Purpose: To develop a protocol for 3D rotational angiography (3D-RA) of the transplant renal artery. Material and Methods: 3D-RA was consecutively performed in 39 renal transplanted patients with suspicion of renal artery stenosis. A series of images were acquired while the C-arm of the equipment rotated around the region of interest. Contrast media in different concentrations were given through a 1.4 mm catheter with different sites of injection in the ipsilateral iliac artery. The 3D reconstructions were done at a workstation. Suspected stenoses were in most cases verified with pressure measurement, and a systolic pressure gradient of 10 mm Hg or more was regarded as significant. Results: 28 stenoses were found in 24/39 patients (62%); 21/28 (75%) were verified by pressure measurement. The 3D reconstructions gave a better description of the stenoses in 10 patients. Conclusion: 3D-RA is a helpful supplement in cases with complicated vascular anatomy, especially when intervention may be indicated. The best results were achieved with the catheter tip in the proximal iliac artery and 70–75 ml of a high concentration contrast medium at a flow rate of 8–10 ml/s.


This paper presents some strong valid inequalities for the Maximum Common Induced Subgraph Problem (MCIS) and the proofs that the inequalities are facet-defining under certain conditions. TheMCIS is an NP-hard problem and, therefore, no polynomial time algorithm is known to solve it. In this context, the study of its polytope can help in the development of more efficient branch-and-bound and branch-and-cut algorithms.


Rare melt inclusions 100 pm in diameter trapped near the boundaries of corroded patchy zones in plagioclase phenocrysts from Plinian pumice of three Holocene eruptions were analyzed by IR spectroscopy for molecular HrO, OH groups, and CO, and by electron microprobe for Cl and F. The three rhyodacitic eruptions, each of which began with a Plinian phase, occurred over -200 yr. The Llao Rock and Cleetwood eruptions ended with degassed lava flows and the subsequent climactic eruption with voluminous ignimbrite. Groundmass glass and melt inclusion compositions (anhydrous) are similar. Inclusions with total HrO concentrations of 1.2-3.4 wto/o are adjacent to fractures or are hourglass inclusions, suggesting partial degassing caused by depressurization. Melt inclusions in phenocrysts in climactic ignimbrite may have vesiculated for the same reason. Intact inclusions in Plinian pumices have total HrO concentrations believed to represent magmatic HrO contents (wto/o): Llao Rock, 5.3, 5.3; Cleetwood,3.8,4.7; climactic 3.9 + 0.2 (lo, n : 6). Ratios of OH/molecular HrO indicate closure temperatures of 200-500 "C that reflect synor posteruptive cooling. CO, concentrations are <25 ppm. HrO and CO, concentrations indicate saturation pressures of 1.0-1.8 kbar or depths >5 km. Six inclusions from climactic pumice average 400 + 40 (la) ppm F, 1880 + 70 ppm Cl. F and Cl concentrations of the other samples are similar and not well correlated with each other or with total HrO. Location of melt inclusions near boundaries of patchy zones, which are mantled by oscillatory-zoned overgrowths, suggests that their HrO concentrations represent magmatic values significantly before eruption. Although mean HrO concentrations of analyzed melt inclusions decrease for the three successive eruptions, it is not certain that this indicates a corresponding change in magmatic HrO content during the interval between eruptions.


Coronary artery disease and aortic stenosis/regurgitation may cause irreversible myocardial damage, resulting in significant heart failure. Although the ultimate treatment of the end-stage heart failure is heart transplantation or ventricular assist devices, in most cases these patients still have some amount of functional and survival benefit by simple surgical treatment such as coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and valve replacement. However it is associated with significant perioperative mortality and morbidity.


Nineteenth-century England witnessed an unprecedented increase in the number of publications and institutions devoted to the creation and the dissemination of knowledge: encyclopedias, scientific periodicals, instruction manuals, scientific societies, children's literature, mechanics' institutes, museums of natural history, and lending libraries. In Useful Knowledge Alan Rauch presents a social, cultural, and literary history of this new knowledge industry and traces its relationships within nineteenth-century literature, ending with its eventual confrontation with Charles Darwin's Origin of Species .

Rauch discusses both the influence and the ideology of knowledge in terms of how it affected nineteenth-century anxieties about moral responsibility and religious beliefs. Drawing on a wide array of literary, scientific, and popular works of the period, the book focusses on the growing importance of scientific knowledge and its impact on Victorian culture. From discussions of Jane Webb Loudon's The Mummy! and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, to Charlotte Bronte's The Professor , Charles Kingsley's Alton Locke, and George Eliot's Mill on the Floss, Rauch paints a fascinating picture of nineteenth-century culture and addresses issues related to the proliferation of knowledge and the moral issues of this time period. Useful Knowledge touches on social and cultural anxieties that offer both historical and contemporary insights on our ongoing preoccupation with knowledge.

Useful Knowledge will appeal to readers interested in nineteenth century history, literature, culture, the mediation of knowledge, and the history of science.


Knowledge-intensive organizations are characterized by their dependency on highly skilled personnel who perform their daily work in a decentralized manner. In these organizations it is the users who make the important decisions, and therefore the organization's information security awareness is upheld by and depends on its users' combined security awareness. To assess the overall organizational security awareness it therefore becomes interesting to assess both the users' individual level of security awareness, as well as their level of consistency and conformity with regard to other users' awareness. In the present case study, 15 semi-structured interviews have been undertaken within a large telecommunication company in order to understand how significant IT security aspects are understood within the organization. The study highlights a number of perception differences where the technical IT staff and the ordinary users do not share the same understanding. It is suggested that these perception differences result from a paradoxical situation where the users' possibility to uphold security awareness is hindered because of security concerns.


We use the dimensions of power framework (Hardy and Leiba-O'Sullivan 1998) to study an ERP implementation in a Portuguese small/medium sized enterprise (SME). In this study, we found that while the ERP implementation coincided with a great shift of power within the firm, it should not be considered the main driver of the episodic power shift. Instead, the ERP can be seen as a tool chosen and used to formalize and complete the shift in power for this SME. Our findings provide evidence of the usefulness of the dimensions of power framework in understanding complex organizational power issues in ERP implementations. Given the nature of the firm and the context, such findings are specific to an emerging economy.


ABSTRACT Tuberculosis (TB), caused by the pathogenic bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is a global health threat. Targeting host pathways that modulate protective or harmful components of inflammation has been proposed as a therapeutic strategy that could aid sterilization or mitigate TB-associated permanent tissue damage. In purified form, many Mtb components can activate innate immune pathways. However, knowledge of the pathways that contribute most to the observed response to live Mtb is incomplete, limiting the possibility of precise intervention. We took a systematic, unbiased approach to define the pathways that drive the earliest immune response to Mtb. Using a macrophage model of infection, we compared the bulk transcriptional response to infection with the response to a panel of Mtb-derived putative innate immune ligands. We identified two axes of response: an NF-kB-dependent response similarly elicited by all Mtb pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and a type I interferon axis unique to cells infected with live Mtb. Consistent with growing literature data pointing to TLR2 as a dominant Mtb-associated PAMP, the TLR2 ligand PIM6 most closely approximated the NF-kB-dependent response to the intact bacterium. Quantitatively, the macrophage response to Mtb was slower and weaker than the response to purified PIM6. On a subpopulation level, the TLR2-dependent response was heterogeneously induced, with only a subset of infected cells expressing key inflammatory genes known to contribute to the control of infection. Despite potential redundancies in Mtb ligand/innate immune receptor interactions during in vivo infection, loss of the TLR2/PIM6 interaction impacted the cellular composition of both the innate and adaptive compartments. IMPORTANCE Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death globally. Drug resistance is outpacing new antibiotic discovery, and even after successful treatment, individuals are often left with permanent lung damage from the negative consequences of inflammation. Targeting host inflammatory pathways has been proposed as an approach that could either improve sterilization or improve post-treatment lung health. However, our understanding of the inflammatory pathways triggered by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in infected cells and lungs is incomplete, in part because of the complex array of potential molecular interactions between bacterium and host. Here, we take an unbiased approach to identify the pathways most central to the host response to Mtb. We examine how individual pathways are triggered differently by purified Mtb products or infection with the live bacterium and consider how these pathways inform the emergence of subpopulation responses in cell culture and in infected mice. Understanding how individual interactions and immune pathways contribute to inflammation in TB opens the door to the possibility of developing precise therapeutic interventions. Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death globally. Drug resistance is outpacing new antibiotic discovery, and even after successful treatment, individuals are often left with permanent lung damage from the negative consequences of inflammation. Targeting host inflammatory pathways has been proposed as an approach that could either improve sterilization or improve post-treatment lung health. However, our understanding of the inflammatory pathways triggered by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in infected cells and lungs is incomplete, in part because of the complex array of potential molecular interactions between bacterium and host. Here, we take an unbiased approach to identify the pathways most central to the host response to Mtb. We examine how individual pathways are triggered differently by purified Mtb products or infection with the live bacterium and consider how these pathways inform the emergence of subpopulation responses in cell culture and in infected mice. Understanding how individual interactions and immune pathways contribute to inflammation in TB opens the door to the possibility of developing precise therapeutic interventions.


Double JPEG compression detection has become a core issue in image forensics, as it provides information about the processing history of the image and its authenticity. Several recent works address this problem by exploiting the potential of CNNs to achieve state-of-the-art performance on test datasets. Unfortunately, those schemes are typically tailored to their specific training conditions and suffer a significant drop of performance in real-life scenarios. This paper aims at assessing the influence of quantization table mismatch (with regards to those seen in training) in the detection of double JPEG compression. Experimental results show inconsistency between different sets of quantization tables, with trained models yielding significantly worse results on unknown sets. This effect is also evident in a more realistic setting, where it appears to be more noticeable for sources falling in operating regions with greater inconsistency.


The study of properties of gradual evaluation methods in argumentation has received increasing attention in recent years, with studies devoted to various classes of frameworks/methods leading to conceptually similar but formally distinct properties in different contexts. In this paper we provide a systematic analysis for this research landscape by making three main contributions. First, we identify groups of conceptually related properties in the literature, which can be regarded as based on common patterns and, using these patterns, we evidence that many further properties can be considered. Then, we provide a simplifying and unifying perspective for these properties by showing that they are all implied by the parametric principles of (either strict or non-strict) balance and monotonicity. Finally, we show that (instances of) these principles are satisfied by several quantitative argumentation formalisms in the literature, thus confirming their general validity and their utility to support a compact, yet comprehensive, analysis of properties of gradual argumentation.


This study aimed to analyze and differentiate the role of AI and no AI-supported m-health platforms for COVID-19 self-screening in Indonesia. We utilized a mysterious shopping method to develop four standardized cases with various severity levels of COVID-19 tested in Indonesia's most popular mHealth platforms. We selected seven apps from the top 200 free mHealth apps in the "Medical" category in the Google Play Store equipped with COVID-19 symptom checkers. A total of 36 teleconsultations were performed in four chatbot-based, two apps supported with AI combined with a human-based approach, and three apps with the human-based process. Teleconsultations were recorded, classified, and analyzed compared with the COVID-19 guideline by the MoH of Indonesia. The study indicated that most of the self-screening provided questions that had consistently led to the COVID-19 condition such as cough, fever, and shortness of breath and followed the guideline from the national health authority.


With the virtue of high Young's modulus, fine thermal stability, low density, low price, resourceful and easy to be industrialized, alumina matrix ceramics are widely applied in the environments of high temperature, high pressure, radiation, impact, abrasion and corrosion, etc. The sintering process of large-scale alumina matrix ceramic products is researched in this paper. The conception of temperature gradient is introduced to the sintering process, and corresponding mathematics model is established to get the cellular girder made of alumina, in which the microstructure is distributed evenly. Meanwhile, the material structure and the mechanics performance of the products are discussed. All the study will theoretically guide the development of large-scale fine alumina products.


of obtaining a clinical history, adds difficulty and interest to the diagnosis. The transverse diameter of the head of the bone is very close to 51.5 mm. In 12 normal mediaeval femora chosen because their femoral head diameters ranged from 50-53 mm the distance from the fovea to the most lateral part of the greater trochanter ranged from 98-3 mm to 117-6 mm. In the Carrow Abbey specimen this distance is only about 84-5 mm, which might suggest that the diminution is due to a fractured neck. There is no evidence of this, however; as far as can be seen the neck is nearly normal beneath its carapace of osteophytes. The abnonnality here seems to be primarily in the head of the bone, which has diverged posteriorly and downwards from its normal position. This is the characteristic feature of a slipped capital epiphysis spontaneously occurring in early adolescence, and there is little doubt that thi accounts for the present lesion. It might possibly be a simple osteoarthritis, although this is extremely unlikely. Osteoarthritis is very common in mediaeval femora but its usual form is quite different from the specimen shown here.' It is difficult to assess the age at which this person died. The epiphyses of the head and the trochanter had fused long before death and it is probable, from the severity and extent of the osteophytic reaction, that he wai at least 30 years old. Be this as it may, the fragment seems to be highly typical of the late results of a juvenile slipped femoral epiphysiis. In contrast to fractures and osteoarthritis of the femur, this is an exceedingly rare condition in early burial grounds, if indeed it has ever been d1agnosed. The fact that in the course of examining thousands of archaic femora I h-ave never seen a similar specimen is, perhaps, sufficient justification for reporting this case. My thanks are due to Mr. F. W. Cheetham, director, City of Norwich Museums, for permission to record this note. -I am, etc., CALVIN WELLS Castle Museum Norwich


Thin and compliant conductive materials and electronic devices that are able to stand as free-standing membranes or to conform to surfaces are relevant for the development of human-device interfaces and unperceivable skin-contact personal health monitoring systems. In this work, a roll-to-roll (R2R) process for the preparation of conductive polymer nanosheets on large areas has been developed in view to move such technology towards real-world applications. R2R conductive nanosheets are obtained as free-standing structures through release from a temporary substrate and then transferred in conformal contact with any target surface with arbitrary shape, curvature and surface topography (including biological tissue such as skin). A specific high-conductivity formulation of PEDOT:PSS has been optimized for skin-contact applications, by making use of butylene glycol (BG) as a dopant: a dermatologically approved ingredient. The R2R nanosheets were tested as unperceivable surface electromyography electrodes able to record muscle-electrical activity. The present R2R process has advantageous properties such as continuous, high throughput printing on large area rolls, cost-effectiveness, speed of execution and use of industry-ready/mass-scale manufacturing technology.


Communication system design for wireless networked control systems (WNCSs) is very challenging since the strict timing and reliability requirements of control systems should be met by the wireless communication systems that introduce non-zero packet error probability and non-zero delay at all times. Particularly, the scheduling algorithms for WNCSs should be designed to provide maximum level of adaptivity accommodating packet losses and changes in network topology while exploiting periodic nature of the sensor node transmissions. Creating such a schedule has been previously studied for an Ultra Wide Band (UWB) based WNCS. In this paper, we extend the joint optimization problem of power control, rate adaptation and scheduling with the objective of providing maximum adaptivity for general WNCSs employing continuous rate transmission model in which Shannon's channel capacity formulation is used for the achievable transmission rate. Upon proving the NP-hardness of the problem, we provide a framework for the design of a heuristic algorithm for scheduling and propose an optimal polynomial time algorithm for the power control and rate adaptation problem following the derivation of the optimality conditions. We demonstrate via extensive simulations that the proposed algorithms outperform the existing algorithms with performance close to optimal solution and average runtime admissible for practical WNCSs.


Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major cause of acute bronchiolitis in infants under 2 years old. Necroptosis has been implicated in the outcomes of respiratory virus infections. We report that RSV infection triggers necroptosis in primary mouse macrophages and human monocytes in a RIPK1-, RIPK3- and MLKL-dependent manner. Moreover, necroptosis pathways are harmful to RSV clearance from alveolar macrophages. Additionally, Ripk3−/− mice were protected from RSV-induced weight loss and presented with reduced viral loads in the lungs. Alveolar macrophage depletion also protected mice from weight loss and decreased lung RSV virus load. Importantly, alveolar macrophage depletion abolished the upregulation of Ripk3 and Mlkl gene expression induced by RSV infection in the lung tissue. Autocrine tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-mediated RSV-triggered macrophage necroptosis and necroptosis pathways were also involved in TNF secretion even when macrophages were committed to cell death, which can worsen lung injury during RSV infection. In line, Tnfr1−/− mice had a marked decrease in Ripk3 and Mlkl gene expression and a sharp reduction in the numbers of necrotic alveolar macrophages in the lungs. Finally, we provide evidence that elevated nasal levels of TNF are associated with disease severity in infants with RSV bronchiolitis. We propose that targeting TNF and/or the necroptotic machinery may be valuable therapeutic approaches to reduce the respiratory morbidity caused by RSV infection in young children. RIPK1-, RIPK3- and MLKL-dependent alveolar macrophage necroptosis triggered by RSV infection is mediated by autocrine TNF and harmful to viral clearance. Alveolar macrophage necroptosis may drive RSV disease pathogenesis. https://bit.ly/3fS34uw


Regarding the security of computer systems, the intrusion detection systems (IDSs) are essential components for the detection of attacks at the early stage. They monitor and analyze network traffics, looking for abnormal behaviors or attack signatures to detect intrusions in real time. A major drawback of the IDS is their inability to provide adequate sensitivity and accuracy, coupled with their failure in processing enormous data. The issue of classification time is greatly reduced with the IDS through feature selection. In this paper, a new feature selection algorithm based on Firefly Algorithm (FA) is proposed. In addition, the naive bayesian classifier is used to discriminate attack behaviour from normal behaviour in the network traffic. The FA selects the discriminating features from NSL-KDD dataset. The performance of the IDS in the detection of attacks was enhanced by the proposed model and compare with other models.


Abstract : Determining accurate cost and schedule is a crucial step to planning acquisition expenditures but history has shown that estimates are routinely low. Several researchers have attempted to forecast cost and schedule growth; we pick up this stream of research with a new approach. Our data collection and analysis focused on bringing in new data sources and added longitudinal variables to account for changes that took place over time. We assessed cost and schedule parameters for 37 major acquisition programs between Milestones II and III, resulting in 172 input variables and 5 regression models, 2 for schedule slippage and 3 for cost growth. All five models passed statistical scrutiny and exhibited an Adjusted r2 in excess of 0.80. The primary discriminator was the inclusion of strictly qualitative variables, taken from Selected Acquisition Report narratives and change justifications. We called these ?soft? variables and coded them on a scale of 1 to 5 in the categories of funding problems, political problems, technical challenges, and contractor cost growth. Models with and without soft variables are presented to demonstrate their relative benefit. Finally, implications and implementation examples provide users a path to what-if analysis and decision-making.


It was previously demonstrated by the authors that density of water and the density-related physical properties of water are ones of the major governing factors of corrosion of metals in supercritical aqueous solutions. The water density is expected to have significant effects also on stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of metals in supercritical water. In this study, we have looked into cracking behavior of sensitized and non-sensitized stainless steels in water under various pressures and at fixed temperatures above and below the critical point by using SSRT technique, and discussed its correlation with dielectric constant of water. The experimental results have suggested two different cracking mechanisms of 316(L) stainless steels as follows; For sensitized 316 SS - pure water system; (1) Effects of phase state of water and applied pressure, more essentially, physical property of water, were clearly observed. (2) SCC did not occur in the oxygenated 'gas-like', supercritical water at 400°C/25MPa. (3) Cracking occurred at 400°C/30MPa and the cracking severity was more pronounced as applied pressure was increased up to 60MPa at the same temperature. (4) This variation in cracking susceptibility being dependent on pressure was understood from dielectric constant of water. (5) The results give a strong evidence of the dissolution mechanism. For non-sensitized 316L SS - sulfuric acid water system; (1) Non-sensitized 316L SS severely cracked with IG even in a 'gas-like' supercritical water. (2) Dielectric constant did not affect cracking severity. (3) Cracking was more enhanced at higher temperature. (4) The results suggested oxidation cracking.


The availability of non-renewable fuels is decreasing and therefore the prices of both petrol and diesel has increased in recent years. As a result more and more chooses to invest in cars powered by alternative fuels and the focus has long been on electric vehicles. However, this means greater weight on utility companies around the world which now have to adjust to a higher demand. The purpose of this study is to investigate how a local network are affected by electric car chargers and be able to describe the degree to which a low-voltage can be loaded with electric car chargers for commercial and private use, in order to provide recommendations for the future dimension of the local networks. Few studies have been conducted regarding electric cars from a network and supply perspective, but have instead been focused on energy storage in the actual vehicle. Therefore, this study has been processed with an electricity grid perspective.The intent of the study has been answered by both a measurement and several simulations. The study is based on Karlstad's local electrical network and the commercial charging station Tesla in Vaxnas, Karlstad. The parameters of power quality for which this study has taken into account are load of the transformers, load loss, power factor, efficiency, voltage levels, voltage drop and asymmetry.The methodological conditions have led to a result that can be used as a basis for an expansion of electric cars, big or small. The measurement was of great support to get an overall view of how the characteristics of a charging session appeared and how the quality parameters were affected during high as well as low power charging. Limitations within the simulation program have led to the calculations to carry out in a more extreme scenario when it comes to the load. A result since the simulation time for constant power was minimum one hour.Based on the measurement and simulations of the charging station for commercial use is dimensioned well to cope with the current use of electric vehicle charging. More municipalities should follow Karlstad's example for the development of commercial charging stations. In the countryside great problems occurred, especially with voltage drop at an increased use of home chargers for electric cars. The same problems emerged in the city part of the network. The study also showed serious problems with asymmetry in the city. The report concluded, therefore, several recommendations for the future dimension of local networks for private homes, for example that the local network should be divided into multiple trails.


With the development of information technology and the popularity of the Internet, museums have been able to make major advances in providing virtual reality experiences and multimedia Internet displays to viewers. The National Palace Museum is home to more than 650000 masterpieces of Chinese art and culture, many of which were collected by the imperial house over the dynasties. Since this collection reflects the culmination of Chinese art and crafts, the National Palace Museum has adopted the highest of standards and technology to create its website and multimedia systems, constructing a beautiful and informative world of virtual reality. The National Palace Museum is constantly creating and updating systems incorporating its digital archives, digital museum, world wide websites, and multimedia displays to allow more people to appreciate and understand these treasures of Chinese art.


Abstract The diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism (PE) is often delayed because it is usually misdiagnosed as pneumonia or deep vein thrombosis. We report an unusual case of PE misdiagnosed as viral pleuritis on the first arrival at the emergency department (ED) in our hospital. A 14-year-old girl with no previous significant medical history was referred to the ED with pleuritic and chest pain with low-grade fever 4 days before admission. Echography showed a small amount of left pleural effusion. A 12-lead electrocardiogram was normal. She received a diagnosis of viral pleuritis. Two days before admission, she revisited ED with dyspnea and exacerbated pain. Echography showed slight increase in left pleural effusion. She had the same diagnosis. The chest pain remained at the same level. On the day of admission, she presented to ED with vomiting, watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, chest pain, and respiratory distress. Laboratory findings showed hypoalbuminemia and proteinuria. Echography showed a moderate amount of pleural effusion on both sides and no dilatation of the right cardiac ventricle. Contrast-enhanced chest computed tomography was performed to search the cause of the respiratory distress, which showed filling defects with contrast material in pulmonary arteries. A 12-lead electrocardiogram showed an S1Q3T3 pattern. She received a diagnosis of PE caused by nephrotic syndrome. Pulmonary thromboembolism can mimic infectious pleuritis and lead to misdiagnosis and/or delayed diagnosis. Thus, risk factors of PE should be considered in pediatric patients presenting with symptoms suggesting infectious pleuritis.


Clarifying the relationship between individual energetic state and reproductive behav- iour is essential for understanding the life history strategies of fish as well as for determining fisheries management measures. Many papers have recently been published on fish spawning aggregations (FSAs), in which numerous fish migrate to specific sites for spawning, yet little is known about the relationship between individual energetic state and reproductive behaviour. We tested whether the individual energetic state affected the reproductive behaviour in male white-streaked grouper Epi- nephelus ongus, a species that forms FSAs. Body composition measurement of market specimens suggests that male E. ongus feed less and mainly use their lipid reserves for metabolism and testis development during the spawning season. An integrative analysis of body composition and acoustic telemetry data showed that there is a positive relationship between pre-migration lipid density and duration away from the resident area for migration and reproduction (duration away). These results indicate that fatter males with higher lipid density spent longer periods outside of the resident area, which may enhance the susceptibility of these individuals to intensive fishing pressure at the FSA site. Furthermore, the lipid expenditure during the duration away estimated in this study corre- sponded well with the energy expenditure for metabolism and testis development estimated through the metabolic theory of ecology, suggesting that we could accurately estimate the energy requirement for reproductive behaviours. This study highlights the importance of linking energy reserves to reproductive behaviours in other fishes forming spawning aggregations.


Interactive visualizations are external cognitive artifacts aimed at supporting users' exploratory and sense-making activities. In recent years, there has been an explosion of commercial virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMD). These VR devices are meant to offer high levels of engagement and improve users' analytical exploration of the displayed content. However, given their rapid market introduction, the possible influences and usefulness that VR could bring in terms of supporting users' exploration with interactive visualizations remain largely underexplored. We attempt to fill this gap and provide results of an empirical study of an interactive visualization tool that we have developed for a VR HMD system. This tool is aimed at facilitating exploratory and analytical reasoning activities with 3D shapes and their transformational processes. Overall, the results show that the tool is supportive of users' exploratory and analytical activities based on the significant improvement in their post-experiment test scores (when compared to their pre-experiment ones) and their engagement level measured via a user engagement questionnaire and participants' comments. The results shed a positive light on the use of visualizations in VR environments and can inform the design of these tools of domains beyond 3D transformational geometry.


Dialogue can facilitate active engagement and critical thinking in learning in many situations, such as when a learner's ideas are challenged with conflicting viewpoints in a debate. Nowadays group communications in online learning processes are being supported by a range of tools. This paper focuses on the usefulness and effectiveness of the combined use of Wiki and a new communication tool that we have implemented for enhancing debate-based learning experiences. The experimental study involved the participation of small teams in a debate conducted online and in traditional settings. The analysis of the results outlines the different roles of each tool, and suggests the positive effects owing to the complementary strengths of the tools on fostering active participation and achieving high quality in the debate.


A simplified Voltage Peak Detection (VPD)-based flickermeter based on spectral decomposition is proposed in this paper to detect flicker caused by high-frequency interharmonic components which effect the illumination of next-generation lamps, such as LEDs and compact fluorescent lamps. The proposed VPD-based flickermeter is specially designed to be robust to fundamental frequency deviations, which is a reality of all power systems. The proposed flickermeter is developed using a sinusoidal voltage model and it is analytically shown that flicker depends on the additive effect of the amplitudes of all the interharmonic components. Flicker results obtained by the proposed VPD-based flickermeter, IEC 61000-4-15 flickermeter, and another spectral analysis based IEC flickermeter are all compared with both synthetic voltage waveforms and field data collected from parts of the electricity transmission system with intermittent loads such as electric arc furnaces. It has been shown that only the proposed VPD-based flickermeter is sensitive to the high-frequency interharmonic components in the voltage spectrum and they are not detected by the other flickermeters. In the literature, there is no flickermeter that considers the flicker effect of the high-frequency interharmonic components and gives accurate results in cases of fundamental frequency deviations at the same time.


The use of flipped lectures and Active Learning has been explored in first year lectures for several years. Learning Catalytics software has been used to facilitate Peer-2-Peer learning in the Active Learning sessions. Several lessons were learned during these sessions which were important as we moved into delivering online material much more comprehensively. Bringing interaction to the lectures that were delivered live (synchronous sessions) was important to staff. Several technical solutions for producing online videos of high quality were brought into broader use. New teaching formats including a 'radio show' have been introduced to ensure that rich interaction with the students is possible with large groups.


The nonaqueous lithium-oxygen battery is a promising candidate as a next-generation energy storage system because of its potentially high energy density (up to 2-3 kW kg-1), exceeding that of any other existing energy storage system for storing sustainable and clean energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the consumption of nonrenewable fossil fuels. To achieve high round-trip efficiency and satisfactory cycling stability, the air electrode structure and the electrocatalysts play important roles. Here, a 3D array composed of one-dimensional TiN@Pt3Cu nanowires was synthesized and employed as a whole porous air electrode in a lithium-oxygen battery. The TiN nanowire was primarily used as an air electrode frame and catalyst support to provide a high electronic conductivity network because of the high-orientation one-dimensional crystalline structure. Meanwhile, deposited icosahedral Pt3Cu nanocrystals exhibit highly efficient catalytic activity owing to the abundant {111} active lattice facets and multiple twin boundaries. This porous air electrode comprises a one-dimensional TiN@Pt3Cu nanowire array that demonstrates excellent energy conversion efficiency and rate performance in full discharge and charge modes. The discharge capacity is up to 4600 mAh g-1 along with an 84% conversion efficiency at a current density of 0.2 mA cm-2, and when the current density increased to 0.8 mA cm-2, the discharge capacity is still greater than 3500 mAh g-1 together with a nearly 70% efficiency. This designed array is a promising bifunctional porous air electrode for lithium-oxygen batteries, forming a continuous conductive and high catalytic activity network to facilitate rapid gas and electrolyte diffusion and catalytic reaction throughout the whole energy conversion process.


The aim of the paper is to examine the process of decision-making among public administrators and answer the question of whether this differs from the way decisions is arrived at in the private sector. Interviews were conducted at three private companies and three public institutions. The results indicate that the administrators of public bodies and private enterprises appear to use similar methods in their decision-making process. The differences which were revealed relate to the size of the companies or institutions in question, rather than to form of ownership; i.e. the larger the operation, the more people are involved in the decision-making process. An analysis of the interviews reveals that the administrators of public bodies have a weaker mandate to make decisions than is the case in private enterprises, especially with regard to matters involving strategy. Otherwise there is little difference between small private businesses and small public institutions - their management often apply the rational approach and bounded rationality model to solve problems. The decision making process is very similar in larger private businesses and public institutions. Decisions take longer to make in public institutions where more momentous issues are involved, such as the construction of new buildings and strategy formation, in which case the process is characterised by staged decisions, often resulting in compromises between parties with contrasting interests. It should also be mentioned that many kinds of state legislation, e.g. relating to equal opportunities, information act and public employees, as well as strategies of district councils, often restrict the decision-making authority of public administrators. Such restraints do not apply to the same extent to private sector management. The consequences of the economic collapse exercised a considerably stronger impact on decision-making among public administrators than was the case with their colleagues in the private sector, although the largest private company was significantly af ected by the collapse.


An important factor in the transition from an open to a closed circulatory system was a change in vessel wall that are dynamic structure composed of cells and extracellular matrix. The component of arterial wall in vertebrates that accounts for these properties is the elastic fiber network organized by medial smooth muscle cells. Elastin and elastin associated protein are synthesized and secreted by vascular smooth muscle cells and are the major extracellular matrix component deposited in the vascular wall. Pathological states related to hypertension or atherosclerosis is associated with vascular wall remodeling, which is deleterious for cardiovascular function. Elastic fiber may be key factors in the pathophysiology of hypertensive or atherosclerotic vascular remodeling. The well-known effects of cardiovascular disease on the deterioration and the promoted degradation of elastic fiber result to loss of arterial wall resilience. Recently, several studies have highlighted new roles for individual components of elastic fiber and their degraded products. This review describes current knowledge regarding components of elastic fibers and discusses relationship between their structural abnormalities and cardiovascular diseases.


Understanding supports for cancer stem–like cells in malignant glioma may suggest therapeutic strategies for their elimination. Here, we show that the Toll-like receptor TLR9 is elevated in glioma stem–like cells (GSC) in which it contributes to glioma growth. TLR9 overexpression is regulated by STAT3, which is required for GSC maintenance. Stimulation of TLR9 with a CpG ligand (CpG ODN) promoted GSC growth, whereas silencing TLR9 expression abrogated GSC development. CpG-ODN treatment induced Frizzled4-dependent activation of JAK2, thereby activating STAT3. Targeted delivery of siRNA into GSC was achieved via TLR9 using CpG–siRNA conjugates. Through local or systemic treatment, administration of CpG-Stat3 siRNA to silence STAT3 in vivo reducedGSC alongwith glioma growth. Our findings identify TLR9 as a functionalmarker for GSC and a target for the delivery of efficacious therapeutics for glioma treatment. Cancer Res; 74(18); 5218–28. 2014 AACR.


ABSTRACT Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) establishes latent infections as multicopy episomes with complex patterns of viral gene transcription and chromatin structure. The EBV origin of plasmid replication (OriP) has been implicated as a critical control element for viral transcription, as well as viral DNA replication and episome maintenance. Here, we examine cellular factors that bind OriP and regulate histone modification, transcription regulation, and episome maintenance. We found that OriP is enriched for histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4) methylation in multiple cell types and latency types. Host cell factor 1 (HCF1), a component of the mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) histone methyltransferase complex, and transcription factor OCT2 (octamer-binding transcription factor 2) bound cooperatively with EBNA1 (Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 1) at OriP. Depletion of OCT2 or HCF1 deregulated latency transcription and histone modifications at OriP, as well as the OriP-regulated latency type-dependent C promoter (Cp) and Q promoter (Qp). HCF1 depletion led to a loss of histone H3K4me3 (trimethylation of histone H3 at lysine 4) and H3 acetylation at Cp in type III latency and Qp in type I latency, as well as an increase in heterochromatic H3K9me3 at these sites. HCF1 depletion resulted in the loss of EBV episomes from Burkitt's lymphoma cells with type I latency and reactivation from lymphoblastoid cells (LCLs) with type III latency. These findings indicate that HCF1 and OCT2 function at OriP to regulate viral transcription, histone modifications, and episome maintenance. As HCF1 is best known for its function in herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) immediate early gene transcription, our findings suggest that EBV latency transcription shares unexpected features with HSV gene regulation. IMPORTANCE EBV latency is associated with several human cancers. Viral latent cycle gene expression is regulated by the epigenetic control of the OriP enhancer region. Here, we show that cellular factors OCT2 and HCF1 bind OriP in association with EBNA1 to maintain elevated histone H3K4me3 and transcriptional enhancer function. HCF1 is known as a transcriptional coactivator of herpes simplex virus (HSV) immediate early (IE) transcription, suggesting that OriP enhancer shares aspects of HSV IE transcription control.


Background Simulation-based exercises are well established as a necessary teaching approach in postgraduate anesthesia education. The Future of Medical Education in Canada Postgraduate Project (FMECPP) has recently indicated that faculty development is one of the least developed aspects of simulation in Canada and a key issue in postgraduate education. Accordingly, a simulation program for anesthesia residents was designed to promote continuous faculty development through the creation and implementation of simulation scenarios. Program Description The program provides monthly simulation sessions and debriefings to residents which are faculty-lead and based on core anesthesia curriculum. The simulation committee who creates and delivers the scenarios is comprised of four anesthesia faculty members and one anesthesia resident. Three times a year, the simulation committee meets and each instructor delivers the scenario they have prepared to be incorporated into the program. Two instructors deliver the scenario and remaining members act as participants. After each scenario, the scenario instructor will guide a debriefing session which is assessed using the debriefing assessment for simulation in healthcare (DASH) tool by the faculty who acted as participants. Conclusions With the DASH tool being used to direct improvements in the debriefing process, this program allows the simulation committee to practice their debriefing skills while correcting their areas of weakness. It also provides the opportunity to fine-tune or change the scenarios to better work for residents, contributing to improved teaching performance for faculty and better learning outcomes for residents. Continuous faculty development of student-centered learning is also achieved as residents complete a student DASH form evaluating the quality of the debriefing sessions throughout the program.


In this paper studying results of oxidation reaction of electro explosive aluminum nanopowder in liquid water are represented. The interest of this reaction is related to its main product - oxyhydroxide of aluminum (AlOOH), which is characterized by high specific surface area and is used as a sorbent for the purification of water and gases. However, the selectivity of this material as a sorbent is not high and its application is limited by microbiological clearance. The main purpose of this paper is to improve the selectivity of the nanoflbrous AlOOH, which will expand the scope of its application and use it not only as a sorbent, but also as a catalyst. The idea of this work is to change the properties of AlOOH nanofibres by introducing into the structure of special additives. Modification of nanofibres additions can be made in the synthesis process, using as a medium not water but salt solutions containing the necessary metal cation. The salt solutions of MnSO4 x 5H2O with the different concentrations of manganese ions were used for the synthesis. The synthesis temperature was 60°C and the process be constant by 12 hours. The concentrations of manganese were 610-4 mol/l and 810-4 mol/l. The new materials, which were synthesized in solutions of salts, were visual differed from the initial nanofibres. For new materials specific surface area were measured by BET-analyzer "SorbiPrep", Russia. Restructuring of new materials were monitored by transmission electron microscope - JEM- JEM-2100F, Japan. The changes of phase composition was qualitatively confirmed by X-ray diffraction on a diffractometer XRD-7000S Shimadzu, Japan. It was shown that the specific surface structure and phase composition depends on the concentration of introduced impurities. It was found when the manganese concentration in solution is equal to 8-10-3 mol/l passivation of the surface source of aluminum nanopowder and complete cessation of the oxidation reaction of it in liquid water is observed.


This guide provides an overview of the types of journals available for students studying various Business & Law programs, as well as information on how and where to find journals.


ABSTRACT The tools of public value management – such as the strategic triangle and the public value account – are increasingly used by scholars and practitioners alike. At the same time, some confusion remains regarding their functionality in action. Based on our experiences with these tools in classrooms and boardrooms, we analyse how these instruments help to explore and structure different dimensions of public management challenges. We propose a set of 'principles of application', detailing under what conditions public value tools are most likely to be helpful, and suggest a course of action for strengthening, connecting and extending the current tool box.


We report on a girl with a de novo inverted duplication of chromosome 8 (q21.2-q22.3) associated with a mild phenotype. We were able to establish the maternal origin of the rearranged chromosome. We discuss the correlation between genotype and phenotype on the basis of a review of the findings from individuals with partial dup(8q).


A search for the standard model Higgs boson (H) decaying to bottom quarks and produced in association with a Z boson is presented. The search uses 8 TeV center-of-mass energy proton-proton collision data recorded by the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider corresponding to integrated luminosity of 19.0 inverse femtobarns.
The Z boson is reconstructed using two oppositely charged leptons – either electrons or muons. Two techniques for reconstructing the Higgs candidate are discussed: the standard method using two jets reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm and a second technique using jet substructure that was developed for highly boosted massive particles. Upper limits, at the 95% confidence level, on the production cross section times the branching ratio, with respect to the standard model expectations, are derived for a Higgs boson in a mass range 110-135 GeV. The results from the ZH channel are combined with five other channels, and an excess of events is observed consistent with the standard model Higgs boson with a local significance of 2.1 standard deviations at 125 GeV.


Every year the Canadian government makes up a budget for the forthcoming fiscal year. During the budget process, projections are made of expenditures and receipts contingent upon predictions of key macroeconomic variables. Naturally, one expects that the budget deficit or surplus actually realized will differ from what was initially announced. Neither of the two major protagonists in the budget decision-making process, namely the Legislative and Executive Branches of government, may have an interest in using truthful projections, however. The purpose of the paper is to find empirical regularities. It is found that (1) the difference between projected and realized budgets is substantial; and (2) that the differences are systematically related to publicly available information at the time of the budget announcement. The publicly available information contains key macroeconomic variables related to the electoral and legislative process. It is shown that the biases are fairly predictable at the time budget projections are announced. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.) (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.) (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.) (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.) (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)


The M.Sc. thesis aims at the design and analysis of an innovative, ultrathin, low-cost reaction wheel prototype integrated in the primary structure of a 1U CubeSat. The wheel exceeds performances of present state-of-the-art and commercial reaction wheels for CubeSats, in terms of mass and volume, retaining competitive saturation momentum. The reaction wheel is integrated in one face of a 1U primary structure (termed "tile") and thus the tile must satisfy CubeSat mechanical requirements (CubeSat Design Specification Rev. 13, 2014), which impose a maximum thickness of 6.5 mm above structure ribs, hence the ultrathinness requirement. The tile is composed of a stack of seven FR4 printed circuit boards, soldered together. The FR4 panel facing CubeSat interior and payload is termed inner plate and hosts electronic components and circuitry for wheel motor. The FR4 panel towards space environment is termed outer plate and hosts two solar cells and their circuitry. Intermediate panels have holes, so that the internal part of the tile is hollow to contain the reaction wheel, which rotates about a copper shaft thanks to commercial ball bearings. The shaft is soldered to outer plate directly and to inner plate through a copper collar, that absorbs the dimensional variations of the above mentioned components by deformation. Shaft, wheel and collar have been designed and built autonomously. PTFE rings are glued in wheel cavity to avoid impacts among the wheel, inner and outer plates. The wheel is driven by an Axial Flux Permanent Magnet (termed AFPM) brushless motor, which in a first tile prototype has been autonomously designed, partially analysed but not built and tested, although its feasibility is clearly shown. Firstly, a thorough study of motor working principle, characteristics and performances has been completed. Motor magnetic circuit has been designed in order to avoid ferromagnetic material saturation. Saturation momentum and other main performance parameters have been evaluated. Since motor efficiency was not acceptable, a final prototype was designed and analysed, employing a commercial, thin AFPM brushless motor. Saturation momentum has been evaluated for the second prototype as well. For the first prototype, with the autonomously designed motor, two commercial, miniaturized ball bearings are mounted on the shaft and support the wheel. They allow for gyroscopic torque transmission from the wheel to primary structure. The commercial motor features one internal ball bearing, thus the final prototype has just one commercial ball bearing, mounted on the shaft and supporting the wheel, to allow for gyroscopic torque transmission. Mechanical tolerancing of wheel and shaft for both prototypes has been conducted to assure adequate play between PTFE rings and wheel and acceptable wheel misalignment. A structural finite element analysis has been performed on the final prototype to verify stresses, deformations and resonance frequencies of the entire tile for launch conditions expected on a Vega launch vehicle. A thermal analysis has been accomplished on the final prototype as well, to verify compatibility with components maximum temperatures. Thermal mathematical model heat sources include the motor, in nominal working conditions, and solar and terrestrial radiation in low Earth orbit.


In 2003, in the face of errors and accidents caused by medical and surgical trainees, the American Council of Graduate Medical Education mandated a reduction in resident work hours to eighty per week. Over the course of two and a half years spent observing residents and staff surgeons trying to implement this new regulation, Katherine C. Kellogg discovered that resistance to it was both strong and successful - in fact, two of the three hospitals she studied failed to make the change. "Challenging Operations" takes up the apparent paradox of medical professionals resisting reforms designed to help them and their patients. Through vivid anecdotes, interviews, and incisive observation and analysis, Kellogg shows the complex ways that institutional reforms spark resistance when they challenge long-standing beliefs, roles, and systems of authority. At a time when numerous policies have been enacted to address the nation's soaring medical costs, uneven access to care, and shortage of primary-care physicians, "Challenging Operations" sheds new light on the difficulty of implementing reforms and offers concrete recommendations for effectively meeting that challenge.


The influence of a mixture of salts of heavy metals Cd2+, Cu2+, Pb2+, Zn2+ on the efficiency of legume-rhizobial symbiosis and a part of reclaimers in the decrease of toxic effect of pollutants have been studied under conditions of the vegetative and field experiment on small plots. Concentrations of salts of heavy metals were tested in the interval of 1 to 20 MPC (maximum permissible concentrations). Negative effect of the tested substances on the growth, photo-assimilation properties of soybean plants, nodulation intensity, nitrogenase activity and yield (correlation coefficients made, respectively, -0.58; -0.86; -0.88; -0.84 and -0.86 under reliability 95-99.9%) has been established. The increase of concentration of heavy metals was accompanied by the decrease of the indices of symbiosis efficiency. The complete suppression of symbiotic system of soy-beans was registered under the maximum of test doses which was equal to 20 MPC. The reclaimer white zeolite has displayed protective properties with respect to legume-rhizobial symbiosis against a background of soil contamination with high doses of heavy metals. The use of combined reclaimer gypsum-streptomycete may be also considered promising for decreasing negative effect of heavy metals on legume-rhizobial symbiosis.


Several criteria for assessing noise-induced hearing loss from automotive inflatable devices, such as airbags, were proposed in the past. However, their development was based on epidemiological studies of steady state noise and not impulsive noise. More recently, the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) developed and validated a mathematical model of the ear, which may be used to assess noise induced hearing loss from impulsive noise sources. Previous studies have contributed to understanding the effects of impulse noise on occupants, but were performed on first generation frontal airbags and did not provide information on airbag and occupant safety systems in today's fleet of vehicles. This study presents the results of a parametric investigation of current inflatable devices across a variety of vehicles and considers the size and seating location of the occupant in vehicles of varying volume. In addition, the study considers advanced airbag technologies such as dual stage frontal airbags, side airbags, inflatable curtains, and seat belt pretensioners.


"Health", "Illness" and "Disease" are multifaceted concepts and are perceived in a range of ways by different health care professionals. This study, using qualitative research, aims to understand nurses preexisting and current perceptions of malaria and HIV/ AIDS two of Kenya"s most challenging public health problems. The study recognises that disease categories, beliefs attached to disease and explanations behind methods of help seeking behaviour as understood by nurses, originate from specific sociohistorical, cultural and professional experiences. These experiences helped nurse"s traverse between meanings attached to the allopathic (biomedical), popular and traditional health care models and create a unique space in which a myriad of meanings can be used in line with each other, an outcome that can further inform local health practice. Though malaria and HIV/ AIDS were described within a biomedical framework by nurses, they understood that patients attached multiple meanings to the aetiologies and treatments of both diseases. Nurses stood as key informers for medical doctors and encouraged them to take cognisance of patients" viewsa difficult task. In doing so, nurses showed their ability to sensitively integrate non-biomedical and biomedical causalities in their everyday clinical encounters. Speaking in local dialects and reflecting on their views of disease before and after their professional training showed nurses as engaging in processes of "cultural mediation" and "cultural brokering", two crucial aspects of their professional role. This study indicates the importance of documenting nurse"s knowledge in representing local biomedical and non-biomedical views of disease so as to better adapt health messages in such contexts.


The author briefly examines the controversy surrounding the 1980 U.S. census undercount, including a lawsuit entered against the U.S. Bureau of the Census by the City of New York. He then describes the Post Enumeration Survey (PES), introduced after the 1990 census "to measure census coverage (i.e. undercounts) by place and by race and ethnicity, which had not previously been possible.... Results of the 1990 PES show that previous claims about the harmful effects of differential undercounts were exaggerated, but they also [show] that the undercounts and their effects are still there."


Using an optimizing model of a small open economy, this paper studies the macroeconomic effects of PPP rules whereby the government increases the devaluation rate when the real exchange rate defined as the price of tradables in terms of nontradables is below its long-run level and reduces the devaluation rate when the real exchange rate is above its long-run level. The paper shows that the mere existence of such a rule can generate aggregate fluctuations due to self-fulfilling revisions in expectations. The result is shown to obtain in both flexible- and sticky-price environments.


In this paper we present stylized facts of the Greek economy that characterize the causes and the consequences of its ongoing crisis. Then, we offer an explanation that can account for those causes and consequences. This explanation is based on the view of Greek society as consisting of two groups with conflicting goals:'insiders' and 'outsiders'. Insiders are enjoying rightful and unrighteous benefits and the system is protecting them from their own potentially unlawful behavior, competition and meritocracy. Outsiders are the rest of society. The economic consequence of the 'insiders - outsiders society' is the accumulation of public and foreign debts as well as relatively low overall growth - features that characterize the Greek economy, for some time. Finally, following the insiders- outsiders explanation, we offer policy recommendations for an exit from the crisis and the resumption of growth.


Information Communication and Technology (ICT) resources use has capacity to positively affect the field of education including the teaching/learning process. It was observed that information literacy skills can influence the use of ICT resources for teaching by private secondary school teachers. It was established that some secondary school teachers do not make adequate use of ICT resources for teaching. The study therefore, examined the influence of information literacy skills on utilization of ICT resources by private secondary school teachers in Ibadan North Local Government, Oyo State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted and the study population consisted of 836 teachers from 34 private secondary schools in Ibadan North. The purposive sampling technique was used to select a sample of 220 respondents. Questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. There was a positive significant relationship between teachers' information literacy skills and utilization of ICT resources for effective teaching by private secondary school teachers (r =.263; n = 205; df =204; p <0.01). The use of ICT resources has enabled secondary school teachers to have access to information materials in different format most especially Electronic Information Resources (EIRs) for teaching. In order for them to enjoy maximum benefit of ICT resources, there is a need for them to be continually trained on the acquisition of information literacy skills, how they can make use of their ICT resources to access different sources of information most especially EIRs, teachers should also be educated/enlightened on using ICT resources for lesson presentation/delivery.


Background: Cerebrospinal fluid circulates around the surface of brain and spinal cord and through the brain's ventricles. CSF leak is a condition that occurs when the CSF leaks through a defect in the dura or skull and out through the ear or nose. The most common causes of CSF leak include head injury, brain and sinus surgery. The objective of this study was to determine the frequencies of post-traumatic cerebrospinal fluid leak in traumatic head injury.
Material and Methods: A descriptive case series was carried out in the Department of Neurosurgery, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar for a period of 1 year, from 1st February 2016 to 31st January 2017. A total of 422 patients presenting within 48 hours of acute trauma to the head were included in a consecutive manner and followed up till 7th day to determine the CSF leak.
Results: The mean age group of our sample was 37.37 + 12.3 years of which 79.6% were male patients and 20.4% female patients. Most of the patients (55.5%) were ≤ 40 years of age. CSF leak was observed in 5.2% of patients, with otorrhea seen in 2.1% patients and rhinorrhea in 3.1% patients, respectively.
Conclusion: CSF leak is quite common in our population after acute trauma to the head. The high prevalence may be due to high frequency of accidents in our society with high velocity impact and more commonly seen in the younger age group (≤ 40 years).


Protein misfolding and aggregation perturbs cellular functions and is involved in aging and numerous medical disorders. In cells, the first line of defense is the association of deleterious aggregating proteins with small Heat shock proteins (sHsp). These oligomeric, ATP-independent chaperones sequester misfolded proteins into complexes and facilitate subsequent substrate solubilization and refolding by ATP-dependent chaperones. The cytosol of S. cerevisiae contains two sHsps: Hsp42 is constitutively active, while Hsp26 is activated at elevated temperatures. In my thesis, I wanted to elucidate how sHsps change the structure of aggregates, facilitating substrate reactivation. To this end, I studied the impact of Hsp26 and Hsp42 incorporation on the architecture of heat-induced aggregates by amide hydrogen exchange (HX). I established the experimental conditions for HX of heat-induced protein aggregates using thermolabile malate dehydrogenase (MDH) as model substrate. My data show that the formation of heat-induced Hsp26/MDH or Hsp42/MDH complexes has profound impact on the MDH structure. In the aggregated state formed in absence of sHsps, almost the entire MDH polypeptide becomes accessible to HX, reflecting global, large misfolding. In contrast, a more protected form of MDH is detected when complexed with Hsp26 or Hsp42. I observed that the mass spectra of many MDH peptides derived from sHsp/MDH complexes exist as a mixture of two populations after HX: a native-like and an aggregate-like population. Higher excess of sHsps promoted the native-like state. Single-molecule experiments confirmed the binding of sHsps to near native substrate folds. Furthermore, FRET experiments showed that sHsps increase the spacing between MDH molecules in sHsp/MDH complexes, preventing intermolecular contacts of misfolded MDH species. Finally, crosslinking approaches identified peripheral, surface-exposed MDH sites showing high HX as major sHsp binding sites. Summarized, these findings indicate that sHsps capture early unfolding intermediates of substrates and keep parts of the protein in a native-like state. This activity of sHsps might facilitate chaperone-dependent disaggregation.
I then investigated how the two sHsps of yeast interact with their substrates. The N-terminal extensions (NTE) of both yeast sHsps were found to be the major substrate interaction sites. Compared to all known sHsps, the NTE of Hsp42 is unusually elongated and it was shown to be involved in the organized deposition of misfolded proteins at CytoQ (cytosolic quality control compartment). Hsp42 NTE harbors the two prototypes of intrinsically disordered domains (IDD): a prion-like and an unstructured subdomain. IDDs play important roles in the formation of membrane-free compartments due to their ability to self-associate and to coalesce into inclusions. In this study, the roles of both NTE subdomains in CytoQ formation and Hsp42 chaperone activity were investigated. We found that the prion-like domain of Hsp42 has a dual function: It binds misfolded substrate proteins and triggers CytoQ formation. The unstructured domain is dispensable for CytoQ formation, but it has a regulatory function, controlling Hsp42 localization and CytoQ numbers. Deletion of the unstructured domain increases Hsp42 substrate interaction and holdase activity, i.e. the prevention of tight contacts between misfolded species.
Together, the presented data show that the prion-like domain of Hsp42 is essential for CytoQ formation, extending the role of prion-like domains in inclusion formation from RNA granules to protein aggregates and emphasizing their crucial contributions to protein phase transitions.
In a second part of my thesis I studied how the Hsp70 chaperone system interacts with RepE, a dimeric replication initiation protein in E. coli. The disassembly of RepE seems mechanistically related to the disaggregation process. As a dimer RepE represses its own transcription, as a monomer it initiates the replication of the mini-F plasmid. Monomerization is mediated by the DnaK chaperone system. So far, it remained elusive, how components of the DnaK chaperone system interact with RepE and how they change its structure, leading to the disassembly of the RepE dimer. In this study the binding of DnaK and DnaJ to dimeric RepE wt and to RepE54, a constitutively monomeric variant, was studied by HX. HX analysis of RepE wt revealed a putative DnaK binding site and conformational changes induced by chaperones. Only dimeric RepE wt, but not monomeric RepE54, interacts with DnaJ. In contrast, both oligomeric states of RepE were able to bind DnaK – at least in absence of DNA. In presence of their respective DNA-binding elements, the binding of DnaK was prevented, most likely due to sterical hindrance as the DNA and the putative DnaK binding sites in RepE are in close proximity. The binding of DnaJ probably occurs in aa 96-116, and it destabilized parts of the DNA binding region in RepE, indicating conformational changes. Although interaction with DnaJ was shown to enhance the binding affinity of RepE to DNA, the DnaJ-induced conformational change might enable DnaK to access its binding site. Crosslinking experiments, however, showed that DnaJ binding is not sufficient to allow for interaction of DnaK with DNA-complexed RepE wt. Only concomitant presence of DnaJ and GrpE enabled DnaK to interact with DNA-bound RepE wt. HX revealed, that concerted binding of DnaJ and DnaK causes substantial conformational changes in RepE: Destabilization of the C-terminal region and stabilization in helix α4 near the dimer interface. The latter might be implicated in the monomerization of RepE wt.
In summary, my results provide major contributions to elucidate the chaperone-mediated RepE monomerization process.


Abstract The influence of pre-rift crustal heterogeneity and structure on the evolution of a continental rift and its subsequent passive margin is explored. The absence of thick Aptian salts in the Namibian South Atlantic allows imaging of sufficient resolution to distinguish different pre-rift basement seismic facies. Aspects of the pre-rift basement geometry were characterized and compared with the geometries of the Cretaceous rift basin structure and with subsequent post-rift margin architectural elements. Half-graben depocentres migrated westwards within the continental synrift phase at the same time as basin-bounding faults became established as hard-linked arrays with lengths of c. 100 km. The rift–drift transition phase, marked by seaward-dipping reflectors, gave way to the early post-rift progradation of clastic sediments off the Namibian coast. In the Late Cretaceous, these shelf clastic sediments were much thicker in the south, reflecting the dominance of the newly formed Orange River catchment as the main entry point for sediments on the South African–Namibian margin. Tertiary clastic sediments largely bypassed the pre-existing shelf area, revealing a marked basinwards shift in sedimentation. The thickness of post-rift megasequences does not vary simply according to the location of synrift half-graben and thinned continental crust. Instead, the Namibian margin exemplifies a margin influenced by a complex interplay of crustal thinning, pre-rift basement heterogeneity, volcanic bodies and transient dynamic uplift events on the evolution of lithospheric strain and depositional architecture.


Privacy oriented communication in social network has been researched extensively due to the dangers of private and personally identifiable information falling into wrong hands. To assist users better manage information disclosed, social network providers have introduced more controls like groups, lists and circles. With multitude of privacy controls on each social network, users are burdened with setting and managing privacy, on each social network separately as the friends grouping cannot be shared between social networks. This necessitates a service model which can be used across social networks, making use of information from all social networks. With the current privacy settings on social networks, users attitude towards privacy and communication cannot be accounted for although it has major influence on who sees what information. We propose to develop a framework for calculating privacy scores of friends from individual ego users' perspective. We contend privacy score would assist user in assessing his or her information sharing behavior and take an informed decision on who sees what information. Privacy scoring considers users' personal attitude i.e., Disposition towards privacy and communication information. Privacy scores are estimated based on privacy scoring function using cubic bezier curve. Our experiments highlight the effective working of the proposed framework in estimating friends privacy scores with various ego users' dispositions to privacy and communication.


Gated communities have come to mean more than simple building structures and their predominantly negative cultural representation has become somewhat of a commonplace trope in literature and urban studies. This paper sets out to explore the assumptions underpinning the overwhelmingly dystopian representations of gated communities in literature and culture. This inquiry will be carried out with reference to J. G. Ballard's depictions of gated communities in his later work, particularly in Cocaine Nights (1996) and Super Cannes (2000) and will be carried out within the context of Michel Foucault's concept of heterotopia. It will be the contention of this paper that gated communities can also be construed as providing a heterotopic zone of subversive topography, which serves not to reinforce, but in fact challenge the dominant urban setting.


Abstract. Evasion from soil is the largest source of mercury (Hg) to the atmosphere from terrestrial ecosystems. To reduce the uncertainty in estimates of Hg emissions from forest soils, soil-air total gaseous Hg (TGM) fluxes and vertical profiles of soil pore TGM concentrations were measured simultaneously for 130 days to improve parameterization of emission models. The soil-air TGM fluxes, measured using dynamic flux chambers (DFC), showed patterns of both emission and deposition at five study plots, with an area-weighted net emission rate of 3.2 ng m−2 hr−1. The highest fluxes and net soil Hg emission were observed for an open field, with lesser emission rates in coniferous (pine) and broad-leaved (camphor) forests, and net deposition in a wetland. Fluxes showed strong positive relationships with solar radiation, soil temperature and soil Hg concentrations, and negative correlations with ambient-air TGM concentration and soil moisture. Using experimental field flux observations and quadratic relationships with the five parameters, four empirical models were developed to estimate soil-air TGM fluxes. The highest TGM concentrations in soil gas consistently occurred in the upper mineral horizons in the coniferous (pine) forest and in the organic horizon in the broad-leaved forest. Strong correlations between fluxes and TGM concentrations in upper soil horizons (0–10 cm) suggest that TGM in the pores of surface soil acts as the source for diffusion to the atmosphere. The TGM diffusion coefficients (Ds) between soil and atmosphere was firstly investigated at the field sites, with the range of 0.0042–0.013 m2 hr−1. These values should provide a foundation for future model development.


We present a distribution optimization framework that significantly improves confidence bounds for various risk measures compared to previous methods. Our framework encompasses popular risk measures such as the entropic risk measure, conditional value at risk (CVaR), spectral risk measure, distortion risk measure, equivalent certainty, and rank-dependent expected utility, which are well established in risk-sensitive decision-making literature. To achieve this, we introduce two estimation schemes based on concentration bounds derived from the empirical distribution, specifically using either the Wasserstein distance or the supremum distance. Unlike traditional approaches that add or subtract a confidence radius from the empirical risk measures, our proposed schemes evaluate a specific transformation of the empirical distribution based on the distance. Consequently, our confidence bounds consistently yield tighter results compared to previous methods. We further verify the efficacy of the proposed framework by providing tighter problem-dependent regret bound for the CVaR bandit.


The thesis is divided into three chapters.
1) I study how monetary policy should be optimally designed when households show financial wealth heterogeneity.
Main results: thanks to its ability to affect interest payments volatility, monetary policy has real effects even in a flexible-price cashless-limit environment; second, in a setup with nominal rigidities, price stability is no longer optimal. The extent of deviation from price stability depends on the initial level of debt dispersion.
2) I assess the role of housing price movements in influencing the optimal design of monetary policy.
Under the optimal simple rule, housing price movements should not be a separate target variable in addition to inflation. Furthermore, the welfare loss arising from targeting housing prices becomes quantitatively more significant the higher the degree of access to the credit market.
3) I analyze the effects of fiscal policy in a currency area.
Results: a public spending shock in one region increases private agents demand for imports and appreciates the terms of trade; second, a countercyclical fiscal rule can restore the Taylor principle, the uniqueness of the equilibrium and reduce macro-volatility.


This article is included in a research project called Skolämnesparadigm och undervisningspraktik i skärmkulturen – bild, musik och svenska ["School subject paradigm and teaching practice in the screen culture – art, music and Swedish"]. Due to digital changes in the media world of pictures and art, digital media are implemented in the Swedish school subject "bild", art in English-speaking countries, in secondary school. The school subject bild is seen as conforming to a school subject paradigm. It is supposed to meet another paradigm, ICT and digital media, with its values and expectancies. What happens if a traditional art subject paradigm, with the idea of the relevance of manual expression of self and of traditional techniques, meets digital media? Four different approaches to the implementation of digital media in the subject of art are discussed: resistance, add-on, embeddedness and digital media as dominant. The main focus is what is happening to the core of the subject, called the sacred, and what really is the core and sacred of the subject. Also discussed is what we call the profane of the subject, which may be expelled, and the relationship between the sacred and profane. Is digitalisation the future of the art subject or is it a way of leaving the art subject the way we are used to thinking of it? We are using empirical studies in nine schools in Sweden, including observations and interviews with pupils, art teachers and school administrators, that are accounted for in other articles.


This article explores male police officers' law enforcement preferences across different scenarios of interpersonal violence, involving intimate (partner violence against women) and non-intimate relationships (between- and within-gender). The influence of police officers' sexist attitudes and empathy on their law enforcement preferences was also analyzed within and across these scenarios. The sample consisted of 308 male police officers. Results showed that police officers prefer a stronger and unconditional law enforcement approach in cases of violence against women, both in intimate and non-intimate relationships. Benevolent sexism was linked to a preference for a more conditional law enforcement across interpersonal violence scenarios. The type of interpersonal violence scenario also conditioned the influence of hostile sexism and empathy on police preferences. Implications for training and selection of police officers are discussed.


Background:Supra-trochlear foramen is not described in textbooks of anatomy and orthopedicsbut clinically and radiologically its presence in adult human humerus is very important for intramedullary nailing for treatment of supracondylar fractures and to prevent misinterpretation of radiographs respectively. Methods: The study was carried on 222 dry adult human humeri (113 right sided and 109 left sided), of unknown sex, for the presence of supra-trochlear foramen. When foramen was present then its shape was observed and remaining bones were observed for translucency and perforation ofcoronoid-olecranon septum. Results:Supra-trochlear foramen was present in 77 (34.68%) humeri. It was present on right side in 39 (34.51 %) bones out of 113 and on left side in 38(34.86 %) bones out of 109. We observed translucency of the coronoid-olecranon septum in 105 bones and it was perforated in 15 bones. We observed three different types of shape of supra-trochlear foramen. Conclusion: The results of our study showed that the incidence of supra-trochlear foramen was almost same on right and left side. Its high incidence in Indian population requires special attention during surgery especially intramedullary humeral nailing of humerusand interpretation of X-rays by radiologists.


High-fidelity simulations of turbulent flow through a channel with a rough wall, followed by a smooth wall, demonstrate a high degree of non-equilibrium within the recovery region. In fact, the recovery of all the flow statistics studied is incomplete by the streamwise exit of the computational domain. Above a thin wall layer, turbulence intensities significantly higher than fully developed, smooth-wall levels persist in the developing region. Within the thin wall layer, the profile shapes for turbulence stresses recover very quickly and wall-normal locations of characteristic peaks are established. However, even in this thin layer, complete recovery of magnitudes of turbulence stresses is exceptionally slow. A similar initially swift but eventually incomplete and slow relaxation behaviour is also shown by the skin friction. Between the turbulence shear and streamwise stresses, the turbulence shear stress shows a comparatively quick rate of recovery above a thin wall layer. Over the developing smooth wall, the balance is not merely between fluxes due to pressure and shear stresses. Strong momentum fluxes, which are directly influenced by the upstream roughness size, contribute significantly to this balance. Approximate curve fits estimate the streamwise distance required by the outer peaks of Reynolds stresses to attain near-fully-developed levels at approximately $20\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}{-}25\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}$ , with $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}$ being the channel half height. An even longer distance, of more than $50\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}$ , might be needed by the mean velocity to approach near-fully-developed magnitudes. Visualizations and correlations show that large-scale eddies that are created above the roughness persist downstream, and sporadically perturb the elongated streaks. These streaks of alternating high and low momentum appear almost instantly after the roughness is removed. The mean flow does not re-establish an equilibrium log layer within the computational domain, and the velocity deficit created by the roughness continues throughout the domain. On the step change in roughness, near the wall, profiles for turbulence kinetic energy dissipation rate, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D716}$ , and energy spectra indicate a sharp reduction in energy at small scales. Despite this, reversion towards equilibrium smooth-wall levels is slow, and ultimately incomplete, due to a rather slow adjustment of the turbulence cascade. The non-dimensional roughness height, $k^{+}$ ranges from 42 to 254 and the friction velocity Reynolds number at the smooth wall, $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}S}$ , ranges from 284 to 1160 in the various simulations.


This paper surveys export hysteresis on a micro (firm) level and an aggregate level if sunk adjustment costs matter for export market entry and exit decisions. Furthermore, the impacts of option-to-wait effects due to uncertainty on the aggregation procedure are illustrated. It then illustrates the so-called play-algorithm which allows an estimation of the aggregate/macro hysteresis loop taking into account the variable option value effects resulting from on changing volatility of exchange rates. The play regression model is then applied to empirical export equations (Euro Area member countries to the United States). We do not confine ourselves to the aggregate macro level but also take a sectoral/branch perspective. Analyzing one of the largest export destinations outside the Eurozone, the US, to which 12% of total EA exports were directed in 2012, we find hysteretic effects in many cases of EA member countries' exports. However, not every increase or decrease of the exchange rate will, automatically, lead to positive or negative reactions of the volume of exports. But a large appreciation of the euro means passing the play-area (i.e. a kind of 'pain-threshold') and results in a strong reaction of exports, et vice versa.


This article investigates the validity of the theory of mediated predication by examining one of the proposed overt realizations of Pred0. Taking the law of parsimony as our starting position and using evidence from English, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian, we argue that the element that looks like the preposition 'for' is, in fact, a preposition (not Pred0), and we show how it explains the syntax and the semantics of the relevant 'for' sequences. Cases of apparently predicative interpretation of 'for'-PP result from the interplay between the meaning of the preposition 'for' and the metaphorical reinterpretation of motion and locative verbs that 'for'-PPs combine with.


17 amino acids were used to examine their effects on production of bacterial cellulose (BC) by Acetobacter xylinum. It found that these amino acids can be classified into three groups based on BC production: the efficient group (His/Glu/Asp/Thr/Leu/Ala/Cys), the less efficient one (Met/Ser/ Arg/Phe/Val/Pro/Try/Cystine/Tyr) and the non-efficient one (Lys). Among the efficient group, effects of amino acids on BC were insignificant except His through a L8 (27) factorial design, so it concluded that His was the best amino acid for BC produced by A. xylinum in defined medium. Even so, His was not the best nitrogen source, compared to ammonium sulphate. When His and ammonium sulphate co-existed in the medium, they were both comsumed by A. xylinum independently, but their synergic effect on BC production was not significant.


that several others are effective in varying degree against intestinal amoebiasis. Chloramphenicol has materially reduced the mortality from concurrent Salmonella infection in Oroya fever, a major disease in certain areas of South America; this surely is worthy of mention in such a volume. One ends the reading of this booklet with a feeling of disappointment that it does not quite rise to the level of the up-to-date, accurate, and authoritative account, however brief, its title encourages one to expect.


Abstract The objective of this study is to investigate a phenomenon that occurs in Brazil, specifically the spike in demand at the end of the sales period, known as the hockey stick phenomenon. This analysis will encompass the causes as well as the impacts of this phenomenon, in a way that allows alternative policies to be evaluated. Data was collected from a Brazilian branch of a large multinational in the non-durable consumer goods industry and in semi-structured interviews conducted face-to-face with executives of 26 clients. The data was used to generate a continuous simulation model based on the methods of systems dynamics. The findings showed that the phenomenon negatively impacted the manufacturer's financial performance in the long term and indicated required changes necessary to remediate the phenomenon. This is an empirical study on the hockey stick phenomenon, a problem that affects diverse companies in Brazil. The study showed that companies should not assume the hockey stick phenomenon to be an exogenous problem; it showed that there are policies able to improve financial performance; and it provided ideas regarding ways to carry out the change process.


What is a hyperactive child? When does he become a problem to others? The average child is very active physically, employs useless and exaggerated gestures and finds it difficult to concentrate on one thing for a prolonged period. As he grows he learns to control his motor impulses, becomes less active and more attentive and finally in his teens develops the ability to think before acting and is economical in the expenditure of his physical energy. The extent of normal physical overactivity and the time for the child to become less active vary widely with different children. Annoying as hyperactive behavior may be to parents, fortunately, in most instances, it is regarded as natural, as a phase in the child's development, and not much importance is attached to it. The child whose overactivity results in no particular problems will not be discussed. There is a type of child who, because


"Big Data" is immersed in many disciplines, including computer vision, economics, online resources, bioinformatics and so on. Increasing researches are conducted on data mining and machine learning for uncovering and predicting related domain knowledge. Protein-protein interaction is one of the main areas in bioinformatics as it is the basis of the biological functions. However, most pathogen-host protein-protein interactions, which would be able to reveal much more infectious mechanisms between pathogen and host, are still up for further investigation. Considering a decent feature representation of pathogen-host protein-protein interactions (PHPPI), currently there is not a well structured database for research purposes, not even for infection mechanism studies for different species of pathogens. In this paper, we will survey the PHPPI researches and construct a public PHPPI dataset by ourselves for future research. It results in an utterly big and imbalanced data set associated with high dimension and large quantity. Several machine learning methodologies are also discussed in this paper to imply possible analytics solutions in near future. This paper contributes to a new, yet challenging, research area in applying data analytic technologies in bioinformatics, by learning and predicting pathogen-host protein-protein interactions.


The objectives of this study were to investigate the performance of 20-year old doweled/non-doweled and dense-graded/permeable base test sections on three concrete pavement segments in Wisconsin: USH 18/151 in Iowa and Dane counties, STH 29 in Brown County, and USH 151 in Columbia and Dane Counties. Five pavement bases were placed including: dense graded, asphalt-stabilized permeable, cement-stabilized permeable, and untreated permeable having two gradation sizes. USH 18/151 test sections had similar performance (PDI) for doweled unsealed pavement on dense and permeable base. Distresses common to all segments included slight to moderate distressed joints/cracks and slight transverse faulting. Asphalt-stabilized permeable base had no slab breakup or surface distresses, however it measured a greater severity of distressed joints and cracks. Non-doweled sections having asphalt-stabilized permeable base and Transverse Inter Channel drains had better performance and ride than the other non-doweled sections. IRI was generally higher on non-doweled pavements, but many doweled sections had an equal roughness to non-doweled sections. Sealed non-doweled joints produced a better performing pavement, however, sealant did not appear to improve ride. STH 29 unsealed sections performed better than the median PDI for the sealed sections. The sealed doweled pavement did perform a little better than the non-doweled section, but the opposite occurred on the non-doweled sections. Sealed doweled joints had a smoother ride than the other combinations. USH 151 test sections found the finer-graded New Jersey permeable base had the smoothest ride when compared to other permeable sections. Asphalt-stabilized permeable base had the roughest ride, and unstabilized and cement-stabilized permeable bases had intermediate values. The average hydraulic conductivity for the unstabilized permeable base was 17,481 feet per day and there appears little variation due to doweling or joint sealant. Deflection load transfer results indicate expected high average values for the doweled sections and fair to poor values for the non-doweled sections. Slab support ratios indicate variable results based on base type and joint reinforcement/sealant. Life-cycle cost analysis found dense-graded base was the least cost among all base alternatives, with a total estimated present-worth life-cycle cost of $665,133 per roadway mile. Untreated and asphalt-stabilized permeable bases were more expensive by 13% and 27%, respectively. Other factors in selecting dense-graded base over permeable base include project drainage conditions set forth in the FDM guidelines an anticipated increase in pavement surface roughness.


Land agreements negotiated between British authorities and indigenous groups were part and parcel of colonial expansion. Although current interpretations of the historical agreements which formed the basis for European settlement and rights in land acknowledge that a variety of forms of evidence (written, numerical, verbal and pictorial) are admissible in law, and generally recognise that the spirit of an agreement is paramount, special difficulties (principally those of culture and language) are associated with getting to the heart of such agreements. Typically, the written words of legal texts have been scrutinised minutely, but forms of evidence other than the written words have been neglected. This paper compares the unwritten evidence for treaties and concessions in three countries, namely Canada, New Zealand and Zimbabwe. Examples include wampum belts in Canada, and surviving verbal synopses of written documents, for example explanations by missionary translators, which were often couched in figurative or metaphorical language and, at the time, may have carried considerable weight. Despite agreements being negotiated verbally, the official version is generally the written document with appended signatures or written marks. From an indigenous point of view, the verbal agreement often carries greater weight, especially when ratified by some form of cultural protocol, for example smoking a pipe of peace. Failure to recognise such verbal covenants and protocols has at times led to misunderstandings about the spirit of land agreements. The paper concludes that legal processes today not only need to be cognisant of written law but should also pay greater attention to unwritten forms of evidence. In particular, imagery resorted to at the time of negotiation has proved itself pithy, well suited to capturing the essence of negotiating points, and capable of providing enduring mental images that should rightly be drawn on to colour legal interpretation today.