Written to honour the life and work of the late Peter N. Oliver, the distinguished historian and editor-in-chief of the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History from 1979-2006, this collection assembles the finest legal scholars to reflect on the issues in and development of the field of legal history in Canada. Covering a broad range of topics, this volume examines developments over the last two hundred years in the legal profession and the judiciary, nineteenth-century prison history, as well as the impact of the 1815 Treaty of Paris. The introduction also provides insight into the history of the Osgoode Society and of Oliver's essential role in it, along with an illuminating analysis of the Society's publications program, which produced sixty-six books during his tenure. A fitting tribute to one of the foremost legal historians, this tenth volume of Essays in the History of Canadian Law is a significant contribution to the discipline to which Oliver devoted so much.


OBJECTIVE
A pilot study was designed to assess the efficacy and safety of different exercise therapies on patient-reported fatigue and functional status.

METHODS
Ten patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were randomly placed in either an aerobic exercise group (group 1: n = 5) or a range of motion/muscle strengthening (ROM/MS) exercise group (group 2: n = 5). Outcome measures assessed at baseline and the end of the study were fatigue, functional status, disease activity, cardiovascular fitness, isometric strength, bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine and femoral neck, and parathyroid hormone and osteocalcin as representative bone biochemical markers for bone resorption and bone formation, respectively.

RESULTS
Both aerobic and ROM/MS types of exercise were safe and did not worsen SLE disease activity. Patients in both exercise groups showed some improvement in fatigue, functional status, cardiovascular fitness, and muscle strength. Both groups showed increased bone turnover, but BMD was unchanged. Eighty percent of the patients met the compliance standard for the study.

CONCLUSIONS
This pilot study shows the feasibility of exercise for SLE patients. The potential value of this approach shows promise in the routine management of these patients.


Reducing road fatalities has become a key policy goal in several countries and there is a vast literature on what factors affect road safety performance. Nonetheless, there is limited evidence on whether highway concessions and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) can bring road safety benefits, despite the growing number of countries adopting this type of policy to finance and manage road infrastructure. In this paper, we use a difference-in-differences approach to examine the causal effect of highway concessions on road safety outcomes using daily data from Brazilian Federal highways over 11 years between 2007-2017. We exploit the transition from public to private management in some but not all Brazilian states to provide both within- and between-states comparison. We find that concessions promote a small but significant reduction in the number and fatality of road crashes as well as and the number of people and vehicles involved in crashes. Between 2007-2017, procured roads had on average 16 fewer deaths then publicly managed highways for every 1000 crashes each year. These road safety benefits only become statistically significant a few years after the concession implementation, but they are marginally larger for every additional year of treatment. Finally, our results suggest that the safety benefits of highway concessions are particularly stronger in rural areas and at night, and that including safety-based incentives in concession contracts can substantially improve road safety performance. The findings of the paper have important implications for the social and economic evaluation of road concessions and for road infrastructure policy more broadly.


In this work, Cu3SbS4 hierarchical flower-like microspheres composed of chlorine (Cl-)-doped Cu3SbS4 nanoflakes are realized via a one pot solvothermal ion exchange reaction. The kinetic factors including the duration time, the ratio of source materials, and the KOH concentration, are systematically investigated. Using a suite of analytical techniques, including SEM, XRD and FTIR, the mechanism of the two stage in situ chemical transformation of CuS flower-like microspheres consisting of nanoflake intermediates to the target product Cu3SbS4 is elucidated. The difference in solubility between reactants and products (Ksp(CuS) > Ksp(CuSbSx)) determines that the ion-exchange reaction from transition binary to ternary metal chalcogenides is favorable under the impetus of a thermodynamic driving force. In addition, the optical and enhanced thermoelectric transport properties are investigated. The results revealed that Cl-doped Cu3SbS4 exhibited an improved power factor, which was 8 times higher than that of undoped Cu3SbS4 at 500 K. The current study not only provides a facile and economical way to synthesize high-quality Cl-doped Cu-Sb-S three dimensional (3D) hierarchical nanostructures, but also opens up a new route for preparation of other I-V-VI multicomponent chalcogenide NCs, such as Cu-Bi-S and Cu-Pb-S systems, which would be difficult to obtain otherwise.

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Bacillus cereus is a ubiquitous soil bacterium responsible for two types of food-associated gastrointestinal diseases. While the emetic type, a food intoxication, manifests in nausea and vomiting, food infections with enteropathogenic strains cause diarrhea and abdominal pain. Causative toxins are the cyclic dodecadepsipeptide cereulide, and the proteinaceous enterotoxins hemolysin BL (Hbl), nonhemolytic enterotoxin (Nhe) and cytotoxin K (CytK), respectively. This review covers the current knowledge on distribution and genetic organization of the toxin genes, as well as mechanisms of enterotoxin gene regulation and toxin secretion. In this context, the exceptionally high variability of toxin production between single strains is highlighted. In addition, the mode of action of the pore-forming enterotoxins and their effect on target cells is described in detail. The main focus of this review are the two tripartite enterotoxin complexes Hbl and Nhe, but the latest findings on cereulide and CytK are also presented, as well as methods for toxin detection, and the contribution of further putative virulence factors to the diarrheal disease.


Measurements of intracellular pH (pHi) and of apical cell membrane potential (Va) were made in principal cells of frog skin (Rana pipiens) with double-barrel microelectrodes under open-circuit conditions. The tissues were pretreated with stilbenes (10(-3) M) and bathed in HCO3- -free NaCl Ringer solution that was buffered with 6 mM N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid (pH 7.8). Substitution of extracellular Na+ on both sides of the epithelium with N-methyl-D-glucamine caused intracellular acidification by 0.27 pH units. Restoration of Na+ on the apical side alone or on both sides caused a pHi recovery of 0.24 and 0.28 pH units, respectively, whereas return of Na+ on the basolateral side caused no recovery. Recovery of pHi on restoration of Na+ to the apical side was prevented by 10(-5) M 5-(N-ethyl-N-isopropyl)-amiloride. In individual preparations there was no correlation between pHi recovery due to return of apical Na+ and changes in Va. The average change in pHi was several times greater than the one expected from voltage clamp-induced changes in Va at constant extracellular Na+. The results suggest the presence of a Na+-H+ exchange on the apical side of principal cells. Such a process could be part of a negative feedback mechanism for regulation of Na+ entry via apical Na+ channels into principal cells.


Objectives: To see if obesity, deaths from diabetes, and daily calorie intake are associated with income inequality among developed countries. Design: Ecological study of 21 developed countries. Countries: Countries were eligible for inclusion if they were among the top 50 countries with the highest gross national income per capita by purchasing power parity in 2002, had a population over 3 million, and had available data on income inequality and outcome measures. Main outcome measures: Percentage of obese (body mass index >30) adult men and women, diabetes mortality rates, and calorie consumption per capita per day. Results: Adjusting for gross national per capita income, income inequality was positively correlated with the percentage of obese men (r = 0.48, p = 0.03), the percentage of obese women (r = 0.62, p = 0.003), diabetes mortality rates per 1 million people (r = 0.46, p = 0.04), and average calories per capita per day (r = 0.50, p = 0.02). Correlations were stronger if analyses were weighted for population size. The effect of income inequality on female obesity was independent of average calorie intake. Conclusions: Obesity, diabetes mortality, and calorie consumption were associated with income inequality in developed countries. Increased nutritional problems may be a consequence of the psychosocial impact of living in a more hierarchical society.


Several genes critical to the enzymatic regulation of melanin production in mammals have recently been cloned and mapped to the albino, brown and slaty loci in mice. All three genes encode proteins with similar structures and features, but with distinct catalytic capacities; the functions of two of those gene products have previously been identified. The albino locus encodes tyrosinase, an enzyme with three distinct melanogenic functions, while the slaty locus encodes tyrosinase‐related protein 2 (TRP2), an enzyme with a single specific, but distinct, function as DOPAchrome tautomerase. Although the brown locus, encoding TRP1, was actually the first member of the tyrosinase gene family to be cloned, its catalytic function (which results in the production of black rather than brown melanin) has been in general dispute. In this study we have used two different techniques (expression of TRP1 in transfected fibroblasts and immunoaffinity purification of TRP1 from melanocytes) to examine the enzymatic function(s) of TRP1. The data demonstrate that the specific melanogenic function of TRP1 is the oxidation of 5,6‐dihydroxyindole‐2‐carboxylic acid (DHICA) to a carboxylated indole‐quinone at a down‐stream point in the melanin biosynthetic pathway. This enzyme activity appears to be essential to the further metabolism of DHICA to a high molecular weight pigmented biopolymer.


A low-power, low-intermediate frequency (IF) radio frequency (RF) front-end, including low-noise amplifier (LNA) and mixer for the medical implant communications service (MICS) RF band, is presented. The frequencies of LNA and mixer range from 402 MHz to 405 MHz, while the IF of the mixer is 450 KHz. Current-reuse, back-gate coupling, current-bleeding, and feedback circuit design techniques are utilized in the LNA design to achieve 10 dB of gain and the required noise figure (NF) under the low power consumption of 0.94 mW. By contrast, the Gilbert-type mixer generates 20 dB of conversion gain by using current-reuse, back-gate coupling, and current-bleeding techniques. The front-end is operated using a 1.8 V power supply and is capable of achieving a -97 dBm sensitivity using quadrature phase shift keying modulation while consuming 1.3 mW. The proposed front-end is implemented in TSMC 0.18 μm CMOS process with a total area of 1.4 mm × 1.2 mm. The gain enhancement technique has been substantially optimized compared with previous works and measurement results indicate that the front-end obtains the highest figure of merit compared with previous works.


Although significant progress has been made in the last few years towards cooperative and autonomous driving, the transition from human-driven to fully automated vehicles is expected to happen slowly. The question of semi-autonomous driving, where Advanced Driver Assistance Systems assist human drivers in their decisions, will therefore become increasingly important. In this paper, we consider the problem of safe intersection crossing for semi-autonomous vehicles with communication capacities. We design an intersection supervisor based on a mixed-integer quadratic programming approach which monitors the control inputs of each vehicle, and overrides those controls when necessary to ensure that all vehicles can navigate safely. Moreover, the solution control deviates minimally from the vehicles target inputs: overriding only occurs when it is strictly necessary, in which case the control is chosen as close as possible to the driver's intent. We theoretically prove that the supervisor needs only consider a finite future time horizon to ensure safety and deadlock avoidance over an infinite time horizon, and we demonstrate through simulation that this algorithm can work in real time. Additionally, unlike previous work, our formulation is suitable for complex intersection geometries with a high number of vehicles.


Shadow education, particularly tutorial schools, is a familiar yet under-studied educational phenomenon in Thai society. This exploratory qualitative case study aimed at gaining a better understanding of English tutorial schools through the lens of tutors. Specifically, two tutors in Bangkok, Thailand were selected via purposive sampling. Two rounds of interviews were conducted: 1) focus group and 2) individual. Key themes emerged from the two rounds of interviews, namely challenges in providing tutorial courses, tutorial schools and Thai society, the importance of motivation, tutorials and English teaching, success and failure in tutoring and English language teaching policy. Concluding remarks suggested that shadow education, in this case private supplementary tutoring, has a potential to improve English language skills of Thais through its motivating force and that dichotomous thinking about key components of English language teaching e.g., to teach or not to teach grammar; English native speaking vs. non-native speaking teachers should be avoided.


Abstract This paper investigates the correlates of student performance in mathematics and dictation tests among schoolchildren in Indonesia. This is the first such study to use a new nationally representative sample of Indonesian primary‐school students. Our dataset includes unique data on teacher absenteeism collected through direct observation, the first ever in Indonesia. We find that teacher absenteeism is indeed a significantly negative correlate of student performance, while quality of school facilities predicts better performance. We also find a significant non‐monotonic concave relationship between the pupil–teacher ratio and student's mathematics performance. Finally, we discuss the policy implications of the results.


The systematic testing of a large CAD tool-set requires a complex collection of tests called a test-suite. The test-suite is managed and driven by a test system (harness). The goal is to reduce the effort involved in the definition of the test-suite through a systematic approach. In the present approach a type of composite test called a device test which is constructed of primitive tests is described. This enables splitting the test-suite definition into two activities: the definition of the test structure for each device test, and the definition of the structural relations between the device test. The advantage of this approach is that each device test may be constructed and executed independently. This enhances the modularity of the architecture by reducing the dependencies in the test suite. The emphasis is on the structural relations between the device tests. A protocol for defining the structural relations is proposed, and the protocol's usefulness is demonstrated by applying it to a real-life situation, namely, defining a test structure for the NELSIS IC Design System.<<ETX>>


In this paper we propose an analytical model of a resilient, tree-based end-node multicast streaming architecture that employs path diversity and forward error correction for improved resilience to node churns and packet losses. We show that this architecture can distribute data to nodes arbitrarily far away from the root of the trees as long as the loss probability is lower than a certain threshold, but the probability of packet reception suddenly drops to zero once this threshold is exceeded. The value of the threshold depends on the ratio of redundancy and on the number of the distribution trees


This thesis describes work on the growth and electrical properties of thin luminescent films of zinc silicate phosphor, Zn(_2)Si0(_4) : Mn, formed from the solid-state reaction of ZnF(_2):Mn and Si0(_2) at 1000oC, on n-type silicon substrates. The film formed in this way consists of zinc silicate separated from the silicon by a non-luminescent interfacial layer. Electrical measurements were made on metal-insulator- silicon (MIS) capacitors formed by photolithography using both the composite and the interfacial film as the insulator. The film properties vary with the growth conditions. Three types of films, defined by the gas ambient for the reaction, were investigated. High frequency capacitance-voltage measurements on the composite films showed good MIS-type characteristics but with flat-band voltages that changed with electrical stress. These changes, together with measurements made on the interfacial layers, were used to study the formation of space-charge within the films. Films formed in short reaction times in N(_2) and those with longer reaction times in 10% of 0(_2) in N(_2), showed polarization when negatively stressed at 10(^5) v/cm and above. This was explained by the build-up of negative space-charge at the dielectric - dielectric interface, due to the separation of Zn(^2+) cations from the immobile (Si0(_4))(^4-) anions in the silicate, close to the interface. Films formed by a long reaction time in ultra-pure N(_2), showed the above type of polarization phenomenon only in a very thin outer layer. However, in the bulk, polarization was probably due to charge accumulation at crystallite boundaries. In general, there is ho strong evidence of electron injection into the silicate films.


Epithelial-mesenchymal interactions play an important role in regulating tissue homeostasis and repair. For skin, the regulatory mechanisms of epidermal-dermal interactions were studied in cocultures of normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NEK) and dermal fibroblasts (HDF) rendered postmitotic by alpha-irradiation (HDFi). The expression kinetics of different cytokines and their receptors with presumed signalling function in skin were determined at the RNA and protein level in mono- and cocultured NEK and HDFi. In cocultured HDFi, mRNA and protein synthesis of keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) (FGF-7) was strongly enhanced, whereas in cocultured keratinocytes interleukin (IL)-1alpha and -1beta mRNA expression increased compared to monocultures. Thus we postulated that IL-1, which had no effect on keratinocyte proliferation, induced in fibroblasts the expression of factors stimulating keratinocyte proliferation, such as KGF. The functional significance of this reciprocal modulation was substantiated by blocking experiments. Both IL-1alpha and -1beta-neutralizing antibodies and IL-1 receptor antagonist significantly reduced keratinocyte proliferation supposedly through abrogation of KGF production, because IL-1 antibodies blocked the induced KGF production. These data indicate a regulation of keratinocyte growth by a double paracrine mechanism through release of IL-1 which induces KGF in cocultured fibroblasts. Thus IL-1, in addition to its proinflammatory function in skin, may play an essential role in regulating tissue homeostasis.


Studies on the international history of fourteenth-century Singapore have been hitherto limited to external trade conducted by local inhabitants, and material consumption patterns that this trade enabled them to develop. Broader regional cultural influences have been postulated though not clearly demonstrated, given scant textual records and limited material culture remains. This article seeks to examine the external influences, adaptation and assimilation in the production and consumption of fourteenth-century Singapore. In particular, it looks at three aspects of Singapore's pre-colonial existence — modes of economic production, patterns of consumption of international products, and the articulation of high culture vis-à-vis external entities. By examining available archaeological, epigraphic, art historical and cartographic data from the fourteenth through the nineteenth centuries, this article postulates how distinct consumption patterns may have developed among different riverside populations living north of the Singapore River. This study also questions the common view that Singapore developed as a cosmopolitan port-city only after the advent of British colonialism, demonstrating that its diversity and openness was likely a feature centuries before.


Many situations exist in which a latent construct has both ordinal and continuous indicators. This presents a problem for the applied researcher because standard measurement models are not designed to accommodate mixed ordinal and continuous data. I address this problem by formulating a measurement model that is appropriate for such mixed multivariate responses. This model unifies standard normal theory factor analysis and item response theory models for ordinal data. I detail a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm for model fitting. I apply the model to cross-national data on political-economic risk and find that the model works well. Software for fitting this model is publicly available in the MCMCpack (Martin and Quinn 2004, "MCMCpack 0.4–8") R package.


The paper presents a comparison of the performance of undoped and modulation-doped AlGaN/GaN HFET devices over temperature. The results obtained indicate that the device structure has a significant influence on the device performance. The modulation-doped devices are superior to the undoped devices over the temperatures studied. The stability (the temperature dependence of device performance), however, is not as good as the undoped devices.


Parastacoides tasmanicus tasmanicus, which burrows extensively into the peat soils of south-western Tasmania, is, like most freshwater crayfish, an omnivore. All food categories in the diet vary seasonally. Detritus, including unidentifiable material, is the major food type present in the gut contents, although root and algal material are also important. Less animal material is present in the diet than in the diet of open-water species, and the taxa consumed and size of prey differ between the adults and juveniles. Cannibalism occurred in less than 1% of the crayfish examined, an incidence considerably lower than that reported for any other crayfish species. Animal material was of comparatively little importance, but the low levels of mineral nutrients, bacteria and fungi in peat soils probably increase its importance as a protein source. The burrows of P. t. tasmanicus include blind, root-lined chambers beneath clumps of sedgeland plants. Larger animals occupy larger burrows and these have a higher proportion of their volume in the form of blind chambers. The animal appears to spend the majority of its time foraging within its burrow system, a behaviour that contrasts with most other crayfish.


Probabilistic Latent Semantic Indexing is a novel approach to automated document indexing which is based on a statistical latent class model for factor analysis of count data. Fitted from a training corpus of text documents by a generalization of the Expectation Maximization algorithm, the utilized model is able to deal with domain{speci c synonymy as well as with polysemous words. In contrast to standard Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) by Singular Value Decomposition, the probabilistic variant has a solid statistical foundation and de nes a proper generative data model. Retrieval experiments on a number of test collections indicate substantial performance gains over direct term matching methods as well as over LSI. In particular, the combination of models with di erent dimensionalities has proven to be advantageous.


The bin filler, which is used for filling the fruit container or bin with apples coming from the sorting system, plays a critical role in the self-propelled apple harvest and in-field sorting (HIS) machine that is being developed in our laboratory. Two major technical challenges in developing the bin filler are limited space in the HIS machine and high throughput. A literature review showed that despite many different types of bin fillers currently available for in-field use, none of them is suitable for the HIS machine because of their large size, use of the bin rotating design concept, and high unit cost. Effort has thus been made on the development of new bin filling technology for use with the HIS machine. The new bin filler mainly consists of a mechanical system with a pinwheel design and an automatic control system. A key innovation in the mechanical system is the use of two foam rollers to catch freely falling apples, which has greatly simplified the bin filler design and also made the system compact and lower in cost. The control system is mainly composed of an onboard Arduino microcontroller and three sensors (one infrared sensor and two Hall effect sensors) to monitor and measure the status of apples filling the bin as well as the rotational speed of the pinwheel. A program was developed for the Arduino microcontroller to record and process the data from the sensors in real-time to achieve automatic control of the bin filling. Laboratory tests with 'Gala' apples demonstrated that 97% of apples that had been handled by the new bin filler were rated Extra Fancy grade, and its performance exceeded the industry's requirement for bruising damage to apples.


INTRODUCTION Library digital collections have historically contained unstandardized and often inadequate information regarding copyright status in the item-level metadata. The development of RightsStatements.org, international recommendations for describing rights status, provides an opportunity for libraries to improve their rights metadata and educate users about copyright for digital objects. DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM This paper reports on a two-year project at the University of Miami Libraries to implement RightsStatements.org. Two librarians, who did not previously have a background in copyright issues, performed a copyright analysis of all 58,000 objects in the libraries' digital collections and developed workflows for updating rights metadata. Workflows for developing new digital projects were also updated to incorporate rights considerations more comprehensively throughout the process. CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS The copyright assessment project uncovered several challenges for analyzing the copyright status of digitized archival and special collections materials, including the need to periodically reevaluate materials as more content moves into the public domain in the United States. The project also reinforced the importance of risk management when planning digitization projects for online access. Project outcomes are discussed, as well as implications for other libraries considering implementing RightsStatements.org.


At present, a successful realization of the magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH) therapy is conditioned by some unsolved problems. One of these problems is the choice of the correct particle concentration in order to achieve a defined temperature increase in the tumor tissue. A computer-based model was created using COMSOL: Multiphysics in order to simulate the heat dissipation within the tissue for typical configurations of the tumor position in relation to neighboring blood vessels as well as particle distribution within the tumor. The temperature achieved on the tumor border was investigated taking into account physiological parameters of different types of tissues. Using the correct nanoparticle dosage and considering their specific loss power, it is possible to estimate the efficiency of this therapeutic method. If the tumor shape and position are known by suitable medical imaging techniques (e.g., MRI, CT), simulations like this one could provide data in order to achieve the optimum dose and particle distribution in the tumor.


In this paper we extend a model by A. Ulph (1997) on the relationship between free trade agreements, environmental regulation and trade under imperfect competition. Ulph's model focused on the effectiveness of harmonisation policies against ecological dumping. It turned out that harmonised policies are rarely optimal under perfect information, but some rationale for them is granted when asymmetric information between the Commission and national governments is considered. This paper analyses two extensions of that model: transboundary pollution and the inclusion of consumer's surplus. Our interest in these issues rests in their importance for the environmental regulation of the European electricity sector, where imperfect competition can be expected to prevail even after the opening of the Single Market. Allowing for consumers' surplus has a very limited impact on Ulph's conclusions, but considering transboundary pollution has important consequences. Under perfect information, it makes harmonisation a much more attractive option. Under asymmetric information, it affects the governments' incentives to misreport, making them stronger and changing the kind of report the Commission should be wary of, it calls for a much less differentiated treatment of the countries, and makes delegating the regulatory power to the Commission a more attractive option than acting non co-operatively.


Purpose: To determine the effect of carpet weaving on refractive errors Methods: In this cross sectional study, carpet weavers and non-weavers in the normal population of Mashhad were regarded as exposed and non-exposed groups, respectively. A carpet weaver was a person who wove carpets 7 hours a day for at least 2 years. The non-weavers group was selected from the population of Mashhad through stratified cluster sampling. The variables of age, gender, education, with respect to their frequency, were matched between the two groups. Results: In this study, 266 carpet weavers (exposed individuals) and 549 non-weavers group (non-exposed individuals) were evaluated. The prevalence of myopia was 78.9% in carpet weavers and 19.0% in non-weavers [Odds ratio (OR)=16.03, 95% confidence interval (CI)=11.13-23.09]. The prevalence of hyperopia was 6.02% in carpet weavers, and 56.75% in non-weaver group (OR=0.05, P<0.001). The prevalence of astigmatism was 39.47% in carpet weavers and 21.46% in non-weavers. The odds of against-the-rule (ATR) astigmatism was 1.72 times more in carpet weavers as compared to non-weavers (P<0.001). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that carpet weaving had a strong correlation with myopia. In addition to myopia, the prevalence of astigmatism, specially ATR astigmatism, was higher in carpet weavers.


A serum ferritin concentration of below 15 microgram/l is accepted as indicating diminished iron reserves in an otherwise normal person. In patients with inflammatory disease this lower limit of normality may be inappropriate as inflammation may directly stimulate the production of ferritin protein. Results obtained in a survey of 150 patients with early inflammatory joint disease suggest that a ferritin concentration of 55 microgram/l is a more appropriate lower limit of normality.


This article is a critical engagement with the work of Daniel Smith-Christopher who has attempted to describe the social impact of the exile on the group of people who were taken to Babylon. Suffering changed their identity and their understanding of who they were. In order to survive, they had to develop strategies to cope with their new reality. The exiles understood themselves as a group 'purified' by the experience of exile. In their own eyes they were the 'true' Israel. Smith-Christopher has consistently argued that what they did when they returned to the province of Yehud should be understood in this light. His work is contrasted with that of other scholars who were more interested in the plight of those who remained in the land which leads to questions such as the following : is it responsible to only present the side of the deported elite as Smith-Christopher is doing? And : when do strategies developed for the sake of survival change into recipes for oppression?


Abstract. We present a 4-yr-old boy with adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), diagnosed due to the appearance of gynecomastia as the presenting symptom. Six months prior to admission, an acute growth spurt along with the development of bilateral breast swelling was observed. He did not present any features of virilization, including enlargement of the testes, increase in testis volume, and penis size. Laboratory investigations showed gonadotropin-independent hypergonadism, with low LH/ FSH levels and elevated estradiol/testosterone levels. Abdominal computed tomography revealed a large heterogeneous mass adjacent to the right kidney and below the liver. Pathological investigations of the biopsy specimen demonstrated that the tumor was an ACC. Pre- and post-operative combination chemotherapy with mitotane was administered and surgical resection was carried out. Post-surgery, the elevated estradiol/testosterone concentrations reverted to within the reference range. Urinary steroid profile and tissue concentration analysis of estradiol and testosterone indicated the presence of estrogen in the ACC tissue. An investigation for TP53 gene aberrations revealed the presence of a germline point mutation in exon 4 (c.215C>G (p.Pro72Arg)). In ACC, the most common symptom is virilization, and feminization, characterized by gynecomastia, is very rare. However, a diagnostic possibility of ACC should be considered when we encounter patients who have developed gynecomastia without the influence of causative factors such as obesity or puberty, and do not present with the typical signs of virilization.


-s 9 -s 9 WELDING JOURNAL ABSTRACT. Welding is the primary technique used for joining structural components. However, weld penetration depth measurement is not done in real-time resulting in open-loop control of it. The major obstacle to on-line weld penetration depth measurement is a lack of accurate and high-resolution nondestructive and noncontact sensors that can operate in high temperatures and harsh environments typical of welding processes. The use of ultrasonic sensors to measure weld penetration depth of butt joint welds has focused on using a direct reflection of either a longitudinal or shear wave from the bottom of a weld bead. During laser generation of ultrasound, it was observed that a Rayleigh (surface) wave was generated on the bottom of weld samples. This Rayleigh wave traveled to the bottom of the weld bead where it mode converted into a longitudinal (pressure) and shear (transverse) wave. The modeconverted longitudinal wave traveled to the bottom of the weld sample where it generated a shear (RGLS) and longitudinal (RGLL) wave reflection. Similarly, the mode converted shear wave also generated a shear (RGSS) and longitudinal (RGSL) wave reflection. The development of a new RGLS time of flight (TOF) technique for weld penetration measurements will be presented. Experimental results using the RGLS TOF technique for weld penetration depth measurement has proven to be accurate, precise, and repeatable both off-line after welding and on-line during welding. Additional RGLL, RGSL, and RGSS TOF techniques related to the RGLS TOF technique will also be presented. This new technique for measuring weld penetration depth can enable closed loop control of weld penetration depth. Introduction


We live in a world of glowing rectangles. Our devices emit a bluish light, akin to that from the cerulean sky. Even when they sleep, computers softly pulse tiny LEDs on and off, making their presence known through light. And where they were once uniformly black and dark gray, devices are now white, shiny, and reflective: they add light not just by emitting it, but by reflecting it. The airbrushed aluminium of Macintosh computers has a luminous flux that ranks higher on light meters than pure, snowy white.


In this paper we introduce Resizable Data Composer-Cache (RDC-Cache). This novel cache architecture operates correctly at sub 500 mV in 65 nm technology tolerating large number of Manufacturing Process Variation induced defects. Based on a smart relocation methodology, RDC-Cache decomposes the data that is targeted for a defective cache way and relocates one or few word to a new location avoiding a write to defective bits. Upon a read request, the requested data is recomposed through an inverse operation. For the purpose of fault tolerance at low voltages the cache size is reduced, however, in this architecture the final cache size is considerably higher compared to previously suggested resizable cache organizations [2][3]. The following three features a) compaction of relocated words, b)ability to use defective words for fault tolerance and c) "linking" (relocating the defective word to any row in the next bank), allows this architecture to achieve far larger fault tolerance in comparison to [2][3]. In high voltage mode, the fault tolerant mechanism of RDC-Cache is turned-off with minimal (0.91%) latency overhead compared to a traditional cache.


In this paper, a new power-circuit configuration for four-level inversion with an open-end winding induction motor is proposed. This configuration is suitable for an induction motor with 6 n (n = 1, 2,...) number of poles. Two isolated dc power supplies, each rated for one third of the total dc-link voltage, are sufficient to realize this four-level inverter scheme. It is shown that it is possible to produce a voltage vector of 1-p.u. magnitude with a total dc-link voltage of 0.66 p.u., indicating that the dc-link utilization is enhanced by a factor of 33% with this power-circuit configuration. In the proposed power circuit, the zero-sequence current is arrested as the motor phase windings of the open-end winding induction motor are segmented into two separate groups in the ratio of 2 : 1, with one end of each group forming an isolated neutral point. Each phase group is then powered by two individual two-level inverters with two separate dc-power supplies with a common negative rail. The existence of this common negative rail is the principal cause of an increased dc-bus utilization. A simple decoupled space-vector pulsewidth modulation is adequate to control both of these inverters, which further demonstrates the simplicity of the drive control.


In the search for substantive relationships in the use of emerging technology, information quality is often difficult to assess. This research explores user perceptions of presentation, navigation, and quality of Web home pages for approximately 200 selected Fortune 500 companies across 10 industries. An instrument is developed to measure these constructs and is assessed for convergent and discriminant validity as well as reliability. Company Web home pages are clustered using 24 Web site features. Interpretations of the type of Web home page within a cluster are based on their characteristics. An explorative analysis is performed between types of Web home pages and user perceptions of these sites. This study provides empirical evidence of relationships between companies at different positions in the supply chain and the information quality of their Web home pages.


The stray capacitance in the process of MEDM has been the key problem of influencing the processing dimension and precision. This paper puts forward a method of measuring the stray capacitance of MEDM machine tool, through recording the charging waveform of two cases that the RC pulse power is on the machine tool or not by an oscilloscope, and then the measured data are substituted for the capacitance charging formula, we get the stray capacitance value of MEDM machine tool. This paper also tests the cases of different charging voltage and different tool-electrode length, finally we find that the tool-electrode length has a big influence on the stray capacitance.


The mathematical model of the widely-used sparse covariance selection problem (SCSP) is an NP-hard combinatorial problem, whereas it can be well approximately by a convex relaxation problem whose maximum likelihood estimation is penalized by the L1 norm. This convex relaxation problem, however, is still numerically challenging, especially for large-scale cases. Recently, some efficient first-order methods inspired by Nesterov's work have been proposed to solve the convex relaxation problem of SCSP. This paper is to apply the well-known alternating direction method (ADM), which is also a first-order method, to solve the convex relaxation of SCSP. Due to the full exploitation to the separable structure of a simple reformulation of the convex relaxation problem, the ADM approach is very efficient for solving large-scale SCSP. Our preliminary numerical results show that the ADM approach substantially outperforms existing first-order methods for SCSP.


(Uncorrected OCR)
Abstract of thesis entitled
'FACTOR ANALYSIS FOR RANKING DATA'
Submitted by Lo Siu Ming
For the Degree of Master of Philosophy
at The University of Hong Kong in December 1998
This thesis aims at the analysis of preference rankings which allow people's preference or behaviour to be studied. Some models proposed in the literature for modelling ranking data will be discussed. When the number of ranked items, k, is large, the number of parameters involved in model estimation may be too large which leads to computational infeasible. To solve this problem, an important objective is to reduce the dimensionality of the data. Factor analysis, which achieves much of the above objective, is a sensitive, informative method and is widely used in economical, psychological, sociological or marketing research as a powerful tool to identify the common characteristics among a set of variables. In the context of factor analysis for non-continuous type data, most application are restricted to item response data only. We extend factor analysis for item response data to accommodate ranking data by the Monte Carlo Expectation Maximization (MCEM) algorithm which is an estimation procedure with high efficiency and accuracy.
The factor model for ranking data, the corresponding likelihood function and details on the MCEM algorithm for parameter estimation are described. The E-step is implemented via the Gibbs Sampler (Geman and Geman (1984)) which simu-
i
lates the response utilities based on the observed full rankings. A bridge sampling criterion will be introduced to monitor the convergence of the MCEM algorithm. A model selection method and a goodness-of-fit test of the factor model will also be discussed. The efficiency of the proposed estimation method, selection method and goodness-of-fit test will be illustrated by a simulation study. For illustrative purpose, the methods are used to analyse a set of ranking data collected from a parent and teacher interview survey on pre-school education in which respondents are requested to give their preferences on the relative importance of different goals of pre-school education.
Extension to factor analysis for incomplete rankings (rank the top q out of k items and subset rankings) will also be discussed. To illustrate the feasibility of the proposed method, a simulation study is carried out for each of the two types of incomplete rankings. Also, the estimation procedure is applied to a set of incomplete ranking data obtained from a survey carried out in GuangZhou, a major city in Mainland China, to investigate the factors affecting the choice of a job.
The MCEM algorithm is also applied to obtain estimates of the factor scores in a factor analysis model with ranking data. The covariance matrix of the estimates, given the observed rankings and factor model parameters, is also derived. Furthermore, the GuangZhou job selection dataset will be revisited and the factor scores of the respondents will be estimated.
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In north-east Arnhem Land languages, ganma is a word used to describe the place where the fresh water from a river meets the salt water of the sea. For the Yolngu, fresh water and salt water are significant opposites, and the turbulence and fertile potency of their meeting place is a powerful metaphor. The term is used in the Yirrkala community, especially in the school, to refer to the modern attempts to educate Yolngu children in 'both ways', that is the Yolngu way and the Balanda way. In this article, it refers to a musical text, the song 'Treaty' which, like ganma, represents a mixing of opposites.


Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a novel biomedical imaging technique which uses low-coherence optical interferometry to obtain micron-scale resolution tomographic images of sub-surface tissue structure noninvasively. We report on recent technical advances in OCT which have enhanced its potential for biological research and for minimally invasive medical diagnostics. We have developed OCT scanners compatible with minimally invasive delivery technologies (i.e., biomicroscopy, endoscopy) capable of imaging up to video rate. Clinical studies of OCT imaging in the eye, skin, and gastrointestinal tissues are under way which demonstrate the capability for quantitative morphometry on the micron scale, reproducible image contrast between tissue layers, and differentiation between normal and pathological tissue states. We have also developed novel functional imaging extensions to OCT including spectroscopic, Doppler flow, and polarization-sensitive enhancements which take advantage of the altered spectral or directional content of backscattered light to provide enhanced image contrast. Color Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography (CDOCT) is an extension to OCT which performs micron-scale resolution imaging flow velocimetry in biological tissues and other scattering media. We report on autocorrelation-based signal processing approaches for real-time rendering of Color Doppler OCT imagery in the physiological range of velocities from less than 1 min/sec to greater than 1 cm/sec. Demonstrated applications include the use of CDOCT for imaging of flow and flow dynamics in human retinal vessels, as well as intracardiac flow and turbulence in a developmental biology model.


Objective Improving dementia diagnosis rates are a key feature of dementia strategy and policy worldwide. This study aimed to explore the experience of carers of people diagnosed with dementia during or following a hospital admission in order to identify factors that had prevented them from seeking help beforehand. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 informal carers including adults caring for a parent, a friend or a spouse diagnosed with dementia between 2010–2019, following an acute hospital admission for a physical health problem, having not sought help previously. Main Findings Carers created a 'bubble of normalisation' around themselves and the person living with dementia (PLWD) to reject the label of dementia and protect the PLWD from a loss of independence, discrimination and prejudice they felt would be the result of a diagnosis. Carers struggled to talk to the PLWD about dementia reinforcing denial and stigma. Post-diagnosis carers felt unsupported and questioned the value of diagnosis. Principal Conclusions Stigma related to images of dementia as a disease that takes away independence and identity prevented discussion about dementia between carers and the PLWD. A lack of open discussion about memory concerns between health care professionals and carers also served to delay diagnosis.


The process of finding solutions to the research problem does not follow a clear sequential approach, but often takes unexpected turns due to the uncertainties of the research process and its outcomes. However, appropriate research design would be able to identify any problems and pitfalls that the researcher may come across during the process. In this regard, consideration of the research philosophy pertaining to the study helps a researcher in choosing the appropriate approach for a study. Not only the philosophical stance, but also the research problem under investigation and its underling circumstances influence the selection of a research approach.
Accordingly, this paper discusses the factors that drive the selection of a case study as the
research approach with particular reference to the use of single case study to undertake an in depth inquiry regarding the impact of performance measurement towards construction research and development. Further, this paper discusses the incorporation of multi-phase, multi perspective and multi-method approaches within the single case study to build valid theory.


This study presents an innovative application of well‐established environmental magnetic proxy parameters on fluvial sediments, with the aim to trace geological and human‐induced processes in the complex Seine river drainage system in northern France. We seek to identify environmental fingerprints of mechanical and chemical weathering processes, the regional distribution of the suspended material, and changes in the balance of natural input versus anthropogenic pollution. In order to reach these goals, we applied a combination of rock magnetic and advanced scanning electron microscopic techniques on a large number of sediment trap samples. Generally, we observe an increase in magnetic concentration coupled with a coarsening in magnetic grain size downstream of the Seine river system. Furthermore, the dominant magnetomineralogy changes from high‐coercivity minerals upstream in more rural areas to magnetite‐dominated assemblages downstream. Each river (segment) shows its specific trend line depending on regional initial input, weathering conditions, drainage area, and potential pollution sources. One major outcome of this study is the observed significant correlation between anthropogenic antimony‐rich iron oxide particles and the magnetic concentration. This shows the potential of magnetic remanence measurements as proxy parameters for specific heavy metal pollution concentrations. Hence, the environmental magnetic study presented herein serves to identify major trends as well as local particularities and leads to quantitative analyses of the contributions of individual tributaries in the Seine river system.


Tall waterhemp management
in agronomic crops continues to be an increasing problem due to widespread
resistance to herbicides, including protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO)-inhibitors.
With limited effective postemergence herbicides, especially in soybeans,
research to further understand the selection of PPO-resistant (PPO-R) tall
waterhemp and identification of new herbicide resistance mechanisms is crucial
for improving weed management decisions in order to slow selection for
herbicide resistance and prolong the effectiveness of PPO-inhibiting
herbicides.

 Previous research has shown that soil-applied
applications of PPO-inhibiting herbicides can increase the frequency of the PPO
resistance trait (∆G210)
in surviving tall waterhemp plants, even when applied in combination at the
same ratio with the very long chain fatty acid inhibitor (VLCFA), s-metolachlor. Field experiments were
conducted to determine if selection for tall waterhemp resistant individuals to
PPO-inhibitors could be reduced when the soil residual activity of s-metolachlor persisted longer than the
PPO-inhibitor herbicide. The frequency of ∆G210 in surviving individual plants increased as the
fomesafen rate increased, but was independent of the rate of s-metolachlor. Additionally,
heterozygosity of ∆G210
in surviving individuals did not change with any rate or combination of
fomesafen and s-metolachlor. However,
saflufenacil, standard PPO-inhibitor with relatively short soil residual
activity, applied alone increased the number of homozygous PPO-R tall waterhemp
by 15% compared to the high rate of s-metolachlor
and the combination of saflufenacil and s-metolachlor.
Furthermore, this research demonstrated that end of season control of tall
waterhemp plays a more vital role in delaying a large-scale shift towards
herbicide resistance through reduced seed production. This can be achieved
through the combination of multiple effective herbicide sites of action,
including soil residual PPO-inhibitors. Tall waterhemp control and density were
greatest with the high rates of fomesafen plus s-metolachlor, which resulted in the lowest number of PPO-R tall
waterhemp that survived herbicide treatment at the end of season.

 Prior to the research conducted in this thesis, the only
known resistance mechanism to PPO-inhibiting herbicides in tall waterhemp has
been the ∆G210
target site mutation. A previously developed TaqMan assay used to determine the
presence or absence of the ∆G210
mutation has allowed accurate, high throughput screening of this mutation.
However, suspected PPO-R tall waterhemp do not always receive positive
confirmation indicating the presence of an alternative resistance mechanism.
Identification of additional resistance mechanisms can provide valuable insight
in regards to resistance to PPO-inhibiting herbicides as well as cross
resistance to other herbicide modes of action, which can lead to improved tall
waterhemp management decisions. Of 148 tall waterhemp populations collected
across the Midwestern U.S., 84% of the populations sampled contained at least
one PPO-R biotype with the ∆G210
mutation, although several individual plants across the Midwest U.S. exhibited
phenotypic resistance to fomesafen that could not be explained by ∆G210. The percentage of
PPO-R tall waterhemp without ∆G210
was 19, 5, 2, 1, and 2% for Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Missouri,
respectively. Following the initial greenhouse screening, subsequent tall
waterhemp populations were selected that exhibited low-, mid-, and high-level
resistance to fomesafen that resulted in resistance ratios from 0.6 to 17X in
response to fomesafen. This research documents the variability in fomesafen
response to multiple tall waterhemp populations in addition to revealing the
presence of additional resistance mechanism(s), other than the previously known
∆G210 mutation that
has been the benchmark for resistance to PPO-inhibiting herbicides in tall
waterhemp.

 Lastly, greenhouse and lab experiments were conducted to
investigate the role of antioxidant enzymes with PPO-R tall waterhemp via ∆G210. The objectives of
this research were to determine if the variability in resistance ratios for
PPO-R tall waterhemp documented in greenhouse and field scenarios could be due
to an enhanced antioxidant enzyme pathway. Basal levels of antioxidant enzymes
in PPO-S populations were not different from PPO-R populations when pooled
together by respective phenotype. However, enzyme activity of tall waterhemp
populations varied at the individual level, but independent of the ∆G210 mutation. This
indicates that an inherent enhanced antioxidant enzyme pathway does not cause
the variability in fomesafen response in tall waterhemp. With the exception of glutathione
reductase, antioxidant enzyme activity following fomesafen application was
generally the same for PPO-R and PPO-S populations by increasing, decreasing,
or remaining unchanged. Glutathione reductase activity in PPO-S populations
decreased compared to PPO-R populations from 9 to 36 HAT. By 36 HAT, all antioxidant
enzyme activity for PPO-S populations was lower compared to PPO-R populations
most likely a consequence of more lipid peroxidation. This research shows that
antioxidant enzyme activity correlated with fomesafen application and documents
the variability observed within tall waterhemp populations with and without the
∆G210 mutation.


We report intestinal carriage of an extended-spectrum β-lactamase−producing Klebsiella pneumoniae strain with high-level resistance to colistin (MIC 24 mg/L) in a patient in France who had been hospitalized for fungal meningitis. The strain had the mcr-1 plasmid gene and an inactivated mgrB gene, which are associated with colistin resistance.


Segmentation of the handwritten Arabic characters is still one of the most difficult problems to develop a reliable Arabic OCR. This paper presents a complete Arabic OCR system that uses histogram clustering method for the segmentation of the Arabic word. This method gives the ability to process different user styles, and manages the variability of pen strokes. Also, a new algorithm for separating overlapped characters was proposed to support the proposed technique for segmentation. The feature extraction process was based on a combination between the PCA network and characters geometric features. A classifier for hundred of Arabic character images was designed using a decision tree induction algorithm, and MLP network. A segmentation correctness of 96% was achieved while the recognition rate of the whole system was 91.5%.


The primary object of this article is to report our experiences with the use of radium as a therapeutic agent in nasopharyngeal growths; but we also wish to emphasize the fact that here, as elsewhere in the body, the growth must be recognized during the earliest stages of its development in order to improve materially our present therapeutic results—whether the method of treatment employed is operative, the actual cautery or irradiation. Our results with the radium treatment of lymphosarcoma of the nasopharynx are not good, although this variety of sarcoma disappears locally after irradiation more rapidly than does any other type of tumor with which we are familiar. One possible explanation for this unsatisfactory clinical result is that the earliest symptoms of lymphosarcoma in the nasopharynx are difficulty in breathing through the nose and eustachian tube obstruction, and that these symptoms are usually treated without recognition of the underlying cause


Background and Purpose— A better understanding of the stroke risk factors in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) could inform stroke prevention strategies. We analyzed pediatric stroke associated with CHD in a large community-based case–control study. Methods— From 2.5 million children (aged <20 years) enrolled in a Northern California integrated healthcare plan, we identified children with ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes and randomly selected age- and facility-matched stroke-free controls (3 per case). We determined exposure to CHD (diagnosed before stroke) and used conditional logistic regression to analyze stroke risk factors. Results— CHD was identified in 15 of 412 cases (4%) versus 7 of 1236 controls (0.6%). Cases of childhood stroke (occurring between ages 29 days to 20 years) with CHD had 19-fold (odds ratio, 19; 95% confidence interval 4.2–83) increased stroke risk compared to controls. History of CHD surgery was associated with >30-fold (odds ratio, 31; confidence interval 4–241) increased risk of stroke in children with CHD when compared with controls. After excluding perioperative strokes, the history of CHD surgery still increased the childhood stroke risk (odds ratio, 13; confidence interval 1.5–114). The majority of children with stroke and CHD were outpatients at the time of stroke, and almost half the cases who underwent cardiac surgery had their stroke >5 years after the most recent procedure. An estimated 7% of ischemic and 2% of hemorrhagic childhood strokes in the population were attributable to CHD. Conclusions— CHD is an important childhood stroke risk factor. Children who undergo CHD surgery remain at elevated risk outside the perioperative period and would benefit from optimized long-term stroke prevention strategies.


The purpose of this paper is to review two recently reported, long-term studies of several chemical methods to control gingivitis and decalcification in in adolescent orthodontic patients. The first study (gingivitis study) was designed to determine whether conventional toothbrushing and twice daily use of a brush-on 0.4 per cent SnF2 gel containing more than 90 per cent available Sn2+ would be more effective for controlling plaque accumulation and gingivitis in the presence of orthodontic appliances than conventional toothbrushing alone. The second study (decalcification study) was designed to compare the effectiveness of controlling decalcification in orthodontic patients with either a 1100 ppm F toothpaste used alone, this same toothpaste and a 0.05 per cent NaF rinse or this toothpaste and a 0.4 per cent SnF2 gel. In the gingivitis study, sixty-five consecutively treated adolescents who were to receive full-mouth fixed orthodontic appliances were assigned to two groups according to age and sex criteria. In the decalcification study an additional 30 subjects (95 total) were similarly assigned to a third group. The first group (control, n = 35) used only toothbrushing with a standard fluoride (1100 ppm F) toothpaste. The second group used toothbrushing with a similar dentifrice supplemented with a 0.4 per cent SnF2 gel (SnF2 gel group, n = 30) used twice daily for the entire 18-month study period. The third group (in the decalcification study only) used a similar toothpaste and 0.05 per cent NaF rinse (NaF rinse group, n = 30). Clinical assessments of plaque accumulation using the Plaque Index, gingival inflammation using the Gingival Index, and coronal staining were completed single-blind before appliances were placed and 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 18 months after appliances were placed. Decalcification was assessed single blind on all labial surfaces of all erupted teeth before appliances were placed and 3 months after appliances were removed. The results of the gingivitis study indicated that the SnF2 gel group had significantly lower scores for the Plaque Index (p < 0.01) and the Gingival Index (p < 0.001) at all examinations during orthodontic treatment than did the control group. In the SnF2 gel group, one subject developed mild coronal staining and two subjects developed moderate staining. In the decalcification study, when pre-treatment levels of decalcification were subtracted from post-treatment values, significantly lower decalcification scores (p < 0.05) were found for both whole mouth and first molars in the NaF rinse and gel groups as compared with the control group (toothpaste alone).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Gas hydrates are solid structures composed of gas molecules encased in cages of water molecules. Most interesting to the energy community are hydrates that contain hydrocarbon gases. In the northern Gulf of Mexico, hydrates of this type form in water depths greater than 450 m and often occur in mounds located where faults intersect the seafloor. Typically, these hydrates consist of seawater from which the salt has been excluded and gases that have migrated up faults from buried hydrocarbon reservoirs. In addition to hydrates, the mounds contain large amounts of calcium carbonate and various other minerals precipitated by microbes that extract energy from hydrocarbon fluids.


This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between self-employment and unemployment rates. On the one hand, high unemployment rates may lead to start-up activity of selfemployed individuals (the "refugee" effect). On the other hand, higher rates of self-employment may indicate increased entrepreneurial activity reducing unemployment in subsequent periods (the "entrepreneurial" effect). This paper introduces a new two-equation vector autoregression model capable of reconciling these ambiguities and estimates it for data from 23 OECD countries between 1974 and 2002. The empirical results confirm the existence of two distinct relationships between unemployment and self-employment: the "refugee" and "entrepreneurial" effects. We also find that the "entrepreneurial" effects are considerably stronger than the "refugee" effects. Discussion Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 1 Discussion Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2


Over the last six years, the University of Texas Arlington Advanced Materials and Structures Lab (AMSL) has been developing a number of Digital Image Correlationbased and computed tomography-based advanced measurement techniques for material characterization as well as effective computational analysis methods to verify simplifying assumptions and increase confidence in material allowables for laminated composites [1]. DIC data-driven methods developed at AMSL include (1) Short-Beam Shear (SBS) Method, and (2) Small- Plate Twist (SPT) Method – simultaneously measuring nonlinear shear material properties in the 1-2, 1-3, and 2-3 material planes. The methodology to generate nonlinear stress-strain response has been objective enough so one can start from measuring the strain and calculating the stress independent of the strain measurement and use iterative FEM-based stress Updating (FEMU) after the initial geometric stress approximation to generate the material stress-strain relations free of ad hoc assumptions. The DIC data-driven modeling methodology developed at AMSL has been verified by Boeing under the High-Fidelity Experimental and Analytical Characterization of Input Properties for Progressive Damage Analysis Methods. In particular, lamina shear stress-strain curves have been generated in this work using SPT and SBS methods for a material that has no basis for a transverse isotropic approximation. SBS/SPT testing relying on DIC resulted in excellent-quality nonlinear stress-strain curves for 1-2 in-plane shear, and 1-3 as well as 2-3 interlaminar shear (ILS) behavior. It is worth noting that to this date SPT has been the only method to fully measure 2-3 ILS stress-strain curves including the nonlinear near-strength regime. This work, a collaborative effort between AMSL and the Boeing Company, presents some of the most recent results and ongoing activities related to DIC datadriven modeling.


Mali long seemed a model, low-income democracy. Yet, in a few short weeks in early 2012, more than half of the territory came under the military control of an Islamist secessionist movement, and a military coup deposed the democratically-elected government in the capital. Given the substantial amount of foreign aid received by the democratic regime in the years before these events, this paper asks whether or not foreign aid could have done more to prevent the present outcomes. The paper concludes that it is very difficult to make such an assessment. On the one hand, aid can be credited for helping strengthen key elements of vertical accountability that are necessary for democracy. On the other hand, aid was not very successful at reducing several of the underlying, structural constraints that were to prove the country´s undoing in 2012.


Forgiveness in Resolving Marital Conflict among Korean Immigrant Baby-boomer Couples at Calvary Mission Church in Los Angeles Jin Wook Chang Doctor of Ministry School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary 2012 This ministry focus paper presents the importance of forgiveness, specifically as it relates to troubled Korean immigrant couples of the Baby-boom generation. The paper is describes and discusses the marriage counseling program conducted within the Korean immigrant community of Los Angeles by Calvary Mission Church. The history of this church in Los Angeles and its marriage counseling program, the Counseling Education Institute for Korean Marriage and Family, are presented. The unique historical and cultural characteristics of the local Korean immigrant population are discussed, with special attention to the cultural background of Korean immigrants and the challenge of marriage counseling work. For instance, the background of Confucianism and its traditional teachings about marriage and family create difficulties for Korean immigrant couples attempting to adapt to life in the United States and for marriage counselors to work with them. The biblical and theological importance of forgiveness is discussed, with special emphasis on the centrality of forgiveness to the ministry of Christ, and its continuing deep significance for all Christians, including troubled Korean immigrant boomer couples. It is argued that forgiveness, along with repentance and reconciliation, is a key biblical solution for resolving marital conflict. A three-step model of forgiveness is also included, incorporating repentance and reconciliation. Initiating and maintaining changes of thoughts are examined. Identifying and diagnosing marital conflicts and their remedies are provided. Maximizing forgiveness allows spouses to embody sincere forgiveness by using two procedures. The content and practices of a three-day marriage retreat are described in detail, as are follow-up procedures used to enhance and extend the practices of forgiveness in the participants' daily lives. Content Reader: Brad Stenberg, PhD


Rats were tested for their ability to locate a hidden platform in the Morris swimming pool in which extrapool cues are required to guide locomotion. At the end of each trial, the rats were either removed immediately or allowed to remain on the platform for 60 s. Bilateral lesions of the superior colliculus (SC), as in a previous experiment (Milner & Lines, 1983), were found to produce a severe deficit. Permitting the rats to stay on the platform did not significantly affect performance in either rats with SC lesions or sham-operated controls. The results indicated that the reduced orienting behavior on the platform observed in the rats with lesions in the previous experiment was not the cause of their navigational impairment. It is concluded that the impairment following SC lesions comes about during the swimming itself and therefore that it may be attributed to a disturbance of, or a failure to utilize, ambient vision.


abstract:Prei Khmeng, a village 13 km northwest of Siem Reap, Cambodia, is noted for the presence of one of the region's earliest monuments, Prasat Prei Khmeng. Aside from its ruined temple, Prei Khmeng is an important prehistoric occupation site that immediately pre-dates the foundation of the temple. First excavated by a Franco-Cambodian team in the early 2000s, the site was revisited in 2014 by an Australian-Cambodian research team. Recent research revealed Iron Age domestic occupation as well as inhumation burials. The burial assemblage provides evidence of regional trade and exchange and mortuary wealth differentiation. Bioarchaeological examination of the individuals interred at the site reveals intentional dental modification and perimortem blunt and sharp force skeletal trauma. This research sheds light on this important epoch in prehistory, a juncture between the prehistoric and protohistoric period in Cambodia, which was a time of substantial socio-political transformation.


BACKGROUND
Until the late 1970s, invasive infections caused by Haemophilus species were thought to occur mainly in children and only infrequently in adults.

OBJECTIVE
To report the largest series to date of Haemophilus species bacteremia (HB) from a single center.

DESIGN
Retrospective.

SETTING
Large, tertiary care, general teaching hospital.

METHODS
We reviewed the charts of adult patients with HB detected from January 1, 1986, to December 31, 1994. Haemophilus strains were serotyped, and the antimicrobial resistance pattern was analyzed.

RESULTS
One hundred sixteen patients had HB (0.26 cases per 1000 admissions). Thirty-eight children and 16 adults were excluded. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection was the most common underlying condition (n = 18 [29%]), followed by malignant neoplasms (n = 12 [19%]) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n = 12 [19%]). Prevalence in HIV-positive patients was 5 cases per 1000 admissions vs 0.2 cases per 1000 admissions in HIV-negative patients. Infection was nosocomial in 16 patients (26%). Focal diseases were pneumonia in 41 patients (66%), cholangitis in 5 patients (8%), endocarditis in 3 patients (5%), meningitis and septic arthritis each in 1 patient (2%), and primary bacteremia in 9 patients (14%). The HIV-positive patients were significantly younger and presented more frequently with pneumonia (P < .05). Overall, 14 patients died (22%). Bacteremia was polymicrobial in 11 patients (18%). Haemophilus influenzae was isolated in 53 patients (85%). Rates of antimicrobial resistance were 11% to chloramphenicol sodium succinate, 48% to ampicillin sodium, 78% to erythromycin stearate, 76% to combined sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim, 15% to rifampin, and 57% to clarithromycin.

CONCLUSIONS
Infection with HIV has become the most common underlying disease in adults with HB in our hospital. Therapeutic approaches must take into account the high rate of antimicrobial resistance.


Late September saw the Michigan Senate approve two bills that will require girls in Michigan entering the sixth grade to be vaccinated against the two strains of the sexually transmitted virus human papillomavirus (HPV) that cause 70% of all cervical cancers.

The two bills, if approved by the State Assembly, will mean that starting in the 2007–2008 school year, parents in Michigan will be the first in the country required to ensure that their daughters have been vaccinated against HPV before entering sixth grade. But, as with legislation mandating other vaccines (such as those against measles and rubella), the bills do allow parents to opt out of the HPV vaccine requirement for medical, moral, or philosophical reasons. This opt-out clause might be used more often than for other mandatory vaccines, as some critics feel that because HPV is a sexually transmitted disease, providing the vaccination to girls before they become sexually active endorses underage sex and promiscuity. However, State Senator Beverley Hammerstrom (R), who sponsored these bills, told the JCI that "Requiring immunizations for school entry has proven to be the single most important health policy enacted in Michigan to ensure that all children, regardless of economic levels, receive vaccines against diseases. Adding the HPV vaccine, which prevents the virus that can cause cervical cancer, is a natural extension to that list of required vaccines."

Also in late September, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) approved Gardasil (produced by Merck), the only HPV vaccine currently available in the United States, for use in the 25 European Union (EU) countries. EMEA approved Gardasil for use in children and adolescents aged 9 to 15 years and in adult females aged 16 to 26 years. This followed the June 2006 FDA approval of Gardasil for use in girls and women aged 9 to 26 years, as well as approval by regulatory agencies in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand. As the JCI was going to press, Gardasil was due to be launched in some EU countries at the end of October and in the remaining countries in early 2007.

Gardasil not only protects against infection with HPV16 and HPV18, the two strains of HPV that account for 70% of cervical cancer, but also protects against infection with HPV6 and HPV11 — the strains of HPV that cause approximately 90% of external genital warts. By contrast, the vaccine Cervarix, which is being developed by GlaxoSmithKline, only protects against HPV16 and HPV18. Importantly, the clinical trials of both Cervarix (for which GlaxoSmithKline is awaiting EMEA approval and filing for FDA approval) and Gardasil showed that vaccination provided almost 100% protection against the development of HPV16- and HPV18-associated precancerous cervical lesions. The generation of such vaccines has therefore been hailed as "excellent news" by Margaret Stanley, an expert in HPV research at the University of Cambridge (1), and as "one of the most important advances in women's health in recent years" by Carolyn Runowicz, president of the American Cancer Society (2).

Optimal protection against infection with HPV requires a course of three doses of Gardasil, with two months between the first and second doses and four months between the second and third doses. The cost is approximately $120 and €120 per dose in the United States and Europe, respectively. It has been suggested that this might be too expensive for developing countries — which have much higher death rates from cervical cancer than do developed countries, largely because they lack organized screening programs — meaning that many of the women in need of this vaccine will not get vaccinated (3). It is also possible that this high cost might mean that some socioeconomic groups in the United States will remain unvaccinated. Several health insurance companies have agreed that vaccination with Gardasil will be covered under preventive medicine health care plans, and the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended that Gardasil be covered by the Vaccines for Children Program (which provides no-cost immunizations to children covered by Medicaid, Alaska Native and American Indian children, and some uninsured and underinsured children). However, some girls do not qualify for the Vaccines for Children Program but come from families too poor to have health insurance or to pay for the vaccine themselves.

In addition to the relatively high cost, there are other drawbacks to HPV vaccines. Although Gardasil protects against infection with HPV6, HPV11, HPV16, and HPV18, it will not prevent individuals already infected with either HPV16 or HPV18 from developing cervical cancer, which can occur up to 10 years after infection. It will also not prevent individuals infected with other oncogenic strains of HPV from developing cancer. Experts believe that for these reasons it is important that cervical cancer screening programs are not abandoned, even when herd immunity to HPV16 and HPV18 begins to increase.


Reprocessing and interpretation of commercial and deep seismic reflection data across the East Shetland platform and its North Sea margin provide a new view of crustal subbasement structure beneath a poorly known region of the British Caledonian orogen. The East Shetland platform, east of the Great Glen strike-slip fault system, is one of the few areas of the offshore British Caledonides that remained relatively insulated from the Mesozoic and later rifting that involved much of the area around the British Isles, thus providing an "acoustic window" into the deep structure of the orogen. Interpretation of the reflection data suggests that the crust beneath the platform retains a significant amount of its original Caledonian and older architecture. The upper to middle crust is typically poorly reflective except for individual prominent dipping reflectors with complex orientations that decrease in dip with depth and merge with a lower crustal layer of high reflectivity. The three-dimensional structural orientation of the reflectors beneath the East Shetland platform is at variance with Caledonian reflector trends observed elsewhere in the Caledonian orogen (e.g., north of the Scottish mainland), emphasizing the unique tectonic character of this part of the orogen. Upper to middle crustal reflectors are interpreted as Caledonian or older thrust surfaces that were possibly reactivated by Devonian extension associated with post-Caledonian orogenic collapse.

The appearance of two levels of uneven and diffractive (i.e., corrugated) reflectivity in the lower crust, best developed on east-west–oriented profiles, is characteristic of the East Shetland platform. However, a north-south–oriented profile reveals an interpreted south-vergent folded and imbricated thrust structure in the lower crust that appears to be tied to the two levels of corrugated reflectivity on the east-west profiles. A thrust-belt origin for lower crustal reflectivity would explain its corrugated appearance. Regional seismic velocity models derived from refraction data suggest that this reflectivity correlates with a continuous lower crustal layer that has an intermediate seismic velocity. The lower crustal reflectivity is determined to be older than Mesozoic age by the bending down and truncation of the two reflectivity levels at the western margin of the North Sea Viking graben by a major mantle reflector inferred to be associated with Mesozoic rifting. The results of this study are thus in contrast with orthodox interpretations of the reflective layered lower crust as being caused by mantle-derived igneous intrusion or by deformation fabrics associated with stretching in response to continental rifting.


In marine sediments archaea often constitute a considerable part of the microbial community, of which the Deep Sea Archaeal Group (DSAG) is one of the most predominant. Despite their high abundance no members from this archaeal group have so far been characterized and thus their metabolism is unknown. Here we show that the relative abundance of DSAG marker genes can be correlated with geochemical parameters, allowing prediction of both the potential electron donors and acceptors of these organisms. We estimated the abundance of 16S rRNA genes from Archaea, Bacteria, and DSAG in 52 sediment horizons from two cores collected at the slow-spreading Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge, using qPCR. The results indicate that members of the DSAG make up the entire archaeal population in certain horizons and constitute up to ~50% of the total microbial community. The quantitative data were correlated to 30 different geophysical and geochemical parameters obtained from the same sediment horizons. We observed a significant correlation between the relative abundance of DSAG 16S rRNA genes and the content of organic carbon (p < 0.0001). Further, significant co-variation with iron oxide, and dissolved iron and manganese (all p < 0.0000), indicated a direct or indirect link to iron and manganese cycling. Neither of these parameters correlated with the relative abundance of archaeal or bacterial 16S rRNA genes, nor did any other major electron donor or acceptor measured. Phylogenetic analysis of DSAG 16S rRNA gene sequences reveals three monophyletic lineages with no apparent habitat-specific distribution. In this study we support the hypothesis that members of the DSAG are tightly linked to the content of organic carbon and directly or indirectly involved in the cycling of iron and/or manganese compounds. Further, we provide a molecular tool to assess their abundance in environmental samples and enrichment cultures.


A group of Semitic cognate roots within the framework of phonological correspondences contain one (or more) of the following Proto-Semitic consonants *g, *ṯ, *ḏ, *ṯ, *ḏ/ṣ, *ḫ, *ġ, *ś, *s, which differ significantly in the various principal Semitic languages. Their Arabic reflexes are ǧ, ṯ, ḏ, ẓ, ḍ, ḫ, ġ, s, s. In Syriac and Ṭūrōyo they are reduced to g, t, d, ṭ, ʿ, ḥ, s, s. In almost every Semitic language one can encounter doublets of these roots, of which one is native, the other borrowed. The present study mainly deals with such roots and their derivatives, with Arabic borrowings of this category in Ṭūrōyo as the chief topic. The principal aim is to methodically and consistently identify and distinguish between native Ṭūrōyo roots and Arabic roots of this category, borrowed into Ṭūrōyo. For the first time the bulk of the Arabic borrowings of this category in Ṭūrōyo and other words of immediate interest to the topic have been investigated as a connected subject, and a large part of the Arabic lexical influence on Ṭūrōyo has been demonstrated. The semantic connections between the examined roots is highlighted. Great importance is attached to roots indicated only for Aramaic/Syriac and Arabic. Different meanings with certain native Ṭūrōyo roots, as compared to the meanings of their Aramaic/Syriac correspondences, are noted. Neologisms, new words, forms, and meanings are documented. Regularities and irregularities regarding bəġaḏkəfaṯ are discussed and explanations provided. Divergences from the pattern of phonological correspondences and different interpretations of the Semitic comparative elements in the comparative dictionaries are observed. The study shows that the Ṭūrōyo consonants g, t, d, ṭ, ʿ, ḥ, s, s have remained intact in relation to the above-mentioned Syriac consonants, and that Arabic root consonants in Arabic borrowings in Ṭūrōyo are not changed to conform to the native consonants. On the other hand, the majority of the above-mentioned Arabic sounds phonetically coincide with certain etymologically different native Ṭūrōyo consonants. Two of them, d and t, etymologically overlap. Even if limited in scope, the investigation shows that Ṭūrōyo has undergone extensive lexical influence from Arabic, to which should probably be attributed the absence of many native Aramaic/Syriac roots in Ṭūrōyo.


BACKGROUND
Psychosocial job factors (PJF) have been implicated in the development of cardiovascular disease. The paucity of data from developing economies including Mexico hampers the development of worksite intervention efforts in those regions.

METHODS
This cross-sectional study of 2,330 Mexican workers assessed PJF (job strain [JS], social support [SS], and job insecurity [JI]) and biological cardiovascular disease risk factors [CVDRF] by questionnaire and on-site physical examinations. Alternative formulations of the JS scales were developed based on factor analysis and literature review. Associations between both traditional and alternative job factor scales with CVDRF were examined in multiple regression models, adjusting for physical workload, and socio-demographic factors.

RESULTS
Alternative formulations of the job demand and control scales resulted in substantial changes in effect sizes or statistical significance when compared with the original scales. JS and JI showed hypothesized associations with most CVDRF, but they were inversely associated with diastolic blood pressure and some adiposity measures. SS was mainly protective against CVDRF.

CONCLUSION
Among Mexican workers, alternative PJF scales predicted health outcomes better than traditional scales, and psychosocial stressors were associated with most CVDRF.


Device to device (D2D) communication brings numerous benefits for future heterogeneous cellular networks. However, an energy-efficient design of such D2D communications is a critical challenge due to the cochannel deployment and limited power of users. In this paper, we present an energy-efficient self-organized cross-layer optimization scheme, which aims to maximize the D2D communication energy-efficiency without jeopardizing the quality of service (QoS) requirements of other tiers. Specifically, we model the cross-layer optimization, which includes resource block (RB) and power allocation using a noncooperative game. In the proposed scheme, each D2D transmitter user, which is a player in the game, operates in a self-organizing manner and selects the RBs and the power levels for enhancing its energy efficiency while maintaining the QoS requirements of other heterogeneous parties. Concerning the computationally intense nature of the global optimization problem, we decompose the problem into two subproblems: the RB allocation and the power allocation, and solve them iteratively in a game-theoretic manner. Simulation results demonstrate superior energy efficiency performance of the proposed scheme over conventional schemes. In addition, it is also shown via simulation that the performance of the proposed scheme degrades if the channel state information is not precisely available.


In Hussain, I.; Biltonen, E. (Eds.), Managing water for the poor: Proceedings of the Regional Workshop on Pro-Poor Intervention Strategies in Irrigated Agriculture in Asia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam, Colombo, 9-10 August 2001. Colombo, Sri Lanka: IWMI


This paper examines the performance of decision-feedback-based iterative channel estimation and multiuser detection in channel coded aperiodic direct sequence code division multiple-access systems operating over multipath fading channels. First, explicit expressions describing the performance of channel estimation and parallel interference-cancellation-based multiuser detection are developed. These results are then combined to characterize the evolution of the performance of a system that iterates among channel estimation, multiuser detection and channel decoding. Sufficient conditions for convergence of this system to a unique fixed point are developed


According to William Edwards Deming "Good quality does not necessarily mean high quality. Instead it means a predicable degree of uniformity and dependability at low cost with a quality suited to the market." Whereas according to famous engineer and management consultant Joseph M. Juran quality is "fitness for purpose". It should meet the customers' expectations and requirements, should be cost effective. ISO began in 1926 as the International Federation of the National Standardizing Associations (ISA). The name, "ISO" was derived from the Greek word "isos" meaning "equal". (The relation to standards is that if two objects meet the same standard, they should be equal.) This name eliminates any confusion that could result from the translation of "International Organization for Standardization" into different languages which would lead to different acronyms. In health sector, quality plays pivotal role, as it is directly related to patient's care. Earlier time, health service was simple, quite safe but ineffective. Now health care system is an organizational system with more complex processes to deliver care. Medical laboratory service is an integral part in patient's management system. So, for everyone involved in the treatment of the patient, the accuracy, reliability and safety of those services must be the primary concerns. Accreditation is a significant enabler of quality, thereby delivering confidence to healthcare providers, clinicians, the medical laboratories and the patients themselves. ISO announced meeting in Philadelphia to form a technical committee to develop a new standard for medical laboratory quality. It took 7 years for the creation of a new Quality standard for medical laboratories. It was named as "ISO 15189" and was first published in 2003. The ISO has released three versions of the standard. The first two were released in 2003 and 2007. In 2012, a revised and updated version of the standard, ISO 15189:2012 (Medical laboratories – Requirements for quality and competence) was released. ISO 15189 is a globally recognized standard that help medical laboratories to develop their quality management systems and assess their competence. The standard is concerned with improving patient safety, risk mitigation and operational efficiency within medical laboratories, where they directly impact upon the continuum of care. To help it achieve this, ISO 15189 specifies quality criteria relating to both technical and managerial competence. Accreditation not only helps patients but also health care organization. It stimulates to seek for continuous improvement and enables the health care organization in demonstrating commitment to quality of care. Furthermore it raises community confidence in the services provided along with international recognition of services. Ultimately it increases revenue of the institution. Accreditation benefits all stake holders, patients/customers are the biggest beneficiary. It results in high quality of care and patients/customer safety as they get services by credentialed staff. Accreditation ensures that rights of patients are respected and protected and their satisfaction is regularly evaluated. Thus, Accreditation can be the single most important approach for improving the quality of health care structures. In an accreditation system, institutional resources, processes and outcome are evaluated continuously to ensure quality of services is maintained and improved on the basis of appropriated standards and regulatory requirements.


Interoperability of constituent systems is the primary challenge for a large-scale distributed Live-Virtual-Constructive (LVC) simulation activity. The grand challenge is to integrate, for the first time, all aspects of interoperability necessary not only to enable but to ensure interoperability throughout an large-scale LVC system. Previously, a handful of these aspects of interoperability have been partially addressed in isolation. Only an integrated solution of all aspects of interoperability into a computer-enforceable architecture will make possible attaining the goal of ensuring interoperability throughout a large-scale LVC activity. The enforceable nature of the LVC activity models implies that the models accurately reflect the "reality" of the LVC activity. Without enforcement, the complex nature of the myriads of components would tend to introduce inaccuracies into models, ultimately rendering those models useless. Actual enforcement of the models elevates the LVC software systems' usefulness to a level that would otherwise be unattainable in practice. Preparing for an LVC activity involves answering deceptively simple questions such as, "Will an individual piece of software work during this LVC activity?" At present, reliably answering such questions is impossible, because no detailed, precise, and accurate descriptions of the software or the LVC event exist. Other simple questions such as, "Which data collection systems are suitable for use in this LVC activity?" are equally difficult to answer reliably. This paper discusses the need for computer-enforceable models of individual software components as well as entire LVC activities, along with creating new extensions to the existing TENA object modeling language and to the TENA Middleware itself.


Abstract:This essay consists of a new edition of the poem 'Múin aithrighe dhamh, a Dhé', together with a translation, commentary and notes. Lambert McKenna's edition of the poem, which was published in Dánta do chum Aonghus Fionn Ó Dálaigh (1919), was based on a single eighteenth-century manuscript, in which the poem was attributed to 'Ó Dálaigh Fionn' and which provided an incomplete and corrupt text. Further manuscripts containing the poem have since come to light. They provide a better text and suggest that Tadhg Óg Ó hUiginn was the author. The commentary pays particular attention to the apologue of the blood-spotted hand contained in the poem. A version of this apologue is contained in the late medieval collection Gesta Romanorum and seems to have provided the inspiration for Shakespeare's characterization of Lady Macbeth in the sleep-walking scene in Macbeth.


Pediatric neurosurgery is an ever-evolving field, and at the heart of it are talented and hardworking neurosurgeons who harness technology and research to enhance the standard of neurosurgical care for children. Recent studies have found that female neurosurgeons tend to choose a career focused on pediatric neurosurgery more than other subspecialties. However, the achievements and contributions of women in pediatric neurosurgery are not well known. To address this, an international working group of pediatric neurosurgeons was established from the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) Women in Neurosurgery (WINS) group and Pediatric Neurosurgery Committee. The working group reviewed the current literature and collected information through personal communications with the global WINS network. Despite the increasing number of women entering neurosurgical training, the number of female pediatric neurosurgeons is still a mere handful worldwide. In this article, the authors summarize the current status of female pediatric neurosurgeons across the globe, highlighting their achievements as well as the gender bias and challenges that they face at every level of progression of their career. A better organized pediatric neurosurgery workforce, with more female representation and mentorship, would encourage future generations of diverse genders toward a career in this field.


Diagnosis and progress monitoring of frozen shoulder rely on correct measurement of active and passive range of motion (ROM) of shoulder. This paper studied the feasibility of a wearable inertial sensor network (WISN) and its associated shoulder ROM estimation algorithm for shoulder ROM assessment. The WISN composed of three inertial modules were placed on the trunk, upper arm, and forearm of human for assessment of shoulder ROM in real time. Each inertial module consists of an ARM-based 32-bit microcontroller, a triaxial accelerometer, a triaxial gyroscope, a triaxial magnetometer, and a controller area network (CAN) transceiver. The measured accelerations, angular velocities, and magnetic signals generated by the human shoulder movements are transmitted to a personal computer via a Bluetooth wireless transmission module. The proposed shoulder ROM estimation algorithm includes the procedures of data collection, signal preprocessing, quaternion-based orientation estimation, and shoulder joint compensation. In order to evaluate shoulder ROM accurately, accelerations, angular velocities, and magnetic signals are integrated into a quaternion-based complementary nonlinear filter for minimizing the cumulative errors caused by the drift of the inertial sensors. Experimental results demonstrate that the WISN with the designed shoulder ROM estimation algorithm, compared to an optical motion analysis system (Vicon), have the average root mean square (RMS) angle errors ranging from 2.53° to 3.56°. In addition, the intra-tester reliability for each shoulder ROM measurement is excellent. The proposed WISN is a valid and reliable tool and can be used anywhere without any external reference device for convenient evaluation of shoulder ROM.