Neurofibromatosis-1 is an autosomal dominant disorder with a prevalence of approximately 1 in 3000 individuals. Its manifestations involve tissues derived from the neural crest and include mainly cafe au lait spots, neurofibromas and Lisch nodules. The gene for NF-1 was identified in 1990 and found to encode a protein, neurofibromin, with sequence similarity to a family of GTPase activating proteins (GAP). The region of homology is called the NF-1 GAP related domain (NF-1 GRD). Its expression has been shown to complement yeast strains deficient in the yeast GAP homologues IRA1 and IRA2 and to interact with human ras proteins and accelerate the conversion of active GTP bound ras to inactive GDP bound ras. Neurofibromin is also known to associate with cytoplasmic microtubules and the connection between ras mediated signal transduction and the cytoskeleton suggests that neurofibromin may play multiple roles in the regulation of cell division. Neurofibromatosis type-1 is caused by mutations in the NF-1 gene. Mutation analysis in NF-1 is complicated due to the large size of the gene, which extends for over 300 kb on chromosome 17 and is made up of more than 49 exons, due to its high mutation rate and due to the presence of NF-1 pseudogenes and homologous sequences. The present study involved the characterisation of germline and somatic mutations within the NF-1 gene. Characterisation of germline mutations was carried out in 25 randomly selected, unrelated patients with neurofibromatosis type-1 from Scotland and included both inherited and sporadic cases. Characterisation of somatic mutations was carried out in tumours unrelated to NF-1, to assess the tumour suppressor function of the NF-1 gene. The strategy for germline mutation analysis involved initial amplification of the NF-1 coding sequence by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using both DNA and RNA as templates. In order to do so, PCR primers were designed to amplify 78% the NF-1 coding sequence. Primers for amplification of selected individual exons from genomic DNA were also designed. After initial amplification by PCR, the products were electrophoresed on agarose gels in order to check for any abnormal alterations in size. If no alteration was identified, the segments amplified using DNA as a template i.e. individual exons of the NF-1 gene were analysed using single stranded conformational analysis and chemical cleavage analysis. The segments amplified using RNA as a template were larger in size (0.4-1 kb) and thus were directly subjected to chemical cleavage analysis, to precisely locate the presence of small alterations or point mutations within the NF-1 gene. Any mismatch detected by chemical cleavage was then fully characterised using direct sequencing by the dideoxy chain termination method, using single stranded DNA generated by asymmetric PCR amplification. Larger rearrangements within the NF-1 gene were screened by Southern blotting of genomic DNA. Using the above strategy, 17 positive screening results were detected on analysis of 78% of the coding sequence in 25 patients. Of these, 13 have been characterised by direct sequencing. The mutations include three splice site errors responsible for exon skipping, two other gross abnormalities of the NF-1 mRNA resulting from a partial deletion in exon 16 and the complete deletion of exon 18, two insertions, a nonsense mutation, two missense mutations, three silent mutations and a novel intragenic polymorphism in intron 41. The mutation 3113+1G to A affected the splice donor site of intron 18 and resulted in the skipping of exon 18 from the NF-1 mRNA. This loss of exon 18 did not cause a shift in the reading frame and is predicted to result in a loss of 41 amino acids from the protein product. The 41 amino acids lost include two cysteine residues at positions 1016 and 1036, whose loss may lead to altered conformation / stability of neurofibromin. This mutation was identified in a familial case of NF-1. 5749+2T to G is a splice site mutation that affects the invariant GT dinucleotide of the splice donor site of intron 30 and was identified in a sporadic case of NF-1. This mutation resulted in the skipping of exon 30 and a shift in the translational reading frame. This is predicted to result in a truncation of the protein product due to the translation of a single altered amino acid before the termination at a premature stop codon at position 1851. 1721+3A to G is a splice site mutation at position +3 of the donor site in intron 11 and was identified in a familial case of NF-1. This transition resulted in an error of splicing, leading to skipping of exon 11 from the NF-1 mRNA. This is predicted to cause a shift in the translational reading frame, resulting in the formation of 12 altered amino acids and the creation of a premature stop codon at position 560. This would result in the synthesis of a protein of 559 amino acids instead of the normal 2818 amino acids, which would lack the NF-1 GAP related domain. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).


Ok, Doctor. I am going to tell you the reason why I am here today. A couple of weeks ago I hung out with some girls. We went to have some beers in a bar. It was an ok bar and so was the music. The only bad thing that happened, apparently I mean, was the fact that I did not share the taxi ride after leaving. Well, one of the girls did not ride in the cab either. As that was the issue, I still don't know what the trouble was. Both of us, left behind on a rainy and chilly night. The rain made the street more romantic. All the neon lights reflected on the wet pavement created that scene of a New York street, or any big city, similar to the ones seen in the movies, where lovers go for a walk. And the cold weather was inviting to… Oh God!, that night was exactly perfect to be spent with someone else…


Socio-emotional content is vital for building trusting, productive relationships that go beyond task-oriented communication in teams. But for distributed collaborators, it is challenging to communicate emotional status because of working over a distance. We propose to use non-work-related, non-competitive, and playful drawing online to encourage nonverbal expressions of emotions and interactions. We describe our research and preliminary results from a recent study where we demonstrated that it was effective to use freeform drawing to help distributed teams to enhance individual positive emotions. We also outline future research that could shed light on design opportunities for supporting affective expressions and sharing in distributed software engineering teams.


The tasks of developing international cooperation in the agrarian sphere between Ukraine and the international community, including the European Union, were determined. The existing reasons for the development of small and medium business representatives are analyzed. The updated structure of the object and the subject side - components of agrarian management is determined. The tendency of international development of organic farming is taken into account. The description and practical significance of the appropriateness of securing the terminological understanding of "raider", "peaceful possession of property" with the aim of unification of the norms of the national legislation with the international ones, including the European one, is given. The state-legal regulation on the way of preventing the offense from the standpoint of functioning of state bodies is considered. Due to the comparative method of scientific study, proposals for changes to the current normative and legal framework of Ukraine are determined. There is a distinction and the need to ensure legal protection and protection of the most vulnerable category of subjects. Today, it is the owners of land plots, including owners of land plots (shares), which have been given a land plot for private peasant farming, horticulture, gardening, subsidiary farming. In particular, such protection should be based on positions of economic, social, legal and moral orientation, which defines an integrated and systematic approach. The state authorities should, through their functional duties and through the authority to provide assistance to such economic entities.           Keywords: raiding, peaceful possession of property, agrarian sphere, organic farming, state-legal and state-private mechanism, international agrarian cooperation, agrarian raiding, "weapons" institute


The diverse development of mobile terminal equipment and wireless networks makes more people choose mobile Learning, and how to select the appropriate equipment environment to support learning activities has become confusion in research and practice of mobile learning. In this paper , The terminal equipment and network access of mobile learning system environment are collectively referred to as mobile learning system equipment environment, it will separated describe the classification and characteristics of different mobile terminals and wireless network in detail, build an universal mobile learning system equipment environment model, have specific instructions of common mobile learning equipment environment based on this model, and the choice of mobile learning system equipment environment of existed typical mobile learning application cases home and abroad are classified and summarized. Finally, it will prospect the development of the future of mobile learning equipment environment.


Catechin-(4,8)-malvidin-3-glucoside, a red pigment adduct (at acid pH) found in red wine and resulting from the reaction between malvidin-3-glucoside and flavan-3-ols during wine aging, was synthesized. The thermodynamic and kinetic constants of the network of chemical reactions were fully determined by stopped flow: (i) Direct pH jumps, from thermal equilibrated solutions at pH = 1.0 (flavylium cation, AH(+)), show three kinetic processes. The first one occurs within the mixing time of the stopped flow and leads to the formation of quinoidal bases A and/or A(-) depending on the final pH; the second one takes place with a rate constant equal to 0.075 + 33[H(+)] and was attributed to the hydration reaction that forms the pseudobases (hemiketals), B/B(-). The third process is much slower, 2 × 10(-4) s(-1), and is due to the cis-trans isomerization giving rise to a small fraction of trans-chalcones, Ct/Ct(-). (ii) Reverse pH jumps from the thermally equilibrated solution at moderate to neutral pH values back to a sufficiently acidic medium clearly distinguish three kinetic processes: the first one takes place within the dead time and is due to the protonation of the bases; the second process occurs with the same rate constant of the hydration reaction monitored by direct pH jumps and is attributed to the formation of flavylium cation from the B; the last process occurs with a rate constant of 1.8 s(-1), and results from the formation of AH(+) from Ct through B, reflecting the rate of the ring closure (tautomerization). The separation of the hydration from the tautomerization upon a reverse pH jump is only possible because at pH < 1 the former reaction is faster than the last. An identical situation was observed for malvidin-3-glucoside (oenin) for pH < 2.


Mobile phone technology that has a huge impact on students' lives in the digital age may offer a new type of learning. The use of effective tool to support learning can be affected by the factor of gender. The current research compared how male and female students perceived mobile phones as a language learning tool, used mobile phones to learn English and developed their learning performance. A five-point rating scale questionnaire was used to collect data from 122 students, comprising 65 females and 57 males. They were enrolled in a fundamental English course where mobile phone usage was integrated in certain language learning tasks with an aim to facilitate learning. The findings demonstrated that male and female students did not differ in their usage, attitudes toward mobile phone uses for language learning as well as their learning performance at a significance level. In addition, the constraints of using mobile phone for learning that students identified in an open-ended question included the small screen and keyboard the most, followed by intrusiveness of SMS background knowledge, and limited memory of mobile phone. The implication for classroom practice was proposed in how mobile phone can be fully incorporated into the instructional process in order to enhance learner engagement. The results of this study are important for teachers when implementing the mobile phone technology in language teaching. They can be used as a guideline of how mobile phone can be fully incorporated into the instructional process in order to enhance learner engagement.


Two-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) can be defined through its correlation functions. These must satisfy certain consistency conditions which arise from the cutting of world sheets along circles or intervals. The construction of a (rational) CFT can be divided into two steps, of which one is complex-analytic and one purely algebraic. We realise the algebraic part of the construction with the help of three-dimensional topological field theory and show that any symmetric special Frobenius algebra in the appropriate braided monoidal category gives rise to a solution. A special class of examples is provided by two-dimensional topological field theories, for which the relevant monoidal category is the category of vector spaces.


Introduction. Towards a Multifactorial Approach PART I the BASIS for ADVERSE NEURAL TENSION: Functional Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System. Clinical Neurobiomechanics. Pathological Processes. The Clinical Consequences of Injury to the Nervous System PART II EXAMINATION: Clinical Reasoning. Examination of Nerve Conduction. Tension Testing. The Lower Limbs and Trunk. Tension Testing. The Upper Limbs. Application, Analysis and Further Testing PART III TREATMENT and TREATMENT POTENTIAL: Treatment. Self Treatment PART IV SELECTED DISORDERS and CASE STUDIES: Adverse Neural Tension Disorders Centred in the Limbs. Adverse Neural Tension Disorders Based on the Spinal Canal. Selected Case Studies Courses. Index


About the book:
Over the past thirty years nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have played an increasingly influential role in international negotiations, particularly on environmental issues. NGO diplomacy has become, in the words of one organizer, "an international experiment in democratizing intergovernmental decision making." But there has been little attempt to determine the conditions under which NGOs make a difference in either the process or the outcome of international negotiations. This book presents an analytic framework for the systematic and comparative study of NGO diplomacy in international environmental negotiations. Chapters by experts on international environmental policy apply this framework to assess the effect of NGO diplomacy on specific negotiations on environmental and sustainability issues.
The proposed analytical framework offers researchers the tools with which to assess whether and how NGO diplomats affect negotiation processes, outcomes, or both, and through comparative analysis the book identifies factors that explain variation in NGO influence, including coordination of strategy, degree of access, institutional overlap, and alliances with key states. The empirical chapters use the framework to evaluate the degree of NGO influence on such negotiations as the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol negotiations on global climate change, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.


Detecting vibrations with high probability and low false alarm probability is crucial for prompting distributed acoustic sensors (DASs) to real applications. It is known that detection performance mainly depends on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and many efforts have been made to improve it. However, the relationship between SNR and detection performance has not been quantitatively analyzed so far. Threshold-based vibration detection is a simple and commonly used technique, but how to set the decision threshold in DAS is still an open question. In this work, for the first time, we propose a model to quantify the relationship between SNR and detection performance and provide a method for setting the decision threshold. Firstly, we build a model to differentiate vibrations from the background noise based on their short-time average energy. This model reveals that setting decision threshold requires perfect knowledge of noise power, which is a difficult task in DAS since noise power varies frequently with time and position. To solve this problem, secondly, we propose a noise-irrelevant threshold setting method based on autocorrelation-energy. Finally, experimental validation is performed on a DAS system along 47.4km sensing fiber with 5m spatial resolution. Results of autocorrelation-energy-based method show 100% and 98.1% detection probability for two vibrations with $1.12 \times {10^{ - 7}}$ false alarm probability in a one-hour measurement period.


Abstract Building on unique Indigenous advantages for people living in remote areas, this study offers insights for innovative land-based economic opportunities across northern Australia. These advantages—outside the mainstream economics—include peoples' abilities to manage land and knowledge of ecosystems, culture, traditions/ceremonies which directly contribute towards peoples' health, social relations, provisioning of a safe and secure environment, and learning constituents of well-being. To demonstrate, two representative remote communities, Maningrida and Borroloola in the Northern Territory, are used for revealing uncaptured, but valid, opportunities which, if realized, could help enhance Indigenous well-being—a much-needed agenda for the Australian Government. Moreover, innovative land-based opportunities will potentially save ~$49million/yr of government's welfare costs. This study offers a detailed analysis of the existing socio-economic situation of the selected communities, outlines potential land-based economic opportunities, and advocates for a shift in policy planning from viewing remote communities as a problem to realising advantages of their unique prospects to develop the north. Applying an integrated approach to Indigenous development for supporting new economies can lead to diversification of north's land sector which to date has been predominantly used for beef production causing threats to fragile ecosystems and hence their services to people living in the area.


In these proceedings we report on the status of the ALICE Time-Of-Flight (TOF) detector.
The running performance of the Run 1 (2009-2013) and Run 2 (2015-present) data taking campaigns are compared.
The particle identification capabilities of the detector are presented and discussed in the light of the improved detector calibration that allowed to reach a timing resolution of 56 ps.


A magnetic particle pumping scheme based on high-gradient magnetic fields is proposed, and its operation principle is demonstrated. The pumping action is generated by sequentially displacing the magnetic field distribution and its dragging force on the magnetic particles immersed in a solution. No mechanical moving parts are needed, and thus, the proposed system can provide a fast, reliable, and inexpensive way for on-chip biomedical testing and analysis application. In this paper, the analysis, design, and experimental results are described.


Agencies attract the attention of MPs unequally. In focusing upon 'informnatory responsibility', as a prerequisite of ministerial responsibility in an era of executive agencies, the article reveals that there is no simple model or pattern of informatory responsibility, whether measured by parliamentary questions, letters from MPs, or extent of contact between ministers and agencies. Those agencies which attract the sustained interest of MPs often require elaborate mechanisms of response to deal with the sheer volume of questions and requests for information. In tumrn, this may have pathological organisational consequences for working practices and staffing tasks particularly if the agency is responsible for policy delivery in a politically sensitive area. Conversely, those agencies which attract little or no interest from MPs raise the neglected question of what does ministerial responsibility 'mean' in these circumstances? The article concludes that a more exacting perspective of inforinatory accountability is needed: one that places the emphasis not only upon the regularity of the flow of information and upon the consistency of explanation to parliament, but also takes into account the interactions of agencies and their 'constituencies of accountability'.


The present study focusses on the application of 3D-reflected light microscopy (3D-RLM) for the wood anatomical identification of charcoal specimens produced from domestic and tropical timbers. This special microscopic technique offers a detailed investigation of anatomical features in charcoal directly compared with the quality of field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The advantages of using the 3D-RLM technology are that fresh fracture planes of charcoal can be directly observed under the microscope without further preparation or surface treatment. Furthermore, the 3D-technique with integrated polarized light illumination creates high-contrast images of uneven and black charcoal surfaces. Important diagnostic structural features such as septate fibres and intercellular canals can be clearly detected and intervessel pits are directly measured. The comparison of the microscopic analyses reveals that 3D-reflected light microscopy (3D-RLM) provides an effective alternative technique to conventional field emission scanning electron microscopy for the identification of carbonized wood.


Tips and tools for finding and developing paper topics; includes resources for preemption check and keeping current on your topic.


AbstractThis paper presents some observations on how the borders between the religious and the secular are perceived, blurred and reinterpreted at the community level in Kyoto. These reflections are based mainly on my extended fieldwork in the city, where I participated in and took note of the activities of two chōnaikai (neighborhood associations). I also observed and examined events related to the Gion matsuri, which takes place in July and is one of the three main festivals in Japan. The neighborhood associations play a pivotal role in Kyoto's community life, and the boundaries between the religious and the secular very often remain indistinct due to the ambiguous character of the chōnaikai. In this context, I analyze some of the religious activities within the chōnai, such as taking care of the small votive shrine dedicated to the bodhisattva Jizō, and events related to Shintō. With regard to local festivals, I explore religious and secular aspects of the Gion matsuri, an event that attracts crowds of visitors from all over Japan and abroad, which offers the opportunity to investigate the intermingling of religion and business, local government, culture and tourism.


In this paper, the limitation that is prominent in most existing works of change-point detection methods is addressed by proposing a nonparametric, computationally efficient method. The limitation is that most works assume that each data point observed at each time step is a single multi-dimensional vector. However, there are many situations where this does not hold. Therefore, a setting where each observation is a collection of random variables, which we call a bag of data, is considered. After estimating the underlying distribution behind each bag of data and embedding those distributions in a metric space, the change-point score is derived by evaluating how the sequence of distributions is fluctuating in the metric space using a distance-based information estimator. Also, a procedure that adaptively determines when to raise alerts is incorporated by calculating the confidence interval of the change-point score at each time step. This avoids raising false alarms in highly noisy situations and enables detecting changes of various magnitudes. A number of experimental studies and numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the generality and the effectiveness of our approach with both synthetic and real datasets.


We show that the standard equation-by-equation OLS used in performance evaluation ignores information in the alpha population and leads to severely biased estimates for the alpha population. We propose a new framework that treats fund alphas as random effects. Our framework allows us to make inference on the alpha population while controlling for various sources of estimation risk. At the individual fund level, our method pools information from the entire alpha distribution to make density forecast for the fund's alpha, offering a new way to think about performance evaluation. In simulations, we show that our method generates parameter estimates that universally dominate the OLS estimates, both at the population and at the individual fund level. While it is generally accepted that few if any mutual funds outperform, we find that the fraction of funds that generate positive alphas is accurately estimated at over 10%. An out-of-sample forecasting exercise also shows that our method generates superior alpha forecasts.


We propose a novel semi-supervised method for end-to-end automatic speech recognition (ASR). It can exploit large unpaired speech and text datasets, which require much less human effort to create paired speech-to-text datasets. Our semi-supervised method targets the extraction of an intermediate representation between speech and text data using a shared encoder network. Autoencoding of text data with this shared encoder improves the feature extraction of text data as well as that of speech data when the intermediate representations of speech and text are similar to each other as an inter-domain feature. In other words, by combining speech-to-text and text-to-text mappings through the shared network, we can improve speech-to-text mapping by learning to reconstruct the unpaired text data in a semisupervised end-to-end manner. We investigate how to design suitable inter-domain loss, which minimizes the dissimilarity between the encoded speech and text sequences, which originally belong to quite different domains. The experimental results we obtained with our proposed semi-supervised training shows a larger character error rate reduction from 15.8% to 14.4% than a conventional language model integration on the Wall Street Journal dataset.


BACKGROUND
 Elderly trauma patients constitute a vulnerable group, with a substantial risk of morbidity and mortality even after low-energy falls. As the world's elderly population continues to increase, the number of elderly trauma patients is expected to increase. Limited data are available about the possible patient safety challenges that elderly trauma patients face. The outcomes and characteristics of the Norwegian geriatric trauma population are not described on a national level.

 OBJECTIVE
 The aim of this project is to investigate whether patient safety challenges exist for geriatric trauma patients in Norway. An important objective of the study is to identify risk areas that will facilitate further work to safeguard and promote quality and safety in the Norwegian trauma system.

 METHODS
 This is a population-based mixed methods project divided into 4 parts: 3 quantitative retrospective cohort studies and 1 qualitative interview study. The quantitative studies will compare adult (aged 16-64 years) and elderly (aged ≥65 years) trauma patients captured in the Norwegian Trauma Registry (NTR) with a date of injury from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2018. Descriptive statistics and relevant statistical methods to compare groups will be applied. The qualitative study will comprise focus group interviews with doctors responsible for trauma care, and data will be analyzed using a thematic analysis to identify important themes.

 RESULTS
 The project received funding in January 2019 and was approved by the Oslo University Hospital data protection officer (No. 19/16593). Registry data have been extracted for 33,344 patients, and the analysis of these data has begun. Focus group interviews will be conducted from spring 2020. Results from this project are expected to be ready for publication from fall 2020.

 CONCLUSIONS
 By combining data from the NTR with interviews with doctors responsible for treatment and transfer of elderly trauma patients, we will provide increased knowledge about trauma in Norwegian geriatric patients on a national level that will form the basis for further research aiming at developing interventions that hopefully will make the trauma system better equipped to manage the rising tide of geriatric trauma.

 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT
 PRR1-10.2196/15722


Khan and Ahmad described in 1975 a new species of Xiphinema Cobb from India: X. neoamericanum. At that time they were unaware that a species had been described under the same name in 1973, also from India, by Saxena, Chhabra and Joshi. These two species are clearly different, the odontostyle being 70-72 [Lm and the ({ c» value 27-29 for Saxena's et al. specimens but 98-105 [Lm and 49-69 respectively for those of Khan et Ahmad. However, the illustration 1D of Saxena et al. shows a tail of about 30 [Lm, which would give a ({ c» value of 53-68. Recently Khan and Ahmad (1977) renamed their species X. inaequale (Kahn et Ahmad, 1975) which in the original description is considered different from X. brevicolle Lordello et Da Costa 1961 because of the longer tail (c = 49-69 viz. 63-93 and c' 1 viz. < 1) and the longer basal portion of the oesophagus (2 neck widths viz. 1.5). We have studied populations of X. brevicolle of different geographical origin (Table 1) and have noted that the tail length is a variable character comprising in its range the 30 [Lm long tail of Fig. 1 D in the original description and the 26 [Lm long tail of the para type of X. inaequale which we have examined. Moreover, the ratio oesophageal bulb: neck width varies in the Brazilian population of X. brevicolle from 1.8 to 2, being almost the same as that of X. inaequale. Finally, we have observed that the lip region of the two species is identical in shape: offset from the rest of the body by a slight depression. We suggest, therefore, that X. inaequale and X. brevicolle are probably identical.


A welcome development in literary studies of the last decade or so has been the emergence of a serious and extensive engagement not only with the history but also with the archaeological materiality of the past in relation to literature; the 'past' comprising not only the context from which works of literature originally derived but also the multitudinous pasts through which they have been transmitted. There is, however, still a great deal to be explored and discussed in terms both of what we can and what we should try to do under the aegis of 'Literature and Archaeology', and, consequently, how we may go about that. It is precisely in that light that I offer a contribution to this volume which involves questioning and maybe problematizing some of the key ideas implicit in its theme, yet still in connexion with a constructive reading of one of the most enigmatic poems of the master of Middle English writing, Geoffrey Chaucer.


Despite playing a crucial role in germline-soma differentiation, the evolutionary significance of developmentally regulated genome rearrangements (DRGRs) has received scant attention. An example of DRGR is DNA splicing, a process that removes segments of DNA interrupting genic and/or intergenic sequences. Perhaps, best known for shaping immune-system genes in vertebrates, DNA splicing plays a central role in the life of ciliated protozoa, where thousands of germline DNA segments are eliminated after sexual reproduction to regenerate a functional somatic genome. Here, we identify and chronicle the properties of 5,286 sequences that putatively undergo DNA splicing (i.e., internal eliminated sequences [IESs]) across the genomes of three closely related species of the ciliate Paramecium (P. tetraurelia, P. biaurelia, and P. sexaurelia). The study reveals that these putative IESs share several physical characteristics. Although our results are consistent with excision events being largely conserved between species, episodes of differential IES retention/excision occur, may have a recent origin, and frequently involve coding regions. Our findings indicate interconversion between somatic—often coding—DNA sequences and noncoding IESs, and provide insights into the role of DNA splicing in creating potentially functional genetic innovation.


Net farm income for nearly all representative farms in 2015 is projected to be higher than in 2005. Low-profit farms, which comprise 20% of the farms in the study, may not have financial resiliency to survive without off-farm income. Commodity prices and yields are projected to increase slightly faster than costs, which will increase net farm income. Cropland prices and cash rental rates are projected to increase slightly in all regions. Debt-to-asset ratios for most farms will decrease slightly throughout the forecast period. Debt-to-asset ratios for the low-profit farms are expected to increase throughout the forecast period.


The article examines the developments and challenges faced by both anthropologists and rural communities since the 1960s. Looking at the parallel transition experienced By anthropologists working on Europe and farming communities experiencing European integration, I argue that a shift in methodological and thematic terms has occurred raising a number of issues for the establishment of a research agenda on the Anthropology of Europe. The most important shift concerns the reconfiguration of rural Europe, from the farm or village to more 'complex' social settings in which the presence of the state, bureaucracies, new social actors and markets are integrated into local phenomena. Attached to this rescaling is the issue of how anthropologists define their fieldwork and the objects of their study. Finally, heritage and conservation which are at the heart of the process of a European core identity and of a European rural imaginary provide a new critical framework to think about the connection between local concerns and global changes.


Abstract. The scan geometry of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors, combined with the Earth's curvature, results in a pixel shape distortion known as the "bow-tie effect". Specifically, sensor pixels near the edge of the swath are elongated along-track and across-track compared to pixels near the centre of the swath, resulting in an increase of pixel area by up to a factor of ∼ 9 and, additionally, the overlap of pixels acquired from consecutive scans. The Deep Blue and Dark Target aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieval algorithms aggregate sensor pixels and provide level 2 (L2) AOD at a nominal horizontal pixel size of 10 km, but the bow-tie distortion means that they also suffer from this size increase and overlap. This means that the spatial characteristics of the data vary as a function of satellite viewing zenith angle (VZA) and, for VZA > 30°, corresponding to approximately 50 % of the data, are areally enlarged by a factor of 50 % or more compared to this nominal pixel area and are not spatially independent of each other. This has implications for retrieval uncertainty and aggregated statistics, causing a narrowing of AOD distributions near the edge of the swath, as well as for data comparability from the application of similar algorithms to sensors without this level of bow-tie distortion. Additionally, the pixel overlap is not obvious to users of the L2 aerosol products because only pixel centres, not boundaries, are provided within the L2 products. A two-step procedure is proposed to mitigate the effects of this distortion on the MODIS aerosol products. The first (simple) step involves changing the order in which pixels are aggregated in L2 processing to reflect geographical location rather than scan order, which removes the bulk of the overlap between L2 pixels and slows the rate of growth of L2 pixel size vs. VZA. This can be achieved without significant changes to existing MODIS processing algorithms. The second step involves additionally changing the number of sensor pixels aggregated across-track as a function of VZA, which preserves L2 pixel size at around 10 km × 10 km across the whole swath but would require algorithmic quality assurance tests to be re-evaluated. Both of these steps also improve the extent to which the pixel locations a user would infer from the L2 data products represent the actual spatial extent of the L2 pixels.


The Poincare conjecture is a topological problem established in 1904 by the French mathematician Henri Poincare. It characterises three-dimensional spheres in a very simple way. It uses only the first invariant of algebraic topology – the fundamental group – which was also defined and studied by Poincare. The conjecture implies that if a space does not have essential holes, then it is a sphere. This problem was directly solved between 2002 and 2003 by Grigori Perelman, and as a consequence of his demonstration of the Thurston geometrisation conjecture, which culminated in the path proposed by Richard Hamilton.


Background: Neuromuscular blocking agents are used to provide relaxation and immobility during surgery. To avoid residual paralysis after anaesthesia, reversal of blockade is commonly accomplished with anticholinesterase agents but these drugs have cardiovascular side effects and incomplete effectiveness. Sugammadex is a cyclodextrin that binds rocuronium and chemically similar neuromuscular blocking drugs. Objective: Published data on the effectiveness of sugammadex as a reversal agent were examined. Methods: Peer-reviewed articles on residual postoperative paralysis and sugammadex (ORG 25969) were analysed. Results: Rocuronium–sugammadex complexes are formed and excreted via the kidney. The dissociation constant of the reaction is estimated at 0.1 μM. Sugammadex produces more rapid reversal of rocuronium- and vecuronium-induced blockade than current reversal agents. The dose required depends directly on intensity of blockade. To date, there appear to be few side effects. Inadequate dosage may lead to reparalysis. Conclusion: More data are needed, especially in patients with renal failure and those who require neuromuscular blockade again soon after receiving sugammadex.


Events of scientific interest in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, including conformational changes, folding transitions, and translocations of ligands and reaction products, often correspond to high-level structural rearrangements that alter contacts between molecules or among different parts of a molecule. Due to advances in computer architecture and software, MD trajectories representing such structure-changing events have become easier to generate, but the length of these trajectories poses a challenge to scientific interpretation and analysis. In this paper, we present automated methods for the detection of potentially important structure-changing events in long MD trajectories. In contrast with traditional tools for the analysis of such trajectories, our methods provide a detailed report of broken and formed contacts that aids in the identification of specific time-dependent side-chain interactions. Our approach employs a coarse-grained representation of amino acid side chains, a contact metric based on higher order generalizations of Delaunay tetrahedralization, techniques for detecting significant shifts in the resulting contact time series, and a new kernel-based measure of contact alteration activity. The analysis methods we describe are incorporated in a newly developed package, called TimeScapes, which is freely available and compatible with trajectories generated by a variety of popular MD programs. Tests based on actual microsecond time scale simulations demonstrate that the package can be used to efficiently detect and characterize important conformational changes in realistic protein systems.


In today's hypercompetitive environment in which markets change rapidly and competitive advantages are difficult to sustain, companies are forced to innovate and identify new business opportunities. However, innovation requires ingenuity and creativity. Product and service development depends on the creativity of employees, but harvesting and bringing novel ideas to fruition is often a chaotic process, which underscores the importance of creativity management within organizations. In this article, we review the literature on creativity in an effort to summarize state-of-the-art knowledge on how to stimulate creativity and spur innovation in modern organizations. For that purpose, we use Rhodes' 4-Ps model (1961) distinguishing between creative environments (called press), people, products, and processes. Through a review of 110 journals on the AIS journal list, this article offers insights―based on eighty-eight articles―into how creativity can be stimulated and supported by attending to each of these components. The literature teaches us how to utilize, evaluate, and strategize about creativity in organizational settings. Managers are advised to advance creativity and ideation processes, for example by building virtual environments that strengthen collaboration and creativity across organizational boundaries. Researchers are encouraged to investigate the relationship between strategy and information systems (IS) usage in fostering creativity.


Detailed knowledge of solar-type stars is essential in the understanding of the evolutionary past, presence and future of the Sun as well as the formation of its planetary system. Moreover, solar-type stars are of key significance for the study of the evolution of the Galaxy. The ages of solar-type stars map the full galactic evolution. Their surface layers are well mixed and just little affected by the interior nuclear processes. They may therefore be used as samples of the gas from which the stars were once formed. Models of stellar atmospheres are used to derive fundamental stellar quantities such as chemical composition, effective temperature, surface gravity, age and rotation. It is therefore also important to investigate the progress and shortcomings of the atmospheric models and the reliability of calibrations based upon these. In this thesis we explore the potential of synthetic uvbyHβ colours for deriving atmospheric parameters. The theoretical colours are derived using high-resolution synthetic spectra based on 1D atmosphere models of late-type stars. Furthermore, possible applications of the established synthetic colours on globular stellar clusters are tested. Observations of solar-type stars have demonstrated the existence of stars very similar to the Sun, so-called solar twins. A detailed chemical analysis of these stars, however, shows that most solar-twins are systematically richer, as compared with the Sun, in refractory elements such as Fe, Ni and Al, relative to volatile elements like C, N and O. This chemical abundance pattern has been suggested to be related to the formation of planets or the birth environment of the respective star. In this thesis we present a high-accuracy study on a solar-twin star in the old open cluster M67. We find that the star is very similar to the Sun when comparing their atmospheric parameters, effective temperature, surface gravity and metallicity. Remarkably enough, unlike most solar twins observed in the solar vicinity, the cluster twin shows the same refractory to volatile pattern as the Sun.The reason for this similarity is still unknown but further observations of the cluster will help to clarify the matter. M dwarfs constitute a large fraction of the detectable baryonic matter. In spite of this, detailed knowledge on the numerous neighbouring low-mass stars is still not available. The presence of strong molecular features in the spectra, and incomplete line lists for the corresponding molecules have made metallicity determinations of M dwarfs difficult. Furthermore, the faint M dwarfs require long exposure times for a signal-to-noise ratio sufficient for detailed spectroscopic abundance analysis. In this thesis we present a high resolution spectroscopic study of early-type M dwarfs in the infrared. The lack of prominent molecular bands in parts of the infrared J-band (1100--1400 nm) allows a precise continuum placement. Furthermore, we verify the adequacy of using the model atmospheres for abundance determination by observing a set of binary systems with a solar-type primary and an M dwarf companion. We present a reliable zero-point for the metallicity scale of early-type M dwarfs and verify the reliability of spectroscopic abundance analyses in the infrared.


The effects of the heptapeptide angiotensin-(1–7) (Ang-(1–7)), via its receptor Mas, oppose many of the effects of the classic angiotensin II signaling pathway, and pharmacological exploitation of this effect is currently actively pursued for a wide range of cardiovascular, neoplastic, or immunological disorders. On the basis of its vasodilatory and antiproliferative properties, Ang-(1–7) has consequentially also been proposed as a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). In this study, we tested the effectiveness of Ang-(1–7) and its stable, cyclic analog cAng-(1–7) over a range of doses for their therapeutic potential in experimental PAH. In the monocrotaline (MCT) rat model of PAH, Ang-(1–7) or cAng-(1–7) were injected in doses of 30, 100, 300, or 900 μg kg–1 day–1, and effects on pulmonary hemodynamics and vascular remodeling were assessed. Five weeks after MCT injection, right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) was significantly reduced for 3 dose groups treated with Ang-(1–7) (100, 300, and 900 μg kg–1 day–1) and for all dose groups treated with cAng-(1–7), as compared to untreated controls, yet the total reduction of RVSP was >50% at best and thus markedly lower than that with a positive treatment control with ambrisentan. Medial-wall thickness in pulmonary arterioles was only slightly reduced, without reaching significance, for any of the tested Ang-(1–7) compounds and doses. The reported moderate attenuation of PAH does not confirm the previously postulated high promise of this strategy, and the therapeutic usefulness of Ang-(1–7) may be limited in PAH relative to that in other cardiovascular diseases.


Title of Dissertation: Group Involvement Experiences in College: Identifying a Thematic Taxonomy John Patrick Dugan, Doctor of Philosophy, 2008 Directed By: Professor Susan R. Komives Department of Counseling and Personnel Services The purpose of this study was to explore whether latent phenomena could be identified to assist in the classification of students into subgroups based on their patterns of involvement across 21 types of co-curricular group experiences (e.g., cultural groups, student governance, club sports). Further analysis attempted to establish whether the emergent taxonomy of subgroups truly discriminated among students. This was accomplished through the use of data from the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, a national research program examining the influences of higher education on college student leadership development. The sample was comprised of 11,209 seniors from 50 institutions across the United States. The primary research question employed exploratory latent class analysis as a means to determine the number of latent factors underlying student patterns of involvement. A total of four latent factors were identified and students were classified into one of eight latent classes interpreted to reflect: Affinity Group Affiliates, Identity and Expression Leaders, Academic Careerists, Cultural Collegiates, Athletes, Social Recreators, Recreational Academics, and Social Collegiates. Findings from secondary research questions contributed to the validity of the taxonomy by demonstrating differential influences of latent class membership on a theoretically-derived measure of leadership. Significant relationships were also identified between latent classes and the demographic variables of race and gender. Results suggested a more complex composition of the category of collegiate identified in numerous taxonomies of college students (Astin, 1993a; Clark & Trow, 1966; Kuh, Hu & Vesper, 2000). Findings also served as a response to the numerous calls for research examining patterns of student involvement in co-curricular group experiences (Gellin, 2003; Foubert & Grainger, 2006; Hernandez, Hogan, Hathaway, & Lovell, 1999; Hoffman, 2002; Moore, Lovell, McGann, & Wyrick, 1998; Renn & Bilodeau, 2005a). Results have implications for both higher education research and professional practice. This includes the provision of new analytic and conceptual approaches for studying college student populations as well as college impact. Findings may also serve as a useful heuristic tool to assist student affairs professionals in their advising and mentoring of college students. GROUP INVOLVEMENT EXPERIENCES IN COLLEGE: IDENTIFYING A THEMATIC TAXONOMY


We propose a family of kernels for structured objects which is based on the bag-of-components paradigm. However, rather than decomposing each complex object into the single histogram of its components, we use for each object a family of nested histograms, where each histogram in this hierarchy describes the object seen from an increasingly granular perspective. We use this hierarchy of histograms to define elementary kernels which can detect coarse and fine similarities between the objects. We compute through an efficient averaging trick a mixture of such specific kernels, to propose a final kernel value which weights efficiently local and global matches. We propose experimental results on an image retrieval experiment which show that this mixture is an effective template procedure to be used with kernels on histograms.


Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is an evolutionary conserved DNA repair system that is essential for the removal of UV-induced DNA damage. In this study we investigated how NER is compartmentalized in the interphase nucleus of human cells at the ultrastructural level by using electron microscopy in combination with immunogold labeling. We analyzed the role of two nuclear compartments: condensed chromatin domains and the perichromatin region. The latter contains transcriptionally active and partly decondensed chromatin at the surface of condensed chromatin domains. We studied the distribution of the damage-recognition protein XPC and of XPA, which is a central component of the chromatin-associated NER complex. Both XPC and XPA rapidly accumulate in the perichromatin region after UV irradiation, whereas only XPC is also moderately enriched in condensed chromatin domains. These observations suggest that DNA damage is detected by XPC throughout condensed chromatin domains, whereas DNA-repair complexes seem preferentially assembled in the perichromatin region. We propose that UV-damaged DNA inside condensed chromatin domains is relocated to the perichromatin region, similar to what has been shown for DNA replication. In support of this, we provide evidence that UV-damaged chromatin domains undergo expansion, which might facilitate the translocation process. Our results offer novel insight into the dynamic spatial organization of DNA repair in the human cell nucleus.


In this article, we aim to explain the school careers of the second generation of Turkish immigrants in nine cities in five Western European countries and show the influence of the national school systems ranging from comprehensive to hierarchical tracking structures. We apply sequence analyses, optimal matching, and cluster analyses to define school trajectories complemented with propensity score matching to study the differences between young adults of different origin. Participants were 4516 young adults of Turkish second generation and native origin aged between 18 and 35. Findings show that the school system makes a difference for school careers: (1) in rigid systems with higher differentiation and early tracking, the gap between the second-generation and native school trajectories begins to unfold early in the school career; (2) in the rigid systems, the track in which students enter secondary education determine the routes they take as well as their final outcomes; and (3) more open systems allow for "second-chance" opportunities for immigrant students to improve their track placement. However, across school systems, second-generation youth follow more often non-academic or short school careers, while native youth follow academic careers. When individual and family background are controlled via propensity score matching, the ethnic gap is explained better in more stratified systems highlighting the important role of family background in more stratified school systems.


Our Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Health Education and Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Community Health Education provide foundational and professional preparation in the growing field of public health. These programs prepare students for entry and master's level positions in a range of professions to influence and support the health of communities and broader populations through health advocacy, public health research, community health or health care programs. Students engage with a curriculum grounded in public health competencies of social determinants of health, epidemiology, health policy, community organizing, health and power inequities, public health programming and practice in the field. The department engages students through exposure to applied scholarship, active engagement in participatory learning, and the critical integration of theory, research, and practice.


One of Indonesia's government programs to boost tourism as the basis of Indonesia's economy is Halal tourism. This study aimed at exploring the behavior of domestic Muslim tourists when considering halal tourist destinations. It also looked at Muslim tourists' behavior as they selected and recommended halal tourist destinations and compared the results according to the degree of taqwa in performing their religious rituals. This study used judgmental sampling in the selection of respondents and successfully collected 511 valid questionnaires. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used to analyze the study subjects, namely domestic Muslim tourists when they intended to select and recommend halal tourist destinations. It revealed that when domestic Muslim tourists intended to select and recommend halal tourist destinations, they influenced by Behavior Control. Attitude and Subjective norm did not influence the intention to select and recommend halal tourist destinations. Moreover, there was an adverse relationship between Attitude and Subjective Norm in the intention. The result of this study may contribute to the behavior theory and expand the use of TPB in the field of halal tourism study. Keywords: degree of taqwa, domestic tourists, halal tourist destinations, theory of planned behavior.


In the contemporary tourism industry, the competitive game is between destinations. Tourism operations struggle to remain competitive on the international market and their success depends to a large extent on other complementary and competing tourism organizations at the destination. It is the sum of the total tourism offerings at the destination which determines its attractiveness. This research explores tourism collaboration process as a means of generating destination competitiveness. The focus of the research is on the enhancing factors which contribute to the success of the collaboration and to the development of quality tourism products. The research studies the case of Biking Dalarna, a collaboration of different organizations at five biking destinations in Dalarna, Sweden. Its purpose is to develop biking tourism in the region and to make Dalarna into Sweden's leading biking destination. It is a qualitative research; the empirical data was collected through in depth interviews with representatives of six Biking Dalarna member organizations. The qualitative data collected from the participants provides inside look into the members reflections and experience of collaborating. The findings of this research demonstrate how collaboration has improved the biking product in Dalarna and promoted solutions to development problems. The research finds the good relationship between the collaborating actors and the involvement and leadership of the regional tourism management organization as the most contributing factors to the success of Biking Dalarna. The research also suggests that a third desired outcome of collaboration, improved marketing attributes was yet to be achieved in the case of Biking Dalarna.


BACKGROUND
Boldo (Peumus boldus Molina) is a widely used medicinal plant. However, its physiological effects are not well known. Recent studies in animals showed that certain components of boldo relax smooth muscle and prolong intestinal transit.

AIM
To assess the effects of a dry boldo extract on oro cecal transit time in normal humans.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Twelve volunteers received 2.5 g of a dry boldo extract or a placebo (glucose) during two successive periods of four days. On the fourth day, 20 g of lactulose were administered and breath hydrogen was collected every 15 min. Oro cecal transit time was defined as the time in which breath hydrogen increased by 20 ppm over the fasting level.

RESULTS
Oro cecal transit time was larger after dry boldo extract administration, compared to placebo (112.5 +/- 15.4 and 87 +/- 11.8 min respectively, paired t p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Dry boldo extract prolongs oro cecal transit time, a possible explanation for its medicinal use.


A combined technique of autoradiography and immunohistochemistry is described for localization of radioactively labeled ligands and antibodies to neuropeptides, protein hormones and neurotransmitter synthesizing enzymes in the brain. This method permits the simultaneous visualization of radioactively labeled cells and neuropeptide-producing cells in the same tissue preparation. Autoradiograms are fixed with weak paraformaldehyde solution prior to photographic processing for subsequent immunoperoxidase staining. With this procedure 3H-estradiol is localized in neurophysin I and arginine vasopressin-producing cells of the mouse supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei, neurophysin-producing cells of the guinea pig hypothalamus, and dopamine-beta-hydroxylase-containing neurons of the rat lower brainstem; 3H-dihydrotestosterone in pituitary gonadotropes and thyrotropes; and 3H-1,25-(OH)2 vitamin D3 in pituitary thyrotropes and pancreatic B-cells.


This conference, organised by Dr. Ria Cheyne, Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University, was held at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) on Friday 22 May, 2009 under the auspices of the Cultural Disability Studies Research Network (CDSRN; an interdisciplinary forum aimed at promoting disability perspectives across the UK university curriculum). The venue and network have a special significance for the literary and cultural Disability Studies movement in the UK, as the Journal of Literary Disability was launched in 2007 at the first CDSRN event, which was also hosted by LJMU. I attended Disability and Popular Fiction as a researcher who had to date consciously stressed my interest in literary Disability Studies. From this pointof- view, the day was particularly interesting for the way in which, through the course of a diverse range of papers, what I might call a strategic tension between the literary and the so-called popular emerged. It was encouraging to see a number of early-career researchers, Ph.D. students, and even undergraduates in attendance. The day's keynote address, "Genetics at the Scene of the Crime: The Pathology of Contemporary Detective Fiction," was given by Dr. Lucy Burke. She built upon Mitchell and Snyder's work on the way in which diagnostic classifications give rise to "punitive methodological strategies," and Lennard Davis's ideas of the novel form as one that promotes and symbolically produces normative structures, to argue that the detective novel form is the imaginative expression of intellectual discourses that emerge to categorise, classify, and differentiate normalcy and disability. Applying these ideas in the context of contemporary Nordic detective fiction (as exemplified by Swedish author Stieg Larsson and Icelandic author Arnaldur Indriðason), Dr. Burke noted the concerns around national health and national inclusion, with both Larsson's The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009) and Indriðason's Tainted Blood (2004) presenting genetic "defects" as sites of the disruption of national mythologies of continuity and social cohesion. She noted the historical context of forced sterilisation in Sweden between 1935 and 1975, as well as the DeCode Genetics Inc. project creating a database of the Icelandic population, on the grounds of its genetic homogeneity. Against this background, she observed that in the novels the defective gene functioned as an ambiguous trope, with the carriers of "corrupt genes" functioning both as a troubling presence and as occupiers of an ethical high ground as they expose national mythologies of social cohesion, consensus, and harmony. This idea of the text as a space for ambiguity was also explored in Dr. Ria Cheyne's "Alternative Corporealities: Disability in Science Fiction." Dr. Cheyne noted that SF, like most other popular genres, remains understudied within literary and cultural Disability Studies, and that conversely there has to date been very little engagement with disability in SF studies. She noted that, beyond simply offering different representations of disability, the ways that texts work in a specific genre discourse offer an important space for challenging and rethinking the status quo. This links to Dr. Burke's point regarding detective fiction and indicates something about so-called genre fiction in general. However, Dr. Cheyne pointed out that SF as a genre does not work in the same way as romance or detective fiction, as it does not have a universal plot pattern or set of character types. Dr. Cheyne did, nonetheless, focus on three tropes of SF: the technologised body, the alien, and the alternative environment. She noted that all three suggest to readers the possibility, at least, of an alternative normative system that is equal but different to their own. As with Dr. Burke's observations regarding detective fiction, Dr. Cheyne noted that SF foregrounds the process by which particular values and meanings are attached to particular bodily forms and capabilities. …


To design a program for the training of the general internist, we must know what tasks he is required to perform. Between the general imperative of providing patient care and the specific local requirements of the community, there must exist some general needs and demands that should provide guidelines for the training of the general internist. To assess the effect of the variables of practice, location, income, and professional alliances, four internists were asked to discuss their professional life-styles. They represented different, although perhaps not totally representative, forms of practice. From their remarks similarities were evident that should bear on the development of training programs for the general internist. Robert B. Copeland, MD, is one of seven general internists in a multidiscipline private clinic of 19 physicians in LaGrange, Ga (population, 26,000; surrounding underserved population, 110,000 to 250,000). The majority of the professional efforts of Dr Copeland and his internist


Climate change and other environmental problems of global scale indicate that we have entered, as Nobel prize winner Paul Crutzen has described it, the "Anthropocene," the era of pervasive human influence on the earth's natural systems. Further, the collective action features of climate change render it a commons problem of global and intergenerational proportions. Grounding an ethical relationship with the environment in any of the existing consequentialist, deontological, and even virtue-based approaches is insufficient if the hallmarks of the Anthropocene are not considered. This chapter begins a conversation about an appropriate metaphor for the Anthropocene, from which ethical frameworks and vocabulary might flow. I suggest that the metaphor of parenting, while not perfect, captures the aspects of control, care, and inherent tragedy that characterize the stage that humans now occupy with respect to their relationship with the planet.


Accumulating evidence indicates a close relationship between oxidative stress and growth rate in fish. However, the underlying mechanisms of this relationship remain unclear. This study evaluated the combined effect of dietary antioxidants and growth hormone (GH) on the liver and the muscle redox status of Atlantic salmon. There were two sequential experimental phases (EP) termed EP1 and EP2, each lasting for 6 weeks. In EP1, Atlantic salmon were fed either low-(L, 230 mg/kg ascorbic acid (Asc), 120 mg/kg α-tocopherol (α-TOH)), or high-(H, 380 mg/kg Asc, 210 mg/kg α-TOH)vitamin diets. The vitamins were supplemented as stable forms and the feeding was continued in EP2. In EP2, half of the fish were implanted with 3 μL per g body weight of recombinant bovine GH (Posilac®, 1 mg rbGH g BW−1) suspended in sesame oil, while the other half were held in different tanks and sham-implanted with similar volumes of the sesame oil vehicle. Here, we show that increasing high levels of vitamin C and E (diet H) increased their content in muscle and liver during EP1. GH implantation decreased vitamin C and E levels in both liver and muscle but increased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels only in the liver. GH also affected many genes and pathways of antioxidant enzymes and the redox balance. Among the most consistent were the upregulation of genes coding for the NADPH oxidase family (NOXs) and downregulation of the oxidative stress response transcription factor, nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (nrf2), and its downstream target genes in the liver. We verified that GH increases the growth rate until the end of the trail and induces an oxidative effect in the liver and muscle of Atlantic salmon. Dietary antioxidants do lower oxidative stress but have no effect on the growth rate. The present study is intended as a starting point to understand the potential interactions between growth and redox signaling in fish.


The measurement of cell proliferation in vivo is usually carried out by the examination of static measures. These comprise the mitotic index or labeling indices using incorporation of DNA synthesis markers such as bromodeoxyuridine or tritiated thymidine, or intrinsic markers, such as Ki67 and proliferative cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). But static measures only provide a 'snapshot' of cell proliferation. Rate measures, including double labeling methods and the metaphase arrest method, can actually measure cell production rates but they are far less utilized at present. Transit times and migration rates can also be measured using pulse and chase labeling or by following the transit of labeled cells through the tissue. Simple indices of cell division can easily be confounded by concomitant changes in the compartment size and many alleged markers of proliferation have serious shortcomings, as the markers may be involved in multiple aspects of cell regulation. The complexities of studying proliferation in vivo are illustrated here with a focus on the gastrointestinal tract. Some of these methods can help elucidate the role of the stem cells and their relationship to label retaining cells. WIREs Dev Biol 2017, 6:e274. doi: 10.1002/wdev.274


A novel loop-loaded printed dipole (LLPD) with a wideband balun structure is presented for aiming a dual-band antenna operation at 3.0/5.5 GHz bands. The proposed balun structure alone demonstrates VSWR<1.5 performance over a 3:1 bandwidth. As the loop elements placed on the antenna aperture provides dual-band operation with at least 15% impedance bandwidths, the wideband balun/feed allows for matched and balanced excitation for the dipole over the bands of interest. An equivalent circuit modeling of the LLPD antenna is presented along with the corresponding simulations and measurements.


An n-detection test set detects each target fault n times. A higher value of n increases the likelihood that defects around the site of a target fault will be detected. However, an n -detection test set that consists of single-pattern tests (generated for single stuck-at faults) cannot guarantee that delay defects will be detected. For this it is necessary to use multi-pattern tests. The procedure described in this work generates a multi-pattern n-detection test set for single stuck-at faults. The procedure is applied starting from a single-pattern n-detection test set for single stuck-at faults. Experimental results demonstrate that the multi-pattern n-detection test set achieves a high transition fault coverage. It achieves a similar bridging fault coverage to the single-pattern test set. An added advantage is that the multi-pattern test set typically requires significantly fewer clock cycles for test application than the single-pattern test set.


The results of a large test series on vented gas explosions are herein reported (with vessel sizes ranging from 1 to 100 m3 mixture of methane, propane, and hydrogen with air). The pressure was not only measured internally but also externally. The flame propagation was also recorded with a speed camera. It is shown that a very significant explosion could result from the formation and ignition of the combustible cloud outside the vent and that, in a number of circumstances, this "external" explosion would overcome the internal one. Surprising results were also obtained showing, for instance, that near the vent the maximum overpressure may be lower than further downstream. This is not because the external explosion is developing far downstream but because of the local influence of the chamber pumping the outside atmosphere after the flame went out (thus creating a lower than atmosphere pressure) produced at the vent. The mode of combustion of the external cloud is still outstanding and cannot be described by the traditional outward expanding flame kernel. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog, 2010


Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease caused by Leishmania protozoa and occurs as a spectrum of clinical syndromes ranging from various forms of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) to mucosal leishmaniasis (ML) and visceral leishmaniasis (VL). CL in Afghanistan is either zoonotic (ZCL) due to L. major or anthroponotic (ACL) due to L. tropica and there has been a prolonged epidemic of ACL in eastern Afghanistan since 1987. However, there have been remarkably few reports of CL due to L. tropica amongst foreign troops serving in Afghanistan since 2001. We describe two such cases in Royal Marines deployed to Oruzgan Province in Afghanistan from 2008-9. These patients illustrate important issues regarding the clinical features, referral, diagnosis, treatment and epidemiology of CL amongst foreign troops in Afghanistan. This disease has the potential to cause significant disruption to military personnel and units and so requires efficient management in order to maintain operational effectiveness.


. We present the Caltech Fish Counting Dataset (CFC), a large-scale dataset for detecting, tracking, and counting fish in sonar videos. We identify sonar videos as a rich source of data for advancing low signal-to-noise computer vision applications and tackling domain generalization in multiple-object tracking (MOT) and counting. In comparison to existing MOT and counting datasets, which are largely restricted to videos of people and vehicles in cities, CFC is sourced from a natural-world domain where targets are not easily resolvable and appearance features cannot be easily leveraged for target re-identification. With over half a million annotations in over 1,500 videos sourced from seven different sonar cameras, CFC allows researchers to train MOT and counting algorithms and evaluate generalization performance at unseen test locations. We perform extensive baseline experiments and identify key challenges and opportunities for advancing the state of the art in generalization in MOT and counting. classification in relatively high-quality imagery.


Determination of the assembly state(s) of a membrane protein poses a difficult analytical problem. A powerful technique that is well adapted to meet this challenge is solution interaction analysis using analytical ultracentrifugation. Due to their hydrophobic nature, membrane proteins require detergent (or lipid) for solubilization in solution. Thus, a fundamental obstacle to be overcome in determining the stoichiometry of membrane proteins is that the mass of any bound detergent molecules will contribute to the experimentally determined apparent molecular weight. Judicious choice of detergent and solvent conditions surmounts this obstacle and facilitates evaluation of the mass of nly the protein component in a protein–detergent complex. Employing this experimental strategy, sedimentation equilibrium approaches were used to determine the association states of the glycophorin A transmembrane (GpATM) dimer in solutions of two detergents, C12E8 and C8E5. Analysis of sedimentation equilibrium data collected in C 8E5 micelles allowed estimation of a monomer/dimer equilibrium constant from which the free energy of dimerization could be calculated. Equilibrium constants were also determined for GpATM mutants that had previously been shown in a qualitative manner to diminish dimerization. Thus, the earlier mutational sensitivity results are placed on a quantitative, relative scale of interaction by ultracentrifuge experiments. This bulletin will focus on explaining the theoretical and practical considerations for making these types of experimental measurements on membrane proteins.


In August, I traveled to the stunning outdoor playground at Beaver Creek in Avon, Colorado, to attend the first annual SEG IQ Earth Forum. For the uninitiated, IQ stands for integrative and quantitative. These two words simultaneously cast the Forum's scope and serve as a call to action for all subsurface geoscience. There were 43 people in attendance including 12 from operators (Shell, ExxonMobil, Statoil, Chevron, Total, BHP Billiton, Apache, Anadarko, and Mitsui), 11 from service companies (eight of whom were representing Schlumberger and WesternGeco), 12 from software and consulting firms, and four from academia. A decent spread across the SEG membership base, and an ideal size for an intimate and lively meeting.


In the last two decades, corporations in developed markets have been swimming in a sea of regulations. These regulations include ever‐changing statutory acts, suggestive or prescriptive practice notes, regulatory policy statements, and auditing and accounting requirements. On top of this, if the company wants to be listed on an equity market it must conform to the rules of that market. In some countries, even further regulation is imposed by government auditing and performance tracking. All of this takes place before a company is even able to create a product or service to sell. After that it must abide by trade regulations, principles of tortious and contractual liability and the principles of equity.


Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is an essential element of the atmosphere that is the basis of photosynthesis process and the vital component of body organism processes. However, if it rises above the normal level, it becomes the most serious cause of global warming. However, the growth of CO 2 in the atmosphere has been slowed by the increase in the ability of plants to absorb the gas. This study is aimed to analyze CO 2 emissions and plant absorption ability to discover carbon stock and carbon balance in the atmosphere. This study used a sample of human activities that contribute to CO 2 emissions along the Soekarno-Hatta Street and the number of trees that soak the emissions. Remote sensing is applied to predict the levels of carbon dioxide emissions and absorption and carbon stocks. The absorption and stock of the carbon are calculated using a specific formula for biomass. The results showed a significant amount of carbon dioxide was emitted by motor vehicles passing through Soekarno-Hatta Street. However, only a small portion was generated by human activities carried out in stores, offices, restaurants, hotels, and hospitals. In line with that, the trees in the Soekarno-Hatta area were able to absorb carbon dioxide about 6 times higher than emitted. It also proved that the Palm tree ( Roystonea regia ) was capable of storing more carbon dioxide in significant amounts than the other two species, the Ashoka tree ( Polyalthia longifolia ), and the Rain tree ( Samanea saman ). Therefore, increasing the number of trees such as Palm tree in the area was recommended. Keywords: Coaching strategy, Regency Adiwiyata , School management , Sintang Regency


Abstracr. Laparoscopy for the investigation of infertility was performed in 433 women. The rate of pathologic findings was 70%. No fewer than 55% of patients with no history of gynecologic disease and normal hysterosalpingography (HSG) were found to have pathologic findings. When comparing the patency of the Fallopian tubes at HSG and laparoscopy the overall agreement was 71 %. Sixty-eight of the patients with no other cause for infertility had the abdominal tuba1 ostia catheterized at laparoscopy. In 20 of these, small adhesions that could interfere with ovum pickup were found and divided. The pregnancy rate in this group was 70%, which is significantly higher than the pregnancy rate of 44% in 59 otherwise normal patients who did not have their tubes catheterized. The subsequent pregnancy rate for patients with different findings at laparoscopy is described. The role of HSG compared with laparoscopy is discussed. It is concluded that laparoscopy should be performed in all patients of female infertility, with the exception of those who have bilateral hydrosalpinges without patency on HSG. These patients are offered laparotomy for salpingostomy without laparoscopy. The catheterization of the Fallopian tubes at laparoscopy is a new method to find an easily treatable cause of infertility.


Implementation of high performance, low-latency cooperative collision avoidance (CCA) protocols for Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANETs) is of major importance for public safety organizations and automobile manufacturers. In this study, we examine a vehicle-to-roadside (V2R) transmission scheme in which the intermediate roadside terminal amplifies and forwards the broadcasted warning signal and acts as a relay to provide diversity to the destination vehicle. We compare the bit-error-rate (BER) and packet-error-rate (PER) performances of multihop V2R and single-hop vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) transmission schemes. We further present a Markov chain traffic model in order to observe the impact of the improved error-rate performance on the collision probability. We assume the inter-vehicle spacing follows exponential distribution, and then draw a stochastic model considering the probabilities of successful message reception, transmission delay and drivers' reaction time. Numerical results reveal that the chance of collision in the V2R scheme is considerably less than the single-hop V2V case for equal message sizes sent over a large range of inter-vehicle spacing. This setting plays a vital role in wireless intervehicle warning applications such as collision avoidance for automated and semiautomated highway systems.


Transverse and axial trapping forces are calculated in the ray optics regime for a multiple-beam fiber-optic light-force trap for dielectric microspheres located both on and off axis relative to the beam axis. Trap efficiencies are evaluated as functions of the effective index of refraction of the microspheres, normalized sphere radius, and normalized beam waist separation distance. Effects of the linear polarization of the electric field and of beam focusing through microlenses are considered. In the case of a counterpropagating two-beam fiber-optic trap, using microlenses at the distal ends of the fiber to focus the beams may somewhat increase the trapping volume and the axial stability if the fiber spacing is sufficiently large but will greatly reduce the stiffness of the transverse force. Trapping forces produced in a counterpropagating two-beam fiber-optic trap are compared with those generated in multiple-beam fiber-optic gradient-force traps. Multiple-beam fiber-optic traps use strong gradient forces to trap a particle; therefore they stabilize the particles much more firmly than do counterpropagating two-beam traps.


Sentential negation in German Sign Language (DGS) is particularly interesting, because it involves the combination of a manual and a non-manual element. The manual element is the negative particle NOT, the non-manual component is a sideto-side headshake which accompanies (at least) the predicate. In this paper, I argue that, despite this peculiarity, DGS fits neatly into the typological scheme that has been proposed on the basis of negation patterns attested across spoken languages. In particular, I claim that DGS shows split negation whereby a negative particle is combined with a negative affix. This negative affix, however, is featural in nature and triggers a prosodic change comparable to tone changes in tone languages. Data from a number of African languages illustrate that similar prosodic modifications are also attested in spoken language negation.


Structure with non-negative effective permittivities in the radial and tangential directions can also perform far-field imaging beyond the diffraction limit since the dispersion curves can be long and flat enough and utilized to transfer the subwavelength information. Thus we propose an impedance-mismatched hyperlens with such a dispersion curve and increasing thicknesses (from the innermost layer to the outermost) to reduce reflection losses due to the impedance difference between the nearby layer pairs. Compared with the hyperlens with same thickness for each period, the resolution ability of the hyperlens with varying thicknesses can be improved dramatically, while the image intensity is weaker. Furthermore, the influence of the layer number on the imaging is also analyzed to improve the performance of the system and an improved hyperlens with repeated thickness setting is also utilized to increase the intensity of the magnified image.


The MHC class I-related receptor, FcRn, plays a central role in regulating the serum levels of IgG. FcRn is expressed in endothelial cells, suggesting that these cells may be involved in maintaining IgG levels. We have used live cell imaging of FcRn-green fluorescent protein transfected human endothelial cells to analyze the intracellular events that control IgG homeostasis. We show that segregation of FcRn-IgG complexes from unbound IgG occurs in the sorting endosome. FcRn or FcRn-IgG complexes are gradually depleted from sorting endosomes to ultimately generate multivesicular bodies whose contents are destined for lysosomal degradation. In addition, the pathways taken by FcRn and the transferrin receptor overlap, despite distinct mechanisms of ligand uptake. The studies provide a dynamic view of the trafficking of FcRn and its ligand and have relevance to understanding how FcRn functions to maintain IgG homeostasis.


We construct explicitly a bridge process whose distribution, in its own filtration, is the same as the difference of two independent Poisson processes with the same intensity and its time $1$ value satisfies a specific constraint. This construction allows us to show the existence of Glosten-Milgrom equilibrium and its associated optimal trading strategy for the insider. In the equilibrium the insider employs a mixed strategy to randomly submit two types of orders: one type trades in the same direction as noise trades while the other cancels some of the noise trades by submitting opposite orders when noise trades arrive. The construction also allows us to prove that Glosten-Milgrom equilibria converge weakly to Kyle-Back equilibrium, without the additional assumptions imposed in K. Back and S. Baruch, Econometrica, 72 (2004), pp. 433-465 , when the common intensity of the Poisson processes tends to infinity.


The majority of tests in use today rely on static text to communicate information, ideas, and concepts and to pose questions. However, the overuse of text may have consequences for the validity of the inferences drawn from test-takers' scores. This may be true especially in the case of assessments taken by test-takers with poor reading comprehension skills or with low levels of proficiency in the language of the test. More specifically, linguistic complexity can be a source of construct-irrelevant variance as test-takers' performance can be negatively affected by factors that are beyond the focus of the assessment itself.
This study examined the extent to which the use of animated videos, as opposed to static text, can (i) reduce construct-irrelevant variance in test scores and (ii) have a positive impact on test-takers' reactions to the test. A true experiment was conducted with 129 native and non-native English speakers, using an animated-video and a text-based version of the same situational judgment test of practical knowledge.
The results indicated that, overall, the variance attributed to construct-irrelevant factors (i.e., native language, English proficiency, and reading comprehension in English) was lower by 9.4% in the animated-video versus the text-based version of the test. In addition, the animated-video test was perceived by participants to be more valid, fair and enjoyable. Study participants also found the language used in the animated-video test less difficult to process, but no significant differences between the two formats were found with respect to the perceived difficulty of the content. Finally, the use of animated videos did not result in participants investing a significantly greater effort in the test. The implications of these and other findings, as well as recommendations for policy, practice, and future research are discussed in the final chapter of the thesis.


BACKGROUND
Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a risk factor for formation of intracranial aneurysms (IAs), though the ideal screening and treatment strategies in this population are unclear.

OBJECTIVE
To report outcomes of observation, open surgical, or endovascular management of ruptured and unruptured aneurysms in patients with ADPKD.

METHODS
We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients with ADPKD and IAs at a single center from 2000 to 2016.

RESULTS
Forty-five patients with ADPKD harboring 71 aneurysms were identified, including 11 patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Of 22 aneurysms managed with observation, none ruptured in 136 yr of clinical follow-up. Thirty-five aneurysms were treated with open surgery and 14 with an endovascular approach. Among treated aneurysms, poor neurologic outcome (modified Rankin scale >2) was seen only in patients presenting with SAH (17% SAH vs 0% elective, P = .06). Acute kidney injury (AKI) was also significantly associated with SAH presentation (22% SAH vs 0% elective, P = .05). Neither procedural complications nor AKI were associated with treatment modality. Among 175 yr of radiographic follow-up in patients with known IAs, 8 de novo aneurysms were found, including 3 that were treated. Of 11 patients with SAH, 7 ruptured in the setting of previously known ADPKD, including 2 with prior angiographic screening and 5 without screening.

CONCLUSION
Poor outcomes occurred only with ruptured presentation but were equivalent between treatment modalities. Screening is performed only selectively, and 64% (7 of 11) of patients presenting with SAH had previously known ADPKD.


The PIKM workshop gives Ph.D. students an opportunity to present their dissertation proposals at a global stage. Similarly to the CIKM, the PIKM workshop covers a wide range of topics in the areas of databases, information retrieval and knowledge management. Interdisciplinary work across these tracks is particularly encouraged.


An initial step towards a prescriptive theory (a set of concepts) to inform the elimination of waste on construction projects. The ultimate intention is to identify the most important types and causes of waste in construction and outline the principal causal relations between them. This is not a straightforward process: the relationships form a complex network of chains and cycles of waste. Waste is defined as the use of more resources than needed, or an unwanted output from production. A conceptual schema of Previous Production Stage > Production Waste > Effect Waste is proposed and applied to the causal analysis of two major types of waste: material waste and making do.


Summary: A soap-tolerant organism, commonly found in face-flannels and sponges, was compared with Bacterium anitratum, Moraxella Iwoffi var. brevis and Alcaligenes viscosus. These organisms have many characters in common. It is proposed that Bacterium anitratum and related organisms should be included in the family Achromobacteriaceae and that the soap-tolerant organism be considered a new variety of B. anitratum with the provisional name Achromobacter anitratum var. saponiphilum. Some problems of classification of these and similar organisms are discussed.
The soap-tolerant organism had two major antigens; one was associated with the capsule and largely strain specific, the other was common to all strains and was present also in non-capsulated variants. Both antigens were detached from the cell on heating, the specific antigen partially and the common antigen almost completely; they could be demonstrated in the saline medium after suspensions had been heated at 100° for 60 min. and though detached from the cell, could still stimulate antibody formation. There was an antigenic relationship between the soap tolerant organisms and Bacterium anitratum.


This paper evaluates based on current literature, whether the versioning strategies "branch by feature" and "develop on mainline" can be used for developing new software features in connection with Continuous Delivery. The strategies will be introduced and possible applications for Continuous Delivery will be demonstrated and rated. A solution recommendation is finally given. It becomes evident that develop on mainline is the more recommendable method in form of "features toggles" or in case of bigger changes in form of "branch by abstraction" within the context of Continuous Delivery.


Bone metastasis of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) usually occurs early in the progression of the disease. However, the molecular mechanism underlying bone metastasis is largely unknown. MGr1-Ag, a multifunction protein, has been suggested to play important roles in cell growth, differentiation and migration. In our present study, MGr1-Ag was found to be highly expressed in bone-metastatic SCLC cells (SBC-5 cell line) as compared with the expression in cells without bonemetastatic ability (SBC-3 cell line). Therefore, we hypothesized that MGr1-Ag is involved in bone metastasis of SCLC. Using a sense vector to upregulate MGr1-Ag expression in SBC-3 cells, we found that forced overexpression of MGr1-Ag enhanced cell invasion and migration in vitro and promoted bone metastases in vivo. Furthermore, specific siRNA-induced knockdown of MGr1-Ag expression in SBC-5 cells suppressed the potential of cell invasion and migration in vitro and dramatically decreased the number and sites of bone metastasis in vivo. We also found that MGr1-Ag induced SCLC cells to undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), as demonstrated by cell morphological changes, decreased expression of epithelial markers and increased expression of mesenchymal markers. Taken together, we conclude that MGr1-Ag promotes SCLC cell invasion and bone metastasis in vitro and in vivo, and that this is partially mediated via the EMT pathway.


Vaccines have an official history that started late in the 18th century. From the late 19th century, vaccines could be developed in the laboratory. However, in the 20th century, it became possible to develop vaccines based on immunologic markers. In the 21st century, molecular biology allows vaccine development that was not possible before.
The story of the vaccine, however, began long ago, back in the year 1000, when the use of the smallpox practice, the predecessor of the vaccination, was discovered by the Chinese people.
Vaccine safety incidents have pushed research into developing more and more secure vaccines.


This thesis has developed the theory of integration of ordinary differential equations by the method of integrating factors using the Picard method and the linearity of the defining equations of the integrating factors. Work on series investigations in this thesis was in part aided by computations performed using Waterloo Maple Software. In this context and in the context of future research it is interesting to note the comments of Dahlquist [29] on the merits of such investigations: "Series expansions are a very important aid in numerical calculations, especially for quick estimates made in hand calculation—for example, in evaluating functions, integrals, or derivatives. Solutions to differential equations can often be expressed in terms of series expansions. Since the advent of computers, it has, however, become more common to treat differential equations directly, using difference approximations instead of series expansions. But in connection with the development of automatic methods for formula manipulation, one can anticipate renewed interest for series methods. These methods have some advantages, especially in multidimensional problems." The following topics have been considered in this thesis: 1. Abel's contribution to the theory of integrating factors. 2. The works of A R Forsyth and E L Ince and their relevance to the exact solution of nonlinear differential equations. 3. The method of exact solution of nonlinear differential equations by integrating factors has been examined by considering the solution of the Van der Pohl equation. 4. Picard's Method has been examined in great detail together with a brief examination of some of the historical analysis of the method associated with Picard's method and classical methods of solution. 5. The method of solution of differential equations by integrating factors has been used to construct integrating factors for systems of nonlinear differential equations. The solution method relies on the linearity of the equations for the integrating factor to recursively generate solutions, this property was used by Abel in his work on nonlinear differential equations [1]. In many cases the large volume of calculations has meant that details of computations have been placed in the appendices (see Appendix B). 6. Consideration of group theory is undertaken for the purpose of noting the link between integrating factors and group methods and also by way of noting that the Picard method can also provide further insight into the structure of the non classical group. 7. Series solution techniques in this thesis have been supplemented using series acceleration techniques such Pade approximants and Shanks transformations. 8. A wide variety of ordinary differential equations which include the Lorenz equation, the Thomas-Fermi equation, the Blasius equation, equations of the Emden type, Langmuir's equation, Hille's equation, Frommer's equation, the One Dimensional Poisson Boltzmann equation and Volterra's…


When Equitable Life went to court in a case concerning the bonus rates it applied to pension policies with guaranteed annuity options, it emphasised that its rules gave it wide discretion in its bonus decisions, an argument that was unsuccessful. This paper considers the constraints on the discretion available to life insurers in the way they determine bonuses on with‐profits policies. It reviews four previous court cases concerning withprofits policies: in one of these, the insurer lost. The Financial Services Authority has now taken on board the need for life insurers to describe their bonus practices far more fully. That will help lead to a more precisely defined contract between policyholders and insurers. It is also proposing new rules, which should reduce the potential for discretion to be abused. The paper also considers the actuarial profession, whose members have the responsibility of making recommendations to life insurers about bonuses. It suggests there may be benefit if the profession can go beyond the limited guidance on bonuses it has issued, to develop and publish best practice in the bonus declaration process.


Traffic surveillance has become an important topic in intelligent transportation systems (ITSs), which is aimed at monitoring and managing traffic flow. With the progress in computer vision, video-based surveillance systems have made great advances on traffic surveillance in ITSs. However, the performance of most existing surveillance systems is susceptible to challenging complex traffic scenes (e.g., object occlusion, pose variation, and cluttered background). Moreover, existing related research is mainly on a single video sensor node, which is incapable of addressing the surveillance of traffic road networks. Accordingly, we present a review of the literature on the video-based vehicle surveillance systems in ITSs. We analyze the existing challenges in video-based surveillance systems for the vehicle and present a general architecture for video surveillance systems, i.e., the hierarchical and networked vehicle surveillance, to survey the different existing and potential techniques. Then, different methods are reviewed and discussed with respect to each module. Applications and future developments are discussed to provide future needs of ITS services.