Objectives: Since June 1997, Australia has run its first nationally coordinated mass media anti-smoking campaign, with all States collaborating to offer a standard Quitline service. An overview of the Australian national Quitline service is presented as well as two studies describing (a) the relationship between television advertising and call volume and type, and (b) the quit rates of callers over time. Design: Data on extent of advertising, as measured by weekly television target audience rating points (TARPs), is compared with weekly call volume and disposition. A randomly selected sample of callers was followed up at 3 weeks, 6 months and 12 months to assess caller appraisal and quit rates. Setting: The Australian Quitline service, in the context of a nationally coordinated, major anti tobacco campaign. Results: In a one year period from June 1997, 3.6% of adult Australian smokers called the Quitline. Weekly call volume was strongly related to TARPs and increased further when an advertisement specifically promoting the Quitline was broadcast. Calls involving requests for counselling, as opposed to brief calls to request quit materials, were more likely with lower TARPs. Of the cohort who were smoking at baseline, 28% reported they had quit smoking at a one year follow up and 5% had been quit for an entire year. Conclusions: In the context of a national mass media campaign, this study illustrates that it is possible to bring together differing State based services to provide an accessible, acceptable, and effective quit smoking service.


ABSTRACT In Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, the expression of several virulence factors such as elastase, rhamnolipids, and hydrogen cyanide depends on quorum-sensing regulation, which involves the lasRI and rhlRI systems controlled by N-(3-oxododecanoyl)-l-homoserine lactone and N-butyryl-l-homoserine lactone, respectively, as signal molecules. In rpoN mutants lacking the transcription factor σ54, the expression of the lasR and lasI genes was elevated at low cell densities, whereas expression of the rhlR and rhlI genes was markedly enhanced throughout growth by comparison with the wild type and the complemented mutant strains. As a consequence, the rpoN mutants had elevated levels of both signal molecules and overexpressed the biosynthetic genes for elastase, rhamnolipids, and hydrogen cyanide. The quorum-sensing regulatory protein QscR was not involved in the negative control exerted by RpoN. By contrast, in an rpoN mutant, the expression of the gacA global regulatory gene was significantly increased during the entire growth cycle, whereas another global regulatory gene, vfr, was downregulated at high cell densities. In conclusion, it appears that GacA levels play an important role, probably indirectly, in the RpoN-dependent modulation of the quorum-sensing machinery of P. aeruginosa.


In my doctoral dissertation, I discuss and explore notions of the literary and literary form in postcolonial studies. Beginning with a focus on recent expressions of unease about the theoretical paradigms through which the postcolonial perspective responds to literary texts, I discuss the emergence of what I call postcolonial melancholia, an atmosphere induced by the increased institutionalisation in academia in recent years. Using Freud's notion of melancholia, as a form of ghostly identification with an absent object, I explore what leading critics have seen as a loss of contemporary postcolonial criticality, and which I see as intimately related to the problematic ways in which the dimension of the literary has been used. In the second part of my dissertation, I analyse and discuss various literary strategies as formulated in three formally different postcolonial novels---Ousmane Sembene's Xala, J.M. Coetzee's Foe, and Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance---in order to map the contradictions, limitations but also possibilities of novelistic representation in postcolonial space. My overall critical perspective will be informed by the works of Georg Lukacs, and in particular his notion of a utopian-interpretive realist ideal, developed in the early work Theory of the Novel. My argument is that this utopian-interpretive realist ideal can also be seen as a particularly useful notion in connection with what I see as the literary dimension in many postcolonial novels, as it is situated in between complex socio-political agendas and aesthetic-representational problematics. Lukacs's formal-literary ideal is repeated in his later writings on realism from the thirties, but notably in a transfigured way---as an extra-literary, authoritative norm. The dynamic of this trajectory, one that moves from idealism to dogmatism, can (with certain modifications) be seen as similar to the development of the field of postcolonial critical discourse---moving from an early, idealistic beginning, to an increasingly dogmatic, prescriptive and authoritarian academic discourse. By using the trajectory of Lukacs's realist ideal as a comparative background, I attempt explore alternative ways of conceiving postcolonial literariness ways that may help the field of postcolonial studies to come to terms with what I see as the symptom of postcolonial melancholia, haunting the contemporary discipline.


We aimed to assess the efficacy of vinorelbine plus G-CSF for chemo-mobilization of CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) in patients with multiple myeloma and to identify adverse risk factors for successful mobilization. Vinorelbine 35 mg/m(2) was administered intravenously on day 1 in an outpatient setting. Filgrastim 5 μg per kg body weight (BW) was given twice daily subcutaneously from day 4 on until the end of the collection procedure. Leukapheresis was scheduled to start on day 8 and performed for a maximum of three consecutive days until at least 4x10(6) CD34+ cells per kg BW were collected. Overall, 223 patients were mobilized and 221 (99%) patients proceeded to leukapheresis. Three (1.5%) patients required an unscheduled hospitalization after chemo-mobilization due to neutropenic fever and renal failure (n=1), severe bone pain (n=1), and abdominal pain with constipation (n=1). In 211 (95%) patients the leukaphereses were started as planned at day 8, while in 8 (3%) patients the procedure had to be postponed to day 9 and in two (1%) patients to day 10. In the great majority of patients (77%) the predefined amount of HPC could be collected with one leukapheresis. Fourty-four (20%) patients needed a second leukapheresis, while only 6 (3%) patients required a third leukapheresis procedure. The median number of CD34+ cells collected was 6.56x10(6) (range, 0.18-25.9x10(6)) per kg BW at the first day of leukapheresis and 7.65x10(6) (range, 0.18-25.9x10(6)) per kg BW in total. HPC collection was successful in 212 (95%) patients after a maximum of three leukaphereses. Patient age (p=0.02) and prior exposition to lenalidomide (p<0.001) were independent risk factors for a lower HPC amount collected in multiple regression analysis. Vinorelbine plus G-CSF enables a very reliable prediction of the timing of leukapheresis and results in successful HPC collection in 95% of the patients.


Culture and Religion is an interdisciplinary journal seeking an engagement between scholars working across a range of disciplinary fields, including anthropology, cultural studies, critical theory and gender studies, and postcolonial studies. Lying at the interface between the study of religion and other academic studies of culture, Culture and Religion is a forum for exploring the perspectives of both anthropology and cultural studies. In particular, the journal will consider why cultural studies have hitherto neglected the significance of religious manifestations in crosscultural perspectives, and define ways in which the discipline of religious studies needs to engage with other areas of contemporary critical, cultural, and anthropological theory. The principal aim of Culture and Religion is to promote critical investigation into all aspects of the study of religion and culture, particularly from scholars with an innovative and multidisciplinary focus.


Effects of crumb rubber of different particle sizes (20mesh, 40mesh, 60mesh, 80mesh and120mesh) and contents (10%, 15% and 20% by weight of the total of CRM asphalt) on the properties of CRM asphalt and change rule of performance of CRM asphalt with reaction temperature and time were studied in laboratory. The results indicate that CRM asphalt has the best performance when the particle size of crumb rubber used is 80 mesh and the content is 15%. The performance of CRM asphalt is strongly depended on reaction temperature and time. When reaction temperature is higher than 200°C and time more than 60 minutes, the viscosity of CRM asphalt significantly decline with reaction temperature rising and time delaying. The performance of CRM asphalt starts aging when reaction time more than 4 hours at high temperature. Based on test results, some suggestions for production and application of CRM asphalt are put forward.


Salmonella represents one of the major causes of foodborne diseases in humans, in addition to provoking important economic losses in the agri-food sector worldwide. Therefore, the surveillance and control of this human pathogenic bacterium in foodstuffs and biological fluids are necessary in order to prevent and diagnose the disease. Molecular methods based on the detection of DNA sequences specific to pathogenic species are an appealing alternative to traditional culture-based methods that require 5 to 6 days to obtain a definitive result. Among them, and because of its easy miniaturization, electrochemical genosensors are a suitable option for decentralized genetic testing [1-2]; however, they often require a set of sample pretreatment steps before genetic DNA analysis, thus making their implementation at the point of need more difficult.

Herein, we report the integration of a nucleic acid-based sensor and an isothermal DNA amplification technique, helicase-dependent amplification or HDA, onto indium tin oxide (ITO) surfaces for the detection of a DNA sequence specific for the typA gene of Salmonella. DNA amplification process occurs at 65 oC with short oligonucleotides flanking the target sequence, which act as primers. The reversed primer is covalently bound to the ITO surface through a thiol group present at its 5' terminus, whereas forward fluorescein-tagged primer is incorporated in solution. As a result of the isothermal elongation step, fluorescein-tagged DNA duplexes are attached to the ITO surface and their enzymatic labelling is achieved via Fab fragments directed against fluorescein, conjugated with the redox enzyme alkaline phosphatase. Then, α-naphthyl phosphate is enzymatically dephosphorylated into an electroactive derivate α-naphthol whose amount, directly related to the Salmonella present in the sample, is measured by differential pulse voltammetry. This developed integrated sensing platform allows the detection of Salmonella down to 10 genomes in just over 2 hours [3], the same detection limit as that achieved by real-time PCR but without need of high-end benchtop instrumentation. Furthermore, the sensing layer built onto ITO surfaces maintains its performance even after 9 months storage, and possesses a great potential to be extended to the in-situ, fast and reliable detection of other pathogens.

References:
[1] D. Mabey, R.W. Peeling, A. Ustianowski and M.D. Perkins, Nat. Rev Microbiol., 2004, 2, 231-240.
[2] A.S. Patterson, K. Hsieh, H.T. Soh and K.W. Plaxco, Trends Biotechnol., 2013, 31, 704-712.
[3] S. Barreda-Garcia, R. Miranda-Castro, N. de-los-Santos-Alvarez, A.J. Miranda-Ordieres, M.J. Lobo-Castanon, Chem. Comm., 2017, 53, 9721-9724.

Acknowledgments: This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (CTQ2015-63567-R), the Principado de Asturias government (FC-15-GRUPIN14-025), and co-financed by FEDER funds.


Dried blood spot (DBS) collection offers various advantages over conventional methods of blood collection, especially when collecting and transporting samples for a serosurvey. Yet use of DBS requires additional processing steps in the laboratory that can add to variability in results. ABSTRACT Blood collection using dried blood spots (DBS) provides an easier alternative to venipuncture for sample collection, transport, and storage but requires additional processing that can cause variability in results. Whole-blood samples spotted on four DBS devices and respective paired serum samples were tested for antimeasles and antirubella IgG antibody concentrations by enzyme immunoassay. Elution protocols for DBS devices were optimized for comparability relative to serum samples using 12 adult volunteers. Stability of DBS collected on HemaSpot HF was assessed under various temperature conditions (+4, 22 to 25, and 45°C) at six time points (0, 7, 15, 30, 60, and 90 days) in a controlled laboratory setting using six adult volunteers. Devices were shipped and stored for 30 days at four settings with variable temperature and humidity conditions to assess the impact on antibody concentrations. Three DBS devices demonstrated comparable antibody concentrations with paired sera following optimization. Antibodies recovered from DBS were stable for at least 90 days at 4°C and for 30 days at ambient temperature (22 to 25°C) using the HemaSpot HF device. A drastic decline in antibody concentrations was observed at 45°C, resulting in quantitative and qualitative discrepancies by day 7. HemaSpot HF devices shipped to field sites and stored at ambient temperature and humidity resulted in quantitative, but not qualitative, variability. Measurement of antimeasles and antirubella IgG antibodies with DBS devices is an accurate alternative to testing serum, provided elution protocols are optimized. Stability of HemaSpot HF devices at ambient temperature enables broader use in surveys when serum processing and cold storage are not feasible. IMPORTANCE Dried blood spot (DBS) collection offers various advantages over conventional methods of blood collection, especially when collecting and transporting samples for a serosurvey. Yet use of DBS requires additional processing steps in the laboratory that can add to variability in results. We optimized a protocol to elute IgG antibodies against measles and rubella viruses in four DBS devices, demonstrating high concordance with paired venous sera for most devices. Extensive stability studies with various temperature and storage conditions in the laboratory and in the field were conducted using HemaSpot HF DBS devices prior to its use in one of the largest community-based measles and rubella serological surveys in the world.


Abstract. Heterogeneous reactions of mineral dust aerosol with trace gases in the atmosphere could directly and indirectly affect tropospheric oxidation capacity, in addition to aerosol composition and physicochemical properties. In this article we provide a comprehensive and critical review of laboratory studies of heterogeneous uptake of OH, NO3, O3, and their directly related species as well (including HO2, H2O2, HCHO, HONO, and N2O5) by mineral dust particles. The atmospheric importance of heterogeneous uptake as sinks for these species is assessed (i) by comparing their lifetimes with respect to heterogeneous reactions with mineral dust to lifetimes with respect to other major loss processes and (ii) by discussing relevant field and modeling studies. We have also outlined major open questions and challenges in laboratory studies of heterogeneous uptake by mineral dust and discussed research strategies to address them in order to better understand the effects of heterogeneous reactions with mineral dust on tropospheric oxidation capacity.


Background and objectives The pathogenesis of murine spondyloarthropathy (SpA) has been intimately linked to the presence of IL-23 responsive, innate like lymphocytes at peripheral and spinal enthesis. Human SpAs are associated with SNPs in genes related to the IL-23 pathway and drugs that block IL-12/23 have shown efficacy. We hypothesised that the normal human enthesis has a population of resident innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) that could be key in governing entheseal immune homeostasis partly via interaction with resident mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). Materials and methods Normal spinal enthesis were harvested from patients undergoing spinal decompression surgery and enzymatically digested prior to sorting or flow cytometry. Immunophenotyping and cell sorting was performed on enthesis samples harvested from 6 patients and unmatched peripheral blood. The expression of RORγt and key immunomodulatory transcripts was tested in sorted populations by RTqPCR. Anterior cruciate ligament and Achilles enthesis were obtained from patients with knee OA and Achilles tendon rupture and analysed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Adherent cells from entheseal digest were cultured under standard MSC culture conditions and expression of known MSC markers was assessed by flow cytometry. Results All sorted samples contained ILC3s, median proportion 0.09% (range 0.015-0.63). Transcript analysis confirmed the expression of RORγt transcript in sorted ILC3 populations. ILC3s expressed 51-fold greater relative expression of RORγt in comparison to unsorted mononuclear cells. 5 of 6 sorted samples contained ILC2s, median proportion 0.20% (range 0-0.49). RORγt expression was detected in knee OA and there was widespread expression of RORγt in inflammatory infiltrates in injured enthesis as shown by IHC. Culture expanded adherent cells grew in characteristic fibroblastoid colonies and expressed phenotypic markers consistent with bone marrow derived MSCs. Conclusions Our findings show that both ILCs and MSCs are present in the normal human spinal enthesis. ILCs may also be greatly increased in frequency following injury. The co-localisation of ILC and MSC populations at the enthesis suggests a potential link between cellular dysregulation of the IL-23/17 axis and human SpA pathology.


We prepared the primary adduct for the reaction of singlet dioxygen (1O2) with an arylphosphine by using the sterically hindered arylphosphine tris(o-methoxyphenyl)phosphine. The resulting phosphadioxirane has a dioxygen molecule triangularly bound to the phosphorus atom. Olefin trapping experiments show that the phosphadioxirane can undergo nonradical oxygen atom–transfer reactions. Under protic conditions, two different intermediates are formed during the reaction of singlet dioxygen with tris(o-methoxyphenyl)phosphine, namely, the corresponding hydroperoxy arylphosphine and a hydroxy phosphorane. Experiments with other arylphosphines possessing different electronic and steric properties demonstrate that the relative stability of the tris(o-methoxyphenyl)phosphadioxirane is due to both steric and electronic effects.


Mitophagy is a fundamental quality control mechanism of mitochondria. Its regulatory mechanisms and pathological implications remain poorly understood. Here via a mitochondria-targeted screen, we found that knockout (KO) of FBXL4, a mitochondrial disease gene, hyperactivates mitophagy at basal conditions. Subsequent counter screen revealed that FBXL4-KO hyperactivates mitophagy via two mitophagy receptors BNIP3 and NIX. We determined that FBXL4 functions as an integral outer-membrane protein that forms an SCF-FBXL4 ubiquitin E3 ligase complex. SCF-FBXL4 ubiquitinates BNIP3 and NIX to target them for degradation. Pathogenic FBXL4 mutations disrupt SCF-FBXL4 assembly and impair substrate degradation. Fbxl4−/− mice exhibit elevated BNIP3 and NIX proteins, hyperactive mitophagy, and perinatal lethality. Importantly, knockout of either Bnip3 or Nix rescues metabolic derangements and viability of the Fbxl4−/− mice. Together, beyond identifying SCF-FBXL4 as a novel mitochondrial ubiquitin E3 ligase restraining basal mitophagy, our results reveal hyperactivated mitophagy as a cause of mitochondrial disease and suggest therapeutic strategies.


This book is one of the first ethnographies written on the life of farmers in rural Southern Vietnam since the economic reform in the 1980s. It investigates how social, economic and political factors affect the farmers' life in the Mekong Delta in the late socialist era with a particularly focus on the family, which serves as the basic and most significant social unit for the farmers. Dealing with classical anthropological topics of kinship and family, the book examines them as dynamic institutions. With vivid illustrations of the village life, family farming, education of children, jobs outside of farming and everyday politics, it presents new and different pictures of the current Vietnamese family under rapid social changes. The book will contribute to the current ethnographical research in Vietnam and Southeast Asia and also be of particular interest to those working on society and culture in the geographical region from broader disciplines. It will also appeal to readers who are interested in such topics as late socialism, social transformation, and rural development.


Between conventional reporters and citizen media, ethics converge in African online journalism. The rise of digitally-networked technologies such as the Internet and mobile phones reshapes reporting across the continent. This change is technological – with social media platforms enabling new forms of publishing, receiving, and discussing stories – as well as cultural – with idiosyncratic conventions emerging on these platforms. We aim to identify distinct ethical traditions in conventional and citizen journalism in the literature and by interviewing practitioners from a range of African countries. A preliminary literature review indicates that practices in both strands of journalism are increasingly converging. More and more, traditional journalists and publishers take up practices piloted by bloggers and other social media users, whereas at least a subset of citizen journalists increasingly take to more sophisticated reporting practices. We posit that this convergence in journalistic practice comes with an increasing convergence in the underlying ethics. This paper will in particular explore how these convergent online journalism ethics relate to the public sphere. The emergence of a digitally-networked public sphere has been hailed as a revival of bottom-up democracy in the West, but its consequences for African countries are less clear. We therefore investigate whether the ethics of online journalism emerging across Africa conform with the preconditions for a networked public sphere.


This study is an attempt to rigorously map the psychological effects of Zen meditation among experienced practitioners. Fifty-nine Zen meditators with at least six years of experience practiced an hour of traditional Zazen seated meditation. A control group of 24 college students spent 60 min silently reading popular magazines. Before relaxation, all participants took the Smith Relaxation States Inventory (SRSI), the Smith Relaxation Dispositions/Motivations Inventory (SRD/MI), and the Smith Relaxation Beliefs Inventory (SRBI). After practice, participants again took the SRSI. Analyses revealed that meditators are less likely to believe in God, more likely to believe in Inner Wisdom, and more likely to display the relaxation dispositions Mental Quiet, Mental Relaxation, and Timeless/Boundless/Infinite. Pre- and postsession analyses revealed that meditators showed greater increments in the relaxation states Mental Quiet, Love and Thankfulness, and Prayerfulness, as well as reduced Worry. Results support Smith's ABC Relaxation Theory.


Members of the phosphoprotein phosphatase family of serine/threonine phosphatases are thought to exist in different native oligomeric complexes. Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is composed of a catalytic subunit (PP2Ac) that complexes with an A subunit, which in turn also interacts with one of many B subunits that regulate substrate specificity and/or (sub)cellular localization of the enzyme. Another family member, protein phosphatase 5 (PP5), contains a tetratricopeptide repeat domain at its N terminus, which has been suggested to mediate interactions with other proteins. PP5 was not thought to interact with partners homologous to the A or B subunits that exist within PP2A. However, our results indicate that this may not be the case. A yeast two-hybrid screen revealed an interaction between PP5 and the A subunit of PP2A. This interaction was confirmed for endogenous proteins in vivo using immunoprecipitation analysis and for recombinant proteins by in vitro binding experiments. Our results also indicate that the tetratricopeptide repeat domain of PP5 is required and sufficient for this interaction. In addition, immunoprecipitated PP5 contains associated B subunits. Thus, our results suggest that PP5 can exist in a PP2A-like heterotrimeric form containing both A and B subunits.


Combined with the idea of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, the ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is presented to solve the well known traveling salesman problem (TSP). The core of this algorithm is using PSO to optimize the control parameters of ACO which consist of heuristic factor, pheromone evaporation coefficient and the threshold of stochastic selection, and applying ant colony system to routing. The new algorithm effectively overcomes the influence of control parameters of ACO and decreases the numbers of useless experiments, aiming to find the balance between exploiting the optimal solution and enlarging the search space.


Objectives Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) is a sexually transmitted organism associated with non-gonococcal urethritis in men and several inflammatory reproductive tract syndromes in women. These infections are commonly treated with azithromycin. However macrolide resistance has been reported and is associated with point mutations in domain V of the 23S rRNA gene. In order to evaluate the prevalence of macrolide resistance in MG in French clinical specimens, we first used a recently published High Resolution Melting (HRM) assay. Because wild-type and mutated MG were hardly discriminated in MG-positive clinical specimens, we developed a new molecular assay for the rapid detection of macrolide resistance. Methods Between January 2011 and September 2012, 207 urogenital MG-positive clinical specimens were collected from 185 patients. For the detection of macrolide resistance-associated mutations, we designed a real-time PCR based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) coupled with melting curve analysis. The assay was first validated on macrolide-resistant MG isolates with characterised A2058G/C and A2059G mutations ( Escherichia coli numbering), then optimised to be applied directly on clinical specimens. Resistant genotypes were confirmed by 23S rRNA gene sequencing. Results Among 207 MG-positive clinical specimens, 136 from 119 patients were amplified with our assay, showing a sensitivity of 65.7% (136/207). A substitution in the 23S rRNA gene was found in 14.2% (17/119) of the patients, with a rate of 14.5% in 2011 and 14% in 2012. Nine and eight clinical specimens harboured the A2059G and A2058G mutations, respectively. In four cases, a mixed population of wild-type and mutated MG was observed. Conclusion Macrolide resistance prevalence of MG is 14.2% in France. Our FRET PCR assay is able to discriminate wild-type from resistant genotype in one reaction directly in clinical specimen. It will allow clinicians to shorten the time to initiate effective treatment and contribute to reduce transmission of resistant strains.


We report experimental observations of turbulent flow with spherical particles in a square duct. Three particle sizes, namely $2H/d_{p}=40$ , 16 and 9 ( $2H$ being the duct full height and $d_{p}$ being the particle diameter), are investigated. The particles are nearly neutrally buoyant with a density ratio of 1.0035 and 1.01 with respect to the suspending fluid. Refractive index matched–particle image velocimetry (RIM–PIV) is used for fluid velocity measurement even at the highest particle volume fraction (20 %) and particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) for the particle velocity statistics for the flows seeded with particles of the two largest sizes, whereas only pressure measurements are reported for the smallest particles. Settling effects are seen at the lowest bulk Reynolds number $Re_{2H}\approx$ 10 000, whereas, at the highest $Re_{2H}\approx 27\,000$ , particles are in almost full suspension. The friction factor of the suspensions is found to be significantly larger than that of single-phase duct flow at the lower $Re_{2H}$ investigated; however, the difference decreases when increasing the flow rate and the total drag approaches the values of the single-phase flow at the higher Reynolds number considered, $Re_{2H}=27\,000$ . The pressure drop is found to decrease with the particle diameter for volume fractions lower than $\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}=10\,\%$ for nearly all $Re_{2H}$ investigated. However, at the highest volume fraction $\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}=20\,\%$ , we report a peculiar non-monotonic behaviour: the pressure drop first decreases and then increases with increasing particle size. The decrease of the turbulent drag with particle size at the lowest volume fractions is related to an attenuation of the turbulence. The drag increase for the two largest particle sizes at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}=20\,\%$ , however, occurs despite this large reduction of the turbulent stresses, and it is therefore due to significant particle-induced stresses. At the lowest Reynolds number, the particles reside mostly in the bottom half of the duct, where the mean velocity significantly decreases; the flow is similar to that in a moving porous bed near the bottom wall and to turbulent duct flow with low particle concentration near the top wall.


Adopting social responsibility can be a key strategy for firms to mitigate the impact of production on the environment, contributing to a more sustainable business model. Based on the triple bottom line perspective, we analyze the effect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on the willingness to allocate resources to eco-innovation among companies in a developing country. Firm-level data from the Fifth Longitudinal Survey of Chilean Firms are used to estimate a binary probit model for the willingness to eco-innovate and a Heckman sample-selection model for total expenditures and investment in eco-innovation. Results confirm that legal regulations and R&D efforts are drivers of eco-innovation among Chilean firms. Larger-sized and export-oriented firms also exhibit a higher willingness to eco-innovate. The main findings show a positive influence of CSR policy on the willingness to eco-innovate and on the resulting resource allocation decision. Interestingly, the evidence reveals that while financial and environmental CSR dimensions only affect the probability of adopting eco-innovation, the social CSR dimension also increases the amount firms spend on eco-innovation. This result suggests that social CSR may act as a complement to other CSR dimensions. These results are robust when controlling for firm-level specific effects under sample-selection models.


There is a need to conduct a research on sport participation with those who had already
taken part in sports, especially on Malay student-athletes because motives may not only
be the reason why people start taking part in sports, but also often they are the reason
why people continue to participate in sports. Furthermore, by understanding the motives
of student-athletes to participate in sports, an effort can be made, in structuring the sports
environment so that needs of the Malay student-athletes can be met.
The study was concerned with sport participation motives among Malay student-athletes
of Sport Science and Recreation Faculty at University Technology MARA (UiTM). The
purpose of this study was to identify the main motives for sport participation. The study
also determined the differences in motive by gender (male and female), courses (Diploma and Degree) and level of representation in sports (school, university, district, state and
country).
The research employed quantitative research methodology based on responses from
questionnaire. Purpose of Sport Questionnaire designed by Duda (1989) was employed
as instrument. The sample consisted of 300 Malay student-athletes, who had participated
in sport either at school, university, district, state or country level. A five-point rating
Likert-type scale was used. The statistical package SPSS was used for data analysis.
Percentages, means and standard deviations were computed for the criteria indicators.
Independent t -tests and ANOYA were computed to determine significance between
means of the groups, and were used to test for significant.


Distance measurements are currently the most powerful tool to study the expansion history of the universe without specifying its matter content nor any theory of gravitation. Assuming only an isotropic, homogeneous and flat universe, in this work we introduce a model-independent method to reconstruct directly the deceleration function via a piecewise function. Including a penalty factor, we are able to vary continuously the complexity of the deceleration function from a linear case to an arbitrary (n+1)-knots spline interpolation. We carry out a Monte Carlo (MC) analysis to determine the best penalty factor, evaluating the bias-variance trade-off, given the uncertainties of the SDSS-II and SNLS supernova combined sample (JLA), compilations of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) and H(z) data. The bias-variance analysis is done for three fiducial models with different features in the deceleration curve. We perform the MC analysis generating mock catalogs and computing their best-fit. For each fiducial model, we test different reconstructions using, in each case, more than 104 catalogs in a total of about 5× 105. This investigation proved to be essential in determining the best reconstruction to study these data. We show that, evaluating a single fiducial model, the conclusions about the bias-variance ratio are misleading. We determine the reconstruction method in which the bias represents at most 10% of the total uncertainty. In all statistical analyses, we fit the coefficients of the deceleration function along with four nuisance parameters of the supernova astrophysical model. For the full sample, we also fit H0 and the sound horizon rs(zd) at the drag redshift. The bias-variance trade-off analysis shows that, apart from the deceleration function, all other estimators are unbiased. Finally, we apply the Ensemble Sampler Markov Chain Monte Carlo (ESMCMC) method to explore the posterior of the deceleration function up to redshift 1.3 (using only JLA) and 2.3 (JLA+BAO+H(z)). We obtain that the standard cosmological model agrees within 3σ level with the reconstructed results in the whole studied redshift intervals. Since our method is calibrated to minimize the bias, the error bars of the reconstructed functions are a good approximation for the total uncertainty.


The treatment of herbs as old as human history is still popular today. Humans consider plants to be safe because of their natural origin for therapeutic and protective purposes, and therefore prefer herbal products. Hypericum perforatum (St. John's Wort) is one of these traditionally used medicinal herbs. local as St. John'sWort in Turkey, Hypericum herb, blood grass, sword grass, wound Grass, Kuzukir and English known by St. John's Wort name Hypericum perforatum, including L. Hypericaceae families in Europe, Asia, many grown in North Africa and the USA perennial plants. There are up to 500 species in the world. Is an important center in terms of Hypericum species are endemic to our country in Turkey and 50% of the approximately 100 species. It grows naturally in Marmara, Black Sea, Aegean, Central Anatolia, Mediterranean and Southeastern Anatolia. The plant is perennial and has a fringe root system. The leaves are in full leaf form and are mutually arranged on the stem. There are transparent pores on the leaves that can be seen when exposed to light and make the leaf look full of holes. The name for perforatum at which means porous in Latin originates from these pores on the leaf. Plant content of naphthodianthorones (hyperisin, pseudohypericin, isohypericin), flovons (hyperocyte routine, quarsetol, quersitin, biflovanoit), essential oils (carophyllene, αpinene, sesquiterpenes), protein, tannin, carotene, vitamin C, resin, including at least 11 different classes of secondary metabolites. Dried or fresh flowering branches of Hypericum species are used in various ways in conventional treatment and in the treatment of many diseases. Among the people, tea, tincture and oil are used. In this study of biological Hypericum perforatum plants, pharmaceutical, medical, ethnobotany and evaluation it was made in Turkey and the world scale of the economic dimension. With this research, it has been once again revealed that our floristic richness, which is one of the important values of our country, and therefore the use of traditional plants are among our valuable values. Accordingly, we tried to contribute to our economic and cultural values.


The novel derivatization of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) with two organic peroxides (lauroyl peroxide and dicumyl peroxide) is presented. The functionalized-BNNTs (f-BNNTs) were characterized by FTIR, 1H NMR, TGA, and SEM. These thermally labile peroxides can decompose to generate an alkoxyl radical, or an alkyl radical (with the loss of CO2), which then acts as a Lewis base to attack the electron-deficient boron sites of BNNTs. This results in the covalent formation of R-O-BNNT or R-BNNT bonds. Thin films (15 to 35 μm thickness) of 0.5 to 1.0 wt% lauryl-BNNT/polycarbonate and 1 wt% BNNT-OH/polycarboante composites were fabricated, and their transparency was demonstrated. Semi-transparent, hot-pressed disks (200 μm thickness) of 1.0 wt% cumyloxy-BNNT/polycarbonate and 1.0 wt% lauryl-BNNT/polycarbonate composites were also fabricated and mechanically tested. The Young's modulus and the maximum tensile stress were increased by 12% and 8%, respectively, compared to the corresponding properties of BNNT-free polycarbonate samples.


Marine renewable energy (MRE) harnesses energy from the ocean and provides a low-carbon sustainable energy source for national grids and remote uses. The international MRE industry is in the early stages of development, focused largely on tidal and riverine turbines, and wave energy converters (WECs), to harness energy from tides, rivers, and waves, respectively. Although MRE supports climate change mitigation, there are concerns that MRE devices and systems could affect portions of the marine and river environments. The greatest concern for tidal and river turbines is the potential for animals to be injured or killed by collision with rotating blades. Other risks associated with MRE device operation include the potential for turbines and WECs to cause disruption from underwater noise emissions, generation of electromagnetic fields, changes in benthic and pelagic habitats, changes in oceanographic processes, and entanglement of large marine animals. The accumulated knowledge of interactions of MRE devices with animals and habitats to date is summarized here, along with a discussion of preferred management methods for encouraging MRE development in an environmentally responsible manner. As there are few devices in the water, understanding is gained largely from examining one to three MRE devices. This information indicates that there will be no significant effects on marine animals and habitats due to underwater noise from MRE devices or emissions of electromagnetic fields from cables, nor changes in benthic and pelagic habitats, or oceanographic systems. Ongoing research to understand potential collision risk of animals with turbine blades still shows significant uncertainty. There has been no significant field research undertaken on entanglement of large animals with mooring lines and cables associated with MRE devices.


An investigation was made in the NACA 7 by 10 foot wind tunnel to find the increase in maximum lift coefficient which could be obtained by providing a model wing with both a Fowler trailing-edge extension flap and a Handley Page type leading-edge slot. A conventional Handley page slot proportioned to operate on the plain wing without a flap gave but a slight increase with the flap; so a special form of slot was developed to work more effectively with the flap. With the best combined arrangement the maximum lift coefficient based on the original area was increased from 3.17, for the Fowler wing, to 3.62. The minimum drag coefficient with both devices retracted was increased in approximately the same proportion. Tests were also made with the special-type slot on the plain wing without the flap. The special slot, used either with or without the Fowler flap, gave definitely higher values of the maximum lift coefficient than the slots of conventional form, with an increase of the same order in the minimum drag coefficient.


A recent article by Susan Sample purports to resolve a debate that has generated a great deal of scholarly attention over the past two decades, whether arms races are associated with the escalation of militarized disputes to war. In response, we outline a research agenda designed to reconfigure the arms race-war debate rather than to perpetuate the controversy. We argue for better theoretical specification of the arms race-war relationship, and for empirical tests to sort out whether this relationship is direct, indirect, or spurious. We also advocate some methodological changes including more longitudinal studies, a broader spatial domain to include minor powers, less reliance on military expenditure data, and multivariate (rather than bivariate) tests of the arms race-war relationship.


Prophylactic placement of mesh in the abdominal wall during ileostomy closure can decrease the rate of hernia formation. However, few studies have evaluated the safety of biologic mesh in ileostomy closure.

PURPOSE
This study aimed to investigate the safety of biologic mesh in ileostomy closure, specifically the need to remove the mesh due to infection. The rate of surgical site infection (SSI), incisional hernia, surgical site occurrence ([SSO] including seroma and hematoma), and wound pain between primary closure and mesh closure groups also were investigated.

METHODS
Using a retrospective study design, data from all consecutive patients who underwent ileostomy closure from January 2015 to June 2016 at the Hanyang University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea, were analyzed. Patients with stage IV colorectal cancer, who were older than 85 years, or who experienced intestinal perforation during the procedure were excluded. Demographic (age, sex, body mass index [BMI], underlying disease) and clinical characteristics as well as SSI, SSO, length of hospital stay, use of additional analgesics, white blood cell count, C-reactive protein, and visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores (noted on days 1, 3, 5, and 14) were abstracted and compared. Clinical and surgical variables were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test, the χ2-test, or Fisher's exact test, depending on the nature of the data.

RESULTS
Of the 38 patients who underwent ileostomy closure, 33 (18 [54.5%] who received primary closure and 15 [45.5%] who received mesh closure) were included for analysis. Patient, surgical, and clinical characteristics were not significantly different, but the mean age of the primary closure group was significantly higher than that of the mesh closure group (71 ± 9 vs. 62 ± 10 years old; P = .014). The median follow-up duration was 25 months (interquartile range 18.0-31.5 months). Six (6) complications were observed in 5 patients in the primary closure group, and 8 complications in 5 patients were noted in the mesh closure group (27.8% vs. 33.3%; P = 1.000). None of the cases required removal of the biologic mesh due to mesh-related infectious complication. Two (2) SSIs occurred in the primary closure group (11.1% vs. 0%; P = .489). Three (3) patients experienced a postoperative incisional hernia (9.1%) - 1 in the primary closure group and 2 in the mesh closure group (5.6% vs. 13.3%; P = .579). No statistically significant differences in pain or length of hospitalization were noted.

CONCLUSION
No mesh-related infectious complications required biologic mesh removal, and no significant differences were noted in SSI, incisional hernia, and wound pain between the primary closure and mesh closure groups. Although not significantly different, the higher rates of hernia and SSOs in the mesh group require further study.


Background Although numerous studies have demonstrated links between particulate matter (PM) and adverse health effects, the chemical components of the PM mixture that cause injury are unknown. Objectives This work characterizes spatial and temporal variability of PM2.5 (PM with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm) components in the United States; our objective is to identify components for assessment in epidemiologic studies. Methods We constructed a database of 52 PM2.5 component concentrations for 187 U.S. counties for 2000–2005. First, we describe the challenges inherent to analysis of a national PM2.5 chemical composition database. Second, we identify components that contribute substantially to and/or co-vary with PM2.5 total mass. Third, we characterize the seasonal and regional variability of targeted components. Results Strong seasonal and geographic variations in PM2.5 chemical composition are identified. Only seven of the 52 components contributed ≥ 1% to total mass for yearly or seasonal averages [ammonium (NH4+), elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon matter (OCM), nitrate (NO3−), silicon, sodium (Na+), and sulfate (SO42−)]. Strongest correlations with PM2.5 total mass were with NH4+ (yearly), OCM (especially winter), NO3− (winter), and SO42− (yearly, spring, autumn, and summer), with particularly strong correlations for NH4+ and SO42− in summer. Components that co-varied with PM2.5 total mass, based on daily detrended data, were NH4+, SO42−, OCM, NO32−, bromine, and EC. Conclusions The subset of identified PM2.5 components should be investigated further to determine whether their daily variation is associated with daily variation of health indicators, and whether their seasonal and regional patterns can explain the seasonal and regional heterogeneity in PM10 (PM with aerodynamic diameter < 10 μm) and PM2.5 health risks.


[ ] The aim of the NORMAN network is to enhance the exchange of information on emerging environmental substances, and to encourage the validation and harmonisation of common measurement methods and monitoring tools so that the requirements of risk assessors and risk managers can be better met. It specifi cally seeks both to promote and to benefi t from the synergies between research teams from different countries in the fi eld of emerging substances. The NORMAN Bulletin is for everyone interested in emerging substances in the environment. This Bulletin keeps you up to date on scientifi c advances in this area and highlights the activities and events of the EU NORMAN Network.


This research examined the role of perceived barriers to treatment as a potential contributor to the increasing use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among mentally ill populations. The study examined a sample of 435 patients receiving care through the Veterans Administration Health System and having a current diagnosis of bipolar disorder (I, II, NOS), cyclothymia, or schizoaffective disorder-bipolar subtype. Access to care and use of any of 14 CAM therapies within the past year were studied. Physical CAM users reported slightly better mental health service access related to getting to mental health services and obtaining emergency mental health services when needed. Effect sizes for these differences were small (rpb = 0.09 and 0.13, respectively). Similarly, oral and cognitive CAM users indicated that they were slightly more likely to go without medical services when needed because they were too expensive. These effect sizes were also very small (rpb = 0.12 and 0.10, respectively), suggesting no clinical significance. Patients who reported use of oral and/or cognitive CAM therapies were slightly more likely than nonusers to go without medical care because of excessive costs. Patients having non-Veterans Affairs insurance reported no differences in rates of CAM use. Overall, no discernable trends were observed to suggest that CAM use among this sample was associated with service access.


Deserves property protection? Some feel it is up to the legislator to decide. Others feel that this is none of the law's business. Both extreme positions overstate their cases. Property is an institution. Like any institution, it must be useful for a socially defined purpose. And it must do a better job than alternative institutions. If this can be demonstrated, property gains legitimacy in political discourse. Lawyers, especially constitutional lawyers, will rely on these arguments for teleological construction. There is a long list of services property renders society. Together with contract and competition, it runs a market economy. This institutional arrangement by far outperforms any competitor for allocating scarce resources. It also spurs innovation, and it gives creativity a socially beneficial direction. Good fences make good neighbours. Property makes free. It contributes to individual identity and helps socialise individuals. Owners care for their possessions, and they care for an environment in which they feel safe. There are counter-arguments too; but none of them is so strong that property should be replaced by alternative institutions. Some redistribution may be warranted. But it needs a strong economy in the first place, so that some of the income can be taken away for the needy. Society may want to place some goods, like donor organs, extra commercium. But this will be the exception, not the rule. Within close social relationship, respect for individual ability will count more than the literal fulfilment of one's obligations. But this cannot carry over to exchange between strangers. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of these, and many more, reasons pro and against legally protecting property. In so doing, it brings to bear knowledge from economics, psychology, political philosophy, and legal history. The concluding chapters extend the analysis to two more recent developments. Private property rights, like those created by copyright management systems, change the normative perspective. There is no longer a demand by the owners for legal protection. On the contrary, the law must make up its mind whether it wants to control this form of self-help. A critical issue is the shift from absolute property to mere access rights. It is, however, not as new as some observers want us make believe. Landlord and tenant is only one of the many classical instances. In normative perspective, this shift is conspicuously ambivalent. It in principle improves allocative efficiency, and it gives individuals with a small income access to goods which they hardly would be able to buy. But it creates an anti-commons situation, and it weakens competition. These developments therefore call for an open governmental property policy.


"Kermanshah province in 2013. This study was a cross-sectional study that was conducted on those visiting drug abuse treatment centers in Kermanshah province voluntarily during the year 2013. Using checklist, information was collected from the files of the individuals by trained experts and, if necessary, by asking individuals, physicians or the experts of the center. The analysis was performed using SPSS version16. Overall, 2652 patients' information (in 80 centers) was studied. The mean age of individuals was 37.98 (±11.18) years and more than 97% of the individuals were male. Opium, tramadol and hashish were the most frequently used substances that were consumed for the first time by the individuals. The mean of years of use for traditional (natural) substances was much more than that for synthetic substances. Proportion of drug use did not differ between men and women. However, the proportion of synthetic materials and non-narcotic substances was significantly different. Based on the results it can be said that that drug abuse is more prevalent among young individuals, educated individuals and those with family history. Since the synthetic drug abuse is increasing, new strategies for prevention of access to these drugs and treatment should be a priority in the related programs."


In 2008, the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance reported an increase in the number of histamine food poisoning outbreaks and cases in France. The aim of this study was to propose a new monitoring plan for characterizing consumers' exposure to histamine through fishery products. As fish products of concern are numerous, we proposed that the number of samples allocated for a fish category be chosen based on the risk associated with the category. Point risk estimates of histamine poisoning were assessed with the Risk Ranger tool. Fresh fish with high histidine content was found to contribute most to the number of cases. The (estimated) risks associated with the consumption of canned and deep-frozen fish appear marginal as compared with the risk associated with fresh fish with high histidine concentrations. Accordingly, we recommend excluding canned and deep-frozen fish from the monitoring plan, although these risk estimates can be biased. Within a category, samples were proportional to the relative food consumption of the different fishes. The spatial and seasonal consumption patterns were also taken into account for the design of the new monitoring plan. By testing appropriate numbers of samples from categories of fish products of concern, this plan will permit investigation of trends or comparison of product categories presenting risks of histamine poisoning.


STUDY OBJECTIVE
To estimate the minimum dose and total sedation time of rapidly infused ketamine that achieves 3 to 5 minutes of effective sedation in children undergoing abscess incision and drainage in the emergency department.

METHODS
The Up-Down method was used to estimate the dose of intravenous ketamine infused over 5 seconds or less that provided effective sedation in 50% (ED50) and 95% (ED95) for healthy children aged 2 to 5 years and 6 to 11 years undergoing abscess incision and drainage. None were pretreated with opioids. Three investigators blinded to ketamine dose independently graded sedation effectiveness by viewing a video recording of the first 5 minutes of sedation. Recovery was determined when patients reached a Modified Aldrete score of 10.

RESULTS
We enrolled 20 children in each age group. The estimated ED50 was 0.9 and 0.6 mg/kg for the 2 to 5 years and 6 to 11 years' groups and the estimated ED95 was 1.1 mg/kg for both groups. The median time to full recovery for the 2 groups was 20.5 and 17.5 minutes when only 1 dose of ketamine was administered and 27.5 and 35 minutes when additional doses of ketamine were administered. No participants experienced serious adverse events.

CONCLUSIONS
We estimated ED50 and ED95 for rapidly infused ketamine for 2 age groups undergoing abscess incision and drainage. Further studies are needed to get a more precise estimate of ED95. The total sedation time with this technique in the abscess group was shorter than most previous studies and is consistent with our previous observations in patients undergoing fracture reduction.


approved:______________________________________________________ James P. Osborne Malolactic fermentation (MLF) is an important step in the production of wines and is commonly performed in red or cool climate wines to reduce acidity. In this study the impact of MLF on red wine color and the ability of Oenococcus oeni to degrade compounds important to the development of stable color were studied. Pinot noir and Merlot wines were produced, where simultaneous alcoholic and malolactic fermentations were induced in half of the wines. At dryness, all wines were pressed prior to sterile-filtration through 0.45 μm membranes. Wines that had not undergone malolactic fermentation (MLF (-)) were then either (a) inoculated with one of three strains of O. oeni (MLF (+)) or (b) pH adjusted to the same pH as MLF (+) wines. All wines were sterile-filtered, bottled, and stored at 13°C for analyses. MLF (+) wines had lower concentrations of acetaldehyde, pyruvic acid, and caftaric acid than MLF (–) wines. MLF (+) wines had significantly lower color and polymeric pigments than MLF (–) wines while containing significantly higher monomeric anthocyanins. These differences were consistent throughout 12 months of storage demonstrating that MLF can affect red wine color independent of pH change and that O. oeni can impact phenolic and non-phenolic compounds involved in red wine color development. Wine produced in a subsequent year was used to investigate possible reasons for the color loss caused by MLF as well as practical strategies to minimize these losses. One such strategy was to delay MLF, a practice that winemakers believe results in greater red wine color. Wines were held at 13°C for 0, 14, 28, 100, and 200 days before inoculation with O. oeni VFO to induce MLF at 25°C. Delaying MLF did not impact loss of color @ 520nm as all wines still experienced a color loss. However, as MLF was delayed for increasing time periods the polymeric pigment content and monomeric anthocyanin concentration of MLF (+) wines became more similar to those of the control. After 200 days delayed MLF, there was no statistically significant difference between the MLF (+) and control wine for polymeric pigment and only a minor difference in concentration of monomeric anthocyanins. The reduced loss of polymeric pigment in delayed MLF wines may have been due to acetaldehyde being in the wine for a longer period of time as demonstrated in experiments investigating the impact of O. oeni metabolism of acetaldehyde and pyruvic acid metabolism. Wines that had undergone MLF were supplemented with acetaldehyde and pyruvic acid to the levels measured in MLF (–) wines. Wines with acetaldehyde or acetaldehyde and pyruvic acid additions showed higher color and polymeric pigment than MLF (+) wine with no additions while addition of only pyruvic acid addition showed no improvement in color or polymeric pigment in comparison to standard MLF (+). However, acetaldehyde additions did not completely prevent a loss of color at 520nm after MLF. Whether this color loss was due to fining by O. oeni was investigated through exposure of wine to live or inactivated O. oeni for differing time periods. Wines that did not undergo MLF but were exposed to live or inactivated cells showed no difference in color, polymeric pigment, and monomeric anthocyanin compared to the control suggesting that loss of color during MLF was not due to fining by O. oeni cells ©Copyright by Tresider R. Burns September 21, 2011 All Rights Reserved IMPACT OF MALOLACTIC FERMENTATION ON RED WINE COLOR AND COLOR STABILTY by Tresider R. Burns


CRISPR/Cas9 is a rapidly developing gene editing technology that will soon have many clinical applications. As with many other new technologies, somatic gene editing with CRISPR/Cas9 raises concerns about equitable access to therapies by historically disenfranchised racial and ethnic minorities. We describe justice concerns related to CRISPR/Cas9, including its potential impact on historically mistreated populations through underrepresentation of minorities in genomic databases and the potential for disparate access to somatic gene therapies when they become clinically available. We then describe ongoing work that aims to address these justice concerns. We conclude by highlighting important considerations to ensure equitable access to therapies going forward, including enhancing diversity in genomic sequencing efforts, improving education and transparency, and building partnerships with underserved and socially disenfranchised communities.


SILENCE aims at developing an integrated system of methodologies and technologies for an efficient control of urban traffic noise. "Integrated system" means the combined consideration of city authorities, individual traffic (on road) and mass transport (on rail and road) with a holistic treatment of all traffic noise facets: urban noise scenarios, individual noise sources (vehicles), traffic management, noise perception and annoyance. This sub-project considers the integral design and maintenance of lower noise road surfaces in urban areas. Particular attention is given to surfacing technologies that are appropriate for use in congested streets containing road features such as inspection covers or suffer from frequent interventions due to sub-surface street works. Also new surface types will be developed for use on roads for medium to high speed traffic with speeds of 50 to 100 km/h, which are typical for city ring roads and city arterial roads carrying heavy traffic close to often populated living areas. The sub-project also includes developing technologies for ensuring that low noise surfaces maintain their cost/effective acoustic performance through their lifetime. Equipment and procedures for determining and classifying the influence of road surface noise in the urban environment is important to optimise the use of low-noise pavements in an asset management evaluation of urban road networks and therefore play an important part in the sub-project. As the materials technology is advancing around Europe, it is important the issue of novel materials are considered in the sub-project to further promote the development and use of new and innovative materials for low-noise roads. The innovative part of sub-project F is to develop, monitor, classifying and maintain pavements to be used in urban areas, which in their whole lifetime provide an optimised cost/effective reduction of the tyre/road noise in urban areas.


Abstract Although it was never completed and has had only slight impact, T. F. Torrance's work on the nature and interpretation of scripture is a primary element in his theology, though largely unstudied. For Torrance, a theology of scripture and its interpretation derive from a theology of revelation; revelation takes creaturely form in the incarnate Word, out of which is generated the apostolic community and its witness, which in turn generates scripture, the human word which ministers the divine Word. Scripture is the divine Word accommodated to human form, and so a sacrament or sign which refers to revelation; its social location is the life of the apostolic community. Interpretation of scripture is properly 'depth-interpretation', following the semantics of scripture by which reference to divine reality is made, rather than terminating on scripture's syntactical surface. Fitting interpretative practice follows the text's reference, penetrates to the thing signified, indwells its subject matters and listens to the divine Word. The interpreter is summoned to mortification of prejudice and constantly renewed attentiveness. Torrance's most impressive contribution to bibliology and hermeneutics was his insistence that both are ingredients within a theology of God's economic presence. There are some historical limitations to his work, along with a lack of interest in the Christian literary culture and lack of extended exegesis. However, his writings in the field constitute one of the most impressive Protestant accounts of the field in the last half-century.


1Coordinator, Sociotherapy Programme, Prison Fellowship Rwanda (PFR), Member of Prison Fellowship International, Kigali, Rwanda; 2Program Manager, Community-Based Sociotherapy (CBS), Kigali, Rwanda Background: This article focuses on the narrative identity of eight convicted genocide perpetrators in Rwanda, who participated in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Narrative identity is the internalised and evolving story of the self that a person constructs to make sense and meaning out of his life. This study focused on the key autobiographical memories, present day experiences and the anticipated future of genocide perpetrators by exploring the self-perception of genocide perpetrators, in the context of their psychosocial rehabilitation. Methods: The Biographic Narrative Interpretive Methods (BNIM) were used for the collection and analysis of life stories of the eight genocide prisoners in Muhanga Prison. Results: The narratives of the respondents converged into five main themes: (a) the childhood experience of abandonment, (b) the process of ethnic self-discovery and positioning, (c) the perpetrator narrative, (d) the imprisoned self and (e) the imagined future self. Two main feelings from their narratives were outlined. Those feelings were the feeling of the abandoned and the feeling of the abandoner in the context of making sense and meaning out of their lives. Results revealed that the positioning of genocide perpetrators through their narratives can influence positively or negatively their rehabilitation. What is important in this article is the exploration of the account of the self-perception of the convicted genocide perpetrators throughout preand post-genocide Rwanda and the way they project their future self. Two main feelings from their narratives were outlined: the feeling of the abandoned and the feeling of the abandoner in the context of making sense and meaning out of their lives. Results revealed that positioning of genocide perpetrators through their narratives can influence positively or negatively their rehabilitation. Conclusion: Genocide perpetrators in the context of Rwanda continuously work on ways to acknowledge, rationalise or justify those acts as part of their biography. Interventions enabling their self-discovery can have a positive impact on their self as prisoners, their families and the community at large in post-genocide Rwanda.


There has been a rapid trend towards urbanisation in India particularly after independence in spite of the predominant rural nature of our economy. Assam is one of those states of India, which is traditionally rural in character with agriculture and allied activities being the primary occupation of its population. However, over the years there has been an upward trend towards urbaniastion and it got momentum particularly in the post independence era.The growth rate of urban population during the second half of the 20th century in Assam and its reasons are the main focus of the study.


Post-Soviet restructuring has produced mixed economic results. In general, the more advanced countries, which have now joined the European Union, have fared better, while those further East in the CIS have seen a combination of rapid falls in measured gross domestic product and wages, followed by prolonged recession, while the large gains to a wealthy minority who gained from privatisations have largely been reinvested abroad, following capital flight. I set up a series of theoretical and numerical simulation models, based upon a batting order approach where reform means closure of inefficient capacity. In the presence of significant costs to new firm entry and international capital mobility, restructuring and privatisation can lead to falls in GDP and real wages, while capital is transferred abroad. This situation can occur even under perfect competition, but is worse when industrial production is concentrated and trade costs are high. By contrast, workers can gain when costs of establishing new firms are low, and/or when the inefficient industries are capital- intensive. For countries with high costs of firm setup and of trade, capital controls may be justified to protect wages.


The conception that erythema nodosum is an expression of rheumatism dates back to Mackenzie1(1886). This theory, which was mainly supported by the occurrence of arthralgias, has found most of its advocates among Mackenzie's countrymen; in England it was the prevalent opinion for at least two or three decades. But during the last fifteen or twenty years the theory of a rheumatic cause has lost ground proportionately as the evidence has become more and more convincing that erythema nodosum is, as a rule, caused by tuberculosis. It is now fairly generally held by pediatricians in Scandinavia that tuberculosis is the cause of the erythema in from 75 to nearly 100 per cent of children afflicted. This view seems to be shared by a number of pediatricians in the United States and in England. However, investigators have been disinclined to give up the idea that in certain cases there may


In this world of ever-increasing demand for electrical power generation, the urge for a promising, sustainable and yet environment-friendly energy source has led us to pay more attention to utilizing the immense potential of ocean wave energy. Numerous researches till now shows that the efficiency of wave energy extraction depends highly on the shape and design of the device and also its interaction with the energy resource. This paper proposes a particular design of a floating buoy point absorber wave energy converter considering its feasibility in the geographical condition of the coastal region in Bangladesh. After discussing the design algorithm and its functionality, a procedure has been given to evaluate the wave energy converter energy production quantitatively with the help of WEC-Sim library on MATLAB software. As the ocean waves are irregular and the wave height and period varies significantly from wave to wave, the generated power is highly variable which imposes a big challenge in harnessing ocean wave energy for electricity generation. In this study, a method has been proposed to generate steady sinusoidal voltage from the variable electrical power produced from irregular ocean waves. Next, the available data on wave characteristics of several coastal regions have been examined and checked against the proposed design. Finally, analyzing the simulation results and considering the possibilities and limitations of energy production, some recommendations have been given on where such devices can be installed.


ABSTRACT Dementia is a very common disease, but the general population's knowledge about its main etiology, Alzheimer's disease (AD), is still poor, leading to delayed seeking of healthcare services, less prevention of disease by lifestyle changes and more difficulty in managing the care of the demented. Objective: To measure knowledge about AD in a Brazilian sample, taking into account some demographic variables. Methods: A link to a self-administered online questionnaire was sent by email and via other social media to anyone older than 18 years old. Our questionnaire contained sociodemographic questions and the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS), a well-established scale comprising 30 "true or false" questions about AD. Results: 1,414 people (1,076 females), with a mean age of 42.3 years (SD ± 14.1), and 87.4% having more than 11 years of schooling, answered the online questionnaire. The mean total score for the ADKS was 21.6 out of 30 points (SD ± 3.73); however when we excluded health professionals (36.4% of the sample), it dropped to 20.5/30 (SD ± 3.51). The scores were positively influenced by educational level, professional skills (better for health professionals, mainly physicians) and by age (younger than 65 years). Being a caregiver or family member did not influence the knowledge about disease. Discussion: Despite the high prevalence of AD, few studies have been conducted in Brazil regarding the population's knowledge about the disease. Our study revealed a lack of information about AD in our country, even in relatives and caregivers of demented patients.


We present LLCCM, a log-linear variant of the constituent context model (CCM) of grammar induction. LLCCM retains the simplicity of the original CCM but extends robustly to long sentences. On sentences of up to length 40, LLCCM outperforms CCM by 13.9% bracketing F1 and outperforms a right-branching baseline in regimes where CCM does not.


Although we usually use analogies in our daily life, neither do we know "how it comes" and "how it produces mapping" nor the application of an analogy to the learning of scientific concept. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating whether the analogies were helpful to the learning of scientific concepts. And if it was, how did analogical mapping influence the learning achievement?A teaching materials for learning structure of atom --one include analogies, the other did not include analogies-was designed to investigate whether the analogies was helpful to the learning. Twenty subjects of averaged ability at the eighth graders were divided into two groups-analogy and control groups. Each group was composed often subjects. The experimental procedures included a paper-and-pencil test, reading activities and post-test interviews.The results of study were: 1.This study found that the analogies were helpful to the learning of 'structure of atoms'. Also, they were able to understand the electronic cloud models of atoms via reading materials with history of atoms. 2. As to analogical mapping, there was not absolute difference between the two groups but in degree. However, the group of high achievement could generate more relational mapping, especially that of higher-order mapping. In contrast, the group of low achievement tended to generate attributive mapping and thus lack high-order mapping. 3.Students held produced alternative conceptions while using analogies and their analogical mapping and interpretations did not always correspond to teaching materials because of the influence of prior knowledge and the fact that students did not understand analogies at all. 4. Learning structure of atoms with pictorial analogies helped students construct mental images that supported their learning of abstract concepts.To sum up, teachers and editors of teaching materials can use analogies to promote the learning of science. However, the mapping of teaching materials should be explained in details to ensure that students' and teachers' mappings and interpretations of analogy are parallel. Furthermore, the design of mapping materials should base on subjects' life experiences to ensure the effectiveness of analogy.


Land surface processes are strongly controlled by vegetation cover. Current land surface models represent vegetation as a combination of leaf area index (LAI) and green vegetation fraction (GVF) parameters. The purpose of the study is to examine the impact of a spatially and temporally detailed Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)‐based GVF on surface processes in the NCEP Noah land surface model. The largest differences between the GVF data set currently used by the Noah model and the new MODIS GVF data set occur in winter and for tree‐dominated vegetation classes. The greatest impact of the new GVF data on the surface energy and water balance is seen during the summer, when the transpiration is increased by more than 10 W/m2 on average for most vegetation types and the July averaged daily transpiration rate is increased by up to 50 W/m2 for evergreen needleleaf sites.


Domestic violence against children is well known on the social problem aspect, and Sweden has become the first country clarifying its stance on physical punishment and child abuse since established "anti-spanking" law in 1979. The purpose of this research was to investigate how Swedish social workers deal with the issue about domestic violence against children. The research was developed with hermeneutics approach and ecological systems theory, and carried out by four respondents from Social Services Gavle. With the answers claimed by the respondents, constitute the results and conclusions, that is all kinds of tackling methods about child abuse should be regulated by laws, and cooperate with police or citizens comprehensively, especially in the period of investigation. This paper might be a general pattern, but we do hope it could make people rethinking about child abuse issues, that probably may reduce a little bit pressure to children in the future.


Today's increased demand for flexible and fast reconfiguration of production systems is seen as one of the key factors for survival by many branches, especially small and medium sized enterprises. To enable adaptable and flexible production, we propose an integrated experience reuse system assisting in setup, operation, maintenance and repair. We present three subsystems that facilitate experience reuse between different engineers and operators working with standardised production modules. It is composed of three separate software components enabling: a) easy programming and control of robot cells, b) monitoring and condition based maintenance, c) distributed experience reuse. The results presented in this paper have been developed within the Factory-in-a-Box project, the ExAct project and the Eken project.


This research investigates the roots of Chinese export watercolours - produced at Canton for Western customers, in the 18th-19th centuries - in the local tradition of painting and illustration, attributing a 'Chinese identity' to these authentic works of art, often considered as a semi-foreign piecework derivative and inferior to literati and court painting. Furthermore, their historical and anthropological importance is also vigorously stressed: these particular paintings are presented as documents that provide an insight into Chinese traditions, customs and daily life, and reflect the evolution of the diplomatic, commercial and cultural relationships between China and the West. The discussion gradually develops through the analysis of the albums in the British Museum's collection, which, despite being one of the most comprehensive of this sort, had not been specifically examined by any scholar before. The watercolour sets, described from various angles, and compared with other figurative materials, are used as concrete examples, giving substance and immediate reference to ideas and concepts. The dissertation opens with some considerations about the mutual artistic exchange and influence between China and the West in the 18th-19th centuries. First, the impact of Chinese image and art in Europe is presented. Then, the main characteristics of Chinese export art and the development of Chinese export painting are illustrated. These observations are followed by the examination of the watercolours at the British Museum, considering state of preservation, availability for research, and scarcity and inadequacy of the museum's records. A summary of all the themes depicted in the nearly one hundred sets is also given. A selection of nearly half of them - including the illustration of production activities, trades and crafts, religious subjects, festivals and ceremonies - is analysed in depth, thus providing an exhaustive and precise picture of the treatment of the most relevant subjects, each representing a significant aspect of the Chinese world at that time.


[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 6 weeks sling exercise training for clients with low back pain on the levels of pain, disability, muscular strength and endurance. [Subjects and Methods] Twelve chronic LBP subjects participated in this study. Subjects were randomly divided into a control group and a training group. Subjects in the training group performed sling exercise training for six weeks, and participants in the control group did not perform any exercise. [Results] Pain, disability levels and muscular strength significantly improved in the training group, but not in the control group. The left multifidus showed a significant improvement in muscular endurance, measured as the slope of the median frequency after training. [Conclusion] Six weeks of sling exercise training was effective at reducing pain intensity, and improving the disability level and trunk muscular strength of subjects with low back pain.


The purpose of this research was to conduct case studies to explore and describe Thai university students' awareness and application of cognitive and metacognitive strategies when reading and writing in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL). Four participants, including two high and two low English language proficiency learners, were selected from 14 students enrolled in a five-week course called English for Social Sciences offered at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand in 2005. The major sources of data for the analyses included the transcripts of the participants' pair discussions, think-aloud protocols, interviews, and daily journal entries. In addition, field work observations, reading and writing strategy checklists, participants' written work, and the comparison of the pretest and posttest results were also instrumental to the analyses. The interpretive approach of content analysis was employed for these four case studies. Findings were initially derived from the single-case analyses, and then from cross-case analyses. Major findings revealed that strategic knowledge enhanced these English-as-a-foreign- language (EFL) learners' proficiency in English reading and writing. However, applying elaborative strategies for higher-level reading was challenging for most of the participants. Two crucial factors that impeded their development were the learners' uncertain procedural and conditional knowledge of strategy uses and their limited English language proficiency due to limited exposure to the second language (L2). The teacher's explanations and modeling of strategies, the participants' opportunities to discuss strategy use with peers, and extensive practice positively enhanced their development. Additionally, the learners' schema and knowledge of text structures played significant roles in their development of the two skills. These English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners also developed metacognitive awareness and strategy applications, but not to the level that always enhanced effective regulation and control of their reading and writing behaviors. Combining reading and writing in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) instruction promoted the learners' awareness of the relationships of certain strategies for the two skills, and developed their literacy skills holistically.


This paper presents a new position-based tracking system for autonomous mobile target tracking task. A grey-fuzzy controller (GFC) is developed for motion control of the tracker, in which dynamics models of the target and tracker are not required a priori. The target detection is based on the adaptive visual detector (AVD), which can online adjust the histogram model based on the change of surrounding conditions, such as light variation, in a natural environment. The AVD and GFC are integrated together for mobile target-tracking applications. There are several advantages of the integrated system, in particular: (1) it can rapidly learn the target appearance model for the detection involved with the tracking task; (2) the temporal dynamics model of the target motion can be approximated for the predictive localization of the moving target; and (3) the system can deal with the uncertain environmental conditions to ensure the tracking performance by GFC. Three mobile robots in the authors' laboratory have been used to demonstrate the success of this integrated system experimentally. They also conduct target tracking experiments, in which Chung Cheng-I tracks various moving targets. The results demonstrate the robustness and flexibility of the overall system in dealing with mobile target-tracking problems under varied natural environment conditions.


A wide variety of different functions and an impressive array of interactors have been associated with leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) over the years. Here, I discuss the hypothesis that LRRK2 may be capable of interacting with different proteins at different times and places, therefore, controlling a plethora of diverse functions based on the different complexes formed. Among these, I will then focus on macroautophagy in the general context of the endolysosomal system. First, the relevance of autophagy in Parkinson's disease will be evaluated giving a brief overview of all the relevant Parkinson's disease genes; then, the association of LRRK2 with macroautophagy and the endolysosomal pathway will be analyzed based on the supporting literature.


Biochemical and immunochemical studies were undertaken to quantify the effects of cyclic AMP on cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase subunit levels in nuclei of H4IIE hepatoma cells. Dibutyryl cyclic AMP (10 microM) caused a significant biphasic (10 and 120 min after stimulation) increase in total nuclear protein kinase activity. The increase observed 10 min after dibutyryl cyclic AMP stimulation was primarily due to an approx. 3-fold increase of catalytic (C) subunit activity, whereas the change observed 120 min after stimulation consisted of an increase in both C subunit and cyclic AMP-independent protein kinase activities. Analysis of nuclear protein extracts by photoaffinity labelling with 8-azido cyclic [32P]AMP identified only the type II regulatory subunit (RII), but not the type I regulatory subunit (RI). Analysis of nuclear RII variants by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis demonstrated that dibutyryl cyclic AMP caused the appearance of two RII variant forms which were not present in the nuclei of unstimulated cells. Using affinity-purified polyclonal antibodies and immunoblotting procedures, we identified an approx. 2-fold increase in the RII and C subunits in nuclear extracts of dibutyryl cyclic AMP-treated hepatoma cells. Finally, the RI, RII and C subunits were quantified by an e.l.i.s.a. which indicated that dibutyryl cyclic AMP increased nuclear RII and C subunits levels biphasically, reaching peak values 10 and 120 min after the initial stimulation. Nuclear RI subunit levels were not affected. These results provide qualitative as well as quantitative evidence for a modulation by cyclic AMP of the nuclear RII and C subunit levels in rat H4IIE hepatoma cells, and indicate a relatively rapid but temporarily limited dibutyryl cyclic AMP-induced translocation of the RII and C subunits to nuclear sites.


A poor ethical culture has been considered one of the reasons for the emergence of many corporate governance scandals. In this paper, I investigate the link between two corporate governance mechanisms – the composition of the board of directors and ownership structure – and ethical culture for a sample of Brazilian companies. My measure of ethical culture is based on a text analysis of around 50,000 employee reviews posted at Glassdoor for around 1,400 terms associated with five ethical dimensions: organizational trust, ethical leadership, benevolent orientation, empathy, and speaking out & efficacy. I find partial support, though far from conclusive, for the hypotheses that a higher ratio of independent directors or of women on boards is associated with better ethical culture. My clearest results refer to a corporate governance feature little discussed in the literature: the percentage of directors appointed by minority shareholders. In this case, all specifications show a strong negative relationship between the percentage of such directors and ethical culture. As minority directors are usually appointed by institutional investors, one conjecture is that the short-term horizon of some institutional investors could lead these directors to prioritize short-term profits instead of focusing on building an ethical culture whose benefits would be mostly reaped over the longer term. Other variables related to the board of directors and ownership structure, such as ownership concentration and the identity of the shareholder of reference, were not significant in explaining ethical culture. To my knowledge, this is the first paper to document a link between ethical culture and corporate governance mechanisms.


This paper finds a link between the sharp drop in U.S. manufacturing employment beginning in 2001 and a change in U.S. trade policy that eliminated potential tariff increases on Chinese imports. Industries where the threat of tariff hikes declines the most experience more severe employment losses along with larger increases in the value of imports from China and the number of firms engaged in China-U.S. trade. These results are robust to other potential explanations of the employment loss, and we show that the U.S. employment trends differ from those in the EU, where there was no change in policy.


The discovery that nuclear DNA content varies widely among species, and even within species, was unexpected because it was thought that the number of genes required for an organism should be common across taxa. We now know that the bulk of nuclear DNA content variation is caused by repetitive DNA sequences characterized according to the nature of repeat (tandem vs dispersed) or chromosomal location/mechanism of replication (pericentromeric, telomeric or subtelomeric, microsatellites, minisatellites, satellites, transposable elements, retroelements). Variation in repetitive DNA, manifested as variation in nuclear DNA content, has been shown to have broad ecological and life-history consequences. For example, large genome size appears to limit fitness in extreme environmental conditions. Within species, variation in DNA content has been coupled to growth and development, such as maturation time in crop species. In Silene latifolia, DNA content is negatively correlated with flower size, a character that, in turn, has well documented ecological significance. These intraspecific studies suggest a connection between repetitive DNA and quantitative genetic determination of continuous characters. Novel insights into mechanisms by which repetitive DNA influences phenotype will lead to models of evolutionary change that extend well beyond the conventional view of evolution by allelic substitution.


The article the results of investigation on obtaining of surface-active substance -SAS on the waste cotton oil for drilling of wells and intensification of the flotation process are presented. The main component of new SAS are waste, cotton oil refinery and chemical plants. SAS have hudrophobization (waterproof) action on easy-swelling rocks (clays, argellites, alevrolits). Direct water emulsions obtained from reagents have low viscosity, high stability and low filtration index. There reagents have influence at drilling tools (that is they increase the life of drilling bits and diamond bits) [1, 2]. The study flotation enrichments of copper-molybdic ore is revealed characteristic foam-former and collector surface-active substances (NA-1) and is simulation one oily provided creation without minerals fields extraction of gold and color metals has been determined. Optimal conditions of the syntheses: ratio of main components, time of reaction, temperature and concentration have been determined. The comparison of new SAS with other foreing analogies was carried out. The main colloidal-chemical characteristic of synthesized SAS: surface activity, adsorption, viscosity, concentration of micelle- formation have been determined. Technology of obtain of anion surfaceactive substances from local organic raw material was elaborated, which by qualitative characteristics is a substitute of the import reagent collector and foam-former [4, 5]. Dependence on obtained product from the temperature of the process, time of reactions, ratio of initial components optimal concentration of NaOH was investigated. The foam forming ability of the new reagents in comparison with standard reagent T-92 was determined and it was shown that by best ability of forms destruction the methyl syloxane's liquid and mineral oil have possessed.The intensifications of the process of flotation's enrichment of copper-molybdic ore with using new obtain reagent NA-1 was offered.


Digital technology has provided users with new connections that have reset our understanding of social architectures. As a reaction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data, the educational field has rearranged its structure to consider human and non-human stakeholders and their actions on digital platforms. In light of this increasingly complex scenario, this proposal aims to present definitions and discussions about AI and Big Data from the academic field or published by international organizations. The study of AI and Big Data goes beyond the search for mere computational power and instead focuses upon less difficult (yet perhaps more complex) areas of the study social impacts in Education. This research suggests an analysis of education through 21st century skills and the impact of AI development in the age of platforms, undergoing three methodological considerations: research, application and evaluation. To accomplish the research, we relied upon systematic reviews, bibliographic research and quality analyses conducted within case studies to compose a position paper that sheds light on how AI and Big Data work and on what level they can be applied in the field of education. Our goal is to offer a triangular analysis under amultimodal approach to better understand the interface between education and new technological prospects, taking into consideration qualitative and quantitative procedures. PALABRAS CLAVE |


Mixed-model assembly line is known to be a special case of production lines where various and different models of the same products are inter-mixed to be assembled on the same line. Using mixed model assembly line involves not only the traditional problems of assembly line design (i.e., determining the line cycle time, the number and sequence of stations of the line, and balancing the line) but also determining the sequence in which products will be scheduled for assembly. In each station, some components are assembled in the final products. Under just in time (JIT) approach; an objective is to have a fairly constant usage rate for each component going into final assembly to facilitate the use of Kanban or other JIT shop-floor systems. In this paper, a mixed approach, the sequencing mixed-model assembly line problem with a JIT-supply of required materials, is studied and a mathematical model is proposed for solving it. The results are compared with a traditional approach. Some experiments are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed model.


The purpose of this chapter is to analyze terrorist use of technology in the Mumbai attacks of November 2008 and the use of law to prosecute terrorists availing themselves of technological measures to plan and carry out attacks. The Mumbai attacks are also placed in the context of terrorism in India, by looking at identified terrorist groups and incidents. It should be noted that India adopted amendments to its 2000 IT Act in December 2008, following the attacks, and these amendments include provisions related to cyber terrorism, which might be applied going forward if necessary. It should also be noted that Pakistan adopted similar legislation in 2007 and in 2008, and Bangladesh states that it is in the process of adopting such legislation. Both India and Pakistan have made cyber terrorism punishable by death penalties. The definitions of cyber terrorism in their legislation are provided in this chapter. The chapter also analyzes the level of technological know-how exhibited by the alleged terrorists currently on trial in India, Pakistan, and the United States for planning and executing the Mumbai attacks. Recent measures taken by the Indian government to avoid future use of technology by terrorists are also discussed in the context of a democracy needing to balance security with the privacy and liberty of its citizens.


Recent events in world politics raise Fundamental doubts about the reasons behind conflict, crisis and war. What, for example, causes a state to become involved in an international crisis ? In an attempt to answer that question, the present study focuses on the experiences of a leading member of the international System over a sustained period of time, specifically, the United States in the post-World War 11 era. Ultimately, in order to develop a more comprehensive explanation of activity by the United States in international crises, this investigation combines external factors with others from within the state. Following a brief review of the research program on conflict linkage, internal attributes with potential relevance to involvement by states in crises are identified. External influences on foreign policy, consistent with the tradition of realpolitik, also are specified. These elements then are combined in a model of conflict linkage. Using data pertaining both the US as a polity and an actor in the international System, propositions derived from the model are tested in the crisis domain. The study concludes with some recommendations for further research on the linkage of domestic and foreign conflict, with particular reference to the explanation of crises.