"Theosis," or the principle of divine-human communion, sparks the theological imagination of Orthodox Christians and has been historically important to questions of political theology. In "The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy," Aristotle Papanikolaou argues that a political theology grounded in the principle of divine-human communion must be one that unequivocally endorses a political community that is democratic in a way that structures itself around the modern liberal principles of freedom of religion, the protection of human rights, and church-state separation. Papanikolaou hopes to forge a non-radical Orthodox political theology that extends beyond a reflexive opposition to the West and a nostalgic return to a Byzantine-like unified political-religious culture. His exploration is prompted by two trends: the fall of communism in traditionally Orthodox countries has revealed an unpreparedness on the part of Orthodox Christianity to address the question of political theology in a way that is consistent with its core axiom of "theosis"; and recent Christian political theology, some of it evoking the notion of deification, has been critical of liberal democracy, implying a mutual incompatibility between a Christian world view and that of modern liberal democracy. The first comprehensive treatment from an Orthodox theological perspective of the issue of the compatibility between Orthodoxy and liberal democracy, Papanikolaou s is an affirmation that Orthodox support for liberal forms of democracy is justified within the framework of Orthodox understandings of God and the human person. His overtly theological approach shows that the basic principles of liberal democracy are not tied exclusively to the language and categories of Enlightenment philosophy and, so, are not inherently secular. "Aristotle Papanikolaou s "The Mystical as Political" is a stellar contribution to the analysis of Orthodox thought and also to current debates about theology and politics. For too long scholars in the Western academy have failed to engage the resources and insights of Orthodox theology. This book aptly shows those resources and insights in a way that marks a genuine advance in thought. "The Mystical as Political" rewards its reader with fresh insight into the complex relation between faith and politics. Papanikolaou is a rising star on the theological scene. This book deserves wide readership as a crucial theological contribution to debates about our political and personal lives." William Schweiker, University of Chicago "In "The Mystical as Political," Papanikolaou not only guides readers through the rich legacy of Eastern Orthodox political thought, from the formative struggles of the pre-Constantinian era to the post-Enlightenment, post-Ottoman, and post-Communist challenges encountered today, but also presents a compelling argument that Orthodoxy's goal of 'divine-human communion' can and should include core elements of modern liberal democracy and the human rights tradition. This study signals a new phase in political theology for Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike, and it secures Papanikolaou's place as one of today's leading Orthodox thinkers and theological bridge-builders." Perry T. Hamalis, North Central College Aristotle Papanikolaou s "The Mystical as Political" will be the standard Eastern Orthodox text in classes on theology and politics. It evinces a thorough engagement with the current debates in theology and politics, a rich awareness of the theological issues at stake, and a crisply distinctive position of its own. It will be enormously educational for classroom use, as well as being an immense contribution to the scholarly conversations on these matters. Charles Mathewes, University of Virginia "


This study examined the changes in antagonistic activity of selected lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in response to technological factors used in food production. The antimicrobial activity of 12 selected LAB strains was assessed against the bacterial and fungal strains using the agar well diffusion method. Sodium chloride (NaCl) 6.5–8.0%, glucose 20-30% and pH 4.0, pH 8.0 and higher were the most crucial factors in reducing the spectra of the microorganisms antagonized. Heating at 80 °C or 100 °C had a greater negative impact than 63 °C on the antifungal activity of LAB. Freezing at –72 °C eliminated the antifungal activity, or it changed from fungicidal to fungistatic. Although each LAB demonstrated the ability to retain antimicrobial activity induced by various technological factors, Lactococcus lactis 768/5 was superior in retaining high antimicrobial activity against tested indicator strains.


The present in vitro experiments were performed to examine the involvement of Ca+2 in the mechanism by which prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) induces LHRH release from the median eminence (ME) of the hypothalamus. Stepwise decreases in the Ca+2 concentration of the incubation medium reduced the LHRH response to PGE2. Nevertheless, neither complete omission of Ca+2 (residual Ca+2 concentration, 3.5 microM) nor chelation of residual Ca+2 with EGTA prevented the stimulatory effect of the PG, suggesting that a significant portion of the PGE2 effect on LHRH release is independent of extracellular Ca+2. Blockade of Ca+2 influx with verapamil, a Ca+2 entry blocker, demonstrated that this component of the PGE2 effect is completely independent of inward Ca+2 movement. Depletion of intraterminal Ca+2 stores by exposure of the MEs to the Ca+2 ionophore A23187 in medium without Ca+2 containing EGTA almost completely obliterated the subsequent LHRH response to PGE2, indicating that normal intraterminal Ca+2 levels are important for the PGE2 effect to occur. Preloading the ME terminals with 45Ca+2 and subsequent stimulation with PGE2 demonstrated that even in the absence of extracellular Ca+2, PGE2 stimulates Ca+2 efflux from the terminals, and this Ca+2 movement occurs temporarily associated with LHRH release. Depolarization of ME terminals with 56 mM K+ in the presence of normal Ca+2 concentration resulted in massive efflux of 45Ca+2 and a greater LHRH response than that produced by PGE2, suggesting that the effect of PGE2 is not the consequence of a nonspecific general depolarization of ME nerve terminals. Thus, although a full LHRH response to (exogenous) PGE2 necessitates normal extraterminal Ca+2 concentrations, the results indicate that translocation of Ca+2 from intracellular stores is an event involved in the mechanism by which PGE2 releases LHRH.


Hypnosis and Behaviour Modification: Imagery Conditioning. By WILLIAMS. KROGER. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. 1977. Pp 406. £16.80. This book introduces the topic in a clear and readable way, by a series of concise definitions and clear expositions of major theoretical views. These are followed by helpful sections on the preparation of the subject for hypnosis and on the variety of hypnotic techniques. The discussion broadens into related procedures such as autogenic training and biofeed back and there is a useful discussion of autohypnosis. Unfortunately the work loses much of its pristine clarity as it continues and the extensive sections on clinical applications become muddled and repetitive. The author would have been better advised to exclude this entire section from the work since he has covered the matter in a second book which appeared since the first edition of the present work. Most of the sections are well referenced which is of advantage to the serious student and researcher.


In the 1950s, the incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lytico) and parkinsonism-dementia complex (PDC, or Bodig) on the island of Guam was much higher than anywhere else in the world. From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, the incidence of both disorders has decreased. The objective of the present study was to ascertain whether the decreasing incidence continued until the end of the century (1999). The average annual incidence of ALS and PDC was calculated for each 5-year period from 1940 to 1999, utilizing registration records of all ALS and PDC cases on Guam during that period. The results of this study confirmed that the incidence of ALS declined steadily during the past 40 years. The incidence of PDC also declined until the late 1980s but, unlike ALS, showed a slight increase from 1980 to 1999. The rapid decrease in incidence is not likely to be due to genetic factors. Instead, it is most likely to be the results of radical socioeconomic, ethnographic, and ecologic changes brought about by the rapid westernization of Guam.


This paper investigates post-disaster dynamics at the local level, in particular how local identity and social cohesion are affected after an extreme event. A particular case is investigated: the largest forest fire in modern Swedish history, which took place in 2014. The empirical material consists of interviews with forest professionals and organizations involved with the fire or the post-fire work and a postal survey to all people directly affected by the wildfire. The analysis finds that the experience of the wildfire and its social interpretation led to the invention of a particular community identity, one that strengthened the self-understanding of the community. Thus, the post-disaster dynamics are pivotal for what social practices that emerge and what local identities are invented and thus may greatly affect the capacity of a community to handle extreme events.


Fiber laser welding of stainless steel was studied for different joint configurations and gaps. The higher focusing capability of fiber lasers compared to traditional Nd:YAG and CO2 lasers creates different, usually smaller, keyhole and melt pool geometries. These geometrical aspects, accompanied by a different laser energy redistribution, are essential for the weld pool dynamics and the resulting joint, with or without defects. Typical defects identified during fiber laser welding were spatter, humping, or lack of material at the top or root.High-speed imaging enables observation of the geometry and motions of the melt pool surface and keyhole during welding. This is illuminated by an additional diode laser permitting spectral filtering and also the metal vapor dynamics can be visualized. Mathematical modeling provides the possibility to estimate and study additional phenomena that are difficult to measure, such as effects inside the melt volume or the impact of surface tension forces on dynamic melt motion. For recorded melt surface motion images, in particular, the corresponding surface tension forces and other mechanisms can be estimated by cooperative complementary modeling, enabling to draw conclusions. This advanced method was carried out for the different joint and defect cases studied, resulting in an illustrated theoretical description of the observed physical phenomena.Fiber laser welding of stainless steel was studied for different joint configurations and gaps. The higher focusing capability of fiber lasers compared to traditional Nd:YAG and CO2 lasers creates different, usually smaller, keyhole and melt pool geometries. These geometrical aspects, accompanied by a different laser energy redistribution, are essential for the weld pool dynamics and the resulting joint, with or without defects. Typical defects identified during fiber laser welding were spatter, humping, or lack of material at the top or root.High-speed imaging enables observation of the geometry and motions of the melt pool surface and keyhole during welding. This is illuminated by an additional diode laser permitting spectral filtering and also the metal vapor dynamics can be visualized. Mathematical modeling provides the possibility to estimate and study additional phenomena that are difficult to measure, such as effects inside the melt volume or the impact of surface tension forces on dynamic melt mot...


SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is a tool widely used to help in decision making in complex systems. It suits to exploring the issues and measures related to the conservation and development of local breeds, as it allows the integration of many driving factors influencing breed dynamics. We developed a quantified SWOT method as a decision-making tool for identification and ranking of conservation and development strategies of local breeds, and applied it to a set of 13 cattle breeds of six European countries. The method has four steps: definition of the system, identification and grouping of the driving factors, quantification of the importance of driving factors and identification and prioritization of the strategies. The factors were determined following a multi-stakeholder approach and grouped with a three-level structure. Animal genetic resources expert groups ranked the factors, and a quantification process was implemented to identify and prioritize strategies. The proposed SWOT methodology allows analyzing the dynamics of local cattle breeds in a structured and systematic way. It is a flexible tool developed to assist different stakeholders in defining the strategies and actions. The quantification process allows the comparison of the driving factors and the prioritization of the strategies for the conservation and development of local cattle breeds. We identified 99 factors across the breeds. Although the situation is very heterogeneous, the future of these breeds may be promising. The most important strengths and weaknesses were related to production systems and farmers. The most important opportunities were found in marketing new products, whereas the most relevant threats were found in selling the current products. The across-breed strategies utility decreased as they gained specificity. Therefore, the strategies at European level should focus on general aspects and be flexible enough to be adapted to the country and breed specificities.


AIMS AND METHOD This study aimed to assess the current level of amphetamine prescribing for

adults in drug services in the West and East Midlands. A questionnaire was

developed to investigate prescribing habits and attitudes, and was addressed

to the senior member of staff in each drug service within the West and East

Midlands area. RESULTS A total of 41 services were identified, and 29 questionnaires were returned

(a 71% response rate). Of the services that replied, 20 (69%) prescribed

amphetamines, with 132 (12%) patients identified as amphetamine misusers

currently receiving a prescription. However, 26 (90%) services felt that

substitute prescribing did have a role in a comprehensive service for this

group. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Although amphetamine prescribing has been shown to reduce both criminal and

injecting behaviour, only two-thirds of the local services prescribe such

drugs, with a small percentage of amphetamine users receiving a prescription.

There is a need for a national consensus about substitute prescribing of

amphetamines and increased flexibility within drug services when managing the

problem.


Abstract : This project explores means of enhancing the efficiency of bio/chem/nuclear hazard detection in the atmosphere by unmanned air vehicles (UAV). Specifically, the study seeks to discover if and where the placement of sensors on UAV's can maximize the volume of space that is brought into contact with the sensor. A hybrid gridfree/finite volume numerical flow simulation methodology that is adept at modeling complex flow scenarios provides the basis for the analysis. This study focuses on the use of an unmanned helicopter in collecting particle data. Clear evidence is found that the judicious placement of sensors on the UAV can profoundly affect the efficiency with which the atmosphere can be surveyed for hazards. In particular, for the geometry considered here, sensor placement in the tail section of a helicopter in forward flight is found to enable sampling particles that originate from relatively widely separated forward positions. Future work should be devoted to optimizing sensor placement for particular geometries under a range offlight conditions.


The state of vibrational sensibility was studied in 35 patients with syringomyelia, with the aid of a special device, which evoked in the tuning fork a vibration of the same amplitude (128) in repeated studies. The indices of vibrational sensibility in patients with syringomyelia were compared to normal figures. As a norm the author employed the medium indices of vibrational sensibility in seconds in 50 normals. According to the vibrational sensibility all the patients were divided into 4 groups. The absence of vibrational perception, its drop below the norm and appearance of hyperpallesthesia corresponded to the most severe forms of the disease. In a drop of temporal indices, but not lower than the norm, the side, where the pathological process was more marked under the treatment influence, showed a restituted vibrational feeling. Disordered vibrational sensibility was found not only to the level of affected segments, but beyond them, which supports the conductive character of these disturbances.


Endoscopic ultrasound is a unique tool to acquire in vivo data on alimentary tract wall thicknesses of sufficient resolution needed in radiation dosimetry studies. Through their different echo texture and intensity, five layers of differing echo patterns for superficial mucosa, deep mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa and serosa/adventitia exist within the walls of organs composing the alimentary tract. In this study, retrospective image analyses of patient video data were made for ten examinations of the stomach and eight examinations of the rectum covering a range of patient ages. Thicknesses for stomach mucosa ranged from 1030 ± 130 µm to 1640 ± 80 µm (total stomach wall thicknesses from 2.80 ± 0.12 to 4.23 ± 0.03 mm). Measurements made for the rectal images revealed rectal mucosal thicknesses from 660 ± 50 µm to 1130 ± 250 µm (total rectal wall thicknesses from 2.28 ± 0.05 to 3.55 ± 0.43 mm). The mucosa accounted for ∼32 ± 7% and ∼32 ± 8% of the total thickness of the stomach and rectal wall, respectively. These values can thus be utilized to investigate uncertainties in alimentary tract dosimetry that are based upon fixed reference individual definitions of organ wall structure.


Ireland has recently undergone a sharp increase in the rate of immigration. As more immigrants come to the country, Irish schools have to deal with increased diversity within the classroom, and with the associated problems of integrating children from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Chinese children represent a particularly large group within the school system and provide a strong case study for analysing the factors associated with integration and their potential for improving or hindering the integration process.

There are many significant differences between education in Ireland and in China, which can lead to a series of problems for ethnic Chinese children in Ireland. These include major differences in the educational environment and the approaches to education, differing curricula, language and culture, and perceived differences in parental expectations. A further key difference is the emphasis placed on religion and religious instruction in the majority of Irish schools as opposed to the broader moral education in Chinese schools.

This thesis examines the integration of Chinese children in Ireland, their difficulties and their individual experience in Irish primary schools. The research started in three Chinese weekend language schools, which have approximate 120 Chinese children in total. In the first instance, questionnaires had been sent to the parents. Language and cultural difference were identified as the main difficulties. Follow up interviews were conducted with parents, Chinese and Irish school principals, teachers and language support teachers. The main issues emerging from the Chinese perspective relate to educational environment, curriculum, English language, culture, social interaction and Chinese parental involvement. The main issue emerging from the Irish primary schools relates to the importance of Chinese parents participation and interaction with the schools.


Increased use of and accessibility to computers has created a surge in web-based science learning exercises. But systematic implementation of interaction design principles and formal evaluation of conceptual learning in web-based hazard education applications has been limited. This pilot project attempts to evaluate and improve upon existing web-based avalanche education tools using, as a case study, a route-finding exercise from the Canadian Avalanche Association's (CAA) new online safety course. This project specifically explores the potential for using highly interactive geovisualization technologies such as 3D web-based and augmented reality environments to increase comprehension of avalanche science concepts and risk perception. Avalanche education materials have traditionally relied on 2D diagrams, text, and images. New web-based tools continue to use 2D representations, even though such representations may be limited in their ability to convey abstract and complex, spatially dynamic phenomena and processes. The CAA's current interactive route-finding exercise permits users to attempt to plot a route on a 2D photograph while they receive visual feedback regarding terrain hazards. The exercise represents a step forward in using new technologies, but the extent to which this tool affects learning and risk perception has not been formally evaluated. It is possible that traditional use of 2D representations in avalanche education materials may impede understanding of avalanche science concepts. Further, those recreationalists' misperceptions of avalanche risk may partially stem from the limitations of current education methods and tools. We are currently developing alternative 2D and 3D versions of the current CAA exercise, which implement constructivist learning principles, systematically incorporate interaction design principles, and integrate the new Avaluator decision-making card. The Avaluator card helps recreationalists identify and avoid obvious hazards in avalanche terrain. These new exercises permit users to review an avalanche bulletin, explore a basinscale terrain using 2D photographs or a 3D terrain model, and plot a route as they receive feedback about the presence of avalanche hazards. We are also developing an augmented reality prototype to explore whether this new technology has potential for avalanche education. Differences in conceptual understanding and risk perception among users will be evaluated online using repeated-measure testing and surveys. The overall goal of this research is to provide a roadmap for future interactive avalanche education. This work attempts to determine what combination of geovisualization technologies, education design principles, and interface and interaction design is most effective in increasing user comprehension and risk perception.


ABSTRACT Concerned about the phenomena of early school leaving in our region, we are two teachers who initiated and developed a new school from the 'ground up' to re-engage young people disenfranchised with schooling back into formalised learning. Using critical action research methodology over a three and a half year developmental period, this endeavour involved us in exercising particular dimensions of leadership to engineer a sustainable second chance school. Twelve years after its development, the school continues with enrolments of over 100 senior secondary students in recent years. The schooling justice work we pursued during the developmental period drew us into 'emancipatory' leadership work that called us to be; (1) teacher activists embracing social entrepreneurial strategies imbued with (2) relational sensibilities, and (3) architects of socially just school design informed by (4) critical praxis within a university led professional learning community. The 'second chance school' has re-engaged over 1000 students back into formalised learning since its inception and has offered pathways into post-school tertiary study, apprenticeships and training for the majority of these students.


Surface matching technique is a key technique in automatic generation of 3D finite element mesh. In this paper, a surface matching technique including surface-gap filling, boundary match and C-node match, is introduced. Eight types of free facet configurations and their corresponding matching rules are established. Then a combined method of priority nodes and relative position relationships for boundary match is presented, and an effective method for C-node match is given, too. The methods can achieve precise match between mesh boundaries and model boundaries, and establish reasonable geometry and topology connections of matched nodes. Several examples are provided to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the algorithms presented in this paper.


Surveys of Euphausia superba often target localised shelves and ice edges where their growth rates and predation losses are atypically high. Emphasis on these areas has led to the current view that krill require high food concentrations, with a distribution often linked to shelves. For a wider, circumpolar perspective, we compiled all available net-based density data on postlarvae from 8137 mainly summer stations from 1926 to 2004. Unlike Antarctic zooplankton, the distribution of E. superba is highly uneven, with 70% of the total stock concentrated between longitudes 0° and 90°W. Within this Atlantic sector, krill are abundant over both continental shelf and ocean. At the Antarctic Peninsula they are found mainly over the inner shelf, whereas in the Indian–Pacific sectors krill prevail in the ocean within 200 to 300 km of the shelf break. Overall, 87% of the total stock lives over deep oceanic water (>2000 m), and krill occupy regions with moderate food concentrations (0.5 to 1.0 mg chl a m–3). Advection models suggest some northwards loss from these regions and into the low chlorophyll belts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). We found possible evidence for a compensating southwards migration, with an increasing proportion of krill found south of the ACC as the season progresses. The retention of krill in moderately productive oceanic habitats is a key factor in their high total production. While growth rates are lower than over shelves, the ocean provides a refuge from shelf-based predators. The unusual circumpolar distribution of krill thus reflects a balance between advection, migration, top–down and bottom–up processes.


Most state-of-the-art instance segmentation methods have to be trained on densely annotated images. While difficult in general, this requirement is especially daunting for biomedical images, where domain expertise is often required for annotation and no large public data collections are available for pre-training. We propose to address the dense annotation bottleneck by introducing a proposal-free segmentation approach based on non-spatial embeddings, which exploits the structure of the learned embedding space to extract individual instances in a differentiable way. The segmentation loss can then be applied directly to instances and the overall pipeline can be trained in a fully-or weakly supervised manner. We consider the challenging case of positive-unlabeled supervision, where a novel self-supervised consistency loss is introduced for the unlabeled parts of the training data. We evaluate the proposed method on 2D and 3D segmentation problems in different microscopy modalities as well as on the Cityscapes and CVPPP instance segmentation benchmarks, achieving state-of-the-art results on the latter.


It is observed that there are two limitations with conventional MOSFET, especially Sub threshold swings and high Ioff current. Subthreshold has minimum value of 60 mV/decade [1]. But we cannot get lower sub-threshold swing than this value with conventional MOSFET. These limitations are overcome by Tunnel Field effect transistors (TFET). TFET is working on tunneling effect, which requires less input voltages to decrease band gap due to presence of p-i-n region. Also there are very low OFFcurrent in TFET and hence low power consumption. The TFET works on band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) principle. In this paper, principle operation of TFET has been studied, and then simulation of the TFET using Sentaurus TCAD software.


ABSTRACT This article examines the public debate between 1945 and 1986 in Great Britain over repealing the Truck Acts. Advocates of repeal hoped that it might encourage workers to accept wage payment by cheque or electronic transfer, which most manual workers opposed. This article will evaluate the arguments that the Truck Acts, which protected employees' right to be paid in the current coin of the realm and defended them against unfair deductions from wages, had become 'obsolete' and hindered contractual arrangements that could be beneficial. The 1986 Wages Act, which repealed all of the Truck Acts and the 1960 Payment of Wages Act, passed over the strong objections of the TUC and a number of organizations that provided legal advice to the poor. The 1986 Act was introduced to allow employers to impose convenient cashless pay. Like much of the legislation under the Thatcher government, this Act was sold as the repeal of outdated and burdensome regulations, which would allow businesses to lower costs and become more competitive. However, I will argue that the repeal of the Truck Acts removed some very real protections for workers, and left employees more exposed to unfair deductions from wages than before.


A novel adaptive approach to compute the eigenenergies and eigenfunctions of the two-particle (electron-hole) Schrodinger equation including Coulomb attraction is presented. As an example, we analyze the energetically lowest exciton state of a thin one-dimensional semiconductor quantum wire in the presence of disorder which arises from the non-smooth interface between the wire and surrounding material. The eigenvalues of the corresponding Schrodinger equation, i.e., the one-dimensional exciton Wannier equation with disorder, correspond to the energies of excitons in the quantum wire. The wavefunctions, in turn, provide information on the optical properties of the wire. We reformulate the problem of two interacting particles that both can move in one dimension as a stationary eigenvalue problem with two spacial dimensions in an appropriate weak form whose bilinear form is arranged to be symmetric, continuous, and coercive. The disorder of the wire is modelled by adding a potential in the Hamiltonian which is generated by normally distributed random numbers. The numerical solution of this problem is based on adaptive wavelets. Our scheme allows for a convergence proof of the resulting scheme together with complexity estimates. Numerical examples demonstrate the behavior of the smallest eigenvalue, the ground state energies of the exciton, together with the eigenstates depending on the strength and spatial correlation of disorder.


A decrease in left ventricular (LV) systolic function is accompanied by a decrease in maximal relaxation velocity in LV long‐axis direction, but is it also accompanied by a decrease in right ventricular (RV) long‐axis function? To study this 35 consecutive patients were examined by echocardiography. Ejection fraction (LVEF) and mitral annulus motion (MAM) were used as indices of LV systolic function and tricuspid annulus motion (TAM), that is the systolic shortening in RV long‐axis direction, was used as an index of RV systolic long‐axis function. In the same way the maximal relaxation velocity in LV long‐axis direction, that is the maximal diastolic velocity of MAM (MDV MAM), has been suggested as an index of LV diastolic function the maximal diastolic velocity of TAM (MDV TAM) can be supposed to be an index of RV diastolic function measuring the maximal relaxation velocity in the RV long‐axis direction. A significant positive correlation was found between MDV TAM and MAM (r = 0·64, P<0001) and LVEF (r = 0·54, P = 0·001) and between TAM and the two studied indices of LV systolic function, with the highest correlation to MAM (r = 0·68, P<0·001) and the lowest to LVEF (r = 0·57, P<0·001). Thus, a decrease in LV systolic function is accompanied by a decrease in both systolic and diastolic RV long‐axis function, findings that probably are due to the close anatomical connection between the ventricles and to changes that occur in afterload of the RV secondary to LV systolic dysfunction.


A crater blasting model of rock with pre-existing defects under blasting loads is established by using finite difference method. The defects are saturated with water and are randomly distributed. The defects include voids, pores and small open joints. A shock equation of state (EOS), obtained from the existing test results, is employed for the granite near the explosive charge, and for the granite far from the charge, a linear EOS is applied. A modified principal stress failure criterion is applied to determining the granite statuses. The granite dynamic strengths, which increase with strain rate, are calculated from the existing test results. The simulation results show that under blasting, the strength of wet rock is lower than that of dry rock.


Purpose The paper aims to consider the different ways the firm-marketplace relationship has gone through over time in order, on one hand, to develop some interpretive reasoning and, on the other hand, to introduce some questions able to direct future research. Methodology/Approach A conceptual approach is taken, trying to provide an understanding of the long-term changings that took place in the firm-marketplace relationship in its first part, and to raise some relevant issues about the evolution to come in is second part. Findings In the firm-marketplace relationship evolution five significant stages are to be found: product and selling orientation, marketing orientation, total quality management, one-toone/relationship marketing, experience economy. So, if one looks retrospectively and on the whole at the evolution occurred in the above mentioned relationship through the different stages, it's quite easy to realize that a shift took place from: mass to individual as supply's addressee unsatisfied needs to sensations to be felt as customer's end goods and things to services and experiences as transaction's core in a context of ever growing supply's quantity, variety, quality and accessibility. From an interpretive point of view, it seems that business firm and capitalistic system got to highest degree of development and of exploitation of their potential, at least if no change of paradigm is assumed. As a matter of fact, it seems really hard to imagine for almost any product a more plentiful marketplace, a greater choice among alternative offers, a superior technical performance, an easier purchase availability, a higher customization, a stronger perceived utility and satisfaction. As long as such analysis proves right, it's quite logical to conclude that the ongoing paradigm has reached its possible maximum outcome. If so, it becomes reasonable to hypothesize the rising of a new paradigm in the firm-marketplace relationship, considerably different from the actual one. (Not) to conclude, some insightful questions for discussion and future research could be: how much frequent is a product shortage situation? what can be products' quality level? is it harder to choose because of too many alternatives or too little ones? what can be there beyond a brand able to provide even love? how come business ethics and corporate social responsibility are so popular topics of discussion today both among academics and practitioners? how come consumption-wellbeing relationship, happiness or, better, happiness paradox are getting more and more attention nowadays? how can simplicity-oriented lifestyle choices and growing number of anti-business movements be explained? are there any weak signals of innovative firm behaviour detectable? what is the direction such changings are pointing to? Limitation/implication As the paper provides a personal interpretation of what happened and is going on from the firm-marketplace perspective, anyone could object or at least non completely agree with such an interpretation. Originality/Value The paper tries to take in and to relate to the managerial field some broad issues often discussed in civil, social and economic realm. While firms are deeply involved in the actual state of capitalism and society at large, it seems no equivalent contribution has been made by management scholars in order to find a more suitable role for the firm.


This paper examined cost efficiency differences between rural hospitals participating in the Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Program and a group of non-converting, prospectively paid rural hospitals using both a two-stage semi-parametric approach as well as stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). CAHs receive Medicare cost-based reimbursement, in contrast with the rest of the hospitals reimbursed under Medicare prospective payment system (PPS). However, cost-based reimbursement has been associated with inefficiency in hospital operations and, consequently, concerns have been raised about the efficiency of CAHs. Results showed a positive and significant effect of CAH status on cost inefficiency under both model specifications suggesting that CAHs were less cost efficient than non-converting rural hospitals.


The question whether institutions in Africa were shaped by the metropolitan identity of the colonizer or by local conditions is lively debated in the African economic history literature. In this paper we contribute to this debate by revealing regional differences in tax capacity in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. Samir Amin (1972) divided the African continent into three different "macro-regions of colonial influence": Africa of the colonial trade or peasant economy, Africa of the concession-owning companies and Africa of the labour reserves. Interestingly, we argue that Mozambique encompassed all three different "macro-regions" in one sole colony. In regression analysis we find differences in "tax capacity" along this threefold categorization. We use a newly compiled dataset that includes government revenue (direct/indirect taxes) raised on a district level between 1930 and the 1973, derived from the statistical yearbooks and national accounts of Mozambique. Focussing on one country has the advantage over cross country comparisons that one can keep the metropolitan identity constant. We conclude that the tax system developed as a response to the local conditions. and the differences between the three regions were exacerbated during colonial times.


Normal human kidney proximal tubule cells into which a ras oncogene was inserted undergo a series of transformation-related alterations that are characteristic of renal carcinomas. These include changes in morphology, growth potential, anchorage dependence, antigen expression, growth factor production, and chromosomal stability. Further, there are spontaneous progressive alterations in vitro in the karyotype and antigenic profile of the transformed cells. Cytogenetic analyses suggest that alterations of chromosome 21 may play an early and pivotal role in the development of transformed proximal tubule cells.


CONTEXT
Acupuncture is widely used to prevent migraine attacks, but the available evidence of its benefit is scarce.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effectiveness of acupuncture compared with sham acupuncture and with no acupuncture in patients with migraine.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS
Three-group, randomized, controlled trial (April 2002-January 2003) involving 302 patients (88% women), mean (SD) age of 43 (11) years, with migraine headaches, based on International Headache Society criteria. Patients were treated at 18 outpatient centers in Germany.

INTERVENTIONS
Acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or waiting list control. Acupuncture and sham acupuncture were administered by specialized physicians and consisted of 12 sessions per patient over 8 weeks. Patients completed headache diaries from 4 weeks before to 12 weeks after randomization and from week 21 to 24 after randomization.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Difference in headache days of moderate or severe intensity between the 4 weeks before and weeks 9 to 12 after randomization.

RESULTS
Between baseline and weeks 9 to 12, the mean (SD) number of days with headache of moderate or severe intensity decreased by 2.2 (2.7) days from a baseline of 5.2 (2.5) days in the acupuncture group compared with a decrease to 2.2 (2.7) days from a baseline of 5.0 (2.4) days in the sham acupuncture group, and by 0.8 (2.0) days from a baseline if 5.4 (3.0) days in the waiting list group. No difference was detected between the acupuncture and the sham acupuncture groups (0.0 days, 95% confidence interval, -0.7 to 0.7 days; P = .96) while there was a difference between the acupuncture group compared with the waiting list group (1.4 days; 95% confidence interval; 0.8-2.1 days; P<.001). The proportion of responders (reduction in headache days by at least 50%) was 51% in the acupuncture group, 53% in the sham acupuncture group, and 15% in the waiting list group.

CONCLUSION
Acupuncture was no more effective than sham acupuncture in reducing migraine headaches although both interventions were more effective than a waiting list control.


Abstract. The World Heritage Convention, drawn by various international bodies in 1972, was designed to protect cultural or natural places of outstanding universal value so that future generations may be able to enjoy them. Responding to these principles as well as to the Charter on the Preservation of Digital heritage (Vancouver, 2003), this multidisciplinary project, which involves archaeologists, art historians, conservators and computer scientists, aims to create an open access, 3D interactive online geo-database of endangered architectural and archaeological heritage in the South Eastern Mediterranean basin; a region of tremendous cultural importance whose rech heritage is unfortunately threatened by both natural and human factors. A wide range of 3D modelling and topographic techniques have been applied to create accurate reconstructions of heritage sites, enriched by a extensive array of metadata.


In this paper, the existence and global exponential stability of periodic solution is investigated for a class of impulsive bidirectional associative memories neural networks that possesses a Cohen-Grossberg dynamics incorporating variable delays and time-variant coefficients. By using compressive mapping and Lyapunov functional, sufficient conditions are obtained to guarantee the existence and uniqueness of the periodic solution and its global exponential stability. We can see that impulses contribute to the existence and stability of periodic solution for this system. Some comparisons and examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the obtained results. The model studied in this paper is a generalization of some existing models in literature, including Hopfield neural networks, BAM neural networks with impulse and time delays, Cohen-Grossberg neural networks, and thus, the main results of this paper generalize some results in literature.


Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are gaining acceptance around the world and the connected vehicle component of ITS is recognized as a high priority research and development area in many technologically advanced countries. Connected vehicles are expected to have the capability of safe, efficient and eco-driving operations whether these are under human control or in the adaptive machine control mode of operations. The race is on to design the capability to operate in connected traffic environment. The operational requirements can be met with cognitive vehicle design features made possible by advances in artificial intelligence-supported methodology, improved understanding of human factors, and advances in communication technology. This paper describes cognitive features and their information system requirements. The architecture of an information system is presented that supports the features of the cognitive connected vehicle. For better focus, information processing capabilities are specified and the role of Bayesian artificial intelligence is defined for data fusion. Example applications illustrate the role of information systems in integrating intelligent technology, Bayesian artificial intelligence, and abstracted human factors. Concluding remarks highlight the role of the information system and Bayesian artificial intelligence in the design of a new generation of cognitive connected vehicle.


We investigate the assimilation of electronic procurement innovations (EPIs) and its impact on procurement productivity in buyer organizations. We identify online reverse auctions, electronic catalog management, electronic order fulfillment, and electronic payment and settlement as moderate complements for the performance of the procurement process. We develop a theoretical model that is informed by the literature on innovation assimilation and by structuration theory to explain the aggregated assimilation of EPIs. Our empirical study is based on survey data collected about EPIs from 166 buyer firms. Based on our analysis, we isolate the organizational, technological, and interorganizational factors that shape the meta-structures for the aggregated assimilation of EPIs. Our results also provide evidence of a substantial impact of the assimilation of these innovations on procurement productivity. Our post hoc analysis provides insights on differences across stages and across EPIs on the factors and meta-structures that enable assimilation.


To protect functioning satellites and manned vehicles as well as to prevent a cascade effect which might render the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) region unusable in the future, means of analyzing the space debris environment and removing high risk objects are necessary. Having a long heritage in the analysis and simulation of the debris environment with several in-house software tools (e.g. MASTER and PROOF), the Institute of Space Systems (IRAS) is currently expanding its expertise through the formation of a satellite technology workgroup, with the goal of closing the gap between expert knowledge in space debris assessment and technology development for active debris removal (ADR) and space situational awareness. The satellite technology group is applying hands on knowledge and technical knowhow to hardware component and mechanism development to actively make space a safer place. This paper introduces the new core research fields, the interconnection between them, as well as the research infrastructure at IRAS. The research areas include system reliability, system design, guidance, navigation and control (GNC) algorithms for far and close range proximity operations, docking strategies, and docking mechanisms based on smart materials, and detumbling operations.


In the general discussion, several clinical and methodological aspects of this thesis were discussed. We compared the observed study findings between the two data sources (i.e. Denmark or United Kingdom), and described explanations for the (dis)concordances. The discussion was concluded with some clinical and methodological recommendations. Our studies show that THR and TKR surgery briefly are accompanied with an increased risk of several potentially fatal complications, including VTE, AMI, stroke, and GI bleeding. Although evidently elevated, the risk of clinical harms are generally limited to the first 2 to 6 weeks (with the exception of VTE). Given the well-established benefits of THR and TKR surgery, we still promote the surgery in patients who require them, and we consider this as a relatively safe procedure with a high benefit-risk ratio. Although the average excess risk of adverse outcomes following THR and TKR surgery was low in absolute figures, we call for careful risk assessment in patients undergoing this surgery. A 20-fold increase for a low-risk patient may be acceptable, but for an individual with an already high baseline cardiovascular risk, this may be a discussion worthy issue. Risk prediction tools could be helpful for such risk assessments, and we therefore promote the development of these tools. The consistent findings on the potential benefits of bisphosphonates in preventing implant failure are promising, and this should be further investigated in randomized clinical trials. In the second part of our discussion, we share some methodological recommendations and points of interest to take into consideration when performing observational studies. In particular, we strongly promote the use of time-dependent cohort studies (or even casecontrol studies) whenever possible. Our examples showed strong deviations in study results when the data were analyzed using a time-fixed cohort design. It is crucial to feel comfortable with the strengths and limitations of the available databases. Aspects such as under recording (differential or non-differential), availability of covariates, and calendar time span should be put against the type of research question and point estimate (i.e. relative or absolute risk estimate). Dealing with confounding can be difficult and, in our examples, may be limited by the quality and quantity of available confounders. Residual confounding may therefore still be an issue, regardless of the utilized technique to deal with confounding. We feel it is therefore important to focus on causality / timing pattern analyses, rather than to look at overall risk estimates solely. In conclusion, from a clinical point of perspective, THR and TKR surgery briefly boosts the risk of several potentially fatal complications. Although the excess risk is generally limited to 2 to 6 weeks following surgery, we promote careful risk assessments, as such relative increases may be substantial in patients already at elevated risk of developing one or more of these negative outcomes. The use of prophylactic drug regimens (e.g. prolonged thromboprophylaxis, proton pump inhibitors to prevent GI bleeding, antiplatelets to lower stroke rates, and bisphosphonate use to lengthen implant survival) should be further explored in randomized clinical trials. From a methodological point of view, we found that simple choices in study design (e.g. time-dependent versus time-fixed cohort) may vastly influence study findings. We could not find a major impact of other methodological differences (e.g. confounder handling techniques and data source), but we cannot exclude this possibility in other research settings in observational studies. Hence, the robustness of design choices in epidemiological studies need to be further explored.


Most of us take for granted that our body is our body. One typically experiences one's
 body as something belonging just to oneself, as something that can only be "me".
 However, this poses a fundamental problem in philosophy and psychology: how do
 we know that the body is our own? It has been suggested that two distinct experiences
 of our own body help us recognize it as such: the sense of ownership, that is the
 experience that a limb is part of one's body, and the sense of agency, that is the
 experience of being able to voluntarily control limb movement. In the present thesis we
 introduce a new version of the classical rubber hand illusion that is based on finger
 movements instead of stroking and systematically investigate how ownership and
 agency contributes to bodily self-recognition. To induce "the moving rubber hand illusion" participants control the movements of
 the index finger of a right wooden model hand in full view by moving their own right
 index finger, which is hidden from view. The illusion is quantified subjectively with
 visual analogue rating scales and behaviourally as changes in manually indicated
 sensed hand position ("proprioceptive drift"). In 9 separate experiments involving a
 total of 352 healthy volunteers we first characterized the basic constrains of the illusion.
 Secondly, we examined the relationship of ownership and agency. And finally,
 investigate a possible relationship between the illusion and individual differences in
 delusion proneness (using Peter's Delusion Inventory). Our results show that synchronized movements of the model's index finger and the
 participant's index can trigger a strong illusory feeling of ownership of the model hand
 and robust experience of agency. The moving rubber hand illusion is similarly strong as
 the classical version, and follows similar temporal, spatial and anatomical rules.
 Asynchronous seen and felt finger movements, a too great distance between the real
 and model hands (≥27 cm), or the model placed in an anatomically implausible position
 abolishes the ownership-illusion. We also found that ownership and agency can be dissociated. Unlike ownership,
 agency can be experienced for the model hand when it is when placed in an
 anatomically implausible position. And ownership can be experienced irrespective of
 the hand moving actively or passively, so with or without agency. Furthermore only
 ownership, but not agency ratings correlate with the proprioceptive drift. Finally, we
 observed that delusion prone-individuals tend to give generally higher overall ratings
 on agency, when they experience the hand moved passively. Collectively, these observations advance our understanding of how ownership and
 agency contribute to bodily self-recognition. Ownership and agency constitute different
 processes: Integration of spatio-temporally congruent signals from moving limbs
 determine the sense of ownership and a match of movement intentions and feedback
 determines the sense of agency. These results offer new ways to study bodily selfrecognition
 both at the behavioural and neural level.


Images acquired by a camera show lens blur due to imperfection in the optical system even when images are properly focused. Lens blur is non-stationary in a sense that the amount of blur depends on pixel locations in a sensor. Lens blur is also asymmetric in a sense that the amount of blur is different in the radial and tangential directions, and also in the inward and outward radial directions. This paper presents parametric blur kernel models based on the normal sinh-arcsinh distribution function. The proposed models can provide flexible shapes of blur kernels with a different symmetry and skewness to model complicated lens blur due to optical aberration in a properly focused images accurately. Blur of single focal length lenses is estimated, and the accuracy of the models is compared with the existing parametric blur models. An advantage of the proposed models is demonstrated through deblurring experiments.


The lifetime of the stator winding insulation is reduced when operated with PWM inverters, since insulation degradation is accelerated due to increased thermal and electrical stresses on the motor. This paper focuses on a new approach for monitoring the condition of the stator insulation for failure-prone inverter-fed machines. The main concept of the proposed technique is to apply a variable frequency AC test voltage to the stator insulation using the inverter, to perform standard off-line insulation tests whenever the motor is not operating. This allows the stator insulation to be tested more frequently compared to off-line tests performed once every 3-6 yrs. during periodic maintenance. A method for testing the insulation with minimal modifications to the inverter circuit is proposed and verified experimentally. The results show that the proposed technique provides a simple low cost solution for detecting stator insulation degradation at an early stage for reliable operation of inverterfed machine systems, since the insulation condition can be monitored frequently. This not only helps prevent forced outages and safety risks due to insulation breakdown, but also helps perform maintenance in an efficient manner since individual motor maintenance can be prioritized and scheduled based on its present condition.


Modularity is a recently introduced quality measure for graph clusterings. It has immediately received considerable attention in several disciplines, particularly in the complex systems literature, although its properties are not well understood. We study the problem of finding clusterings with maximum modularity, thus providing theoretical foundations for past and present work based on this measure. More precisely, we prove the conjectured hardness of maximizing modularity both in the general case and with the restriction to cuts and give an Integer Linear Programming formulation. This is complemented by first insights into the behavior and performance of the commonly applied greedy agglomerative approach.


Chicano/a literature may not excel in representing labor movements, but the literature itself has been influenced by, and is often a response to, various labor struggles. Of the labor movements that have had an impact on Chicano/a literature, the farmworkers movement has been the most significant. Even though Mexican American farmworkers throughout the 20th century played a significant role in building an agricultural empire in the United States, they have not been properly credited with this accomplishment, nor have they prospered equitably from the economic gains of agribusiness. Historically, Chicano/a farmworkers have been physically visible in the workplace but not socially recognized—needed for their labor, but not always wanted as participatory citizens. The farmworkers movement led by Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) during the 1960s and early 1970s contributed to the emergence of the Chicano movement during those same years. The movement in turn served as a catalyst for the emergence of Chicano/a literature. The farmworker has been a central figure in Chicano/a literature since its inception, but representations of farmworkers in the literature have changed over time—from Tomás Rivera's groundbreaking novel . . . y no se lo tragó la tierra in 1971 to Salvador Plascencia's fantasy novel The People of Paper in 2005. One of the reasons for these changes has been the rise of neoliberalism, a politico-economic system that has debilitated, and in some cases destroyed, labor unions. Neoliberalism has also contributed to the deterioration of living and working conditions for the working class, especially for those at the bottom of the economic chain, such as farmworkers. Thus, contemporary Chicano/a farmworker literature tends to oscillate between nostalgia for a time when the farmworkers movement was powerful and cautious optimism that a strong movement can once again be built.


Purpose: Being diagnosed with cancer is not only for patients a major life event, it also has great impact on partners en close relatives. So far, there has been particularly close attention to the negative effects that a major life event such as cancer brings. However, recent research has shown that, in addition to the negative effects, there may be positive effects for both cancer patients themselves and their partners en close relatives. This is called posttraumatic growth (PTG). Although there is a lot of information about PTG in patients themselves, an overview of what is already known about PTG in partners and close relatives of patients is lacking. This systematic review will change this by answering the question: "What is already known about PTG in partners and close relatives of cancer patients?"
Method: The database Scopus has been used for the search of relevant articles. A number of different terms have been drawn up, after which there was a search for articles that contained a combination of these concepts in title, abstract or keyword. This search strategy resulted in 91 hits. Having assessed the articles on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 21 relevant articles remained.
Results: Most studies about PTG in partners and close relatives of cancer patients have occurred in the United States and most of the studies are quantitative. The literature shows that partners and close relatives experience PTG, although the extent to which they experience PTG is lower than the extent to which cancer patients experience PTG. Partners and close relatives report the most growth in the areas of personal strength, appreciation of life and relating to others. Little is known about the relationship of PTG (in partners and close relatives of cancer patients) with demographic and psychosocial variables, personality traits, disease related variables and quality of life. What is emerging from the evaluated studies is that women tend to experience more PTG than men and that there is a positive relation between PTG and stress (the higher the degree of stress, the more someone experiences PTG) and between PTG and family support (the more support, the more someone experiences PTG).
Conclusion: Partners and close relatives of cancer patients experience PTG as a result of living with/caring for a cancer patient, but it is not clear which variables facilitate or hinder the experience of PTG. Further research could provide more insight in the development of PTG over time and in the way in which PTG is associated with demographic and psychosocial variables, personality traits, disease related variables and quality of life. Based on that, it could be determined whether interventions in favor of promoting PTG are desirable and if so, how it should be designed. Limitations of this study are being discussed and recommendations are given.


Abstract A decline in everyday cognitive functioning is important for diagnosing dementia. Informant questionnaires, such as the informant questionnaire on cognitive decline in the elderly (IQCODE), are used to measure this. Previously, conflicting results on the IQCODEs ability to discriminate between Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and cognitively healthy elderly were found. We aim to investigate whether specific groups of items are more useful than others in discriminating between these patient groups. Informants of 180 AD, 59 MCI, and 89 patients with subjective memory complaints (SMC) completed the IQCODE. To investigate the grouping of questionnaire items, we used a two-dimensional graded response model (GRM).The association between IQCODE, age, gender, education, and diagnosis was modeled using structural equation modeling. The GRM with two groups of items fitted better than the unidimensional model. However, the high correlation between the dimensions (r=.90) suggested unidimensionality. The structural model showed that the IQCODE was able to differentiate between all patient groups. The IQCODE can be considered as unidimensional and as a useful addition to diagnostic screening in a memory clinic setting, as it was able to distinguish between AD, MCI, and SMC and was not influenced by gender or education. (JINS, 2011, 17, 674–681)


An array of measuring tools devised to aid in the implementation of a prototype computer utility is discussed. These tools include special hardware clocks and data channels, general purpose programmed probing and recording tools, and specialized measurement facilities. Some particular measurements of interest in a system which combines demand paging with multiprogamming are described in detail. Where appropriate, insight into effectiveness (or lack thereof) of individual tools is provided.


The presence of the non-indigenous species, the black-pygmy mussel Limnoperna securis , was surveyed for the first time in the Rias of Pontevedra and Arousa, areas adjacent to the first location (Ria of Vigo) of this potential invader in Atlantic waters. Molecular identification of the mussels was conducted by polymerase chain reaction amplification and sequencing of nuclear and mitochondrial genes. This paper describes for the first time the species in the Ria of Pontevedra, confirming that this invader was absent in an intense shellfish farming area of the Ria of Arousa (Galicia, north-western Spain). Field sampling revealed that relatively high concentrations of this mytilid bivalve have colonized some localities of the inner part of the Ria of Pontevedra located in brackish waters. A comparison between population densities, size and substrate preference of L. securis in the Rias of Pontevedra and Vigo was conducted. Dispersion capacity of L. securis is discussed based on molecular detection of larval stages in the stomach contents of the copepod Centropages typicus coupled with physical oceanography of the southern Galician Rias. The invasive role of L. securis is also discussed in the context of the bissus secretion and attachment strength, ecological tolerance of the species, and the recent finding of settlements of this species on numerous colonies of the economically important blue mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis .


We extend the analysis of queueing systems for real-life situations, where the arrival pattern of customers is unknown. In real systems, we must understand how the choice of a method of estimation influences the configuration of the system. Using kernel smoothing, we evaluate algorithms to estimate performance measures of a GIx/M/c/N system, including the invariant probability distribution of the number of customers in the system, the blocking probability, the average queue size, and the average client queue time. We successfully apply the method to the arrivals to a call center to plan and improve the performance of these important queueing systems.


The problem studied here concerns the modeling of call blocking in telephone networks. From the usual assumptions such as exponential arrivals and holding time, lost call cleared, the state of the network is described by a finite Markov chain. From the transition probabilities of this process are derived the differential equations associated with the average occupancy of all trunk groups. These traffic equations are simplified by considering independence of blocking for trunk groups in series. The blocking probabilities are estimated using fictitious offered traffic and the Erlang B formula. Such representation takes into account peaky or smooth traffic characteristics. We develop this one-moment model for routing policies such as load sharing and overflow routing. Performances of the model are given in comparison to the solution of the exact Markov chain model or the results of Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, an application to routing optimization and network dimensioning is treated.


1. Mice infected with 30 Schistosoma mansoni cercariae for 8 weeks presented viable eggs in the tissues up to the 17th day following curative chemotherapy, as demonstrated by the miracidium eclosion test. 2. These results were similar for eggs entrapped within different morphological types of granulomas such as those formed during early or late infection or located in different organs. 3. The present findings indicate that the periovular granuloma occurring in schistosomiasis probably serves to protect the host tissues from the miracidial secretions rather than to attack and kill the miracidium as suggested by previous studies.


Subcutaneous nodules are not very uncommon in sclerodermia; and Crocker believed that they would be found to be common if they were looked for. But, apart from calcareous nodules, there have been very few references to nodules not of a calcareous nature. I have had some of the nodules in this case X-rayed, and they are not calcareous; I have also examined sections, and these do not show any deposit of chalk in the tissues. Microscopically, the fibrous tissue of the nodules has apparently undergone hyaline degeneration, and in addition there is a very closely packed round-cell infiltration round the vessels at the periphery of the nodule itself.


PURPOSE
To perform a clinical, laboratory and pathologic evaluation in patients who had developed a postsurgical necrotizing sclerocorneal ulceration to detect a serious associated autoimmune disorder and to treat the ocular disease early.

METHODS
Nine patients with postsurgical necrotizing sclerocorneal ulceration after uneventful cataract extraction were studied by means of immunohistochemical techniques on conjunctival resections, immunologic serologic studies, and rheumatologic evaluation. Nine healthy subjects who underwent uneventful cataract surgery were used as controls.

RESULTS
The pathologic studies showed a local immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG deposition, increased human leukocyte antigen (HLA-DR) expression, and a significant T-helper cell participation in conjunctival biopsies in the most severe ulcerations, which were detected in four patients with underlying autoimmune systemic disorder (rheumatoid arthritis, 45%) and only a macrophagic infiltration in the mildest ulcers in patients (55%) without immune disorders. Serologic features included high titers of rheumatoid factor in the four (45%) patients with rheumatoid arthritis, nonspecific serologic immune alteration in three (33%) patients, and were unremarkable in two (22%) patients. The medical and immunologic evaluations were negative in the control cases. Topically administered cyclosporin A healed the ocular disease.

CONCLUSION
A surgically induced local autoimmune reaction could occur in the incision area in patients with systemic vasculitic disease. There was no underlying systemic disorder in the mildest ulcers, and these ulcers could be due to a defect in the surgical technique. Our results suggest the need for a detailed systemic evaluation in patients with severe postsurgical necrotizing ulceration. Early diagnosis and aggressive medical treatment of the ocular disorder improves the visual outcome.


A method is described for the measurement of dynamic property of RNase A by ESR under xeric conditions. The relationship between relative humidity and hydration degree of RNase A was determined by hydration isotherm. A solution of RNase A was allowed to react with a solution containing maleimide nitroxide label at 25 degrees, then was dialysed and lyophilized. The stable powder of RNase A - maleimide nitroxide label compound was put into the tubules, then was hydrated under different relative humidity for 11 days. After hydration, the tubules were closed and measured by ESR. The relationship between hydration value and A(max) was detected. The results showed that the lowest water content that could induce motion of RNase A by water is about 0.20 g of water per g of RNase A. That means the motion of RNase A molecule becomes detectable when there are 152 water molecules around one RNase A molecule.


It is shown that R-oxygen sites are generated by the decomposition of N2O in ion-exchanged Mn-ZSM-5 zeolites. The catalytic activity decreases to zero in 1 h, and the amount of R-oxygen that is formed is reduced from ∼30% R-oxygen sites per Mn atom in the initial N2O treatment to a value of ∼4% in the subsequent cycles. The catalytic activity correlates with the intensity of a UV-vis band located at 18 500 cm-1, suggesting that the R-oxygen sites are linked to Mn sites with a distorted tetragonal symmetry with extended Mn-O bonds with respect to bulk oxides. Scanning transmission electron microscopy with electron energy loss spectroscopy (STEM-EELS) results indicate that the Mn sites are distributed unevenly over the ZSM-5 crystals, where most Mn atoms are found in the top ∼2 nm from the crystal surface. The X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) spectra indicate that, under reaction conditions, the Mn atoms have a 5-fold coordination and a valence of ∼2.5, which is little affected by the N2O and NO treatments as only ∼4% of these sites is active.


We characterized somatostatin receptors expressed in hamster glucagonoma INR1G9 cells and the effects of somatostatin on glucagon secretion, proglucagon gene expression, and the adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent signal-transduction cascade. 125I-labeled somatostatin was displaced by somatostatin-14 and somatostatin-28 with a dissociation constant of 2 nmol/l. Stable GTP analogues decreased binding of 125I-somatostatin to its receptors, suggesting an interaction of somatostatin receptors with G proteins. Chemical cross-linking of 125I-somatostatin to its receptor revealed a molecular mass of the ligand-receptor complex of 47 kDa. Somatostatin inhibited forskolin-stimulated activation of adenylate cyclase [2.5 microM forskolin (161%) + 1 microM somatostatin (128%); P < 0.05] and protein kinase A [10 microM forskolin (143%) + 1 microM somatostatin (114%); P < 0.05] but did not influence basal activities of these enzymes. Forskolin-induced stimulation of cAMP generation was reduced by somatostatin [2.5 microM forskolin (306%) + 1 microM somatostatin (145%); P < 0.05]. Somatostatin inhibited forskolin, theophylline, and arginine stimulation of glucagon secretion. Basal as well as forskolin-, theophylline-, and isobutyl methylxanthine-induced proglucagon gene expression was significantly reduced by somatostatin. Our data show that, in INR1G9 cells, somatostatin receptors are at least in part coupled to the adenylate cyclase system. Somatostatin is a potent negative regulator of both basal and forskolin-stimulated proglucagon gene expression. The interaction with forskolin occurs at the level of adenylate cyclase. The effect of somatostatin on basal proglucagon gene transcription is most probably mediated by an unrelated second messenger system. Somatostatin may influence several functions of the pancreatic A cell.


In this study, it is assumed that ''a will to learn'' must be present before teachers engage in actual learning activities. In order to explore teachers' will to learn in workplace situations, a small-scale qualitative study was conducted using a semi-structured interview, observation, a retrospective interview, and a phenomenographic approach to the analysis of the data. The results showed the following behaviors to be indicative of a will to learn among teachers: having the ambition to discover new practices, being open to experiences and other people, being pro-active, attribution of successes and mistakes to internal causes, question-asking after performance, undertaking action to learn, and recognition of learning processes and results. The results also showed three different manifestations of the will to learn to characterize the teachers studied here. The following groups of teachers could be distinguished: those who do not see the need to learn; those who wonder how to learn; and those who are eager to learn. The results of the present study contribute to fields concerned with teacher learning and the motivational aspects of learning.


Essays in Renaissance Thought and Letters honors John Monfasani with sixteen contributions ranging from Antiquity to Enlightenment, from learned notes to editiones principes, from intellectual to socio-economic history. An introduction surveys Monfasani's life and works, and lists his opera.


Statistical learning theory has largely focused on learning and generalization given independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) samples. Motivated by applications involving time-series data, there has been a growing literature on learning and generalization in settings where data is sampled from an ergodic process. This work has also developed complexity measures, which appropriately extend the notion of Rademacher complexity to bound the generalization error and learning rates of hypothesis classes in this setting. Rather than time-series data, our work is motivated by settings where data is sampled on a network or a spatial domain, and thus do not fit well within the framework of prior work. We provide learning and generalization bounds for data that are complexly dependent, yet their distribution satisfies the standard Dobrushin's condition. Indeed, we show that the standard complexity measures of Gaussian and Rademacher complexities and VC dimension are sufficient measures of complexity for the purposes of bounding the generalization error and learning rates of hypothesis classes in our setting. Moreover, our generalization bounds only degrade by constant factors compared to their i.i.d. analogs, and our learnability bounds degrade by log factors in the size of the training set.


We test the impact of religiosity and ownership structure on the risk profile of banks, which issued securitisation. We employ GMM estimation using unique database on asset securitization of 672 commercial banks (4889 year-observations) in 22 countries (from 2003-2012), which have dual banking system. We find that banks with higher securitisation activity have consistently shown a riskier profile by being significantly less adequately capitalised and offering higher ratio of net loans to total assets. Controlling for bank type (Islamic and conventional banks), we find that although Islamic banks, in general, show a conservative approach towards risk by keeping higher reserves and more liquidity, banks involved in new issuance of asset securitization as still exposed to a higher risk profile . Controlling for a country religiosity shows different risk profile of banks in countries with different religiosity thresholds. Controlling for different types of bank ownership highlights an additional exposure to credit risk in addition to capital adequacy and liquidity risks. Our results emphasize the importance of identifying the impact of bank type and the religiosity / culture factors in global banking studies. Our results are of importance to both local and international regulators as well as different stakeholders in banks.


Abstract The current study tested the 7 Humor Habits Program after McGhee (1996, Health, healing, and the amuse system (2. edition): Humor as survival training. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing; 2010, Humor as survival training for a stressed-out world: The 7 Humor Habits Program. Bloomington, IN: Author House) in two groups receiving the eight-week training (group sessions; one group additionally completing "Home Play" exercises and one group without Home Play) compared to two control groups (a placebo humor group and a waiting control group). The total sample of 110 adults completed measures on the sense of humor, the temperamental basis of the sense of humor, and life satisfaction at three time points: directly before and after the training time, as well as at a two-month follow up. Additionally, peer-ratings on the sense of humor were collected. At each session, the humor-related mood (state cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood) was assessed before and after the session. Results show that the sense of humor is malleable, noticeable to the trained individuals as well as to peers (but not in the placebo humor group). The sessions increased cheerful mood and decreased seriousness. Life satisfaction generally increased from the pre-training phase to the post-training phase. To conclude, humor can be trained but more work on consolidation strategies are needed in future studies and intervention designs.


Perching in unmanned aerial vehicles is appealing for reconnaissance, monitoring, communications, and charging. This paper focuses on modeling, simulation, and control of bioinspired perching in unmanned aerial vehicles on cylindrical objects, which will be used for future planning and control research. A modular approach is taken where the quadrotor, legs, feet, and toes are modeled separately and then integrated to form a complete simulation system. New models of these components consider kinematics and dynamics of each element and their coupling through tendons that provide actuation. The integrated model is assembled to simulate a physical prototype and then validated based upon physical experiments to provide calibration. Simulation results evaluate the validated model performing perching with different gripper-perch alignments. The simulation environment developed in this research provides a foundation to research control approaches for use with the discussed passive perching mechanism. The simulation was validated to capture the dynamics of the real perching mechanism. This platform will be used in future work to develop a control approach that will be implemented in a quadrotor system to land and take-off from a perch in a reliable manner.


Potassium-doped Co3O4, prepared via the sol–gel method, was pretreated by water washing and subsequently the fresh, washed catalysts were compared with pure Co3O4 in order to investigate the existing states of potassium species and their influence on the activities for NO and soot oxidation. The samples were characterized by N2 adsorption–desorption, XRD, FT-IR, NOx-TPD, CO2-TPD, O2-TPD and XPS. It was found that two types of K species existed in K-Co3O4, i.e., the "free" K and the "stable" K. The "free" K species, which were present as carbonates and nitrates with high mobility, could improve the contact state of catalyst-soot and thus significantly accelerate soot oxidation, but they also greatly covered the active surface of Co3O4 and were adverse for NO oxidation. The "stable" K species, which interacted strongly with Co3O4 and acted as electronic and structural modifiers, facilitated the formation of O−/O2− species and oxygen vacancies, exposed more surface Co3+ sites and increased the amount of the medium/strong basic sites, and as a result, they enhanced the intrinsic activities of Co3O4 for soot and NO oxidation. Both K species improved the NOx storage capacities of Co3O4, and the NOx species adsorbed on medium/strong basic sites with appropriate stability, caused by the effect of the "stable" K, were more beneficial for soot oxidation than those adsorbed on "free" K with high stability.


This paper addressed the question of how British English, German and Dutch listeners differ in their perception of continuation intonation both at the phonological level (Experiment 1) and at the level of phonetic implementation (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, preference scores of pitch contours to signal continuation at the clauseboundary were obtained from these listener groups. It was found that among contours with H%, British English listeners had a strong preference for H*L H%, as predicted. Unexpectedly, British English listeners rated H* H% noticeably more favourably than L*H H%; Dutch listeners largely rated H* H% more favourably than H*L H% and L*H H%; German listeners rated these contours similarly and seemed to have a slight preference for H*L H%. In Experiment 2, the degree to which a final rise was perceived to express continuation was established for each listener group in a made-up language. It was found that although all listener groups associated a higher end pitch with a higher degree of continuation likelihood, the perceived meaning difference for a given interval of end pitch heights varied with the contour shape of the utterance final syllable. When it was comparable to H* H%, British English and Dutch listeners perceived a larger meaning difference than German listeners; when it was comparable to H*L H%, British English listeners perceived a larger difference than German and Dutch listeners. This shows that language-specificity in continuation intonation at the phonological level affects the perception of continuation intonation at the phonetic level.


Electron microscopic examination of the MNNG-induced gastric cancer revealed cytodifferentiation processes in it. Transformation of gastric epithelium under the effect of MNNG at the submicroscopic and cell levels is investigated. The model is shown to be adequate to human gastric cancer.


This paper deals with the case of a high speed mobile receiver operating in an orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing (OFDM) communication system. Assuming the knowledge of delay-related information, we propose an iterative algorithm for joint multi-path Rayleigh channel complex gains estimation and data recovery in fast fading environments. Each complex gain time-variation, within one OFDM symbol, is approximated by a polynomial representation. Based on the Jakes process, an auto-regressive (AR) model of the polynomial coefficients dynamics is built, making it possible to employ the Kalman filter estimator for the polynomial coefficients. Hence, the channel matrix is easily computed, and the data symbol is estimated with free inter-sub-carrier-interference (ICI) thanks to the use of a QR-decomposition of the channel matrix. Our claims are supported by theoretical analysis and simulation results, which are obtained considering Jakes' channels with high Doppler spreads.


During the 1970s and 1980s in Tanzania, there was a widespread perception, though a somewhat narrow, and inaccurate one, that high and accelerating rates of deforestation in some areas, was primarily being driven by demand for woodfuel, and construction timber. In order to take a more comprehensive, and strategic view of the sector, the government launched the Tanzania Forestry Action Plan, which covered the period 1990/91-2007/08. The Bank-assisted Tanzania Forest Resources Management Project (FRMP - 1992/99) was formulated to implement the Action Plan, and to generally improve forest management in Tanzania. The note looks at the FRMP - aimed at strengthening the institutions responsible for developing forest, and land policies, as well as regional, and district forestry services in selected areas - through its impact on the ground, and provides a number of lessons learned.


Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) results in similar clinical characteristics as bacterial respiratory tract infections and can potentially lead to antibiotic overuse. This study aimed to determine the changes in hospital antimicrobial usage before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: We compared antimicrobial consumption data for 2019 and 2020. Inpatient antibiotic consumption was determined and expressed as a defined daily dose (DDD) per 100 occupied bed days, following the World Health Organization (WHO) methods. The WHO Access, Watch, and Reserve (AWaRe) classification was used. Results: The total antimicrobial consumption in 2020 increased by 16.3% compared to consumption in 2019. In 2020, there was a reduction in fourth-generation cephalosporins (-30%), third-generation cephalosporins (-29%), and combinations of penicillins (-23%). In contrast, antibiotics that were consumed more during 2020 compared with 2019 included linezolid (374%), vancomycin (66.6%), and carbapenem (7%). Linezolid is the only antibiotic from the Reserve group on the hospital's formulary. Antibiotic usage from the Access group was reduced by 17%, while antibiotic usage from the Watch group and the Reserve group was increased by 3% and 374%, respectively. Conclusions: The findings show a significant shift in antibiotic usage from the Access group to the Watch and Reserve groups. The Watch and Reserve groups are known to be associated with increased resistance to antibiotics. Therefore, antimicrobial stewardship should be increased and maintained during the pandemic to ensure appropriate antibiotic use.


Program obfuscation is a semantic-preserving transformation aimed at bringing a program into such a form, which impedes the understanding of its algorithm and data structures or prevents extracting of some valuable information from the text of a program. Since obfuscation could find wide use in computer security, information hiding and cryptography, security requirements to program obfuscators became a major focus of interests for pioneers of theory of software obfuscation. In this paper we give a survey of various definitions of obfuscation security and main results that establish possibility or impossibility of secure program obfuscation under certain cryptographic assumptions. We begin with a short retrospective survey on the origin and development of program obfuscation concept in software engineering and mathematical cryptography. In the introduction we also point out on the main difficulties in the development of practical and secure obfuscation techniques. In the next section we discuss the main line of research in the application of program obfuscation to the solution of various problems in system programming and software security. Finally, in section 3 we present and discuss a compendium of formal definitions of the program obfuscation concept developed so far in mathematical cryptography black-box obfuscation, gray-box obfuscation, the best possible obfuscation, obfuscation with auxiliary inputs, etc.. We also make a comparative analysis of these definitions and present the main results on the (im)possibility of secure program obfuscation w.r.t. every such definition.


Background: Assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is well established in clinical research, but ceiling effects in validated tools might prevent detection of changes in well respondents. Tobacco Quality of Life Impact Tool (TQOLITv1) uses conceptual and psychometric advances to enhance detection of HRQoL changes. Methods: In a 6-month, forced-switch study, the German TQOLITv1 was assessed in healthy adult (age 23–55 years) current and matched former-smokers. At baseline, smokers were switched to reduced toxicant prototype (RTP) or conventional cigarette for 6 months. TQOLITv1 responses were collected at baseline, 3 and 6 months from current smokers whilst former smokers completed it at the latter two time points. TQOLITv1 includes SF-36v2 and new smoking-specific, physical and general-health measures. Results: Reliability at baseline was good (Cronbach's coefficient alpha > 0.70) for all measures. The baseline percentage with the best possible score (ceiling effect) for former and current smokers was substantially better for the new physical function than SF-36 physical function measure (35% vs. 59% at ceiling, respectively). New smoking-specific measures discriminated current from former smokers better than general health measures. Smoking-specific symptoms (r = 0.73) were more stable from baseline to 6 months than other measures (r = 0.38–0.54) particularly more than the SF-36 mental component score (r = 0.24). Although both product smoking groups worsened in most HRQoL measures, changes in general and smoking-specific HRQoL impact measures favored RTP smokers. Conclusions: The German TQOLITv1 is sufficiently reliable and valid to assess HRQoL and may be more useful than SF-36v2 in evaluation of interventions in well smoking populations including those consuming RTPs.


In vivo delivery of small molecule therapeutics to cancer cells, assessment of the selectivity of administration, and measuring the efficacity of the drug in question at the molecule level, are important ongoing challenges in developing new classes of cancer chemotherapeutics. One approach that has the potential to provide targeted delivery, tracking of biodistribution and readout of efficacy, is to use multimodal theragnostic nanoparticles to deliver the small molecule therapeutic. In this paper, we report the development of targeted theragnostic lipid/peptide/DNA lipopolyplexes. These simultaneously deliver an inhibitor of the EGFR tyrosine kinase, and plasmid DNA coding for a Crk-based biosensor, Picchu-X, which when expressed in the target cells can be used to quantify the inhibition of EGFR in vivo in a mouse colorectal cancer xenograft model. Reversible bioconjugation of a known analogue of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor Mo-IPQA to a cationic peptide, and co-formulation with peptides containing both EGFR-binding and cationic sequences, allowed for good levels of inhibitor encapsulation with targeted delivery to LIM1215 colon cancer cells. Furthermore, high levels of expression of the Picchu-X biosensor in the LIM1215 cells in vivo allowed us to demonstrate, using fluorescence lifetime microscopy (FLIM)-based biosensing, that EGFR activity can be successfully suppressed by the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, released from the lipopolyplexes. Finally, we measured the biodistribution of lipopolyplexes containing 125I-labelled inhibitors and were able to demonstrate that the lipopolyplexes gave significantly higher drug delivery to the tumors compared with free drug.


The activity of-phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase in mice of the C57Bl/Ka strain was determined after a 4�C stress. The enzyme activity increased 1.2-fold at the end of 3 hours and by 1.4-fold by the end of 6 hours of the stress. The results are in contrast to those from other species with intact animals in which the enzyme changes only after several days of chronic stress. Cycloheximide prevents the rise in enzyme activity, suggesting the increase may be due to protein synthesis. The increase may provide a model system for studying regulation of catecholamine biosynthetic enzymes.


The human brain is a dynamic networked system that continually reconfigures its functional connectivity patterns over time. Thus, developing approaches able to adequately detect fast brain dynamics is critical. Of particular interest are the methods that analyze the modular structure of brain networks, that is, the presence of clusters of regions that are densely interconnected. In this paper, we propose a novel framework to identify fast modular states that dynamically fluctuate over time during rest and task. We started by demonstrating the feasibility and relevance of this framework using simulated data. Compared with other methods, our algorithm was able to identify the simulated networks with high temporal and spatial accuracies. We further applied the proposed framework on MEG data recorded during a finger movement task, identifying modular states linking somatosensory and primary motor regions. The algorithm was also performed on dense-EEG data recorded during a picture naming task, revealing the subsecond transition between several modular states that relate to visual processing, semantic processing, and language. Next, we tested our method on a dataset of resting-state dense-EEG signals recorded from 124 patients with Parkinson's disease. Results disclosed brain modular states that differentiate cognitively intact patients, patients with moderate cognitive deficits, and patients with severe cognitive deficits. Our new approach complements classical methods, offering a new way to track the brain modular states, in healthy subjects and patients, on an adequate task-specific timescale.Author SummaryThe brain is a dynamic modular network. Thus, exploring the dynamic behavior of the brain can reveal insights about its characteristics during rest and task, in healthy and pathological conditions. In this paper, we propose a new framework that aims to track the dynamic changes of the modular brain organization. The method presents two algorithms that can be applied during task-free or task-related paradigms. Using simulations, we demonstrated the advantages of the proposed algorithm over existing methods. The proposed algorithm was also tested on three datasets recorded from real EEG and MEG acquisitions. Overall, results showed the capacity of the proposed algorithm to track brain network dynamics with good spatial and temporal accuracy.


"Who rules East Europe rules the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World - Island; Who rules the World - Island commands the World." Sir Halford MacKinderer, 1919 With the growing academic trend in history towards teaching world civilization rather than western civilization, I have made a startling discovery. Much of the course material in the field of European studies is still largely oriented around Western Europe, to the neglect of East Europe. This cursory treatment of the "other Europe" is particularly surprising given important role the region has played in the history of that continent. Perhaps this coverage is the result of the East in Europe's conquest, subjugation, and occupation by larger and more powerful political neighbors. However, East Europe has made countless contributions to both Europe and the world in a number of endeavors. Precisely because of these contributions it would be unforgivably remiss to not to give historical attention to the rightful place of East Europe in the history of the world. A case certainly can be made regarding the time constraints facing those who teach world civilization. Indeed, a survey of the history of mankind from their beginnings to the present in a single year is no easy feat. I hope to demonstrate the vital and vibrant role East Europe has played in the development of modern Europe, a role that is too often neglected or overlooked. From the fall of the Roman Empire through the age of absolutism to the present day the political, social, and religious legacy of Eastern Europe has left its mark. It is important to illustrate this legacy and demonstrate its importance. The Indo - European peoples were responsible for the collapse of Rome's Western Empire and ancestors of today's Slavs. Until the later appearance of the Germanic tribes, Slavic fiefs and kingdoms were scattered throughout Eastern Europe. In fact, the appearance of the Germanic tribes (and their subsequent conquest of the area) was the beginning of a long history of German - Slav competition. The eastern Roman empire, or Byzantine empire as it is better known, played a tremendous influence on a Russia still in its infancy - giving it not only an eastern Cyrillic alphabet, but also Orthodox (rather than Catholic) Christianity. These ties to the Balkans remain even to the present (Boris Yeltsin's interest in the Bosnian crisis for example.) East Europe was a major force in the religious upheaval called the Reformation. The Bohemian reformer Jan Hus preceded Martin Luther by 100 years, yet criticized the same issues of his better known antecedent. In fact, the Roman Catholic counter-reformation was only successful in East Europe - a fact that is puzzlingly absent from many texts on world civilization. Let us also not forget that East Europe served as a "buffer" to the advance of Islam while Western Europe was still developing. Without this vital protection, it is reasonable to assume that the "Christian west" would have participated in the tradition of Islam, radically altering history. Individuals such as Vlad "Dracula" Tepes are better known in popular culture for their mythic supernatural attributes than for the important (if under-represented) role they played in the shaping and style of Europe's cultural and religious make-up. Yet East Europe is perhaps most important to the West in the early modern to modern era between 1700 and 1945. While much attention is lavished upon Louis XIV's absolutism, even more radical and drastic efforts towards creating an absolutist state were simultaneously underway in Russia with Czar Peter ("the Great") Romanov. The "enlightened despots" of the Habsburgs during the Enlightenment similarly share in the political, cultural and intellectual climate of all Europe, particularly regarding their attitudes towards the masses of Central Europe still locked in serfdom, even as United States was engaged in its war of independence. …