chronic obliterating diseases of lower-limb arteries, and while working out novel types of surgical interventions, as well as for more adequate interpretation of pathophysiological peculiarities of the existing disease.


This guide provides recommended reading lists and resources on the following diversity topics: race and ethnicity, religion, ability, class, immigration, gender and sexual identity, bullying and bias, rights and activism.


Freehand sketching is both a natural and crucial part of design, yet is unsupported by current design automation software. We are working to combine the flexibility and ease of use of paper and pencil with the processing power of a computer to produce a design environment that feels as natural as paper, yet is considerably smarter. One of the most basic steps in accomplishing this is converting the original digitized pen strokes in the sketch into the intended geometric objects using feature point detection and approximation. We demonstrate how multiple sources of information can be combined for feature detection in strokes and apply this technique using two approaches to signal processing, one using simple average based thresholding and a second using scale space. Thesis Supervisor: Randall Davis Title: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science


Rainfall simulation experiments were carried out in plots on three types of land cover (scrubland, grassland and rock fragment). Infiltration rates were similar for all three land cover types. Sediment concentrations and sediment detachments were moderate-to-low. The results confirm moderate hydrological and sediment responses associated with abandoned agricultural slopes. They also illustrate the complexity and variability of slope behavior associated with management of the fields, and are related to topographic features, in particular slope aspect.


made up with Record fittings is almost never air-tight, whereas with Luer fittings this is easily attained. The second advantage of the Luer fitting is that the stouter nozzle makes it possible for an all-glass syringe to be strong enough to stand up to routine use, and I have had to discard few syringes for chipped or broken nozzles. The glass nozzle is a distinct help in venipuncture, since a trace of aspirated blood is visible. I would make a plea that there should be a gradual change over to the Luer fitting for all apparatus. This would also make British and, American apparatus interchangeable, since this fitting has long been standard in the U.S.A. The standard type of syringe should therefore be all-glass, with Luer fitting and (except in the smallest sizes) with eccentric nozzle.I am, etc., Cambridge. DOUGLAS GAIRDNER.


Recently, a mosaic disease was observed on jack bean cultivation in Dramaga, Bogor,West Java. The symptom on infected plants, i.e. combination of pale and dark green area was more obvious on young leaves. Vein banding, leaf malformation, and growth inhibition was also observed in infected plants. The symptom was not very obvious in older leaves. Serological detection gave positive reaction to Bean common mosaic virus (BCMV) antiserum, but reaction was negative when detected using specific primer to coat protein (CP) of BCMV strain black eye by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction . DNA fragments were successfully amplified by RT-PCR using universal primer of CP gene and degenerated primer for cylindrical inclusion gen (CI) of Potyvirus. DNA analysis showed the highest homology (86.4–91.5%) to several isolates of BCMV-infecting different crops from several countries based on partial sequence of CP, whereas based on partial sequence of CI the highest homology (87.3%) was to BCMV-RU1-P. This is the first report of BCMV infection on jack bean in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia.


Neurobrucellosis is an inflammatory disease caused by the invasion of Brucella spp. to the central nervous system (CNS). The pathogenesis of the disease is not well characterized; however, for Brucella to gain access to the brain parenchyma, traversing of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) must take place. To understand the CNS determinants of the pathogenesis of B. abortus, we have used the in vitro BBB model of human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC) to study the interactions between B. abortus and brain endothelial cells. In this study, we showed that B. abortus is able to adhere and invade HBMEC which was dependent on microtubules, microfilaments, endosome acidification and de novo protein synthesis. After infection, B. abortus rapidly escapes the endosomal compartment of HBMEC and forms a replicative Brucella-containing vacuole that involves interactions with the endoplasmic reticulum. Despite the ability of B. abortus to invade and replicate in HBMEC, the bacterium was unable by itself to traverse HBMEC, but could traverse polarized HBMEC monolayers within infected monocytes. Importantly, infected monocytes that traversed the HBMEC monolayer were a bacterial source for de novo infection of glial cells. This is the first demonstration of the mechanism whereby B. abortus is able to traverse the BBB and infect cells of the CNS. These results may have important implications in our understanding of the pathogenesis of neurobrucellosis.


Tyro3, Axl, and Mertk (TAM) represent a family of homologous tyrosine kinase receptors known for their functional role in phosphatidylserine (PS)-dependent clearance of apoptotic cells and also for their immune modulatory functions in the resolution of inflammation. Previous studies in our laboratory have shown that Gas6/PS-mediated activation of TAM receptors on tumor cells leads to subsequent upregulation of PD-L1, defining a putative PS→TAM receptor→PD-L1 inhibitory signaling axis in the cancer microenvironment that may promote tolerance. In this study, we tested combinations of TAM inhibitors and PD-1 mAbs in a syngeneic orthotopic E0771 murine triple-negative breast cancer model, whereby tumor-bearing mice were treated with pan-TAM kinase inhibitor (BMS-777607) or anti-PD-1 alone or in combination. Tyro3, Axl, and Mertk were differentially expressed on multiple cell subtypes in the tumor microenvironment. Although monotherapeutic administration of either pan-TAM kinase inhibitor (BMS-777607) or anti-PD-1 mAb therapy showed partial antitumor activity, combined treatment of BMS-777607 with anti-PD-1 significantly decreased tumor growth and incidence of lung metastasis. Moreover, combined treatment with BMS-777607 and anti-PD-1 showed increased infiltration of immune stimulatory T cells versus either monotherapy treatment alone. RNA NanoString profiling showed enhanced infiltration of antitumor effector T cells and a skewed immunogenic immune profile. Proinflammatory cytokines increased with combinational treatment. Together, these studies indicate that pan-TAM inhibitor BMS-777607 cooperates with anti-PD-1 in a syngeneic mouse model for triple-negative breast cancer and highlights the clinical potential for this combined therapy. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings show that pan-inhibition of TAM receptors in combination with anti-PD-1 may have clinical value as cancer therapeutics to promote an inflammatory tumor microenvironment and improve host antitumor immunity.


Soil temperature is a fundamental controller of processes influencing the transformation and flux of soil C and nutrients following forest harvest. Soil temperature response to harvesting is influenced by the amount of logging debris (biomass) removal that occurs, but the duration, magnitude, and depth of influence is unclear. Logging debris manipulations (none, moderate, and heavy amounts) were applied following clearcut harvesting at four aspen-dominated (Populus tremuloides Michx.) sites in northeastern Minnesota, and temperature was measured at 10-, 30-, and 50-cm depths for two growing seasons. Across sites, soil temperature was significantly greater at all sample depths relative to uncut forest in some periods of each year, but the increase was reduced with increasing logging-debris retention. When logging debris was removed compared to when it was retained in the first growing season, mean growing season soil temperatures were 0.9, 1.0, and 0.8°C greater at 10-, 30-, and 50-cm depths, respectively. These patterns were also observed early in the second growing season, but there was no discernible difference among treatments later in the growing season due to the modifying effect of rapid aspen regrowth. Where vegetation establishment and growth occurs quickly, effects of logging debris removal on soil temperature and the processes influenced by it will likely be short-lived. The significant increase in soil temperature that occurred in deep soil for at least 2 yr after harvest supports an argument for deeper soil sampling than commonly occurs in experimental studies.


Papadavid George 1,2 , Hadjimitsis Diofantos 1 (1. Cyprus University of Technology , Cyprus ; 2. Agricultural Research Institute , Cyprus ) Abstract: The objective of this research project is to describe and apply a procedure for monitoring and improving the performance of on-demand irrigation networks, based on the integration of remote sensing techniques and simulation modeling of irrigation water in Cyprus, which is facing a severe drought in the last five years. Multi-spectral satellite images are used to infer crop potential evapotranspiration, which is the main input for water balance simulations. The need for estimating ET in Cyprus is imposed in order to determine the exact quantity of irrigated water needed for each specific crop. The overuse of water for irrigation has resulted in eliminating the water resources in the whole island. The determination of ET for irrigation purposes will be used as a vital tool for supporting the decision-making process in the management of water resources, on a technocratic level, and on the other hand will have a positive effect on the rest of water resources of Cyprus. The integrated method applied, consisting of Remote Sensing techniques and micro-sensor technology, has shown that it can be a useful tool in the hands of agri-policy makers for sustainable irrigation. Keywords: remote sensing, wireless sensors, irrigation management, sustainability Citation: Papadavid George, Hadjimitsis Diofantos. I ntegrated approach of r emote s ensing and micro-sensor technology for estimating e vapotranspiration in Cyprus . Agric Eng Int : CIGR Journal , 20 1 0 , 12 ( 3 ): 1 - 11 .


Resettlement programmes have been implemented by many governments and organisations to relocate people from the hazard areas to other safe places where they are expected to have normal or better lives. However, often the resettled communities face numerous difficulties while going through the relocation process and beyond. It appears that many social and humanitarian problems exists in most of the resettlement programmes (Menoni and Pesaro, 2008). It has been often found that the social, economic and humanitarian problems faced by resettlement communities are linked with the spatial aspects of the resettlement area (Dikmen, 2002; Corsellis and Vitale, 2005; Muggah, 2008). In order to mitigate the severity of those issues in conducting a potential resettlement programme, the information of vulnerable hazard communities must be prepared for the resettlement plan. However, the limitation of the data, i.e. spatial and non-spatial data, of the vulnerable hazard
communities plays an important role to delay the post-disaster reduction tasks. An attempt to obtain and develop the dataset potential for post-disaster risk reduction proceed with the resettlement programme requires a comprehensive statement of situations during the disaster occurrence in the hazard community. Therefore, this paper presents a technique identifying the relationships between spatial and nonspatial
data essential to the post-disaster risk reduction at the local scale. The obtain information
derives from the deep insight interviews of affected people regarding issues associated with spatial aspects in a disaster event. The explored issues regarding the interrelationship between socioeconomic issues and spatial conditions were presented in cognitive maps showing the complexity of those issues in a resettlement programme. As the outcome of the paper, it presents the developed spatail database for resettlement programmes in local communities vulnerable to debris-flow disasters. The explored result of this paper is expected to apply with the resettlement programme in order to prevent the misleading resettlement programmes and also accelerate the post-disaster risk reduction for vulnerable hazard communities effectively.


Abstract. – OBJECTIVE: Preeclampsia (PE) is an important disease affecting maternal and neonatal pregnancy. Long non-coding RNA plays an important role in preeclampsia. This study aims to explore the role of HOXA distal transcript antisense RNA (HOTTIP) in preeclampsia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression of HOTTIP in placentas of preeclampsia and normal pregnancy was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The difference of clinical data between high expression HOTTIP group and low expression HOTTIP group was compared to explore the relationship between HOTTIP and the progress of preeclampsia. Cell proliferation and cell cycle were detected after overexpression and interference with HOTTIP. Western blot was finally used for detecting protein expression. RESULTS: By analyzing the clinical data, we found that systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and urinary protein in preeclampsia patients were significantly higher than those in normal pregnant women. The birth weight of fetuses was significantly lower than that of normal pregnant women. Through PCR results, we found that the expression of HOTTIP in patients with preeclampsia was significantly lower, and the maternal systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and urinary protein in the low expression HOTTIP group were significantly higher than that in the high expression group. Fetal birth weight was significantly lower than the high expression group. After overexpression and interference with HOTTIP, it was found that overexpression of HOTTIP significantly increased the proliferation of trophoblast cells and markedly accelerated the cycle. Interfering with HOTTIP, trophoblast cell proliferation was significantly reduced and cell cycle was arrested. By Western blotting, we found that HOTTIP regulated the progression of preeclampsia via Rho family GTPase 3(RND3). CONCLUSIONS: HOTTIP was lowly expressed in preeclampsia and was able to suppress the progression of preeclampsia.


Arguments negating the role of the African-diasporic female metaphysical figure in the oral literature of the English-speaking Caribbean and America, hinge on the belief that these supernatural figures represent evil and that such representations disempower women. This thesis offers an alternative comparative analysis of two female metaphysical figures from the Caribbean, as well as two related supernatural figures from America. It explores the central role that the figures played in the formation of New World female subjectivity in slave societies and in the writing of contemporary African-diasporic and white Creole women writers. It focuses specifically on works by Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Jean Rhys, Paule Marshall and Jamaica Kincaid. This thesis is based on two premises; that the metaphysical figures are deitic in origin, therefore non-felicitous, non-essentialist and centrally ambivalent; and that the modernist, postmodernist and magic realist women writers under study, use the figures' non-totalising narratives to write back to the colonial Manichean allegory and to excavate closed periods of New World female history. After an investigation into the West African deitic progenitors of the female oral literary figures, this thesis investigates the representations of such figures in the early works of African-diasporic women writers. It then traces the sociopolitical reasons behind the figures' revision in the two regions under study. It explores the re-interpretations female writers from America and the Caribbean, award the figures, due to the formers' different historical, racial, and socio-political standpoints. Finally, this thesis proposes a framework for the analysis of African-diasporic and Creole women writers' work, based on the operations and interventions of the oral literary African-diasporic female metaphysical figure.


Pregnant women in developing countries have been reported to consume diets with low density of minerals and essential trace elements. Therefore, this study aims to assess the serum levels of magnesium and manganese and its trimester correlates among pregnant women in Ika community of Delta state, Nigeria. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the serum levels of magnesium and manganese among 64 apparently healthy pregnant and age matched 25 healthy non-pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at obstetrics and gynaecology unit of central hospital Agbor. The mean serum levels of manganese increased with increase in gestational age while hypomagnesaemia 12.24ug/dl was observed in 60 (93.8%) of the pregnant women with a larger preponderance in the second trimester There was significant difference between the serum level of manganese in pregnant women compared to non-pregnant women (p<0.001). There were no statistical significance between the serum levels of these trace elements and occupation, nature of dietary intake, age of participants and trimester of pregnancy. We observed an increase in the mean serum levels of manganese with trimester progression while a high prevalence rate (93.8%) of magnesium deficiency among pregnant women was noted in this study. Maximal awareness (advocacy) should therefore be given to pregnant women on the need for adequate dietary intake and supplementation to avoid the complications associated with deficiency of this nutrient. Keywords: Magnesium, Manganese, Pregnant, Women, Agbor, Nigeria


Boron deficiency, manifested as shoot dieback, is a problem in conifer stands growing on soils with high nitrogen availability in Fennoscandia. Earlier observations on Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) suggest that freezing tolerance is decreased by boron deficiency. Here, the effect of boron fertilization on cold acclimation of Norway spruce was studied in a young stand with initially low boron status two years after fertilization. Buds, stems, needles and roots were collected at five sampling times during cold acclimation and subsequently exposed to series of freezing temperatures. Lethal temperatures of organs were assessed by electrolyte leakage method (EL) and visual scoring of damage (VS). Freezing tolerance of buds was measured also by differential thermal analysis (DTA). The mean boron (B) concentration in needles was 4 mg kg–1 in unfertilized and 21 mg kg–1 in B-fertilized trees while critical level of B deficiency is considered to be 5 mg kg–1. The risk for increased freezing injuries in the low-B trees was not evident since all trees achieved cold hardiness that would be sufficient in central Finland. At two sampling times out of five, shoots or stem of B-fertilized trees were slightly more freezing tolerant than non-fertilized trees. However, the present study does not give strong evidence for the hypothesis that decreased freezing tolerance in B deficiency would be a triggering factor for leader dieback in Norway spruce at the B levels studied.


Non-aqueous rechargeable Li–O2 batteries have attracted great attention owing to their ultra-high specific energy densities. However, the high charge overpotential and the interfacial instability of lithium anodes still need to be overcome before the practical application of Li–O2 batteries. Here, we use KI as a bifunctional electrolyte additive for Li–O2 batteries. The results demonstrate that I− could act as a redox mediator to effectively reduce the charge overpotential by 0.7 V. On the other hand, the introduction of K+ contributes to decreasing the polarization, optimizing the morphology, reducing the surface by-products of the lithium anode and dramatically improving the uniform distribution of discharge products on the cathode surface. The dual functions of KI additive thus successfully boost the electrochemical performances of Li–O2 batteries.


In most freshwater ecosystems the unselectively filter feeding cladoceran Daphnia is of major importance for the transfer of energy, carbon and nutrients across the plant - herbivore interface. Especially in freshwaters with a high abundance of cyanobacteria this transfer is often constrained by food quality rather than food quantity, since cyanobacteria are considered as low quality food for daphnids. Cyanobacteria lack several nutritional components that are important for daphnids, they can interfere mechanically with the filter apparatus of daphnids due to colony formation and they contain numerous cyanotoxins. The importance of the Daphnia - cyanobacteria interaction is additionally emphasized by an increasing anthropogenic influence on ecosystems, which includes artificial nutrient input into lakes and ponds as well as increasing temperatures due to global warming. These human impacts contribute to the extent and frequency of cyanobacterial blooms, which in return constitute a serious hazard for public health and ecosystem services. Studies concerned with this crucial interaction reveal contradictory results, in which sometimes cyanobacteria suppress Daphnia populations whereas in other cases the opposite situation can be observed, namely the suppression of cyanobacteria by daphnids. Daphnia species display an enormous ability to adapt to cyanobacteria. As a result, huge differences among Daphnia species and genotypes with regard to their sensitivity towards cyanobacterial diets can be found. Despite the importance of the Daphnia - cyanobacteria interaction for the structure of freshwater ecosystems, the knowledge about the physiological basis of this interaction is scarce.
In order to elucidate important aspects of the physiology that underlies the Daphnia - cyanobacteria interaction the present study focused mainly on toxic cyanobacterial secondary metabolites. To detect and quantify cyanobacterial compounds in exposure experiments with daphnids and toxin containing cyanobacteria, high resolution LC-MS technology was applied. This approach, in combination with other techniques, such as enzyme activity measurements and molecular biological methods, revealed several new insights into the physiology of the interaction of Daphnia with cyanobacteria.
It is argued that one major reason explaining the huge differences among daphnids with regard to their sensitivity towards cyanobacteria might lie in their ability to cope with cyanotoxins such as microcystin-LR (MCLR). The widely accepted hypothesis regarding dietary MCLR in Daphnia includes the involvement of glutathione-S-transferase acting as a first step of detoxification by conjugating the toxin with glutathione (GSH).
I was able to reject this hypothesis by measuring MCLR amounts in all parts of an exposure experiment (incubation medium, cyanobacteria and Daphnia tissue) with Daphnia magna and the MCLR containing cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa. Since the presence of daphnids neither led to a decrease of overall MCLR nor to an increase of the MCLR-GSH conjugate significant processes of biotransformation of any kind could be ruled out. Instead the data revealed that MCLR is exported out of Daphnia tissue with a high efficiency. These transport processes had not been considered with regard to dietary MCLR in Daphnia yet. Furthermore, the study reveals that these transport mechanisms should not be considered as a special case for MCLR alone but that transport is of general importance with regard to dietary cyanotoxins in Daphnia, since a whole set of other structurally diverse cyanobacterial components were similarly exported out of Daphnia and not subjected to any forms of biotransformation.
Additionally, I could identify two types of trans membrane transporters, namely multi xenobiotic resistance (MXR) proteins and organic anion transporting polypeptides (Oatps) being responsible for the export of MCLR out of Daphnia tissue. The application of specific inhibitors of these transporters resulted in significantly increased MCLR amounts within the Daphnia tissue. Although a qPCR analysis demonstrated that a 24 h exposure of daphnids to a MCLR containing diet is not enough to cause significant up-regulation of respective transporter genes, the results in this dissertation strongly emphasize the importance of transport mechanisms for the understanding of the Daphnia - cyanobacteria interaction.
In the last part of my thesis I successfully developed a new method in order to unravel seasonal succession patterns of cyanobacterial chemotypes within a pond. Metabolomic fingerprints of a time series of phytoplankton samples were combined with the potential of these samples to inhibit grazer proteases by using multivariate statistics. This new approach revealed rapid changes within the cyanobacterial chemotype composition in a lake, which in return strongly reflect on Daphnia populations and emphasize the need for fast adaptation processes on the Daphnia side.
In summary, the results of this dissertation reveal several new insights in the physiology of the Daphnia - cyanobacteria interaction, which elucidate the importance, necessity and nature of transport processes for detrimental cyanotoxins in Daphnia.


Operational forecasting is hampered both by the rapid divergence of nearby initial conditions and by error in the underlying model. Interest in chaos has fuelled much work on the first of these two issues; this paper focuses on the second. A new approach to quantifying state-dependent model error, the local model drift, is derived and deployed both in examples and in operational numerical weather prediction models. A simple law is derived to relate model error to likely shadowing performance (how long the model can stay close to the observations). Imperfect model experiments are used to contrast the performance of truncated models relative to a high resolution run, and the operational model relative to the analysis. In both cases the component of forecast error due to state-dependent model error tends to grow as the square-root of forecast time, and provides a major source of error out to three days. These initial results suggest that model error plays a major role and calls for further research in quantifying both the local model drift and expected shadowing times.


Satellite altimetric observations of the ocean reveal surface pressure patterns in the core of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) that propagate downstream (eastward) but slower than the mean surface current by about 25%. We argue that these observations are suggestive of baroclinically unstable waves that have a steering level at a depth of about 1 km. Detailed linear stability calculations using a hydrographic atlas indeed reveal a steering level in the ACC near the depth implied by the altimetric observations. Calculations using a nonlinear model forced by the mean shear and stratification observed close to the core of the ACC, coinciding with a position where mooring data and direct eddy flux measurements are available, reveal a similar picture, albeit with added details. When eddy fluxes are allowed to adjust the mean state, computed eddy kinetic energy and eddy stress are close to observed magnitudes with steering levels between 1 and 1.5 km, broadly consistent with observations. An important result of this study is that the vertical structure of the PV eddy diffusivity is strongly depth-dependent, implying that the diffusivity for PV and buoyancy are very different from one another. It is shown that the flow can simultaneously support a PV diffusivity peaking at 5000 m s−1 or so near the mid-depth steering level, and a buoyancy diffusivity that is much smaller, of order 1000 m s−1, exhibiting less vertical structure. An effective diffusivity calculation, using an advected and diffused tracer transformed into area coordinates, confirms that the PV diffusivity more closely reflects the mixing properties of the flow than does the buoyancy diffusivity, and points explicitly to the need for separating tracer and buoyancy flux parameterizations in coarse-resolution general circulation models. Finally, implications for the eddy-driven circulation of the ACC are discussed.


Drawing on parallels between genetic information processing in living organisms and the processing of communications data, we develop an error-control coding-based translation initiation classification system that uses an eleven base classification window. An overview of channel codes and a summary of the translation initiation process are presented. Parallels between the two are drawn and a brief review of a channel code model for translation initiation is shown. A block-code Bayesian classifier is presented and the results of applying the system to the translation start site location problem for Escherichia coli K-12 is discussed.


This study, using quarterly, firm-level panel data constructed from government statistics, presents empirical evidence on measurements of firms' business uncertainty and how this is associated with their investments. According to the analysis, first, uncertainty measures calculated from ex post forecast errors have strong seasonal fluctuations because of the respondents choosing "unsure" in the survey. Second, while an "unsure" response positively correlates with stock market volatility and the economic policy uncertainty index, correlation between the forecast error-based measures of uncertainty and these macroeconomic uncertainty indices are very weak. Third, the higher degree of uncertainty observed from firms who responded "unsure" after the 2008 global financial crisis has remained high afterward. Fourth, at the firm-level, the responses "unsure" for the next two quarters have clear negative associations with investments realized in these quarters. These results highlight the importance of paying attention to the design of surveys.


This article explores the ways in which the immigration of Nicaraguans to Costa Rica is represented by Costa Rican institutions and individuals through public discourses and everyday life. Three discourses are consid ered. First, intellectual claims that immigration poses a threat to Costa Rican national identity, whereby intellectuals portray 'Costa Rica in crisis' due to immigration. Second, fictional works seek to represent issues regarding the Nicaraguan community in innovative ways, being open-ended and including diverse voices. Third, stories written by Nicaraguan children are discussed in view of exploring how hostility towards immigration interpellates them, who face the challenge of negotiating their identities with their peers in everyday life. The article ends by asking for a politics able to defend public institutions and public investment, able to forge networks of solidarity with immigrant communities.


Women's Organizing and Public Policy in Canada and Sweden highlights the impact of women's organizing on the framing and implementing of public policy, the reconstituting of discourse, and the practices of unions, political parties, and the state. It examines the strategies women have used to organize themselves as a vocal and politicized constituency. In so doing, it stretches definitions of organizing and of political practice, politicizes the social and the private, and expands conceptions of agency. Comparing Sweden and Canada allows the mechanisms at work in each society to emerge more clearly, challenging what is often taken for granted. Contributors include Christina Bergqvist (Uppsala, Sweden), Linda Briskin, Barbara Cameron (York, Canada), Marianne Carlsson (Uppsala, Sweden), Rebecca Priegert Coulter (University of Western Ontario, Canada), Mona Eliasson, Georgina Feldberg (York, Canada), Sue Findlay (private scholar, Canada), Lena Gonas (National Institute for Working Life, Sweden), Wuokko Knocke (National Institute for Working Life, Sweden), Catharina Landstrom (Linkoping, Sweden), Colleen Lundy (Carleton, Canada), Rianne Mahon (Carleton, Canada), Chantal Maille (Concordia, Canada), Roxana Ng (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Canada), Becki Ross (University of British Columbia, Canada), Lena Wangnerud (Goteborg, Sweden), and Inga Wernersson (Goteborg, Sweden).


Crises and tail events have asymmetric effects across borders, raising the value of arrangements improving insurance of macroeconomic risk. Using a two-country DSGE model, we provide an analytical and quantitative analysis of the channels through which countries gain from sharing (tail) risk. Riskier countries gain in smoother consumption but lose in relative wealth and average consumption. Safer countries benefit from higher wealth and better average terms of trade. Calibrated using the empirical distribution of moments of GDP-growth across countries, the model suggests non-negligible quantitative effects. We offer an algorithm for the correct solution of the equilibrium using DSGE models under complete markets, at higher order of approximation.


The mobile Internet, which gives access to the World Wide Web through a mobile device, has been gaining in popularity. The mobile Internet differs from the traditional stationary Internet in that it can be used in a wider variety of contexts. However, no studies have identified the contexts in which mobile Internet services are used most frequently, or determined which contexts exert significant influence on a user's choice of mobile service. This article proposes a framework of use contexts that reflects the characteristics of the mobile Internet. To explore these contexts, a research method was devised and a longitudinal monitoring study was conducted. The results indicate that mobile Internet use is heavily clustered around a few key contexts, rather than dispersed widely over diverse contexts. Further, participants in the monitoring study were found to concentrate their use on a few mobile services, rather than on exploring diverse services. Perhaps most interestingly, some contextual factors were found to correlate closely with the selection of specific mobile Internet services. On the basis of these results, the article concludes with implications for developers of mobile Internet services.


We propose a new class of models for pricing forward starting options. We assume that the asset price is a nonlinear function of a CIR process, time changed by a composition of a Levy subordinator and an absolutely ´ continuous process. The new models introduce the nonlinearity in both drift and diffusion components of the underlying process and can capture jumps and stochastic volatility in a flexible way. By employing the spectral expansion technique, we are able to derive the analytical formulas for the forward starting option prices. We also implement a specific model numerically and test its sensitivity to some of the key parameters of the model.