Hedge funds are perhaps the hottest topic in finance today, but little material of substance to date has been written on the topic. Most books focus on how to set up a hedge fund and the basic strategies, while few to none focus on what matters most: generating and understanding investment performance. This book takes an exclusive look at the latter, including an analysis of the areas that are most likely to generate strong investment returns - namely, the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The book will be invaluable to not only financial professionals, but anyone interested in learning about hedge funds and their future.


The inessential yeast gene MUD2 encodes a protein factor that contributes to U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle (snRNP)-pre-mRNA complex (commitment complex) formation. To identify other genes that contribute to this early splicing step, we performed a synthetic lethal screen with a MUD2 deletion strain. The first characterized gene from this screen, MSL1 (MUD synthetic lethal 1), encodes the yeast homolog of the well studied mammalian snRNP protein U2B". The yeast protein (YU2B") is a component of yeast U2 snRNP, and it is related to other members of the UIA-U2B" family, the human U2B" protein, the human U1A protein, and the yeast U1A protein. It binds in vitro to its RNA target, U2 snRNA stem-loop IV, without a protein cofactor, and the target resembles more closely the U1 snRNA binding site of the human U1A protein than it does the U2 snRNA binding site of human U2B". Surprisingly, the YU2B" protein lacks a C-terminal RNA binding domain, which is conserved in all other family members. Possible functional and evolutionary relationships among these proteins are discussed.


Abstract Textiles are central to our understanding of the second-hand trade in Georgian England, but the focus is generally on clothing; much less attention has been given to domestic textiles in the form of linen, beds and drapery. This article draws on auction catalogues from Northamptonshire, 1761–1836, to identify the changing quantity and nature of textiles being sold, the ways in which they were promoted and valorised, and what this might tell us about consumers' motivations. It highlights how the continued appeal of second-hand textiles was framed in a rhetoric of gentility and respectability, and reveals the country house auction as a key institution in the recirculation of second-hand goods.


Privacy policies provide Internet users with the possibility to inform themselves about websites' usage of their disclosed personal data. Strikingly, however, most people tend not to read privacy policies because they are long and cumbersome, indicating that people do not wish to expend much (cognitive) effort on reading such policies. The present study aimed to examine whether shorter privacy policies can be beneficial in informing users about a social networking site's (SNS) privacy practices, and to investigate associations between variables relevant for privacy decision-making using one theory-based integrative model. In an online experiment, participants (N = 305) were asked to create a personal account on an SNS after being given the option to read the privacy policy. Privacy policy length and the SNS's level of privacy were varied, creating a 2 (policy length) x 2 (level of privacy) between-subjects design. The results revealed that participants who saw short policies spent less time on reading but gained higher knowledge about the SNS's privacy practices—due to the fact that they spent more reading time per word. Factual privacy policy knowledge was found to be an indicator for participants' subjective privacy perception. The perception and evaluation of the specific SNS´s privacy level influenced the assessment of privacy costs and benefits. Particularly when benefits were perceived as high, self-disclosure was increased.


Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can cause interference or damage in circuits in many ways e.g., by E- or H-field coupling or via conduction paths. Although we can roughly estimate the voltage and current at the injection point during an ESD event, the real offending parameter is mostly the ESD current spreading throughout the system. Those currents can be simulated if great simplifications of the system are accepted. However, even in moderately complex systems the ability to simulate is limited by lack of models and computational resources. Independent of the complexity, but obviously not free of its own limitations is a measurement technique that captures the current as a function of time and location through the system. This article describes the proof on concept of ESD such a measurement technique that allows reconstructing the spreading current as a movie from magnetic field measurements. It details the technique, question of probe selection and how to process the data to present the current spread as a movie.


Histories of southern German firms during the Second World War suggest that Switzerland provided many highly-skilled labourers for Germany's war effort, but no study has to date quantified these contributions. This paper examines the labour exchanges between the two countries, focusing on individuals working within a free movement and trade area in the border region of Switzerland and Germany. A maximum of 1,800 Swiss workers is ascertained to have worked in the German part of this area, representing 7.5% of the total labour force, 12% of the highly-skilled labour force and over 20% of the metal workers in the ten-kilometre German zone. Swiss contributions are somewhat offset by Germans working in the Swiss zone. Most importantly for Swiss neutrality, this papersuggests that, despite initially supportive increased labour transfers at the start of the war, the Swiss government sought from 1941 to prevent workers from transferring to Germany.


Palmitate is the predominant saturated fatty acid in soybean oil. Major fap alleles that reduce palmitate content in seed oil also reduce seed yield. Breeders are interested in estimating the genotypic correlation between palmitate content and agronomic traits to predict unfavorable correlated responses to selection. The main objective of this study was to estimate the genotypic and phenotypic correlations between palmitate and linolenate contents and other traits in three populations segregating for the fap nc , fap1, and fan alleles and modifier genes. The populations derived from crosses of high-yielding lines and improved low-palmitate and low-linolenate lines were grown in replicated trials in three environments. Significant positive genetic correlations between palmitate and yield and between palmitate and plant height were observed in all three populations. Linolenate content was genetically positively correlated with lodging in two populations and negatively correlated with oil content in three populations. Our results support the observation that the major fap nc or fap1 or both alleles reduced plant height and had a major negative effect on yield. These effects could be due to pleiotropy or linkage with unfavorable yield or height genes. The relative importance of pleiotropy and linkage has very different implications for oil quality breeding.


abstract Analysis of leveling data from Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska confirms our earlier observation of high rates of vertical deformation. Although the island is only 8 km long, the deformation pattern is quite complex. The north end of the island is falling relative to the remainder at a rate of 3 mm/yr. This rate of movement is decreasing exponentially with a time constant of about 8 yr. In addition, a short level line across the island indicates some tilting down in the direction N50°W. This deformation also exhibits a declining rate. The direction of all deformation appears to be controlled by the strike of the Aleutian Trench or, equivalently, by the axis of the 1964 Alaska earthquake deformation field. The deformation at Middleton Island is inconsistent with motion in the direction of the Minster-Jordan relative plate motion vector. The deformation is inferred to be a long-lived aftereffect of the 1964 earthquake.


Maize originated as a tropical plant that required short days to transition from vegetative to reproductive development. ZmCCT10 [CO, CONSTANS, CO-LIKE and TIMING OF CAB1 (CCT) transcription factor family] is a photoperiod regulator and was identified as a major QTL controlling photoperiod sensitivity in maize. We modulated expression of ZmCCT10 in transgenic maize using two constitutive promoters which cause differing expression levels. Transgenic plants over expressing ZmCCT10 with either promoter was delayed in their transition from vegetative to reproductive development but were not affected in their change from juvenile-to-adult vegetative growth. Strikingly, transgenic plants containing the stronger expressing construct had a very prolonged period of vegetative growth accompanied with dramatic modifications to plant architecture that impacted both vegetative and reproductive traits. These plants did not produced ears, but tassels were heavily branched, and more than half of the transgenic plants showed conversion of shoot apices into "bushy tops", which were composed of vegetative reversion plantlets. Analysis of expression modules controlling the floral transition and meristem identity linked these networks to photoperiod dependent regulation, whereas phase change modules appeared to be photoperiod independent. Results from this study clarified the influence of the photoperiod pathway on vegetative and reproductive development and allowed to fine-tune the flowering time model for maize.


Abstract The term 'cultural icon' is generally used to refer to individuals or images, objects, visual sign, monuments, space etc. In semiotics the term 'icon' is used to refer to a sign that bears close resemblance to the object that it stands for. Icons are particularly influential signifiers because they are immediately identifiable and carry complex cultural codes in a compact image. In this paper the understanding of 'cultural icon' is not limited to semiotics. Following Keyan Tomaselli and David Scott in Cultural Icons (2009), we believe that cultural icons are purposive constructions. An attempt has been made in this paper to analyze the association of 'desirable' meanings to a cultural icon (while dropping 'undesirable' ones); thus, it is imperative that we look at the changing socio-political contexts behind such purposive constructions. With this in mind, we look at the iconic figure of Bishnuprasad Rabha who has been one of the most revered figures in the cultural history of Assam and has been appropriated as a cultural icon in different discourses of the national life of Assam that has emerged in recent times.


Extensive smooth muscle cell proliferation is the major event leading to the narrowing or occlusion of the lumen of the coronary arteries of patients undergoing heart transplantation or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. The smooth muscle cell proliferation in transplant atherosclerosis may be initiated by immunologic events, allowing the vascular smooth muscle cells to respond with migration and proliferation to circulating growth factors as well as chemoattractants and growth factors released by inflammatory cells and smooth muscle cells themselves. The somatostatin analog angiopeptin is a cyclic octapeptide that has different binding affinities for different somatostatin receptors compared with the parent compound itself. The antiproliferative effects of angiopeptin have been demonstrated in vitro in several tumor cell lines. In a rabbit model of heterotopic heart transplant-accelerated coronary atherosclerosis, angiopeptin has been shown to attenuate myointimal hyperplasia. Further studies in simpler models of myointimal hyperplasia have shown that angiopeptin will inhibit smooth muscle cell proliferation after vascular injury. Further, angiopeptin inhibits thymidine uptake in vitro in pig coronary arteries. Angiopeptin also exerts its inhibitory effect at a very early stage after injury: an 8-hour delay of treatment abolishes the inhibitory effect of angiopeptin on smooth muscle cell proliferation (intimal hyperplasia). On the basis of the experimental data, clinical studies of the inhibitory effect of angiopeptin on prevention of transplant atherosclerosis in heart transplant patients and prevention of restenosis after coronary artery angioplasty are ongoing, as well as are studies in patients undergoing saphenous vein coronary artery bypass surgery.


The file drawer is full. Should we worry? Experiments that produce null results face a higher barrier to publication than those that yield statistically significant differences. Whether this is a problem depends on how many null but otherwise valid results might be trapped in the file drawer. Franco et al. use a Time-sharing Experiments in the Social Sciences archive of nearly 250 peer-reviewed proposals of social science experiments conducted on nationally representative samples. They find that only 10 out of 48 null results were published, whereas 56 out of 91 studies with strongly significant results made it into a journal. Science, this issue p. 1502 Fully half of peer-reviewed and implemented social science experiments are not published. We studied publication bias in the social sciences by analyzing a known population of conducted studies—221 in total—in which there is a full accounting of what is published and unpublished. We leveraged Time-sharing Experiments in the Social Sciences (TESS), a National Science Foundation–sponsored program in which researchers propose survey-based experiments to be run on representative samples of American adults. Because TESS proposals undergo rigorous peer review, the studies in the sample all exceed a substantial quality threshold. Strong results are 40 percentage points more likely to be published than are null results and 60 percentage points more likely to be written up. We provide direct evidence of publication bias and identify the stage of research production at which publication bias occurs: Authors do not write up and submit null findings.


Abstract. Acharya I. P., Schingoethe D. J., Kalscheur K. F. and Casper D. P. 2015. Response of lactating dairy cows to dietary protein from canola meal or distillers' grains on dry matter intake, milk production, milk composition, and amino acid status. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 95: 267-279. A study was conducted to determine the response of feeding two different crude protein (CP) concentrations [low protein (LP, 14.3% CP) and high protein (HP, 16.3% CP)] and sources of protein [canola meal (CM) and high-protein dried distillers' grains (HPDDG)] on dry matter intake, milk production and composition, and amino acid (AA) status of high producing dairy cows. Sixteen Holstein cows were used in a replicated 4×4 Latin square having a 2×2 factorial arrangement of treatments. All diets contained 55% forage (50% alfalfa hay and 50% corn silage) and 45% concentrate. Diets were formulated to contain LP with CM, LP with HPDDG, HP with CM and HP with HPDDG. Experimental feeding periods were 4 wk with data collected during weeks 3 and 4 of each period. Dry matter intake (24.6 vs. 25.9 kg d-1 for LP and HP, respectively) was increased for cows fed the higher CP diets, milk yield was greater for cows fed HP diets (34.0 vs. 36.4 kg d-1), and milk fat percentage was greater for cows fed HP compared with LP, but were similar between dietary protein sources. Feed efficiency calculated as fat-corrected milk and energy-corrected milk was greater for cows fed HP than LP, but was similar between sources. Dietary metabolizable protein of CM diets was utilized more efficiently than from HPDDG diets for milk protein production. Mammary gland extraction efficiency of essential AA indicated that Met was the first limiting AA for CM-based diets while Lys was first limiting for HPDDG-based diets. In summary, canola meal and distillers' grains are both good quality protein supplements for lactating cows.


OBJECTIVE
The development and evaluation of Un Abrazo Para La Familia, [A Hug for the Family] is described. Un Abrazo is discussed as an effective model of education, information-sharing, and skill-building for use with low-income co-survivors of cancer.

PARTICIPANTS
Sixty co-survivors participated. The majority were women and all reported being Hispanic.

METHODS
Using quantitative data (N=60), the needs, concerns, and characteristics of the co-survivor population served through Un Abrazo are presented. Further, we offer three qualitative case studies (with one co-survivor, one survivor, and one non-participant) to illustrate the model and its impact.

RESULTS
The median level of education level of co-survivors was 12 years. The majority were unemployed and/or identified as homemakers, and indicated receipt of services indicating low-income status. Half reported not having health insurance. The top four cancer-related needs or concerns were: Information, Concern for another person, Cost/health insurance, and Fears.

CONCLUSIONS
Recognizing the centrality of the family in addressing cancer allows for a wider view of the disease and the needs that arise during and after treatment. Key rehabilitation strategies appropriate for intervening with co-survivors of cancer include assessing and building upon strengths and abilities and making culturally-respectful cancer-related information and support accessible.


Civilian studies show roughly a three-fold higher use of medical resources by females of childbearing age than males. Significantly higher use of medical services by females would be important information when staffing and supplying U.S. Navy ships to accommodate female crew members. In this light, visits to the medical department on a ship with a mixed-gender crew were reviewed for a 6-month period. Total visits were counted by gender, and female visits were categorized. Females were seen at a rate 9.2 times that of males (6.44 vs. 0.70 visits per year). Gender-specific problems accounted for a minority of female visits (39%), whereas gender-neutral problems yielded a female-to-male visit ratio of nearly 6:1. At this rate, the work load of a ship's medical department will increase substantially when integrating women into an all-male crew. Language: en


Bowel problems after SCI can be debilitating. Colonic inertia as a result of decreased parasympathetic (S2-4) stimulation of the left colon and rectosigmoid seems to be the principal abnormality accounting for DWE. The conventional measures used for decades have poor results in many people. Neostigmine, an anticholinesterase inhibitor, appears to be a more physiological agent for these individuals. The combination of neostigmine + glycopyrrolate infusion has shown encouraging results after intravenous administration and studies are under way to assess the efficacy of neostigmine by other routes.


The main goal of this paper is to draw lessons from the past to better understand the role and potential of social protection in response to crisis, and support the definition of the World Bank social protection and labor strategy 2012-2022. This paper uses selected crises (1990-present), their social impact, and government responses to evaluate the social protection instruments deployed and provide lessons learned and possible directions for the future, including questions for further analytical work. While experience seems to suggest that governments and the World Bank are increasingly committed to the mainstreaming of social protection in crises prevention and management, important challenges and questions to be answered still remain to effectively protect populations, especially in the case of low Income countries and fragile states. Among the main messages emerging from the paper are, first, that crises are very diverse in origins, channels of transmission and impacts; second, preparing for crises by fiscal prudence and by setting programs in place is crucial to dispose of the necessary financial resources and to increase the speed and reach of the response; third, the design of permanent programs can be different from what is required for crisis management measures, especially in the aftermath of natural disasters. A solution could be to equip programs with ready-to-implement, standardized emergency toolkits.


A Nobel laureate's work on G proteins illuminated how signals are transmitted into cells Alfred Goodman Gilman died on 23 December, after a protracted battle with pancreatic cancer. We lost an extraordinary scientist, academic leader, and "mensch." Al pioneered our understanding of the biochemical mechanisms that drive signal transduction and (with Martin Rodbell) shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in the discovery of heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins). He went on to describe the basic design of G protein-mediated cellular signaling circuits that regulate an enormous number of physiological responses and are the targets of a large fraction of today's drugs.


This paper presents the derivation of the Ziv-Zakai bound (ZZB) for the localization problem in a MIMO radar system. The target is positioned in the near-field of a network of radars of arbitrary geometry. The radars have ideal mutual time and phase synchronization. The target location is estimated by coherent processing exploiting the amplitude and phase information between pairs of radars. An analytical expression is developed for the ZZB relating the estimation mean square error (MSE) to the carrier frequency, signal bandwidth, the number of sensors, and their location. From numerical calculations of the bound, three regions of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be distinguished in the performance of the location estimator: a noise-dominated region, an ambiguity region, and an ambiguity free region. In the noise-dominated region, the signals received by the radars are too weak, and thus the localization error is limited only by the a priori information about the location of the target. In the ambiguity region, the performance of the location estimator is affected by sidelobes. In the ambiguity free region, estimation errors are very small and the ZZB approaches the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB).


Twelve T-2 toxin-producing isolates and four fusarenon-X-producing isolates of Fusarium species were examined for their ability to produce trichothecene mycotoxins in shake culture and jar fermentation. T-2 toxin producers such as Fusarium solani, F. sporotrichioides, and F. tricinctum produced T-2 toxin and neosolaniol in semisynthetic medium. F. solani M-1-1 produced the largest amount of the mycotoxins in a nutrient medium consisting of 5% glucose (or sucrose), 0.1% peptone, and 0.1% yeast extract in either shake culture or jar fermentation at 24 to 27 C for 5 days. None of the isolates produced significant amounts of fusarenon-X in shake cultures.


Enzymes are highly efficient and specific catalysts. They catalyse biochemical reactions with substantial rate enhancement compared to the uncatalysed reactions. The rate enhancement and specificity of enzymes are derived from a network of general acid/base catalysts, nucleophiles and noncovalent interactions in the active site, the part of the enzyme where cataylsis takes place. In catalysis, binding of the substrate and the transition state in the active site is of critical importance. Enzymes catalyse reactions by preferentially binding the transition state and, therefore, lowering the activation energy of the reaction. Enzymes bind their substrates via a network of weak, noncovalent intermolecular interactions such as hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions. Enzymes utilise several mechanisms to accelerate a reaction such as acid/base catalysis, covalent catalysis and metal ion catalysis. Owing to their integral role in all biochemical pathways, enzymes are an attractive target for drug design and development.

Key Concepts:

Enzymes are biocatalysts that are involved in all forms of biochemical transformations.

Nearly all enzymes are proteins.

Enzymes catalyse reactions with a remarkable rate enhancement due primarily to lowering the energy of the transition state.

The active site is a cavity in the enzyme structure where catalysis occurs.

Amino acid residues in the active site provide the required framework for catalysis.

Keywords:

enzymes;
catalysis;
specificity;
noncovalent interactions;
active sites


The National Children's Study will examine the effects of the environment and genetics on the growth, development, and health of children across the United States; it will follow participants from before birth until age 21 years. The goal of the study is to improve the health and well-being of children and contribute to understanding the roles various factors play in health and disease. Findings from the study will be made available as the research progresses, making potential benefits known to the public as soon as possible. A robust pilot study, or Vanguard Study, is underway to generate data for designing the subsequent Main Study. The goals of the Vanguard Study are feasibility, acceptability, and cost, and the goals of the Main Study will be exposure-response relationships and biological, environmental, and genetic interactions. The initial Vanguard Study experience among 7 study centers was successful in many ways, including delineating the topics to explore for the next phase of the Vanguard Study. Three different recruitment strategies are under evaluation to determine what approach to use for the Main Study. The organization of National Children's Study operations is currently based on a new decentralized business model.


I. Introduction. The country described in this paper is situated in South-Eastern Merioneth, but a narrow strip extends over the county boundary into Montgomeryshire. The northern margin is an east-and-west line through Llanuwchllyn, and this is also approximately the southern boundary of the district recently described by Dr. G. L. Elles. The western limit is the high ground made up of Ordovician volcanic rocks: namely, Aran Mawddwy, Aran Benllyn, etc., and the eastern margin is roughly parallel, at a distance of from 4 to 5 miles. The southern boundary is about a mile south of Llanymawddwy, and is adjacent to the Dinas Mawddwy country. This district occupies an area of about 38 square miles, and is included in the 1-inch Ordnance Survey Map 136, in the Geological Survey Maps, Old Series, Sheets 60 N.W. & 74 S.W., and in the 6-inch maps, Merioneth, Sheets XXIX N.W., N.E., S.W., S.E., XXXIV N.E., S.E., and XXXV N.W., N.E., & S.W. It is a thinly populated region; Llanymawddwy on the south and Llanuwchllyn on the north are the only villages. Parts of the area are somewhat inaccessible, but the old mountain-road from Dinas Mawddwy to Bala over Bwlch y Groes (1790 feet above sea-level) passes through the district. There is comparatively little ground that can be cultivated, and the area is given over almost entirely to sheep-farming. The central part of the area is the watershed between three drainage-systems: namely, the Dyfi, the Dee, and the Vyrnwy (a tributary of the Severn). The


GH and its related peptide PRL are known to stimulate proliferation and insulin biosynthesis in pancreatic beta-cells, and assumed to be involved in their functional maturation. We investigated signal transduction of GH and PRL in insulin-secreting cells using the differentiated rat insulinoma cell line, INS-1. In these cells, both hormones stimulated proliferation and DNA synthesis, increased viability, cellular metabolism and insulin content. GH induced cytosolic Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) rises, which appear to be due to Ca2+-influx through voltage-gated Ca2+-channels. GH also promoted tyrosine phosphorylation of several proteins in INS-1 cells, one of which was identified as JAK2 tyrosine kinase. Moreover, GH caused changes in DNA binding of nuclear proteins to some interferon-gamma-activated sites. Verapamil inhibited neither DNA synthesis nor JAK2 phosphorylation stimulated by GH, whereas a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, lavendustin A, blocked the mitogenic effect. Involvement of cAMP is also suggested because Rp-cAMPS, a competitive inhibitor of protein kinase A, abolished both [Ca2+]i rises and DNA synthesis stimulated by GH. The effects of GH and PRL on [Ca2+]i, JAK2 phosphorylation and DNA binding of the STATs were virtually identical in INS-1 cells. Since both hormones failed to activate MAP kinase in these cells, it is strongly suggested that activation of the JAK-STAT pathway is the major signalling event for the mitogenic effects of GH and PRL in beta-cells. It remains to be clarified whether the [Ca2+]i rise mediates other effects of these hormones.


The objectives of this work were to study the ultrasound- and ultraviolet light-induced inactivation kinetics of polyphenol oxidase extracted from different sources in a model system. The polyphenol oxidase crude extract was obtained from bananas, apples, quince, eggplants, plums, dill, and cultured mushrooms, which exhibited high enzyme activity. The polyphenol oxidase crude extract was treated with ultrasound and ultraviolet light at 40°C temperature for 40 min. The study showed that the polyphenol oxidase enzyme was inactivated between 12 and 100% during ultrasound only treatment; between 4 and 29% during ultraviolet light only treatment; and between 80 and 100% during simultaneous ultrasound and ultraviolet light treatment. Based on the measurements, an exponential decay model for determining polyphenol oxidase inactivation kinetics was developed. The model provides high determination coefficients (R2): 0.968–0.999 with ultrasound only treatment, 0.881–0.990 with ultraviolet only treatment, and 0.975–1.000 with simultaneous ultrasound and ultraviolet treatment. The polyphenol oxidase kinetics evaluation showed that different treatments provided different inactivation times, or D-values. The D-values were 7.0–656.1 min for ultrasound only treatment (DUS), 251–1887 min for ultraviolet only treatment (DUV), and 3.3–59.4 min for combined ultrasound and ultraviolet treatment (DUS+UV).


The engineer who designs microprocessor-based equipment sooner or later must bring software and hardware together into a working system. For many, a self-contained microcomputer, like those listed on the next two pages, may be the most effective means to achieve design goals. These development systems provide the user with a microprocessor, memory, built-in software, a power supply, and input-output circuits so he can program hardware that looks very much like the final product he intends to build.


Effectiveness of nitrate (NO3-) and phosphate (P) uptake in a patchy nutrient environment by tussocks of Agropyron desertorum (crested wheatgrass) was assessed with simulations using existing nutrient-uptake models parameterized with field data. Simulations conducted with Monte Carlo techniques were used to expose roots to different levels of nutrient variability with numbers of patches set at 10 large or 1000 small patches over the rooting zone of a single tussock. With constant uptake kinetics, simulated whole-plant uptake of both NO3- and P by established or growing roots was highest in soils with the nutrients distributed uniformly but declined with increasing soil nutrient variability for both nutrients. The decline was greater for NO3- than for P and was greater for both ions in soils with nutrients distributed in the 10 large patches. The reduction in predicted nutrient uptake with increasing variability was more pronounced with higher mean concentrations of P, while mean concentration had little effect on the pattern of NO3- uptake. However, allowing increased uptake kinetics with increasing nutrient concentration, as measured earlier for Agropyron desertorum, indicated that changes in kinetics could offset the lower whole-plant uptake rates in soils with patchy nutrient distributions. The effects of soil moisture and root distribution on whole-plant uptake of NO3- and P were also simulated. With constant kinetics, nutrient uptake in drier soil with uniformly distributed soil moisture was less affected by patchy nutrient distributions than was nutrient uptake in moister soil. Benefits associated with enhanced uptake kinetics with patchy nu- trients distributions were reduced in drier soils for NO3-, but were similar for P. Variability in soil moisture had little effect on patterns of P and N03- uptake. Differences in distri- butions of distances between fine roots had little influence on the patterns of NO3- and P uptake.


Brazilian southeastern region has soil and climate conditions suitable for the growing of rubber trees, and most part of national yield arises from Sao Paulo State. The aims proposed for this work were to determine the diversity, the richness and the seasonal occurrence of mites found in a rubber tree crop in a triennial survey with monthly samplings, as well as to estimate the populational density of the major phytophagous species. This study found 74,407 mites from 26 species belonging to 10 families. The phytophagous and predators represented 95.4% and 3.9% of the total abundance, respectively. Twelve species were rare, six accessories and eight constant. The families Phytoseiidae and Tydeidae had the greatest richness (five and four species, respectively). The most numerous species was Calacarus heveae Feres (50,573), with great abundance at the end of rainy season until the beginning of dry season. Among predators, the most abundant were Zetzellia quasagistemas Hernandes & Feres (1,345), Pronematus sp. (455), Zetzellia agistzellia Hernandes & Feres (409) and Euseius citrifolius Denmark & Muma (243). C. heveae had greatest densities on March and April 2003, and Lorryia formosa Cooreman and Tenuipalpus heveae Baker on March and May 2001, respectively. Many stigmaeids were observed in association with colonies of L. formosa preying their eggs and immatures.


We present a multiagent computer segmentation system, named KISS. This system has been implemented under our multiagent problem solver (MAPS), a generic programming environment dedicated to multiagent architecture design. MAPS entails a basic distinction between object-oriented and action-oriented agents, which allows flexible alternation between figurative and operative focusing tasks. KISS demonstrates the applicability of a multiagent approach to computer vision by offering a clear distribution of knowledge among several agents, dedicated successively to low-, intermediate-, and high-level analysis steps. Segmentation is approached through a cooperative analysis, involving both region and contour-based detection. Interpretation of patterns is made under three successive steps, using geometrical, relational, and semantic labeling, respectively. Such interpretation makes it possible to guide the selection of handling procedures to improve the initial segmentation. The potential power of such an approach is exemplified by its application to muscle fiber analysis.


I. Introduction. This communication has been written, not so much with the idea of describing any phase of metamorphism specially interesting in itself, as of contributing to our knowledge of what metamorphism is, and of distinguishing between different kinds of metamorphism. The term 'metamorphism,' or even 'progressive metamorphism,' has so often been used in a somewhat vague sense, without any distinct specification as to whether dynamic, thermal, hydrothermal, or contact-metamorphism, or a combination of two or more of these, is meant, that a study of an area where each of these types can be readily distinguished by its effects and considered separately, may prove of interest, as indicating the nature of those problems which workers among the Highland rocks have to investigate. In the 'Loch-Lomond District' I include all the Highland rocks on both sides of the loch, as well as the area lying to the eastward, including the Trossachs-—in fact that part of the Highlands which is embraced by Sheet 38 of the Ordnance-Survey map. The material for this paper was collected two years ago, after four years of work in the district, and the main conclusions will appear in the 'Explanation of Sheet 38' by the Geological Survey of Scotland. It is well-known that, in passing north-westward from the Highland Boundary-Fault, the metamorphism is seen to increase in degree. The progressive metamorphism in the Loch-Lomond district can be considered under two heads—dynamic, and what, for want of a better word, I call 'constructive' metamorphism. These processes have in


Objectives. To describe a new survey tool for assessing medical group capability to improve care and to test the relationship between survey scores and other factors among 41 medical groups. Methods. The 30 factors and strategies that experienced quality improvement leaders ranked as most important for successful implementation were incorporated in a questionnaire. The scores from 41 medical directors on this Change Process Capability Questionnaire (CPCQ) in relation to depression improvement were correlated with organizational factors. Results. On a 5-point response scale, there was high variation on nearly all CPCQ items (standard deviation, 0.59-1.63) and for overall scores for factors and strategies. The total CPCQ score also correlated highly with organizational priority for depression improvement as well as with the presence of overall systems for depression care. Conclusions. This measure appears to distinguish among medical groups and to demonstrate an association with both change priorities and implemented systems for depression. (Am J Med Qual 2008; 23:193-200)


This paper presents a High Availability Application Service Platform (HAASP) and analyses its high availability. The architecture of this platform contains application server platform and high availability architecture. Application server platform consists of three major components, application release platform, which is implemented with WebLogic and WebSphere cluster, application and database platforms, which are built with Oracle RAC, and IBM Domino cluster. High availability architecture is constructed by virtual machines, distributed switches and storage pools. It employs virtualization technology to integrate physical servers and storages, where physical servers are responsible for the creation of virtual server cluster, distributed switches, storage pool and management of storages. Application server platform runs on the high availability architecture and our experiment result shows that HAASP, as a scalable and flexible architecture, could offer more persistent service compared with traditional application service platforms.


A series of non-platinic lean NOx trap (LNT) CuO-K2CO3/TiO2 catalysts with different Cu loadings were prepared by sequential impregnation, and they showed relatively good performance for lean NOx storage and reduction. The catalyst containing 8%(w) CuO showed not only the largest NOx storage capacity of 1.559 mmol g–1 under lean conditions, but also the highest NOx reduction percentage of 99%in cyclic lean/rich atmospheres. Additionally, zero selectivity of NOx to N2O was achieved over this catalyst during NOx reduction. Multiple techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), temperature-programmed desorption of CO2 (CO2-TPD), extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), temperature-programmed reduction of H2 (H2-TPR), and in-situ diffusenreflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (DRIFTS), were used for catalyst characterization. The results indicate that highly dispersed CuO is the main active phase for oxidation of NO to NO2 and reduction of NOx to N2. The strong interaction between K2CO3 and CuO was clearly revealed, which favors NOx adsorption and storage. The appearance of negative bands at around 1436 and 1563 cm–1, corresponding to CO2 asymmetric stretching in bicarbonates and -C=O stretching in bidentate carbonates, showed the involvement of carbonates in NOx storage. After using the catalysts for 15 cycles of NOx storage and reduction in alternative lean/rich atmospheres, the CuO species in the catalysts showed little change, indicating high catalytic stability. Based on the results of in-situ DRIFTS and the other characterizations, a model describing the NOx storage processes and the distribution of CuO and K2CO3 species is proposed.


Two isomeric naphthalene appended glucono derivatives substituted at the 1 or 2-naphthyl positions (Nap-1 and Nap-2) were designed and their self-assembly behaviors and optical properties were investigated. Nap-1 and Nap-2 were found to self-assemble into nanofibers and nanotwists, respectively. While the molecular chirality of the glucono moiety could not be effectively transferred to the naphthalene moiety in the Nap-1 system, this was achieved in the Nap-2 assembly. Thus, the Nap-2 assembly showed obvious circular dichroism (CD) and circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) signals. From the XRD patterns and IR spectra of the supramolecular assemblies, it was found that Nap-2 packed in a more orderly fashion than Nap-1, leading to a hierarchical assembly forming nanotwist structures. Moreover, a light-harvesting system based on Nap-2 supramolecular gels and dyes was established, in which an efficient energy transfer was demonstrated from Nap-2 to an acceptor Eosin Y. It was further found that both chirality and energy transfer enhanced the dissymmetry factor of Eosin Y CPL emission.


Strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa hydrolyzing esculin were isolated for the first time. They amount to 17.1 +/- 2.0% (60 from 325) of the investigated P. aeruginosa strains isolated from the clinical material in St. Petersburg. Esculin hydrolysis was measured by micromethod in plates, results were analysed after 3-hours incubation at 37 degrees C. Esculin-positive strains possesed biovar properties: they are widely spread, demonstrated other characteristic features (absence of triethylamine odour, specific colonies lysis), are stable on ability to hydrolyse esculin while culture storage and after repeated culturing. Typical strain of esculinolytica biovar was deposited into the culture collection of the National Research Institute of Agricultural Microbiology as P. aeruginosa ARRIAM 64-A. Susceptibility testing of the esculin-positive strains by disk-diffusion method revealed that most strains were inhibited by imipenem (86.6%), amikacin (75.0%), ceftazidime (65.0%), meropenem (60.0%), aztreonam (51.6%). The percent of strains susceptible to other antibiotics was lower: azlocillin--33.3%, netilmycin--33.3%, piperacillin--26.6%, ceftriaxon--18.3%. Only small number of strains were inhibited by ciprofloxacin (8.3%), gentamycin (3.4%), cefoperazone (1.7%) and carbenicillin (1.7%). The results may be used for empiric therapy before the isolated strain susceptibility is tested but only according to positive esculin-hydrolysis express-test evaluated in 3-hours period.


A gallium doped silicon (Si:Ga) extrinsic photoconductive detector was tested for sensitivity and quickness of response. The developmental goal for this detector material was high speed operation without compromised detectivity (D*). The high speed, p-type infrared photoconductor, with photoconductive gain less than unity, was tested at 10.5 microm to determine an experimental value for the detectivity-bandwidth product of D*f* = 3.69 x 10(18)cm-Hz(3/2)/W. Subsequently a theoretical model taking into account the optical absorption profile and majority-carrier-transport processes within the detector was developed. It agreed with experimental data and corroborated the theory.


Induction of c-mutations in extracellular bacteriophage and prophage lambda cI857 ind-treated with 1 M O-methylhydroxylamine (OMHA) at 32 degrees and pH 5.6 has been studied. The frequency of c-mutations increases proportionally to the time of treatment of extracellular phage and does not depend on cellular recA+ or polA+ functions and on induction of SOS-repair system caused by UV-irradiation of host cells. Prophage is inactivated and mutagenized approximately 10-fold faster than extracellular phage immediately after treatment of lysogenic cells during prophage induction. Thus, prophage survival does not depend on repair functions of the host cells, and the frequency of c-mutations in recA and, especially, in polA lysogens is significantly lower, than in the wild-type cells. Delayed thermoinduction (90 min) of prophage causes significant enhancement of survival and decreases the frequency of c-mutations in all strains studied. Preliminary treatment of non-lysogens with OMHA does not increase the frequency of c-mutations in undamaged phage or in phage treated with OMHA in vitro.


Burgundio of Pisa translated into Latin many classical Greek texts, among them Aristotle and Galen, by using his Greek manuscripts, mainly written by Ioannikios in Constantinople in the first half of the 12th century. These manuscripts have different Greek marginal annotations, which have been attributed to Burgundio. This essay focuses on the so-called scribe, who copied, revised and annotated some of them: he had a close relationship with Burgundio, but cannot be identified with him. Moreover, the article studies the so-called scribe, who should be later than Burgundio. Thanks to the palaeographical analysis, it can be excluded that the hand is present in the Chis. R.IV.13, although this manuscript was probably used by Burgundio for his translation of Nemesius, De natura hominis. Key words : Burgundio of Pisa - Ioannikios - Greek annotations


Purpose: This study was conducted to examine the frequency of reported use of everyday technologies (EDT) and its associations with self-efficacy, stress appraisal, and coping strategies. Design and Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from 150 participants (aged ≥65 years), measuring use of EDT by means of self-report questionnaires and a computerized simulator of an automatic teller machine (ATM), and EDT-related self-efficacy, stress appraisal, and coping strategies questionnaires. Results: Structured equation modeling analysis showed that EDT-related self-efficacy was related to higher use of EDT, through the mediation of EDT-related stress and coping strategies. Logistic regression showed that use of ATM simulator was predicted by self-efficacy, younger age, and female gender. Implications: Enhancing EDT-self efficacy is suggested to increase the use of EDT among elder adults. The use of simulators may be an efficient mean to promote EDT self-efficacy and use.


Progress in understanding root growth regulation and adaptation under water-stressed conditions is reviewed, with emphasis on recent advances from transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of maize and soybean primary roots. In both systems, kinematic characterization of the spatial patterns of cell expansion within the root elongation zone showed that at low water potentials, elongation rates are preferentially maintained towards the root apex but are progressively inhibited at more basal locations resulting in a shortened growth zone. This characterization provided an essential foundation for extensive research into the physiological mechanisms of growth regulation in the maize primary root at low water potentials. Recently, these studies were expanded to include transcriptomic and cell wall proteomic analyses of the maize primary root, and a proteomic analysis of total soluble proteins in the soybean primary root. This review focuses on findings related to protection from oxidative damage, the potential roles of increased apoplastic reactive oxygen species in regulation of wall extension properties and other processes, region-specific phenylpropanoid metabolism as related to accumulation of (iso)flavonoids and wall phenolics and amino acid metabolism. The results provide novel insights into the complexity and coordination of the processes involved in root growth at low water potentials.


Most scholars turn a blind eye to A Proposal for Giving Badges to the Beggars in All the Parishes of Dublin, but as Jonathan Swift's final pamphlet on Irish affairs, it deserves our attention. This essay contextualizes the pamphlet among Swift's more familiar arguments for solving Ireland's problems of poverty and unemployment, including a scheme for giving badges to Dublin's deserving poor while setting the able-bodied to work, under threat of corporeal punishment. Swift supported this scheme in the 1720s and 1730s, and this essay gives us a fuller picture of Swift at the end of his political career.


ABSTRACT Developing on Granovetter's classic work on embeddedness in systems of social relations, this paper proposes the concept of 'differentiated embedding' to explore how migrants negotiate attachment and belonging as dynamic temporal, spatial and relational processes. When Poland joined the EU in May 2004, the large flow of migrants to the UK was perceived by many migration researchers as heralding a new form of transient mobility associated with short-term, temporary and circular migration, and high levels of transnationalism. Relatively little attention was paid to how these migrants were integrating in local contexts. Based on 20 in-depth interviews and network mapping with Polish migrants, resident in London for a decade, I examine why participants extended their stay and how their decisions were shaped by interpersonal relationships locally and transnationally. London as a 'superdiverse', global city offers place-specific opportunities for building networks and developing processes of embedding. Nonetheless, a focus on networks risks overlooking the wider structural context in which migrants live and work. Thus, I argue, there is a need for a differentiated concept to capture the nuanced interplay of structural, relational, spatial and temporal embedding. This concept not only captures multi-scalarity and multi-sectorality but also levels of belonging and attachment.


In this study we analyzed the role of CCL2, a member of the chemokine family, in early graft damage. Using simultaneous kidney‐pancreas transplantation (SPK) as a model, we showed that brain death significantly increases circulating CCL2 levels in humans. We found that in such situations, high donor CCL2 levels (measured before organ recovery and at the onset of cold preservation) correlate with increased postreperfusion release of CCL2 by both the graft and recipient throughout the week following transplantation (n = 28). In a retrospective study of 77 SPK recipients, we found a significant negative association between high donor levels of CCL2 and graft survival. Decreased survival in these patients is related to early posttransplant complications, including a higher incidence of pancreas thrombosis and delayed kidney function. Taken together our data indicate that high CCL2 levels in the donor serum predict both an increase in graft/recipient CCL2 production and poor graft survival. This suggests that the severity of the inflammatory response induced by brain death influences the posttransplant inflammatory response, independent of subsequent ischemia and reperfusion.


Copper pollution has become a very serious problem in modern society with the increasing industrial emission and the acid mine drainage. Copper deficiency or excess copper accumulation in human and animal livers can bring both oxidative stress and severe disorders. Thus, the development of a simple and efficient strategy for Cu2+ ion detection in water and blood samples is very necessary and meaningful. In this study, a simple, fast, and sensitive fluorescence method was put forward to detect Cu2+ ions based on C5 DNA-templated gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) and Fenton-like reactions. Under aerobic conditions, ascorbic acid is not only involved in the reduction of Cu2+, but also reacts with O2 to produce H2O2. Then, hydroxyl radical (˙OH), yielded by H2O2 and Cu+, can seriously quench the fluorescence of AuNCs. Attributed to the unique Fenton-like reaction between ascorbic acid and the Cu2+ ions, high selectivity was achieved for Cu2+ ion monitoring using this nanosensor, and the practical applications of this nanosensor in real water and blood samples were realized.


Choudhri and colleagues unfortunately give no details of the radiographic projections used to image the renal arteries.' It would seem likely that the renal arteries were imaged only in a single anteroposterior projection. Anatomically the renal arteries arise from the anterior quadrants of the aorta, with the right renal artery usually arising more anteriorly than the left.2 A single conventional anteroposterior projection done in conjunction with an aortic flush will provide inadequate visualisation of the origins of the renal artery, particularly on the right. The recommended projection is the 250 right posterior oblique, which throws both renal arteries, and particularly their origins, into profile.3 It has been our experience of renal artery imaging using digital subtraction angiography that without the use of this oblique projection stenoses may be missed, resulting in the underreporting of proximal lesions.


Describes a low power high performance wearable computing platform, specifically designed for easy integration into everyday clothing. It combines a heterogenous, distributed, user reconfigurable system architecture, advanced power management features and highly miniaturized, mechanically flexible electronic packaging technology. As a result the WearARM system offers high performance for a wide range of application in a form factor that allows it to be worn without in any noticeable way interfering with your look and comfort.


A computer model for simulating pressure and flow propagation in the human arterial system is developed. The model is based on the one-dimensional flow equations and includes non-linearities arising from geometry and material properties. Fifty five arterial segments, representing the various major arteries, are combined to form the model of the arterial system. Particular attention is paid to the development of peripheral pressure and flow pulses under normal flow conditions and under conditions of arterial disease. Cases investigated include arteriosclerosis and hypertension as well as the presence of single or multiple vascular occlusions. Results demonstrate that the model is capable of simulating arterial flow in a satisfactory manner.


A new class of high strength steel with excellent toughness, ductility, and good  weldability is emerging world-wide, named as High Performance Steel (HPS). HPS can be designed as having an optimized balance of these properties to give maximum performance in bridge structures while remaining costeffective. A study is performed to compare the cost differences between bridge designs using conventional mild steel Fe 410 and high tensile steel Fe 590. Two cases of span supported and un-supported during construction are considered for comparison. Maximum flexural stresses, maximum deflection, weight and cost are compared for 40m span steel-concrete composite bridge for both the unsupported and supported conditions of the bridge span during construction. HPS steel is found to be most beneficial and economical in bridge design as compare to MS. However, the maximum deflection is found to increase more than two times the permissible deflection of L/600 for total dead and live load, for HPS girder in comparison to the mild steel girder case.


During the last decade the traditional view that acoustic attenuation in marine sediments is linear in frequency from seismic to ultrasonic frequencies has been re‐examined [A. C. Kibblewhite, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 86, 716–738 (1989)]. In particular, there is a growing body of evidence from the ocean acoustic and marine seismology communities that the characteristics of attenuation in marine sediments are compatible with the Biot–Stoll theory for porous media. The Biot–Stoll formulation predicts a range of frequency dependencies, according to which of a number of attenuation mechanisms, including viscous dissipation, is dominant. The question of how different attenuation mechanisms can be accounted for in a fluid description of sediments will be examined. The convention of complex sound speed does not account for all the effects of absorption due to viscous dissipation when quantities involving both the pressure and velocity field are considered. An example of such a problem is the Pekeris waveguide with a lossy basement. The effect of viscous dissipation can be accounted for by adopting a convention that amounts to introducing a complex quiescent density.


Redirected Walking (RDW) is a common technique leveraged to allow real walking for exploring large virtual environments in constrained physical tracking spaces. Effective RDW is challenging due to its complexity and disturbance factors (e.g., spontaneous user behavior). Existing techniques range from combinations of simple motion scaling to more elaborate curvature injections and reactive, predictive, or scripted steering concepts. However, many of these approaches were evaluated in simulation only, and researchers argued that the findings would translate to real scenarios to motivate the effectiveness of their algorithms. Using the Redirected Walking Toolkit and its virtual path generator, a randomized waypoint-based path generator has been common practice, although its built-in simplifications assume sequential user behavior regarding translation and rotation.In this paper, we argue that pure simulation-based evaluations employing such simplified path generators require critical reflection. We demonstrate RDW simulations that show the chaotic process fundamental to RDW, in which altering the initial user's position by mere millimeters can drastically change the resulting steering behavior. This insight suggests that RDW is more sensitive to the underlying data than previously assumed. Thus, we rigorously analyze the influence of commonly used synthetically generated paths on multiple state-of-the-art steering concepts and compare them against previously recorded real paths.


Graphs that allow side by side comparisons of the six longer US expansions since 1950 suggest that these expansions have four distinct phases: (1) a high growth recovery during which the rate of unemployment declines to its pre-recession level, (2) a modest growth plateau during which the rate of unemployment is constant, (3) a growth spurt that drives unemployment down further and (4) a second plateau with modest growth and constant rate of unemployment. There have been only three expansions that have experienced the spurt and none has experienced a second spurt. These phases involve substantially different rates of GDP growth, but within each of these four phases GDP growth is largely unpredictable. Forecast accuracy thus comes mostly from understanding the transitions. This requires both data and economics. The economics takes the form of a predator/prey model of the cycle, where the prey are investment opportunities and the predators are entrepreneurs. A probit model of the transition into recession raises concerns about how much longer the aged Bush/Clinton expansion can last.


This paper is concerned with joint Bayesian endmember extraction and linear unmixing of hyperspectral images using a spatial prior on the abundance vectors. We propose a generative model for hyperspectral images in which the abundances are sampled from a Dirichlet distribution (DD) mixture model, whose parameters depend on a latent label process. The label process is then used to enforces a spatial prior which encourages adjacent pixels to have the same label. A Gibbs sampling framework is used to generate samples from the posterior distributions of the abundances and the parameters of the DD mixture model. The spatial prior that is used is a tree-structured sticky hierarchical Dirichlet process (SHDP) and, when used to determine the posterior endmember and abundance distributions, results in a new unmixing algorithm called spatially constrained unmixing (SCU). The directed Markov model facilitates the use of scale-recursive estimation algorithms, and is therefore more computationally efficient as compared to standard Markov random field (MRF) models. Furthermore, the proposed SCU algorithm estimates the number of regions in the image in an unsupervised fashion. The effectiveness of the proposed SCU algorithm is illustrated using synthetic and real data.


A sinus of Valsalva-right atrial fistula secondary to nonpenetrating chest trauma is described. Echocardiogrpahy demonstrated diastolic fluttering of the anterior tricuspid valve, suggesting a left-to-right shunt at the level of the right atrium. External jugular venous pulse tracings revealed large alpha waves and attenuation of the y descent. Cardiac catheterization disclosed a fistulous communication between the right sinus of Valsalva and right atrium. After surgical repair of the fistula, the ultrasonic recording and external pulse tracing reverted to normal. We believe this is the first description of such a shunt after blunt thoracic trauma.


Essentially all high-yielding dairy cows experience a negative energy balance during early lactation leading to increased lipomobilization, which is a normal physiological response. However, a severe energy deficit may lead to high levels of ketone bodies and, subsequently, to subclinical or clinical ketosis. It has previously been reported that the ratio of glycerophosphocholine to phosphocholine in milk is a prognostic biomarker for the risk of ketosis in dairy cattle. It was hypothesized that this ratio reflects the ability to break down blood phosphatidylcholine as a fatty acid resource. In the current study, 248 animals from a previous study were genotyped with Illumina BovineSNP50 BeadChip, and genome-wide association studies were carried out for the milk levels of phosphocholine, glycerophosphocholine, and the ratio of both metabolites. It was demonstrated that the latter two traits are heritable with h2 = 0.43 and h2 = 0.34, respectively. A major quantitative trait locus was identified on cattle chromosome 25. The APOBR gene, coding for the apolipoprotein B receptor, is located within this region and was analyzed as a candidate gene. The analysis revealed highly significant associations of polymorphisms within the gene with glycerophosphocholine as well as the metabolite ratio. These findings support the hypothesis that differences in the ability to take up blood phosphatidylcholine from low-density lipoproteins play an important role in early lactation metabolic stability of dairy cows and indicate APOBR to contain a causative variant.


The use of animals in general medical education is essential. Although several adjuncts to the use of animals are available, none can completely replace the limited use of animals in the medical curriculum. Students should be made aware of an institution's policy on animal use in the curriculum before matriculation, and faculty should make clear to all students the learning objectives of any educational exercise that uses animals. The Council on Scientific Affairs recognizes the necessity for the responsible and humane treatment of animals and urges all medical school faculty members to discuss this moral and ethical imperative with their students. ( JAMA . 1991;266:836-837)


BACKGROUND
Tourette syndrome is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics, attentional deficit, poor control of impulses and obsessive compulsive disorder. Pharmacological treatment is often disappointing due to partial response and frequent poor tolerance to neuroleptic drugs which are otherwise the most effective therapy so far.

AIM
To report a lasting improvement obtained with a new drug, aripiprazole that acts modulating both dopaminergic and serotoninergic neurotransmission.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Ten patients refractory to their usual therapy, aged 10 to 35 years, were switched to aripiprazole in an open trial.

RESULTS
Nine of the 10 patients showed a significant response assessed by the Yale severity tics rating scale and the clinical global impression scale (p <0.01). No relevant adverse effects were observed.

CONCLUSIONS
Aripiprazole may be a good pharmacological option for patients with Tourette syndrome.


Preliminary studies have been made of the feasibility of using the gaseous diffusion process for the production of enriched isotopes of certain specific elements wich are of interest in various phases of the United States' nuclear program. The results of these studies indicate the gaseous diffusion process is probably the most practicable method of separating the isotopes of tungsten, molybdenum, and xenon to produce materials with the desired characteristics. In each of these cases one is confronted with the problem of separating the isotopes of a multicomponent mixture : in the case of tungsten the desired isotope, W-184, is a middle isotope in the naturally occurring mixture. Special modes of operation are required in order to enrich a mixture with respect to a middle isotope. Since all of the considerations which apply to the separation of the various isotopes mentioned above are included in a discussion of the tungsten problem, this paper is limited to the specific problem of enriching the desired isotopes of tungsten.


Subarachnoid hemorrhage causes acute and long-lasting constrictions of pial arterioles. Whether these vessels dilate normally to neuronal activity is of great interest since a mismatch between delivery and consumption of glucose and oxygen may cause additional neuronal damage. Therefore, we investigated neurovascular reactivity of pial and parenchymal arterioles after experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage. C57BL/6 mice were subjected to subarachnoid hemorrhage by filament perforation or sham surgery. Neurovascular reactivity was assessed 3 h later by forepaw stimulation or inhalation of 10% CO2. Diameters of cerebral arterioles were assessed using two-photon microscopy. Neurovascular coupling and astrocytic endfoot Ca2+ were measured in brain slices using two-photon and infrared-differential interference contrast microscopy. Vessels of sham-operated mice dilated normally to CO2 and forepaw stimulation. Three hours after subarachnoid hemorrhage, CO2 reactivity was completely lost in both pial and parenchymal arterioles, while neurovascular coupling was not affected. Brain slices studies also showed normal neurovascular coupling and a normal increase in astrocytic endfoot Ca2+ acutely after subarachnoid hemorrhage. These findings suggest that communication between neurons, astrocytes, and parenchymal arterioles is not affected in the first few hours after subarachnoid hemorrhage, while CO2 reactivity, which is dependent on NO signaling, is completely lost.


Multiple lines of investigations have implicated the role of the dopaminergic system in depression. The aim of the study was to characterise the Dopamine D receptor sensitivity status in depressed patients versus controls by means of a novel neuro-endocrine 2 challenge test, the prolactin response to sulpiride. In this intervention, ten patients and ten age matched male volunteers were studied. The patients were diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria, and Montgomery Asberg and Zung scales were done. There was no significant difference in baseline levels of prolactin between the depressed and control groups. Significantly higher prolactin levels after sulpiride challenge were however found in depressed patients than controls at all time points after sulpiride administration. This neuroendocrine challenge paradigm suggests that the prolactin response to sulpiride, a D receptor antagonist, is enhanced in depression, which suggests 2 that this receptor might be supersensitive in depression compared to controls. This adds to the data implicating the dopaminergic system in the pathophysiology of depression, and suggests that dopaminergic mechanisms might be a target of therapeutic interest. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. / ECNP. All rights reserved.


Download this article from UCL Discovery. The most common premise concerning Russian foreign policy post-cold war is the assumption that its primary focus has been the restoration of the country's influence in international affairs (Kanet, 2007; Trenin, 2011; Tsygankov, 2005, Stent, 2014). Following a realist approach, it is possible to claim that the quest for a 'great power' with global interests and the ability to protect them has been the cornerstone of Russian Foreign policy for centuries (Tsygankov, 2012). Decisions made by the Russian leadership across last two years at the time of writing, including undeclared war in Ukraine and declared war in Syria, seem to fit perfectly into that narrative since the country was trying desperately in that period to defend its borders from threats of terrorism and hostile military alliances (i.e NATO). Moreover, a realist perspective encompasses the matters of prestige that are traditionally in the domain of a constructivist paradigm of international relations. If the Russian leadership considers status as a means of soft power to promote its agenda in the international arena, then it is natural that foreign policy decision-makers seek to gain this valuable resource at all costs. It is possible to argue about the continuity of choices and to claim that the current Russian leadership— being as restrained by a 'contradiction between overcoming economic backwardness and defending porous frontiers' (Rieber, 2007, 225) as Tsarist and Soviet rulers had been in their foreign policy— has chosen the hard line in their foreign policy. However, a realist approach can be considered as an oversimplification for the investigation of Russian foreign policy under the Putin regime. The paper argues that a foreign policy driven exclusively by domestic needs has been conducted over a period of 16 years. In order to defend this hypothesis, this article suggests a close examination of the latest National Security strategy adopted on the 31st of December 2015 in the context of trends of internal development within the country. The first section of this article will present an analysis of the updated security strategy doctrine, including the differences from the previous edition. The analysis points to a discrepancy between the doctrine's mostly defensive nature oriented towards the regime's domestic security, and claims of great power status against the background of decisive, if not aggressive, foreign policy and the country's deteriorating economic development. The second section is divided into subsections, which will cover the relationship between status theory in international relations and the incentives of the Russian elite to pursue 'great power' status. The final section proposes a possible explanation of the paradox discussed during the discourse analysis of the strategy doctrine. This article concludes by providing a coherent argument on the incentives of modern Russian foreign policy, which cannot be assessed either by a purely realist or purely constructivist approach.


The first stage in the preparation of a regional plan is the delineation of a planning region. Frequently this stage must be completed very quickly in order to enable the planning team to begin their surveys in the area. In the following paper, a method will be descriptionbed by means of which a planning region may be delimited very quickly on the basis of data generally available in developing countries. In the autumn of 1966 a study group of the German Development Institute, comprising six members, was set the task of carrying out a preliminary study on regional planning in Western Kenya. In contrast to the physical planning group in the Ministry of Land and Settlement, this group was not obliged to observe administrative boundaries but was able to delineate the region according to its own points of view.


The late prehistoric entity of the Mill Creek cultures underwent extensive research during the 1960s and 1970s to address the effects of climate change on Mill Creek populations in northwest Iowa. Through this research numerous sites have been excavated including the currently unanalyzed site of Skadeland, which is the focus of my research. Previous Mill Creek faunal analyses have examined faunal remains to record abundance and focused on the exploitation of bison as a food resource, which neglects the numerous small mammals, avian and aquatic resources found at these sites. Therefore, the objective of my research is to address Mill Creek people's exploitation of all faunal resources at the Skadeland site (13CK402) using a taphonomically informed approach to zooarchaeological analysis. This method provides new details about late prehistoric faunal exploitation and creates a data set that can be used to draw comparisons with other late prehistoric faunal assemblages. To determine the economic and symbolic value of faunal resources, my research examines ethnographic and ethno-historic records of animal exploitation on the northern plains for evidence of cultural and subsistence values placed on species.


In this paper, besides already investigated cartilage implants, we studied morphologically and histometrically possibilities to use human thyroid cartilage in reconstructive surgery, especially in nasal septum and pyramid reconstructions. Preserved human thyroid and rib cartilage as well as rabbit preserved rib cartilage were implanted under the back skin of 12 New Zealand rabbits. Animals were divided into two groups with 6 specimens in each group followed 6 and 12 weeks after implantation. Beside morphological investigation we measured histometrically the thickness of connective capsule around implants. Results obtained by our morphological and histometric studies indicate that preserved human thyroid cartilage could be used in reconstructive surgery with the same success as other cartilage implants already used.


A Web application was developed to estimate the effects of climate change on agriculture. We chose the northeast and north of Thailand as the target areas of this application, although most countries in the Asian monsoon region are agricultural areas. Northeastern Thailand is a rainfed farming area where rice and drought-tolerant crops are cultivated. Northern Thailand is a mountainous area where several types of vegetables are cultivated. The application identifies and recommends crops that can be grown based on the simulation results of a crop model DSSAT. The DSSAT was executed 365 times; the start date was moved forward one day each time. The effects of climate change were estimated by inputting meteorological data that reflects the influence of climate change. The most favorable start date and the yield are summarized and displayed as output. Application of this system to grid meteorological data required the shortening of execution time and handling a huge volume of data. These problems were solved using multithreading, StAX and Hadoop. The Web application with witch output data were presented was designed based on the assumption that it would be used by a farmer in the field with a 7-inch tablet.


Although much has been written about the ways in which Confederate politics affected the course of the Civil War, George Rable is the first historian to investigate Confederate political culture in its own right. Focusing on the assumptions, values, and beliefs that formed the foundation of Confederate political ideology, Rable reveals how Southerners attempted to purify the political process and avoid what they saw as the evils of parties and partisanship. According to Rable, secession marked the beginning of a revolution against politics in which the Confederacy's founding fathers saw themselves as the true heirs of the American Revolution. Nevertheless, factionalism developed as the war dragged on, with Confederate nationalists emphasizing political unity and support for President Jefferson Davis's administration and libertarian dissenters warning of the dangers of a centralized Confederate government. Both sides claimed to be the legitimate defenders of a genuine Southern republicanism and of Confederate nationalism, and the conflict between them carried over from the strictly political sphere to matters of military strategy, civil religion, and education. Consulting a wide range of sources, including newspapers, sermons, contemporary textbooks, political correspondence, and military documents, Rable constructs an analytical narrative of Confederate political culture, arguing that it did more to strengthen the Confederacy than weaken it. He concludes that despite the war's outcome, the anti-political legacy of the Confederate republic had a profound impact on the future of Southern politics.


In this paper, we apply Particle-based Volume Rendering (PBVR) technique using a current programmable GPU architecture. Recently, the increasing programmability of GPU offers an efficient method of SIMD parallel algorithm to solve the speed problem. Due to the each point or pixel can be calculated independently, we use programmable graphics hardware to delegate all expensive rendering tasks to the GPU. Here we apply on the popular programming architecture CUDA based on GeForce 8800 graphics unit. This approach allows enormous volume particles to be rendered in SIMD way instead of time-costing sequence processing so that the rendering speed can be accelerated. In this processing, each particle can be handled separately by one of the multi-processors in GPU. In this implementation, we introduce a non-confliction way to map the conventional algorithm onto CUDA calculation architecture efficiently. We apply CUDA in the programming framework as a general purpose GPU calculation for PBVR instead of using conventional GPU pipeline. All the rendering flow can be divided into three stages: the beforehand data arrangement, particle projection and sub-pixel processing. In order to evaluate the performance, we compare the frame rate of GPU accelerated PBVR with traditional CPU based approach.


Selective omission is necessary for road network generalisation. This study investigates the use of supervised learning approaches for selective omission in a road network. To be specific, at first, the properties to measure the importance of a road in the network are viewed as input attributes, and the decision of such a road is retained or not at a specific scale is viewed as an output class; then, a number of samples with known input and output are used to train a classifier; finally, this classifier can be used to determine whether other roads to be retained or not. In this study, a total of nine supervised learning approaches, i.e., ID3, C4·5, CRT, Random Tree, support vector machine (SVM), naive Bayes (NB), K-nearest neighbour (KNN), multilayer perception (MP) and binary logistic regression (BLR), are applied to three road networks for selective omission. The performances of these approaches are evaluated by both quantitative assessment and visual inception. Results show that: (1) in most cases, these approaches are effective and their classification accuracy is between 70% and 90%; (2) most of these approaches have similar performances, and they do not have any statistically significant difference; (3) but sometimes, ID3 and BLR performs significantly better than NB and SVM; NB and KNN perform significantly worse than MP, SVM and BLR.


Objectivist poet George Oppen (1908-1984), along with his contemporaries Lorine Niedecker, Charles Reznikoff, and Carl Rakoski, provide an important bridge between the vanguard modernist American poets and the later works of poets such as Robert Creeley. In work often compounded by the populist urbanity of city lives, the Objectivists explored the social statements poetry can make. Because Oppen wrote only one essay and one essay-review, his correspondence, in effect, constitutes his essays. Oppen is emerging as one of the major poets of the postwar era; he was the recipient of an American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award, the PEN/West Rediscovery Award, and a Senior Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His collection Of Being Numerous received the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. These working papers include a rich correspondence, letters which provide access to the sustained, perceptive body of critical and aesthetic thinking of Oppen's poetic career. Provocative and witty comments on poetry and poetics, especially interesting for the development of an Objectivist aesthetics, and shrewd, deeply felt assessments about the politics of the twentieth century and its moral dilemmas are some of the issues attended to. This edition offers primary documentation about an influential poetics, a little-known movement, and its active figures. Given the aggressive studies of the politics of canon-formation, the interest in describing a historical context for individual literary achievement, and current debates about mainstream poetry, the rethinking of the Objectivist movement, and the collection of documents contributing to its poetics, is an importantachievement in literary scholarship.


PURPOSE
Evaluation in volunteers of ciprofloxacin-containing ocular gelling minitablets with prolonged release properties.

METHODS
The irritation potential of ciprofloxacin-containing bioadhesive powder mixtures, used to prepare ocular bioerodible minitablets, was evaluated with a slug mucosal-irritation test. The tear pharmacokinetic profiles of ciprofloxacin were determined in six healthy volunteers after topical administration of a minitablet and a single eye drop in the lower fornix. The drug concentrations in the tear samples collected were measured by using a validated HPLC METHOD: Each volunteer was asked to give an evaluation of the preparations applied by answering a standard questionnaire.

RESULTS
The results of the mucosal-irritation test demonstrated the nonirritating properties of the bioadhesive powder mixtures. The ocular minitablet, applied in the fornix was in general well tolerated by the healthy volunteers. The mean tear concentration of ciprofloxacin was 33.0, 135.2, and 33.7 microg/g at 30, 300, and 480 minutes after application of the minitablet. Mean tear levels of 84.7, 45.6, and 8.4 microg/g were obtained at 5, 30, and 60 minutes after application of an eye drop.

CONCLUSIONS
Due to their prolonged drug release properties, the ocular minitablets containing ciprofloxacin can be considered as a promising drug delivery system to be used in the treatment of ulcerative bacterial keratitis.


The importance of sampling from globally representative populations has been well established in human genomics. In human microbiome research, however, we lack a full understanding of the global distribution of sampling in research studies. This information is crucial to better understand global patterns of microbiome-associated diseases and to extend the health benefits of this research to all populations. Here, we analyze the country of origin of all 444,829 human microbiome samples that have been collected to date and are available from the world's three largest genomic data repositories, including the Sequence Read Archive (SRA). We show that more than 71% of publicly available human microbiome samples with a known origin come from Europe, the United States, and Canada, including 46.8% from the United States alone, despite the country representing only 4.3% of the global population. We also find that central and southern Asia is the most underrepresented region: Countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh account for more than a quarter of the world population but make up only 1.8 percent of human microbiome samples. These results demonstrate a critical need to ensure more global representation of participants in microbiome studies.


Managing continuous change in a Software Product Line (SPL) is one of the challenges now faced by the SPL engineering community. On the one hand, the SPL paradigm captures the intrinsic variability of a software based on a systemic vision of the software to model. On the other hand, Agile Software Development advocates the incremental development of software based on constant interaction with a customer community. In this paper, we present an approach based on Composite Feature Models (CFM) to support the agile evolution of a SPL. This study is driven by the refactoring of a daily used application (information broadcasting system), in the context of a nationally funded project. Preliminary results show that CFMs support the incremental development of a SPL based on interactions with a community, tackling the challenge of SPL continuous evolution.


Context. High-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) are exceptional astrophysical laboratories that offer a rare glimpse into the physical processes that govern accretion on compact objects, massive-star winds, and stellar evolution. In a subset of the HMXBs, the compact objects accrete matter solely from winds of massive donor stars. These so-called wind-fed HMXBs are divided in persistent (classical) HMXBs and supergiant fast X-ray transients (SFXTs) according to their X-ray properties. While it has been suggested that this dichotomy depends on the characteristics of stellar winds, they have been poorly studied.
Aims. With this investigation, we aim to remedy this situation by systematically analyzing donor stars of wind-fed HMXBs that are observable in the UV, concentrating on those with neutron star (NS) companions.
Methods. We obtained Swift X-ray data, HST UV spectra, and additional optical spectra for all our targets. The spectral analysis of our program stars was carried out with the Potsdam Wolf–Rayet model atmosphere code.
Results. Our multi-wavelength approach allows us to provide stellar and wind parameters for six donor stars (four wind-fed systems and two OBe X-ray binaries). The wind properties are in line with the predictions of the line-driven wind theory. Based on the abundances, three of the donor stars are in an advanced evolutionary stage, while for some of the stars, the abundance pattern indicates that processed material might have been accreted. When passing by the NS in its tight orbit, the donor star wind has not yet reached its terminal velocity but it is still significantly slower; its speed is comparable with the orbital velocity of the NS companion. There are no systematic differences between the two types of wind-fed HMXBs (persistent versus transients) with respect to the donor stars. For the SFXTs in our sample, the orbital eccentricity is decisive for their transient X-ray nature. The dichotomy of wind-fed HMXBs studied in this work is primarily a result of the orbital configuration, while in general it is likely that it reflects a complex interplay between the donor-star parameters, the orbital configuration, and the NS properties. Based on the orbital parameters and the further evolution of the donor stars, the investigated HMXBs will presumably form Thorne–Żytkow objects in the future.


Whilst the amount of information readily available to workers in information- and knowledge intensive business- and industrial contexts only seem to increase with every day, those workers still have difficulties in finding relevant and needed information as well as storing, distributing, and aggregating such information. Yet, whilst there exist numerous technical, organisational, and practical approaches to remedy the situation, the problems seem to prevail. This publication describes the first part of the author's work on defining a methodology for improving the flow of work related information, with respect to the information demand of individuals and organisations. After a prefatory description of the perceived problems concerning information flow in modern organisations, a number of initial conjectures regarding information demand and use in small-scale business contexts are defined based on a literature study. With this as the starting point the author sets out to, through an empirical investigation performed in three different Swedish organisations during 2005, identify how individuals within organisations in general, and these three in particular, use information with respect to such organisational aspects as roles, tasks, and resources as well as spatio-temporal aspects. The results from the investigation are then used to validate the conjectures and to draw a number of conclusions on which both a definition of information demand, as well as the initial steps towards defining a methodology for information demand analysis, are based. Lastly, a short discussion of the applicability of the results in continued work is presented together with a description of such planned work.


Was the 18th century a time period of gradual market integration? Or did the wars, famines, and criminality drive central European markets away from each other? We perform cointegration tests between four German and three Polish cities for rye markets in the 18th century, plus selected tests with other grains. We confirm earlier findings that Gdansk was very well-connected. In a dynamic analysis between the early and the late 18th century we find that integration decreased considerably between German and Polish cities. At the same time Polish grain markets appear to disintegrate as well.


Background Accumulating evidence indicates the relevance of intestinal microbiota in shaping the immune response and supports its contribution to the development of autoimmune diseases. Prebiotic non-digestible oligosaccharides are known to selectively support growth of commensal Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli and adjust the microbiota composition. Objectives The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of microbiota modulation using non-digestible oligosaccharides as a therapeutic approach for T cell-dependent autoimmune arthritis. Methods IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) deficient mice spontaneously developing an autoimmune T cell-dependent arthritis were used for this study. To examine the feasibility of microbiota modulation as a therapeutic approach during established disease, IL-1Ra-/- mice which had already developed arthritis under conventional microbial status were orally fed a prebiotic diet containing short-chain galacto- and long-chain fructooligosaccharides (scGos:lcFos, 9:1). Disease progression was monitored and intestinal and systemic T cell differentiation was studied. Multiplex 454 pyrosequencing of fecal bacterial 16S rRNA was used to asses changes in composition of microbiota. Results Oral treatment of arthritic IL-1Ra-/- mice with scGoslcFos significantly suppressed the progression of arthritis. Gene expression of T-bet and RORγt, the Th1 and Th17-related transcription factors, in lymph nodes draining the arthritic joints was significantly reduced in the group receiving the scGoslcFos diet. Furthermore, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scanning revealed that a prebiotic diet containing scGoslcFos significantly improved bone mineral density and tended to increase bone mineral content in arthritic IL-1Ra-/- mice. High-throughput pyrosequencing revealed a that scGoslcFos has a profound effect on relative abundance of bacteria in different taxa. The most notable alterations concerned a significant increase in Lactobacilli and a strong decrease in the genus Turicibacter. Interestingly, intestinal gene expression of the Treg-related transcription factor FoxP3 as well as anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 were increased with scGoslcFos. Accordingly, small intestine lamina propria lymphocytes of mice receiving the scGoslcFos diet produced significant higher levels of IL-10 upon ex vivo stimulation with PMA and ionomycin. Production of IL-4 and IFNγ also tended to be increased, while production of TNFα, IL-6 and IL-17 was not affected by the prebiotic diet. Conclusions Our data suggest that scGoslcFos suppresses arthritis progression, potentially through induction of anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-10 and IL-4. Suppression of disease progression using dietary intervention with prebiotic scGoslcFos may be applicable as a therapeutic approach to suppress autoimmune arthritis. Disclosure of Interest None declared


INTRODUCTION The gist of constitutional interpretation should be an amenability to competing and even complementary schools of hermeneutic endeavor.(1) This ideal collides with an intellectual seduction, nurtured within the legal academy, of monotheism--a belief in the possibility of one true theory of constitutional interpretation.(2) Scholarly argument notwithstanding, it is unlikely--and empirically unprecedented--that a judge would pivot the entire outcome of a constitutional dispute on, let us say, the presence or absence of a comma in the Exceptions and Regulations Clause of Article III (the Judiciary Article),(3) the repetition of the word "in" in the Vesting Clause of Article III,(4) or the sudden caesura in the litany of "alls" in the Cases and Controversies Clause of Article III.(5) It is also unquestionably hard to (re)build accurately a putative original intent of the Framers; the historical trails are manifestly incomplete,(6) dismayingly tenuous, and probably distorted by the relativism of modern exegeses.(7) Furthermore, practical American lawyers are usually edgy in the face of high formalism;(8) if the text becomes hostage to anarchic and unpredicted meanings, the holy grail of deconstructionist ideology, it may not yield any sensible explanations at all.(9) These and other theories may prove separately inconclusive or overambitious, but each is merely a facet of an eclectic discourse that judges in the United States use to interpret the Constitution. Eclecticism, at the root of the common law, means a reasoned integration of many different sources.(10) This Article introduces a "construct" of constitutional interpretation,(11) which I dub forensic constitutional interpretation,(12) that repudiates monotheism and relies explicitly upon common law methodology. The construct has three deeply linked components. First, it seeks well-reasoned and persuasive opinions that fit beneath the eclectic methodological canopy of the common law.(13) Second, by embracing eclecticism it recognizes that interpretation should not beguile the interpreter into the fallacy of monotheism. Third, confident in its methodology, it avoids any pretense that judges are discovering, as opposed to constructing, constitutional meaning.(14) Whatever courts may do in other contexts, forensic interpretation expects that when judges interpret the Constitution they are well aware of the intended outcome of their exercise. By force of the first and second components of the construct, however, those outcomes will acquire coherence and endurance only through the rigor of the common law method and tolerance for polytheism in constitutional interpretation. This Article has three Parts. Part I examines a select class of representative constitutional theories in order to reveal the conceptual inadequacies of interpretive monotheism. The theories comprise virtually the entire bandwidth of modern constitutional analysis, from rigidly formalistic to unabashedly outcome-driven. Then, Parts II and III explain the nature of forensic constitutional interpretation. The argument develops in three phases. Part II.A organizes forensic interpretation around interlocking acts of eclectic reasoning: the institutional methodology of the common law itself and (as a conceptual ramification of the common law method) a polytheistic integration of different interpretive theories. Part II.B makes an intimate connection between the outcome sensitivity of judges and the art of interpretation, and pairs this insight with the common law's instinct for forensic rationalization. Finally, Part III is an applied demonstration of forensic methodology. It uses two Supreme Court judgments delivered more than twenty years apart, in 1978 and 1999, both of which rebuffed federal encroachments into areas of retained state prerogative. These opinions manifest the Court's quiet but persistent allegiance, despite the tumult of theory, to the eclectic practices of forensic constitutional interpretation. …


The automatic three phase power system selector was designed and constructed. The device automatically switches over to the alternative phase that has current when there is power outage or extremely low current in the phase which the load is connected without the power being off. The selector links the load and the other phases and relay switches allowing the usage of the remaining phases where there is outage on the mains source without disturbing or interrupting the load. It maintains constant power supply to the load by automatically activating the phases when the need arises. This safeguards the electronics system from being damaged and burnout as a result of voltage instability, collapse, insistent outages which are paramount in under developed and developing countries. Keyword: Phase selector, Power system, Power system phase, Power instability, Voltage collapse, Power outages, relay and switches, comparator


MetLife commissioned Louis Harris and Associates to conduct a survey of more than 2,000 influential health care leaders. The survey compared the views of these "stakeholders" on how to reform the U.S. health care system, and ascertain how much they were willing to accommodate and compromise among themselves in order to achieve viable changes. A major finding was that not only did these leaders view reform as necessary, they also saw it as likely. The survey found that there was widespread support for the concept of universal access and that large proportions of each of the nine stakeholder groups believed that their own group should be flexible in order to reach common ground for an improved health care system.