Carbonates/bicarbonates (FeCO3, CoCO3 and Ni(HCO3)2) supported on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are prepared by a simple method and examined as anode materials for sodium-ion batteries for the first time. Although carbonates in the composite are of the order of micrometers, they show fair electrochemical activities, particularly for FeCO3/rGO. It delivers a capacity of 247 mA h g−1 after 500 cycles at 500 mA g−1, corresponding to a capacity retention of 87% relative to the capacity at the second cycle. It also shows a superior rate capability with a capacity of 176 mA h g−1 at 2 A g−1. Ex situ XPS spectra, HRTEM images and SAED patterns demonstrate that the sodium uptake/extraction in FeCO3, CoCO3 and Ni(HCO3)2 is via M0/M2+-engaged redox reaction.


Cross-ethnic friendships are likely to constitute an important feature of children's social world in multiethnic educational settings such as London secondary schools, which are now more ethnically diverse than ever. This thesis extends current knowledge on cross-ethnic friendships by examining the prevalence and effects of such friendships on various developmental outcomes among ethnic majority and minority status children attending multiethnic schools. While Chapter 1 presented an overview of the literature on cross-ethnic friendships, following empirical chapters (Chapters 2-6) demonstrated findings from a comprehensive 3-wave school study conducted in London schools. Chapter 2 focused on patterns of cross-ethnic friendships and showed specific relationships between ethnic diversity, ethnic group and cross-ethnic friendships. Chapter 3 indicated that cross-ethnic friendships are related to positive outcomes such as psychological well-being, resilience and academic outcomes and moderate the negative effects of discrimination. Chapter 4 showed that interpersonal processes of self-disclosure and ideal self affirmation mediated the associations between cross-ethnic friendships and well-being measures. Chapter 5 examined anxiety and intimate self-disclosure in both same- and cross-ethnic friendships and indicated that reduced anxiety is a unique process whereby cross-ethnic friendships relate to positive outcomes. Chapter 6 revealed longitudinal associations between cross-ethnic friendships and positive outcomes and showed that these associations are stronger in classrooms with lower classroom racial tension. Finally, Chapter 7 investigated cross-ethnic friendships in the light of motivational outcomes; results of two experimental studies indicated that mental representations of cross-ethnic friendships may have effects on future career and academic choices of ethnic minority young adolescents. Overall, findings show that cross-ethnic friendships are important resources for children, providing benefits for the development of psychological, academic and motivational outcomes among children. The role of cross-ethnic friendships on positive development is discussed in the light of ethnic group differences and implications for school policies in multiethnic settings (Chapter 8).


The demand for cooling devices and the corresponding energy costs are constantly expanding, driven by the growth of global population and the economies of fast-developing countries in warm climates. Novel caloric cooling solutions are an alternative that do not rely on environmentally harmful refrigerants and can provide a better energy-efficiency compared to the conventional vapor-compression technology. Especially magnetocaloric cooling is in focus of research activities including material research and well-performing device development. In order to optimize the material, many requirements need to be taken into account and each material system behaves differently under the application of an external magnetic field. This work focuses on the development of the MM'X material family with a conventional magnetocaloric effect and the various systems of Heusler alloys showing the inverse magnetocaloric effect. Both systems have in common that they experience a martensitic transition between a high-magnetization and a low-magnetization state.

The MM'X base system of MnNiGe can be tuned by the isostructural alloying method, which is investigated in detail in this work. Therefore, Mn is substituted partially by Fe as well as Ge by Si. This enhances the magnetization change of the magnetostructural phase transition, reduces the amount of expensive Ge and allows for tailoring the transition temperature. The resulting alloys show very large isothermal entropy changes for small pieces of material. A difficulty that arises for this system is the mechanical integrity together with the low magnetic-field dependence of the transition temperature. The very good sensitivity of the transition towards hydrostatic pressure reveals barocaloric purposes as a very attractive field of application for these materials.

A direct comparison with the versatile family of Ni-Mn-based Heusler alloys underlines their high potential for magneto- and multicaloric applications. With stoichiometric changes, the phase transition can be adjusted and also the magnetic-field dependence of the transition temperature is found to scale directly with the difference of the transition temperature to the austenite Curie temperature. The most promising system for low magnetic field changes is Ni(-Co)-Mn-In. Even though Ni(-Co)-Mn-Sn shows similar isothermal entropy changes, adiabatic temperature changes cannot compete. The drawback of a significant thermal hysteresis of around 10 - 15 K, which hinders a good cyclic performance of Heusler alloys, can be turned into an advantage by considering the novel approach of a multi-stimuli cycle, which exploits the thermal hysteresis to lock the material completely in its transformed state after a magnetic-field application. The necessary reverse transformation can be carried out by the application of pressure/stress as a second stimulus requiring a good pressure/stress-sensitivity of the transition temperature. Among the Heusler alloys, the novel all-d Heusler alloys of Ni-Co-Mn-Ti represent a promising material system for this approach. Their magnetocaloric performance is compared to the other Heusler alloys in small magnetic field changes of 2 T as well as for higher and faster field changes since the multi-stimuli approach allows for concentrated magnetic fields. Detailed investigations on the microstructure give insights that are crucial in order to understand the transition behavior. Analyzing the temperature-, magnetic field-, and pressure-induced phase transitions allows for assessing the potential of using the different Heusler systems for magnetocaloric and/or multicaloric cooling applications. This thesis puts the general properties of different material systems in a broad context and aims at providing principal design rules for the studied systems in order to develop and tailor well-performing caloric materials.


In a work entitled the 'Dream Lucian describes how as a boy he was confronted by two women who ask him to choose under whose guidance he should make his career. One was charming and ladylike who introduced herse l f as 'Education' the other hardhanded, rude and dusty who represented 'Sculpture' . 'Education' implored the youth not to practice the Arts. It was, she said, social l y disreputable and even if he could prove himself to be another Phidias, he would still be one of the hoi polloi, another craftsman, a mechanic. The boy took her advice and sought education and finally relates, with a degree of smugness, of his growing reputation as a literary man, received even in the most exclusive circ l es.


This technical note deals with the problem of designing a robust observer-based repetitive-control system that provides a given H∞ disturbance attenuation performance for a class of plants with time-varying structured uncertainties. A continuous-discrete two-dimensional model is built that accurately describes the features of repetitive control, thereby enabling the control and learning actions to be preferentially adjusted. A sufficient condition for the repetitive-control system to have a disturbance-attenuation bound in the H∞ setting is given in terms of a linear matrix inequality (LMI). It yields the parameters of the repetitive controller and the state observer. Finally, a numerical example demonstrates the effectiveness of the method, whose main advantage is the easy, preferential adjustment of control and learning through the tuning of two parameters in the LMI-based condition.


HTTP adaptive streaming (HAS) is an adaptive bitrate streaming technique that enables high quality streaming of media content over the Internet delivered from conventional HTTP web servers. ITU-T Rec. P.1203.3 is the first standardized Quality of Experience model for audiovisual HTTP Adaptive Streaming. It takes into account the subjective impact of HAS-typical effects(such as buffering, quality switches) on users. But the buffering inputs required for the model is too complex and redundant, and it does not consider the impact of the worst video quality on QoE. In the paper we optimize the ITU-T Rec. P.1203.3 model in the above two aspects, simplify model input and improve model accuracy and stability.


Recent years have seen a flurry of activities in designing provably efficient nonconvex optimization procedures for solving statistical estimation problems. For various problems like phase retrieval or low-rank matrix completion, state-of-the-art nonconvex procedures require proper regularization (e.g. trimming, regularized cost, projection) in order to guarantee fast convergence. When it comes to vanilla procedures such as gradient descent, however, prior theory either recommends highly conservative learning rates to avoid overshooting, or completely lacks performance guarantees. This paper uncovers a striking phenomenon in several nonconvex problems: even in the absence of explicit regularization, gradient descent follows a trajectory staying within a basin that enjoys nice geometry, consisting of points incoherent with the sampling mechanism. This "implicit regularization" feature allows gradient descent to proceed in a far more aggressive fashion without overshooting, which in turn results in substantial computational savings. Focusing on two statistical estimation problems, i.e. solving random quadratic systems of equations and low-rank matrix completion, we establish that gradient descent achieves near-optimal statistical and computational guarantees without explicit regularization. As a byproduct, for noisy matrix completion, we demonstrate that gradient descent enables optimal control of both entrywise and spectral-norm errors. Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. Correspondence to: Cong Ma <email@example.com>. Proceedings of the 35 th International Conference on Machine Learning, Stockholm, Sweden, PMLR 80, 2018. Copyright 2018 by the author(s).


: 1956 7th grade students of high schools and secondary modern schools in three cities with 110,000 to 180,000 inhabitants were asked about cigarette, alcohol and drug consumption using questionnaires. Subsequently 1080 of the students took part in a newly invented non-smoking curriculum which was held during 8 lessons within 4 weeks (intervention group (I)). The lessons were performed by non-smoking physicians who had passed a training programme before. 876 students served as control (C) group. 2 years later the questioning was repeated. The number of students who started smoking within the two years was significantly lower in the intervention group. In the high schools a significant effect was seen in boys (I: 13.0%, K: 22.4%; p < 0.01) and girls (I: 21.4%, K: 28.4%; p < 0.05) whereas in secondary modern schools a significant effect was seen only in boys (I: 17.4%, K: 25.2%; p < 0.05) not in girls (I: 18.0%, K: 22.0%; n.s.). First-time consumers of drugs like cannabis, marihuana and organic solvents were found less often in the intervention group among boys in high schools than in the control group (I: 14.9%; K: 23.6%; p < 0.05). No effects of the intervention were seen in girls of high schools and in students of secondary modern schools. No effects of the intervention were seen on alcohol consumption. Students who drank beer, wine or liquor several times a week were found at the same rate in the intervention and control groups. We conclude that a non-smoking intervention of 8 lessons in the 7th grade of high schools and secondary modern schools may lower the rate of first-time consumers of cigarettes but not of alcohol and drugs.


We present 6T SRAMs with pass-gate feedback using tri-mode independent gate (TMIG) FinFETs as the access transistors. We perform a comprehensive analysis of TMIG FinFETs and the proposed SRAM cell using our simulation framework, which is based on the non-equilibrium Green's function models for FinFETs. We compare our technique with the tied gate (TG) FinFET SRAM and the previously proposed independent gate (IG) FinFET SRAM with pass-gate feedback. The effects of quantum confinement in scaled FinFETs on the device and SRAM characteristics are analyzed in detail. We show that quantum confinement effects lead to severe degradation in access time and write-ability of the IG FinFET SRAM. On the other hand, the SRAM cell proposed in this paper shows 14% improvement in write-ability over the TG FinFET SRAM with comparable read stability, achieving mitigation of the read-write conflict. At the same time, 30% reduction in standby leakage and comparable hold stability is achieved at no cell area penalty, with only 14% increase in the cell access time. We also show that the array-level issues associated with pass-gate feedback are mitigated using the co-design technique presented in this paper.


Amorphophallus variabilis Blume, a member of Araceae, is a fleshy perennial tuber crop endemic in Java Island, Indonesia. The plant produces white edible corm; and it was used as food during famine time before 1960s. Rapid ecological changes and land fragmentations in Java in recent times threaten populations of A. variabilis . Here, compound microsatellite markers were developed in order to develop conservation strategies in the populations. Twelve primers pairs produced high polymorphism ranging from 5 to 22 alleles per locus. The observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.191 to 0.851 and 0.380 to 0.943, respectively. This high allelic diversity indicates that these markers are suitable for the study on population genetic structure . Cross-amplification on related and non-related species was performed. Application of the markers on populations from Dramaga Conservation Forest revealed high allelic richness, high diversity within and among populations. Genetic distance among populations increased with an increase of geographic distance. Present study suggested that, it is important to study population of A. variabilis in Java in order to understand the population genetic structure and develop effective in situ conservation programs.


A healthy river system means its structures can cooperatively and orderly work together and all functions can be well brought to exert when the external disturbance is under a limit extent. This paper had presented the concept framework, which had included status assessment (SA) and cause diagnosis (CD). On the base of the method of describing entropy, health index (HI) of a river system had been defined via order degrees of indicators, which had been calculated by distance far away from their criteria as well as the health grade had been classified and the main problems had been addressed. Using partial least square (PLS) regression, CD had been conducted to diagnose main factors inducing these problems and to establish the regression equation between external variables and internal variable. Meanwhile, the variable importance projection (VIP) had been quantified. In the case of Anxi River, results of status assessment indicated that this river system was healthy in general. However, abiotic indices were low in S2 and S3 reach. After CD had been conducted, it had been revealed that problems of this river system had been induced by the variable of upstream discharge. It had been suggested helpfully that upstream discharge should be controlled in management. Therefore, river system health diagnosis was very helpful and beneficial to river system management.

 Key words: River system health, status assessment, causal factors diagnosis, degree of order entropy, partial least square (PLS).


Here, we report a thorough study on the ability of fluorene-based semiconducting polymers to disperse large-diameter (average diameter ⟨d⟩ ≈ 1.3 nm) laser vaporization (LV) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). We demonstrate the ability to select purely semiconducting species using poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-alt-co-(6,6'-{2,2'-bipyridine})] (PFO-BPy) and poly[(9,9-dihexylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-co-(9,10-anthracene)] (PFH-A), producing samples with narrow and bright excitonic emission relative to comparable aqueous dispersions. Rapid processing and high yields offer the ability to easily incorporate these semiconducting SWCNTs into commercially scalable applications, as demonstrated by large-area thin films prepared by ultrasonic spraying. By modifying the growth temperature of the LV synthesis, we demonstrate the ability to tune the range of diameters and chiralities within dispersions by exerting synthetic control over the composition of the starting material. This synthetic control allows us to show that PFH-A preferentially disperses near-armchair semiconducting SWCNTs over a large range of diameters (0.8 nm < d < 1.4 nm) and induces unique solvatochromic shifts for the excitonic transitions of nanotubes with particular chiral indices.


In the last years considerable attention has been paid for the orthogonal and non-linear projections of self-similar sets. In this paper we consider orthogonal transformation-free self-similar sets in $\mathbb{R}^3$, i.e. the generating IFS has the form $\left\{ \lambda_i \underline{x} + \underline{t}_i \right\}_{i=1}^q$. We show that if the dimension of the set is strictly bigger than $1$ then the projection of the set under some non-linear functions onto the real line has dimension $1$. As an application, we show that the distance set of such self-similar sets has dimension $1$. Moreover, the third algebraic product of a self-similar set with itself on the real line has dimension $1$ if its dimension is at least $1/3$.


Pliny the Elder (23-79 ad) is reported to have found the following epitaph on a Roman tombstone: "He died by reason of the confusion of the doctors." While such an epitaph might never be inscribed and seldom justified today, it can hardly be denied that some semantic confusion by the doctors is nevertheless still with us in medical parlance and writing. The human factors in the art of healing are so many and varied as to preclude medicine from ever becoming an exact science to the same degree as mathematics, chemistry, or physics. There is no good reason, however, why medical nomenclature and terminology should not be so exact that the reader or the listener might know literally what is meant, and what is intended to be included as well as what is to be excluded. Medical editors might well insist that authors say precisely what they mean in terms


Blood DNA extraction is one of the vital steps in various DNA-based analyses. However, one of the challenges is processing clotted blood samples. Oftentimes these protocols are time consuming and use hazardous organic solvents. Many researchers have also resorted to commercial kits to circumvent the need to optimise different methods. However, manual methods may need to be employed due to cost consideration. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess various extraction methods to determine the best method that can yield DNA of high quality, integrity, and purity, and the most efficient method in terms of cost and time. Samples of coagulated and un-coagulated blood were collected and extracted using four published manual methods and a commercial kit. The quality and quantity of the extracted DNA were analysed using gel electrophoresis and spectrophotometry. DNA extracted using a method proposed by Moradi et al. (2014) [1] yielded the highest quantity and purest DNA, while being simple, fast, safe, and the most economical. Keywords : DNA; extraction; genomic DNA; clotted blood, PCR


ABSTRACT This timely article analyses the creation of a divided society in Venezuela. Since before the birth of the Republic in 1831, elite politicians and intellectuals have tried to foment the imposition of a society in their own (European, white, elite) image through the cultural promotion of privileged immigrants. Unlike other countries in the region, the mass European immigration only happened in the 1950s, during the government of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, a hundred years later than elsewhere. However, by lauding immigration and denigrating the local mixed race population, influenced by the example of Argentina a hundred years before and a continuation of nineteenth-century Positivism, they set the stage for the divisiveness which predates the election of President Hugo Chávez in 1998. This article traces this cultural construction through interviews with now-deceased politicians with responsibility for immigration programmes and analysis of the works of pro-immigration intellectuals.


This resource guide provides information about a wide variety of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Health Sciences topics for students and teachers in the K-12 primary school system.


In support of the European Space Agency Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, a number of soil moisture and sea salinity campaigns, including airborne L-band radiometer measurements, have been carried out. The radiometer used in this context is fully polarimetric and has built-in radio-frequency-interference (RFI)-detection capabilities. Thus, the instrument, in addition to supplying L-band data to the geophysicists, also gave valuable information about the RFI environment. Campaigns were carried out in Australia and in a variety of European locations, resulting in the largest and most comprehensive data set available for assessing RFI at L-band. This paper introduces the radiometer system and how it detects RFI using the kurtosis method, reports on the percentage of data that are typically flagged as being corrupted by RFI, and gives a hint about geographical distribution. Also, examples of polarimetric signatures are given, and the possibility of detecting RFI using such data is discussed.


"The Jungle is Neutral" is British soldier, Spencer Chapman's incredible story of his three and a half years in the Malayan jungle during World War II. A moving unforgettable saga of deadly encounters with the enemy, fortitude, horrifying diseases, death, and ultimately, victory. A story of true grit, endurance and survival beyond the normal capacity for survival.


Generative adversarial networks (GANs) have been successfully applied to transfer visual attributes in many domains, including that of human face images. This success is partly attributable to the facts that human faces have similar shapes and the positions of eyes, noses, and mouths are fixed among different people. Attribute transfer is more challenging when the source and target domain share different shapes. In this paper, we introduce a shape-aware GAN model that is able to preserve shape when transferring attributes, and propose its application to some real-world domains. Compared to other state-of-art GANs-based image-to-image translation models, the model we propose is able to generate more visually appealing results while maintaining the quality of results from transfer learning.


Massive digital data processing provides a wide range of opportunities and benefits, but at the cost of endangering personal data privacy. Anonymisation consists in removing or replacing sensitive information from data, enabling its exploitation for different purposes while preserving the privacy of individuals. Over the years, a lot of automatic anonymisation systems have been proposed; however, depending on the type of data, the target language or the availability of training documents, the task remains challenging still. The emergence of novel deep-learning models during the last two years has brought large improvements to the state of the art in the field of Natural Language Processing. These advancements have been most noticeably led by BERT, a model proposed by Google in 2018, and the shared language models pre-trained on millions of documents. In this paper, we use a BERT-based sequence labelling model to conduct a series of anonymisation experiments on several clinical datasets in Spanish. We also compare BERT with other algorithms. The experiments show that a simple BERT-based model with general-domain pre-training obtains highly competitive results without any domain specific feature engineering.


Written by veteran lobbyists, this is the definitive book on how lobbyists work. It starts with fundamentals such as the importance of truth, accurate listening, and setting realistic goals. The authors then clearly explain the skills, techniques, and unwritten rules of lobbying, and promote the importance of defining issues and knowing the players. Case studies in the second part of the book help students understand the application of lobbying essentials and techniques studied earlier.


Although Staphylococcus aureus is an important cause of infectious diseases of the eye and hypersensitivity lesions of the cornea, little is known about ocular immunity to this pathogen. Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we measured antibody titers to ribitol teichoic acid, the major antigenic determinant of S. aureus, in corneas as well as serum and tears after immunizing rabbits using the following routes: intradermal injection of cell wall mixed with complete Freund's adjuvant, subconjunctival injection of cell wall mixed with complete Freund's adjuvant, topical application of cell wall to the eye or topical application of viable S. aureus to the eye. IgG titers to ribitol teichoic acid were found consistently in corneas after intradermal and subconjunctival immunization with cell wall and topical immunization with viable S. aureus. After intradermal immunization with cell wall, IgG titers in cornea were higher than tears but lower than serum, which was presumably the source of the IgG antibodies for the cornea. After subconjunctival immunization with cell wall or topical immunization with viable S. aureus, IgG titers in corneas were higher than tears and generally higher than serum, suggesting that the ocular tissues were a local source of IgG. On the other hand, IgA titers to ribitol teichoic acid were found in tears but not in serum and were found only occasionally in corneas, suggesting that IgG responses to staphylococcal antigens may be more important than IgA responses in the cornea. The results of this study suggest that corneal antibodies to ribitol teichoic acid may be influenced by exposure to staphylococcal antigens not only in the external eye but also at sites remote from the eye.


Abstract The Cenovus-ConocoPhillips Christina Lake oilsands project uses Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) to recover bitumen from the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation at depths between 300 and 400 m. The McMurray Formation at the Christina Lake Field consists of fluvial to estuarine sands and muds capped by marine shales and sands of the Wabiskaw member of the Clearwater Formation. The SAGD process involves injecting steam under pressure to mobilize the bitumen, which is then pumped to the surface. The increased reservoir pressure is expected to be contained by the caprock. In the event of a failure of the caprock to contain these pressures the steam and oil may escape to shallower units and possibly the surface. This is not a desired outcome. We describe a process to characterize overburden and evaluate caprock strength. The minimum in situ principal stress is shown to be five times reservoir operating pressure and 2.5 times startup pressure. Compressive strength at the reservoir confining pressure of 4.5 MPa is six times operating pressure and three times startup pressure. The Wabiskaw member is shown to contain laterally continuous and impermeable semiconsolidated muds. Porosities and permeabilities are low and capillary entry pressure is high. A program of subsurface and surface monitoring is described.


On the face of its virtual and immaterial appearance, digital labour often is seen as a phenomenon of abstract work. Contrary to that common understanding, in Marx' theory the abstraction of labour derives from its historical development into a commodity, splitting human work as all commodities into use-value and exchange-value. Thus the process of abstraction is of economical logic, and not to be explained or characterized by the virtual and immaterial quality that is typical for the means and objects of digital labour. In his early work Marx differentiates between living labouring capacity ( Arbeitsvermogen ) as the use-value of human work and labour power as its objectified form to be exchanged. In the tradition of Marx' Grundrisse Oskar Negt and Alexander Kluge in Geschichte und Eigensinn pointed to the dialectical relationship between the use-value and exchange-value of labour, revealing how labour on its use-value side "contains and reproduces capacities and energies that exceed its realisation in/as commodity", extending the model of labour power "to a whole range of physiological, sexual, social, and national relations" (Negt and Kluge 1993a, xxxiii). While these qualitative and material as well as corporeal aspects of human work are still visible in industrial production processes, they seem to be vanished in virtual work environments. But, digital capitalism not only opens up exploitation to higher levels and new forms (e.g. Fuchs 2012; Scholz 2012), the relevance of human work and its use-value for capitalism becomes more concealed to the same degree as it becomes more significant. The article develops an analytical conception relying on Marx' dialectical distinction between the use-value (labouring capacity) and the exchange-value (labour power), and transforming it into an operationalized model that could be and has been successfully used for empirical studies of digital labour. Labouring capacity has three levels of phenomena: subjectifying corporeal working action, material means and objects of work (even in virtual environments), and the socially and physically experienceable face of globalised work organisation. This analytical concept of labouring capacity ( Arbeitsvermogen ; Pfeiffer 2004) is especially helpful to reveal the dialectics in digital work and its sources of value creation (Pfeiffer 2013). The article unfolds the theoretical foundations of the concept, and elaborates its potential to analyse digital labour.


Knowledge Management (KM) is a social activity. More and more organizations use social software as a tool to bridge the gap between technology- and human-oriented KM. In order to create interoperable, transferable solutions, it is necessary to utilize standards. In this paper, we analyze which standards can be applied and which gaps currently exist. We present the concept of knowledge bundles, capturing information on knowledge objects, activities and people as a prerequisite for social-focused KM. Based on our concept and examples, we derive the strong need for standardization in this domain. As a manifesto this paper tries to stimulate discussion and to enable a broad initiative working towards a common standard for the next generation of knowledge management systems. Our manifesto provides with eight recommendations how the KM community should act to address future challenges.


We analyze the matching and radiation properties of subwavelength resonant patch antennas filled with double-negative, double-positive, and/or single-negative metamaterial blocks. Analyzing the theoretical limits inherently present when loading such common radiators with metamaterials, we show how these configurations may exhibit in principle an arbitrarily low resonant frequency for a fixed dimension, but they may not necessarily radiate efficiently when their size is electrically small. However, interesting possibilities are suggested to overcome these limitations by employing circular or more complex patch geometries in order to select specific modes that, when appropriate loading ratios between the filling materials are chosen, also ensure radiation performance comparable qualitatively with a regular patch radiator of standard dimensions. Realistic numerical simulations, considering material dispersion, losses and the presence of the antenna feed are presented, showing how a practical realization is foreseeable. This may open novel venues in the design of small-scaled radiators with enhanced performance, which is of interest for many applications


In his first Manifesto for Philosophy, Alain Badiou alludes to the idea of sutures occurring between philosophy and the more dominant disciplines like science, politics, art, and psychoanalysis after Hegel. This phenomenon is inextricably linked to discourses about the end of philosophy and the linguistic turn in hermeneutic, analytic, and postmodern philosophies. In Badiou's analysis one finds that in so far as these traditions are concerned, systematic philosophy is henceforth impossible. In this work, I take Badiou's said allusion seriously and argue that after totalitarianism and the two world wars, an antipathy towards systematic philosophy has led to what I call the triumph of finitude after Hegel in which the philosophical orientation not only shifted from truth to meaning, but also from the metaphysical to the finite.  However, in the eyes of Badiou, a philosophy of finitude is unable to confront the challenges to thinking posed by the contemporary world. He thus proposes the return to a philosophy of truth. Taking note of this, I argue that Badiou seeks to replicate in philosophy what Hegel did in metaphysics after Kant.


Objective To establish the long term effects of obstetric anal sphincter rupture.Design Prospective observational study.Setting University hospital in Sweden.Population Eighty-two women from a prospective study from 1990 to compare anorectal function after third degree tear.Methods Women completed a structured questionnaire, underwent a clinical examination and anorectal manometry, endoanal ultrasound (EAUSG) with perineal body measurement.Main outcome measures Symptoms of anal incontinence, sexual symptoms, anal manometry scores and evidence of sphincter damage on EAUSG.Results Five women had undergone secondary repair and three were lost to follow up. Fifty-one women (80%) completed the questionnaire. Twenty-six out of 46 (57%) of the original study group and 6/28 (20%) of the original controls were examined. Incontinence to flatus and liquid stool was more severe in the study group than in controls. Flatus incontinence was significantly more pronounced among women with subsequent vaginal deliveries. Mean maximal anal squeeze pressures were 69 mmHg in the partial rupture group and 42 mmHg in the complete rupture group (P= 0.04). Study group women with signs of internal sphincter injury reported more pronounced faecal incontinence and had lower anal resting pressures (24 mmHg) than those with intact internal sphincters (40 mmHg) (P= 0.01). Perineal body thickness of less than 10 mm was associated with incontinence for flatus and liquid stools, less lubrication during sex and lower anal squeeze pressures (58 mmHg vs 89 mmHg, P= 0.04).Conclusions Subjective and objective anal function after anal sphincter injury deteriorates further over time and with subsequent vaginal deliveries. Thin perineal body and internal sphincter injury seem to be important for continence and anal pressure.


A universal framework is developed for constructing full-rate and full-diversity coherent space-time codes for systems with arbitrary numbers of transmit and receive antennas. The proposed framework combines space-time layering concepts with algebraic component codes optimized for single-input-single-output (SISO) channels. Each component code is assigned to a "thread" in the space-time matrix, allowing it thus full access to the channel spatial diversity in the absence of the other threads. Diophantine approximation theory is then used in order to make the different threads "transparent" to each other. Within this framework, a special class of signals which uses algebraic number-theoretic constellations as component codes is thoroughly investigated. The lattice structure of the proposed number-theoretic codes along with their minimal delay allow for polynomial complexity maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding using algorithms from lattice theory. Combining the design framework with the Cayley transform allows to construct full diversity differential and noncoherent space-time codes. The proposed framework subsumes many of the existing codes in the literature, extends naturally to time-selective and frequency-selective channels, and allows for more flexibility in the tradeoff between power efficiency, bandwidth efficiency, and receiver complexity. Simulation results that demonstrate the significant gains offered by the proposed codes are presented in certain representative scenarios.


Cherospondias axillaris is a potential agroforestry tree species for income generation and nutrient supplementation in the middle mountains of rural Nepal. The occurrence and distribution of C. axillaris (locally known as Lapsi in Nepal) has been surveyed and documented. Status of indigenous knowledge about cultivation, management and utilisation has been studied and documented; indigenous indicators for early sex determination and criteria for fruit quality assessment has been established. Based on farmers selection and fruit quality assessment, elite trees for quality fruit production has been selected and methods for their successful propagation has been developed. Lapsi was reported growing in 301 Village Development Committees of 29 hill districts. Over 40000 trees has been producing fruits and additional 500,000 new trees has been planted. Interest on lapsi cultivation and marketing is increasing. Farmers have wealth of indigenous knowledge on lapsi ecology, husbandry practices and variation in different lapsi types. This knowledge combined with scientific methods has offered better opportunities for lapsi domestication. Bud grafting, side grafting, hardwood and softwood cutting propagation were successful methods for lapsi propagation, while research in tissue culture is still underway. Bud grafting during the first three weeks in February is recommended for lower cost and effectiveness (90% success). Selected trees are recommended for mass propagation and planting for quality fruit production.

 Himalayan Journal of Sciences 1(1): 55-58, 2003


SYSTEM CENTER CONFIGURATION MANAGER 2007 R3 COMPLETE covers everything from design and planning options, to implementation, configuration, and management of Configuration Manager. If you are in the process of evaluating Configuration Manager and the impact it may have in your environment, this book details the requirements and implementation information you need. If you're new to Configuration Manager, you will find detailed management and configuration options. If you already have Systems Management Server or an earlier release version of Configuration Manager, you will learn about all of the new features and how to use them effectively. The 21 chapters that make up this book reflect the components within Configuration Manager and outline how to implement and manage each of those components. Each chapter gets right to the details without a lot of extraneous information, allowing you to pick up the book and start digesting the pertinent information quickly and easily. The first section will familiarize you with the key features of Configuration Manager and the planning options for deployment. Next, the book covers the deployment of a single site structure and a multiple site hierarchy. Section three covers the features of Configuration Manager. Lastly, the book covers how to maintain and troubleshoot Configuration Manager sites.


Tuberous sclerosis complex is an autosomal dominant disease, with variable expressivity and multisystemic involvement, which is characterised by the growth of benign tumours called hamartomas. The organs that are most commonly affected are the brain, skin, kidneys, eyes, heart and lungs. Of all the children with this disease, 85% present neurological manifestations that, due to their severity, are the main cause of morbidity and mortality. The most significant neurological manifestations are epilepsy, autism spectrum disorders and mental retardation. It has been shown that in tuberous sclerosis complex the genes TSC1 and TSC2 alter the mTOR enzyme cascade, which sets off inhibition of this pathway. The possibility of resorting to treatments applied at the origin, thus inhibiting this pathway, is currently being evaluated.


The cutaneous lymphocyte associated- (CLA-) positive subset of lymphocytes appears to migrate preferentially into skin by interacting with E-selectin on vascular endothelium; lymphocytes expressing the alpha e beta 7 integrin accumulate preferentially in the epithelium of the gastrointestinal tract. To determine whether the mononuclear cell population of the oral mucosa resembles that of the skin or intestine, and using lichen planus as a model, the proportions of CLA- and alpha e beta 7-positive cells in the epithelium, lamina propria and peripheral blood were compared by immunostaining and flow cytometry. In both skin and oral lichen planus, selective accumulation of CLA-positive cells was seen in the epithelium but not in the lamina propria. In contrast, large numbers of alpha e beta 7-positive intraepithelial cells were found in oral but not in skin lichen planus. These results show that in terms of CLA and alpha e beta 7 expression there are important differences in the mononuclear cell population of oral mucosa and skin.


burden of disease. Apparently his answer is to leave minor disease untreated, and to diagnose major disease late (thus sparing the cost of treatment for the period before the patient presents), for we might as well be clear that this will certainly be the result of charging for diagnosis and treatment at the time of illness. However, accepting for the moment the peculiar logic of the economists, that people cease to be significant when they are no longer capable of producing guns, tanks, napalm bombs, and other necessities of life, one can see that Dr. Roberts's solution would be to a limited degree successful, as it is the pensioner and the victim of chronic illness who are hardest hit by any charge for treatment, and would therefore most quickly cease to have the nation's money wasted upon them. Apart from recent limitations due to the shortage of steel and the decline in effective demand for some consumer goods, both production and production per man-hour have risen steadily since the war, and in fact the balance of payments problem was solved shortly before the initiation of the present rearmament drive, which quickly destroyed what had been achieved. Consumption, on the other hand, has fallen and continues to do so with increasing speed; not even Government statisticians can pretend that wages and salaries are rising faster than prices. Your editorial assertion to the contrary (Journal, March 22, p. 642) is not very convincing in the face of the everyday experience of nine-tenths of our population.


The usage of the mobile app is unassailable in this digital era. While tons of data are generated daily, user privacy security concerns become an important issue. Nowadays, tons of techniques, such as machine learning and deep learning traffic classifiers, have been applied to analyze users app traffic. These techniques allow the monitor to get the fingerprints of using apps while the user traffic is still encrypted, which raises a severe privacy issue. In order to fight against this type of data analysis, people have been researching obfuscation algorithms to confuse feature-based machine learning classifiers with data camouflage by modification on packet length distribution. The existing works achieve this goal by remapping traffic packet length distribution from the source app to the fake camouflage app. However, this solution suffers from its lack of scalability and flexibility in practical application since the method needs to pre-sample the target fake apps traffic before the use of traffic camouflage. In this paper, we proposed a practical solution by using a mathematical model to calculate the target distribution while maintaining at least 50 percent accuracy drops on the performance of the AppScanner mobile traffic classifier and roughly 20 percent overhead created during packet modification.


Populism has recently been gaining influence in Western societies, founded on deep-rooted struggles between dominant majorities and inferior minority groups. Minorities have consequently engaged in civil resistance movements to change existing social structures. In Europe, the influx of refugees in 2015 spawned the rise of right-wing minorities; in the USA, acts of police violence encouraged African-American protests against racial discrimination through forms of norm contestation. The latter will be analysed in this case study, based on the theoretical assumptions of the Structure-Agency-Debate and on Giddens' Structuration Theory, where structures and agency are mutually dependent. Here, the US-American law enforcement system is the superior structure, while agency is displayed by civil resistance movements led by Colin Kaepernick and Black Lives Matter. By examining the extent that the two movements meet the conditions of spread, consistency, and level of contestation, it is concluded that success depends on the movement's internal organization as well as the public reception and reaction. It is found that both movements lack internal organization in terms of consistency and accountability and are strongly objected by the predominantly white majority due to perceived inappropriateness or violence. In Europe, however, the former populist minority in the UK has largely overcome these constraints and has taken office, while the right-wing minority in Germany still struggles for social acceptance and power as the majority's backlash remains strong. However, with recurring efforts of minorities to oppose dominant majorities, more conflicts will arise in which the desired social change may ultimately occur.


PURPOSE
We aimed to investigate the possible association between the myocardial hypertrophy and the development of an apical diverticulum.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed 786 multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) coronary angiography examinations (520 males, 266 females; mean age, 57±15 years; age range, 18-78 years). The end-diastolic left ventricle wall thickness was measured in all patients, and a wall thickness of 11 mm was determined to be the cut-off value for myocardial hypertrophy. The ventricular apex and subvalvular area were evaluated for ventricular diverticula. The difference between the apical diverticula in patients with and without myocardial hypertrophy was determined.

RESULTS
There were 12 myocardial hypertrophy and nine apical diverticulum cases. Myocardial hypertrophy was observed in four (44%) of nine patients who had apical diverticula, and an apical diverticulum was observed in four (33%) of 12 patients who had myocardial hypertrophy. There was statistically significant difference for myocardial wall thickness between the apical diverticula in patients with myocardial hypertrophy and those without myocardial hypertrophy (P = 0.011).

CONCLUSION
Diagnosis of apical diverticula has become easier by using imaging modalities such as MDCT. There may be an association between myocardial hypertrophy and apical diverticulum.


The electrochemical reduction of CO2 (CO2RR) into multicarbon compounds is a promising pathway towards renewable chemicals. Structure-product selectivity studies highlight that copper (100) facets favour C2+ product formation. However, the atomic processes leading to the formation of (100)-rich Cu cubes remains elusive. Herein, we use Cu and graphene-protected Cu surfaces to reveal the differences in structure and composition of common Cu-based electrocatalysts, from nano to micrometer scales. We show that stripping/electrodeposition cycles lead to thermodynamically controlled growth of Cu2O micro/nanocubes, while multi-layered Cu nanocuboids form universally during CO2RR upon polarization-driven re-organization of Cu0 atoms. A synergy of electrochemical characterization by scanning tunnelling microscopy (EC-STM), operando EC-Raman and quasi-operando X-Ray Photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) allows us to shed light on the role of oxygen on the dynamic interfacial processes of Cu, and to demonstrate that chloride is not needed for the stabilization of cubic Cu nanostructures.


A method for imaging with visible and near-visible light inside media, such as tissues, which have strong light scattering is described. The chrono-coherent imaging (CCI) method is demonstrated for a transmission geometry where an absorbing object is completely hidden from normal visual observation by scattered light. The resultant images are most similar to X-rays, with cumulative transmission showing absorption features and refractive index differences in the media. Laser coherence properties, coherence measurements, the relation of CCI to light-in-flight holography, holographic film properties relevant to CCI, a particular optical setup for CCI, the results of a demonstration experiment imaging an absorbing object hidden by light scattering, and an experiment to estimate the clinical applicability of CCI are discussed.<<ETX>>


The dynamic composition of systems of networked appliances, or virtual devices, enables users to generate complex strong specific systems. Current prominent MANET-based composition schemes make use of service discovery mechanisms dependent on periodic service advertising by controlled broadcast, resulting in the unnecessary depletion of node resources (i.e. battery and processing power). Moreover, current schemes do not allow for the protection of private or security sensitive information in the process of composition. We present a distributed constraint satisfaction problem for virtual device composition in MANETs addressing these issues, and through simulation show its high efficiency and QoS-awareness.


Background The Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini-BESTest) is a new balance assessment, but its psychometric properties have not been specifically tested in individuals with stroke. Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Mini-BESTest and its accuracy in categorizing people with stroke based on fall history. Design An observational measurement study with a test-retest design was conducted. Methods One hundred six people with chronic stroke were recruited. Intrarater reliability was evaluated by repeating the Mini-BESTest within 10 days by the same rater. The Mini-BESTest was administered by 2 independent raters to establish interrater reliability. Validity was assessed by correlating Mini-BESTest scores with scores of other balance measures (Berg Balance Scale, one-leg-standing, Functional Reach Test, and Timed "Up & Go" Test) in the stroke group and by comparing Mini-BESTest scores between the stroke group and 48 control participants, and between fallers (≥1 falls in the previous 12 months, n=25) and nonfallers (n=81) in the stroke group. Results The Mini-BESTest had excellent internal consistency (Cronbach alpha=.89–.94), intrarater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [3,1]=.97), and interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [2,1]=.96). The minimal detectable change at 95% confidence interval was 3.0 points. The Mini-BESTest was strongly correlated with other balance measures. Significant differences in Mini-BESTest total scores were found between the stroke and control groups and between fallers and nonfallers in the stroke group. In terms of floor and ceiling effects, the Mini-BESTest was significantly less skewed than other balance measures, except for one-leg-standing on the nonparetic side. The Berg Balance Scale showed significantly better ability to identify fallers (positive likelihood ratio=2.6) than the Mini-BESTest (positive likelihood ratio=1.8). Limitations The results are generalizable only to people with mild to moderate chronic stroke. Conclusions The Mini-BESTest is a reliable and valid tool for evaluating balance in people with chronic stroke.


Throughout its distribution across Eurasia, domestic pig (Sus scrofa) populations have acquired differences through natural and artificial selection, and have often interbred. We resequenced 80 Eurasian pigs from nine different Asian and European breeds; we identify 42,288 reliable SNPs on the Y chromosome in a panel of 103 males, among which 96.1% are newly detected. Based on these new data, we elucidate the evolutionary history of pigs through the lens of the Y chromosome. We identify two highly divergent haplogroups: one present only in Asia and one fixed in Europe but present in some Asian populations. Analyzing the European haplotypes present in Asian populations, we find evidence of three independent waves of introgression from Europe to Asia in last 200 years, agreeing well with the literature and historical records. The diverse European lineages were brought in China by humans and left significant imprints not only on the autosomes but also on the Y chromosome of geographically and genetically distinct Chinese pig breeds. We also find a general excess of European ancestry on Y chromosomes relative to autosomes in Chinese pigs, an observation that cannot be explained solely by sex-biased migration and genetic drift. The European Y haplotype is associated with leaner meat production, and we hypothesize that the European Y chromosome increased in frequency in Chinese populations due to artificial selection. We find evidence of Y chromosomal gene flow between Sumatran wild boar and Chinese pigs. Our results demonstrate how human-mediated admixture and selection shaped the distribution of modern swine Y chromosomes.


Testing for precision diagnostics in cancer is underway in Food and Drug Administration clinical trials. This new technology will outdate current, inaccurate technologies (i.e., mammograms and prostate-specific antigen tests) and become part of routine health screenings. Cost savings translate to bigger profit potential for hospitals and laboratories that conduct the tests. Trends in precision medicine will turn the diagnostics sector from its current moderate value/moderate growth status to one replicating the explosive growth of biotech.


The Fundamentals of Interactive Design takes a snapshot of the essential areas of digital design and introduces the reader to their importance. It explores best practice for creating within this medium. These fundamentals provide a core skill-set and an invaluable insight into the world of interactive design. This book examines the work flow and process of creating and exporting design across multiple media platforms in a progressive and logical way.The book is aimed at designers who have never worked within the interactive medium as well as those who have some digital knowledge but are looking for application across a wider spectrum of media. It is also for those looking for inspiration and new creative directions.


The effect of the presence of colloids on formation, stability and particle size of n-undecane in water nanoemulsions prepared by the Emulsion Inversion Point (EIP) method using nonionic surfactants (Igepals) was studied. The influence of oil-to-water ratio, the HLB value and concentration of the surfactant on their physico-chemical characteristics was also investigated. The stability of emulsions was assessed from changes in the particle size and the particle size distribution as well as through visual assessment of their appearance. The results obtained show that the anticipated positive effect of the colloids on emulsion stability was not confirmed. Phase separation of these systems usually occurred soon after preparation or during a few days of their storage. The particle size of emulsions prepared in the presence of colloids was mostly bigger in comparison with emulsions where colloids were absent. Nevertheless, nanoemulsions with the particle size smaller than 200 nm were also obtained. The best long-term stability was observed in emulsions prepared at the HLB value of 11.5, oil content of 20 and 30 wt. % stored at 4 °C.


Rape is one of the most commonly reported crimes all over the world. It is a crime under both international and national law although it is still primarily prosecuted before domestic courts. The traditional common law definition of rape articulates three elements of the crime of rape; vaginal penetration, lack of consent and direct participation of the accused person. However, many jurisdictions are moving away from consent-based definitions of rape. Through a feminist lens, this paper explores the place of consent as an element of the crime of rape. It undertakes a comprehensive review of literature and case law and makes an analysis of the articulation of consent as an element of the crime of rape at both national and international levels. It establishes that the legal definition of rape has a significant impact on the prosecution of rape cases and on the victim of rape. If the definition is based on the need for the prosecution to prove the lack of consent, then the legal process is focused on her behaviour and reaction to the sexual assault. It concludes that a definition of rape based on lack of consent is problematic and hinders access to justice for rape victims and it is inconsistent with the contemporary understanding of rape as a crime of sexual violence.


In recent years, the Supreme Court has increasingly supplemented traditional Marbury-style judicial review with constitutionally inspired clear statement rules. These canons of statutory construction have two characteristics. First, they impose a clarity tax on Congress by insisting that Congress legislate exceptionally clearly when it wishes to achieve a statutory outcome that threatens to intrude upon some judicially identified constitutional value-such as federalism, nonretroactivity, or the rule of law. Second, as the Court has acknowledged, clear statement rules apply even though the outcomes avoided by such rules would not themselves violate the Constitution. For example, although the Court has held that the Ex Post Facto Clause prohibits retroactivity only in the criminal context, the Court has also culled from that clause (among others) a more general value that it uses to justify a nonretroactivity clear statement rule for civil cases.This Essay argues that such clear statement rules rest on the mistaken premise that the Constitution contains freestanding values that can be meaningfully identified and enforced apart from the specific terms of the clauses from which the Court derives them. In fact, the Constitution represents a "bundle of compromises" that embody not merely abstract ends or values, but also particular means that limit and define the scope and the content of those values. If the Ex Post Facto Clause prohibits retroactivity in the criminal context, it violates the terms of the implementing bargain to extend its animating value to civil contexts. This concern-that clear statement rules impermissibly abstract from concrete constitutional means to general constitutional ends-applies, moreover, even if one believes that most constitutional law is now properly found in judge-made implementing doctrine. Such doctrine itself often defines relatively precise means of enforcing the Constitution, not merely the vague constitutional ends that so often animate clear statement rules.


Fly ash was collected as a byproduct from the processing of southern pine wood chips in a pilot-scale biomass gasifier. General properties of the fly ash were determined to assess its applicability as a soil amendment. Its alkaline pH (9.5) and high concentrations of Ca, K, and Mg suggest that it could be used as both a liming agent and a fertilizer. The concentrations of most heavy metals in all ash samples in this study were lower than the ecological soil screening levels used as a guideline. A sequential extraction analysis was used to evaluate the bioavailability of selected nutrient elements and pollutant heavy metals in the fly ash. Most nutrient elements were present in exchangeable/acid extractable and easily reducible fractions. The heavy metals were generally less bioavailable, thus ameliorating concerns for land application of fly ash, with or without prior combustion. Comparison of sequential extraction test results for all of the ashes indicated that the conditions experienced during gasification, such as high processing temperatures, impacted both the total heavy metal concentrations and their potential bioavailabilities.


SIR,-I should like to draw the attention of your readers to two therapeutic trials, in Wilms's turnour (nephroblastoma) and neuroblastoma, currently being undertaken by the Medical Research Council's working party on embryonal tumours in childhood. The trial of treatment of neuroblastoma is designed to investigate whether the regression that sometimes occurs in this disease is a consequence of an immune reaction developed against the tumour, and if so whether this immunity can be increased by immunotherapy. There is experimental evidence that neuroblastomas contain tumourspecific antigens against which an immune reaction may be stimulated,' and also that the immune system is more likely to succeed in eradicating a tumour when the number of residual malignant cells in the body is low.2 It is therefore important that immunotherapy should follow a period of chemotherapy, and in this trial it is proposed to treat patients with vincristine and cyclophosphamide for this purpose, after initial surgery and radiotherapy if indicated. The working party considered that the most suitable groups of patients for such a trial are as follows: (1) all patients over the age of one year with neuroblastoma, except those with a primary lesion confined to the cervical region; (2) all patients under the age of one year with metastatic disease. The trial of treatment in nephroblastoma is designed to assess the relative efficacy of vincristine and actinomycin D as agents in the treatment of nephroblastoma after surgery and radiotherapy. There is now increasing evidence' that the prognosis of nephroblastoma is improved by the use of actinomycin D for periods of two years following surgery and radiotherapy. There is also evidence' that vincristine, a drug which is relatively less toxic than actinomycin D, is efficacious in treating metastatic disease. It is therefore planned to conduct a controlled clinical trial in children over the age of one year with stage I, Ha, and IIb (American classification) disease in an attempt to compare the effectiveness of the two drugs in the long-term treatment. Further information may be obtained from the secretaries of the working party, Dr. P. Morris Jones (at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Pendlebury, Manchester, M27 1HA) and Dr. Dorothy Pearson (Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute, Withington, Manchester, 20). I would, of course, be very happy to discuss these trials with any clinician who is asked to treat patients with either of these conditions, and who feels they might be suitable for these trials.-I am, etc.,


Surveillance is the backbone of any response to an infectious disease outbreak, and comprehensive evaluation of surveillance systems is crucial. However, structured evaluations of surveillance systems during the COVID-19 pandemic are scarce. We conducted a after action review (AAR) of the performance of the COVID-19 surveillance system in Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam, during 2020 using the COVID-19-specific AAR methodology developed by the World Health Organization in combination with guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We conducted a stakeholder survey, document reviews, and key informant interviews with staff from Quang Ninh CDC's COVID-19 surveillance system. The COVID-19 surveillance system was based on the pre-existing surveillance system in the province. The system's strengths were early preparation for emergency response, strong governance and central coordination, and multidisciplinary collaboration. Stakeholders agreed that the system proved useful and adaptive to the fast-evolving COVID-19 situation but was weakened by overly complex systems, redundant administrative processes, unclear communication channels, and lack of resources. Overall, the surveillance systems in Quang Ninh province proved effective in containing COVID-19 and adaptive in a fast-changing epidemiological context. Several recommendations were made based on identified areas of concern that are of relevance for COVID-19 surveillance systems in Vietnam and similar settings.


Introduction The Hospice undertook a project with 10 local care homes which had the highest rate of admissions to an acute hospital where the patient had died. The inital results in 2012 led to a further 12 months of funding with 10 more homes. Aims Reduce inappropriate hospital admissions from care homes for end of life patients Promote the use of end of life care tools Methods Registered Nurse led project with multi-disciplinary steering group Baseline data: After death analysis (ADA) – last 5 deaths prior to project commencement Care home training needs analysis (TNA) Project period: Training programme based on TNA delivered and evaluated Ongoing ADAs Year end: Collation of ADA information Reviewed whether new skills and knowledge embedded. Results Year 1 – 19% of nursing home patients and 57% of residential home patients died in an acute setting. Uptake of EOLC tools rose dramatically. 140 staff received EOLC training. Year 2 – Post-training, 19% of patients died in an acute setting and the ADAs suggested only 5% might have been avoided if end of life needs had been correctly identified. Uptake of EOLC tools increased with 90% of those who died having some form of ACP and nearly 80% having a valid DNACPR form. 157 staff received EOLC training Discussion The uptake of EOLC tools was the most obvious achievement and qualitative data indicated increased staff confidence as a major factor. The ability to measure a reduction in inappropriate hospital admissions was more difficult due to interventions from other in-reach projects. The importance of good engagement with GP practices was identified early on, but was outside the scope of this project. Conclusion This project demonstrated the value of EOLC training, tailored to care home staff needs. Hospices can increase opportunities for good end of life care in the community, without the need for specific patient intervention from specialist palliative care providers.


The private security industry is experiencing great prosperity. Despite the job opportunities in the industry, however, there are various problems endemic to employment as a security guard. Wages are usually low and risks can be high. While union membership has increased among security guards, collective bargaining has been unsuccessful in alleviating the occupation's problems. Section 9(b)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act specifically prevents the Board from finding a unit appropriate if it includes both guards and non-guards. This section cannot be applied properly without first considering the Act's overall policies and Congress' specific intention in passing this section. Meanwhile, voluntary recognition has also been an important factor in the security industry. Section 9(b)(3) does not state how, or if, it affects bargaining relationships commenced voluntarily by employers and non-qualified unions. Thus, Congress should clarify the statutory rule regarding the withdrawal of voluntary recognition of non-qualified unions. Congress could either add a proviso to the section stating that it should not be construed to affect bargaining relationships voluntarily commenced by employers and non-qualified unions, or it could prohibit voluntary recognition altogether. The Board should modify the Bally's rule (where the Board adopted a broad rule allowing all unions, qualified and non-qualified, incumbent and non-incumbent, to appear on the ballot, provided the petition was filed by a qualified union) by recognizing a thirty percent showing of interest by non-qualified unions which seek to intervene. The Board should also affirm the Wells Fargo decision (saying the Board has discretion to allow non-qualified unions to participate in its election processes) as it would not be inconsistent to continue to hold voluntary recognition of non-qualified unions permissible while allowing employers to end the bargaining relationship unilaterally.


This paper maps an empirical history of corporate profit and taxation in the United States, with a special focus on the differential profit and taxation of banks relative to other corporations. An examination of these trends reveals a striking anomaly within the American banking sector: from the early 1980s until the financial crisis of 2007-2008, its after-tax profits sharply outpaced those of the corporate average despite its effective tax rates having simultaneously increased relative to those of the corporate average. This curious combination of improved differential performance and an increased differential tax burden may have been due to banking deregulation – strong enough to boost pre-tax profits so much that they more than offset the effects of increased taxation and also raised after-tax profits along the way. In addition, these trends reveal a convergence of interests between American banking and government, with the former earning higher profits and the latter earning higher tax revenues. Whether implicitly or explicitly created, this tax arrangement relied on unsustainably deregulated banking profits and ultimately collapsed during the financial crisis of 2007-2008.


To fully understand complex signaling networks and to be able to predict their behavior, quantitative models are required to keep track of dynamic changes in signal propagation. Hao et al. provide a clear example of the power of combined experimental and computational analysis in a study of G protein signaling in response to mating pheromone in yeast. They used quantitative immunoblotting to determine the amounts per cell of G protein α subunit (about 8000 copies) and of an RGS protein (about 2000 copies). RGS, regulator of G protein signaling, is an inhibitory factor that enhances guanosine triphosphatase activity of the Gα protein. They also measured changes in the abundance of these proteins in response to pheromone and how twofold increases in the abundance of these proteins or of Gβγ subunits affected signaling. A model based on ordinary differential equations was consistent with a feedback loop in which increased synthesis of the RGS protein in response to pheromone would prevent prolonged signaling. However, inconsistencies in predictions of the model with the experimental data and observation of binary (all or none) signaling in cells overexpressing the RGS protein led the authors to consider a positive feedback loop that would cause pheromone-dependent degradation of the RGS protein. A revised model, which included a stochastic term simulating random fluctuations in protein concentrations, was consistent with the experimental data. To determine whether the unanticipated positive-feedback loop predicted from the modeling does in fact exist, the authors monitored pheromone-dependent degradation of the RGS protein and discovered a previously unknown pheromone-induced ubiquitination of the RGS protein. The authors note that the relatively simple and highly studied yeast pheromone signaling pathway may be amenable to further computer simulation of the entire pathway. N. Hao, N. Yildirim, Y. Wang, T. C. Elston, H. G. Dohlman, Regulators of G protein signaling and transient activation of signaling: Experimental and computational analysis reveals negative and positive feedback controls on G protein activity. J. Biol. Chem. 278, 46506-46515 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Complete abruption of the kidney is a rare and very serious trauma. A case is reported of a 13-year-old girl who had a smooth clinical picture of this trauma. Surgery was performed 23 hours after the trauma. No postoperative complications occurred. At discharge, her condition was satisfactory.


Chiralpak IB, a new chiral stationary phase (CSP) containing cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarabamate) immobilized onto silica gel, is investigated for the direct enantioselective separation of a set of racemic N-alkylated barbiturates and analogs of thalidomide alkylated in position 3 of the piperidin-2,6-dione ring using different nonstandard solvents such as dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate, THF, methyl tert-butyl ether as an eluent and diluent, respectively, in HPLC. The separation, resolution, and elution order of the investigated compounds were compared on both immobilized and coated cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) CSPs (Chiralpak IB and Chiralcel OD, respectively) using a mixture of n-hexane/2-propanol (90:10 v/v) as mobile phase with different flow-rates and fixed UV detection at 254 nm. The effect of the immobilization of the cellulose tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) CSP on silica (Chiralpak IB) on the chiral recognition ability was noted as the coated phase (Chiralcel OD) possesses a higher resolving power in some cases than the immobilized one (Chiralpak IB). However, a few racemates, which were not or poorly resolved on the immobilized Chiralpak IB or the coated Chiralcel OD when using standard solvents were most efficiently resolved on the immobilized Chiralpak IB upon using nonstandard solvents. Furthermore, the immobilized phase withstands the nonstandard (prohibited) HPLC solvents mentioned previously when used as eluents or as a dissolving agent for the analyte itself. An example of inversion or apparent inversion of elution order on Chiralpak IB is reported. The direct analysis of a spiked plasma sample extracted using DCM on Chiralpak IB is also shown.


Stream channel geometries have been found to enlarge with urbanization of the upland drainage basin. Although enlargement has been documented in a variety of climatic and urban regimes, little is known about how the geomorphic effects of urbanization translate into rural areas downstream. Models derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data from the North Carolina
Floodplain Mapping Program were used in conjunction with field surveys to explore the urban-rural transition for North Buffalo Creek in Greensboro, NC. Although the model did not accurately represent at-a-point channel geometries, it was able to represent the prevailing geometric relationships between contributing drainage area and averaged channel capacity for channel reaches of approximately 140m. The urban-rural transition for North Buffalo Creek was found to be linear, with decreases in enlargement beginning well within the
current urban boundary. Using linear regression, a truly "rural" state was predicted to be achieved when the channel reaches a contributing drainage area of between 400 - 450km2. Local increases in enlargement were found to be
directly influenced by the junction of major tributaries.


SUMMARY Replication of the Beaudette strain of avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) adapted to chicken embryo kidney cell cultures, was demonstrated in embryonic turkey kidney (ETK) cell cultures by cytopathic effect, virus neutralization, and immunofluorescence techniques. This same IBV strain grown in chicken embryos did not replicate in ETK cell cultures, but gradually declined beyond a detectable level.


We test if an increase in common ownership changes future expected profits with an event study method. We collect instances of a stock entering the S&P 500 index and identify its product market competitors. We measure the change in institutional and common ownership (with product market rivals) and find that entering stocks experience a significant increase in both. We measure the stock returns of the entrant's product market rivals upon the entry news. We find that increases in common ownership (driven by the whole vector of ownership similarity) cause increases in stock returns, consistent with a hypothesis that common ownership raises profits.


Allegations that International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) are not accountable to the populations they assist have followed several humanitarian operations, and the 2010 Haiti Earthquake was no exception. In response, initiatives such as the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership guided agencies' efforts to become more accountable. Results of mechanisms implemented by two INGOs showed that although conditions were created for people to raise concerns, the ability of Haitians to obtain a response from the agencies was limited. The research found that while in principle agencies have the best interests of affected populations as their aim, fragmentation and power asymmetries within the humanitarian sector create conditions wherein agencies define the limits of what they are responsible for and, consequently, what they can be held accountable for. This literature review shows that without agencies' recognition of the responsibility that comes with power, no initiatives will enhance a more coherent vision to improving their accountability.


Phosphorylation of proteins on serine/threonine residues that precede proline (pSer/Thr-Pro) is specifically catalyzed by the peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase PIN1. PIN1-mediated prolyl-isomerization induces cell cycle arrest and growth inhibition through the regulation of target proteins, including TP53. We examined whether PIN1 acts in a different manner according to TP53 gene status in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We investigated the expression of PIN1 and TP53 proteins in 119 HCC tissue samples. We also analyzed PIN1 expression in combination with TP53 gene mutation and its correlation with the clinical outcome. In addition, we used synthetic small interfering RNA to silence PIN1 gene expression in TP53 wild-type and TP53 mutant HCC cell lines, and then evaluated cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Expression of PIN1 was strongly associated with expression of TP53 protein or TP53 mutation of HCC samples. PIN1 and TP53 expression in TP53 mutant HCC cell lines was higher than that in TP53 wild-type HCC cell lines. Silencing of PIN1 in HLE cells containing mutant TP53 significantly decreased cell proliferation, migration and invasion. In contrast to PIN1 silencing in HLE cells, PIN1 silencing in HepG2 cells containing functional wild-type TP53 resulted in enhanced tumor cell proliferation. HCC patients bearing PIN1 expression with wild-type TP53 were predicted to demonstrate favorable relapse-free survival. Our results suggest that PIN1 plays a role in cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion in a different manner according to the TP53 gene mutation status in HCC. In particular, interaction of PIN1 with mutant TP53 can act as a tumor promoter and increase its oncogenic activities in HCC.


Expenditure on medical treatment has tended to rise as a proportion of national income throughout the European Union. A particular concern is that with an ageing population and therefore the prospect of more elderly persons, the pressures on expenditure for health care will increase further. The Ageing, Health Status and Determinants of Health Expenditure (AHEAD) project has aimed at refining existing estimates of the links between ageing, reported states of health and use of medical services. This research report analyses the prevalence of good and poor health and the related use of medical services by individuals in different age groups in Hungary. The report describes morbidity owing to specific diseases (high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, heart attack, diabetes and anxiety/depression) in Hungary and identifies the social and economic factors behind good or poor health status. It goes on to outline health service utilisation by people in good or bad health and to analyse the influence of age and other factors on health status and service utilisation. The report further studies the use of health care resources by individuals not covered in household surveys. The analysis relies on data collected by the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) in 2003. Data weights were devised to allow for an unbiased estimation of population variables. Associations between variables and differences across categories were examined using cross-tabulations and were assessed by Pearson's Chi-square tests. To analyse influence, logistic regression models were built using a stepwise selection method with removal testing based on the likelihood ratio statistic. According to historical data and predictions, the population of Hungary is ageing. Further, age has had a significant impact on the prevalence of selected diseases and self-reported health status. A significantly higher proportion of older persons reported that they were in bad health. Individuals with bad health were more likely to have had contact with health care services and to have had a greater number of visits. With these trends in population ageing, pressures for more expenditure on health care are likely to increase.


Precise control of chromosome pairing is vital for conferring meiotic, and hence reproductive, stability in sexually reproducing polyploids. Apart from the Ph1 locus of wheat that suppresses homeologous pairing, little is known about the activity of genes that contribute to the cytological diploidization of allopolyploids. In oilseed rape (Brassica napus) haploids, the amount of chromosome pairing at metaphase I (MI) of meiosis varies depending on the varieties the haploids originate from. In this study, we combined a segregation analysis with a maximum-likelihood approach to demonstrate that this variation is genetically based and controlled mainly by a gene with a major effect. A total of 244 haploids were produced from F(1) hybrids between a high- and a low-pairing variety (at the haploid stage) and their meiotic behavior at MI was characterized. Likelihood-ratio statistics were used to demonstrate that the distribution of the number of univalents among these haploids was consistent with the segregation of a diallelic major gene, presumably in a background of polygenic variation. Our observations suggest that this gene, named PrBn, is different from Ph1 and could thus provide complementary information on the meiotic stabilization of chromosome pairing in allopolyploid species.


There are no teaching materials available to help students learn bilingually in elementary school teacher training (PGSD) in Indonesia. The goal of this study was to create an English classroom instruction module to help students improve their ability to learn in a bilingual environment. This module provided students with opportunities to practice teaching using English as a bilingual classroom instruction language, allowing them to develop creativity in their teaching techniques and incorporate English into their students' daily interactions. This study also examined the module's suitability for teaching bilingual learning. The investigation was carried out using the research and development method, following the Borg and Gall stages, which included 1) research and data collection, 2) planning, 3) initial product development, 4) initial field testing, 5) major product revisions, 6) main field testing, and 7) operational product revision. Observations, questionnaires and tests were used to gather information. Descriptive statistics and the paired sample t-test were used to analyze the data. According to the findings (media expert validation average score of 4.14, indicating good criteria, and material expert validation average score of 4, indicating good criteria) the English classroom instruction module is feasible to use in bilingual learning. The module also works to improve students' abilities, as evidenced by an average pre-test score of 77.32 increasing to 87.04 in the post-test, which was found through the paired sample t-test to be a significant increase in scores. It was concluded that the English classroom instruction module can improve students' abilities in bilingual learning.
Keywords: bilingual learning, module, English classroom instruction, students


A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in ful lment of the requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Johannesburg, 2016.


One of the main challenges of modern processor design is the implementation of a scalable and efficient mechanism to detect memory access order violations as a result of out-of-order execution. Traditional age-ordered associative load queues are complex, inefficient, and power hungry. In this paper, we introduce two new dependence checking schemes with different design tradeoffs, but both explicitly rely on timing information as a primary instrument to rule out dependence violation. Our timing-centric designs operate at a fraction of the energy cost of an associative LQ and achieve the same functionality with an insignificant performance impact on average. Studies with parallel benchmarks also show that they are equally effective and efficient in a chip-multiprocessor environment.


A series of neutral triangular polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons functionalized with various radical groups (dithiadiazolyl, verdazyl, nitronylnitroxyl, tert-butyl-nitroxyl and also (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl) has been computationally studied by the DFT UB3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) quantum-chemical modelling of their electronic structure and magnetic properties. The dependence of the nature and strength of the exchange interactions between paramagnetic centers on the size of the triangular core, the presence of heteroatoms in the polycyclic moiety, the type of the radical substituents and their spatial arrangement has been ascertained. The molecules with the high-spin electronic ground state possessing strong ferromagnetic exchange interactions and virtually non-interacting paramagnetic centers have been revealed, which makes them promising building blocks for organic spintronics devices.


In the 1930s, many Kyoto School philosophers as well as other intellectuals inquired into the nature of technology (gijutsu) amid the growth of heavy industrial capitalism, rapid mobilization for war, and the proliferation of technology throughout all areas of life. This essay examines Nakai Masakazu's thoughts on technology as it relates to what he perceived as the disciplining of the creative, practical-political energies of the masses by capitalist commodification and specialization. Instead of only defining technology as the instrumental means of production or the technical, instrumental rationality of capitalism and bureaucratic control, Nakai inquired into the essence of technology as manifested in everyday mass culture. Similar to other contemporary thinkers on technology in Japan and elsewhere, Nakai viewed technology as acts of invention and poiesis in the world; however, he located this essence of technology within the interstices of modern capitalist life—in mass-mediated subjectivity, in the sensations and forms of contemporary cinema, and in the "bodily technologies" of sports, for example.By examining Nakai's thoughts on the essence of technology, I wish to analyze the relation between Kyoto School philosophy and the political in wartime Japan, because these have often been viewed in isolation from each other or framed simplistically in terms of political complicity or resistance to fascism. Nakai's thought during the prewar and wartime periods in particular is often either overlooked in favor of his postwar activities in the Hiroshima Culture Movement or seen as mainly engaging in a politics of building some type of counterhegemony or collective resistance against fascism through his organization of periodicals inspired by the Popular Front in Europe, such as Doyōbi (Saturday) and Sekai Bunka (World Culture), for which he was arrested along with others in 1937. However, as I demonstrate, Nakai also primarily sought inventive sites of the political through his understanding of technology within modern capitalist life—or, in his language, different "points of departure," "acts within acts," para-existential "middles" of chance and opportunity, and uncanny sensations irreducible to sight, sound, or understanding. At stake for Nakai in such concepts were the critical, transformative energies of the people themselves, which were increasingly subject to the various disciplinary regimes of capital and the state.


This chapter draws from Tomás Rivera's poetry and Rudolfo Anaya's short story "The Man Who Could Fly" (2006) to read continuities of an Atlantic world formation within the Southwest. Specifically, this essay compares paradigms of a remembered "Congo" informed by dialectics of empire concerning both Central African exploration—in the case of Rivera—and plantational Latin American and American slavery—in the case of Anaya. While this article argues that in the case of Rivera, Henry Stanley's exploration haunts the spatialization of Rivera's poetry, in Anaya, by contrast, Atlantic continuities are chiefly embedded in a transnational comparison with Latin American Caribbean writers such as Gabriel García Márquez and Alejo Carpentier. Applying Caribbean thinker Edouard Glissant's theorization of "Relation" to these Chicano narratives, this chapter decodes the racial geographies of the Southwest to theorize how landscape and fiction work together to memorialize subaltern Atlantic memory.


Background and Objectives Natalizumab, a monoclonal humanized antibody targeting integrin α4, inhibits the transmigration of lymphocytes into the CNS by preventing the interaction of integrin α4β1 with V-CAM expressed on brain vascular endothelial cells. Although natalizumab treatment reduces the clinical relapse rate in patients with relapsing-remitting MS, its discontinuation after reactivation of the JC virus is associated with a rebound of the disease in 20% of patients. The mechanisms of this rebound are not elucidated, but natalizumab increases the frequencies of circulating CD4 T cells expressing proinflammatory cytokines as well as the proportion of circulating Th17/Th1 cells (Th1-like Th17 cells). Gut-derived memory CD4 T cells are a population of growing interest in the pathogenesis of MS, but whether and how their properties are affected by natalizumab is not known. Here, we studied the phenotype and cytokine expression profile of circulating gut-derived memory CD4 T cells in patients with relapsing-remitting MS under natalizumab. Methods We identified gut-derived memory CD4 T cells by their expression of integrin β7 and compared their properties and those of integrin β7− memory CD4 T cells across healthy donors and patients with relapsing-remitting MS treated or not with natalizumab. We also compared the capacity of integrin β7− and integrin β7+ CD4 T-cell subsets to transmigrate in vitro across a model of blood-brain barrier. Results The proportions of proinflammatory Th17/Th1 cells as well as of IL-17A+IFNγ+ and IL-17A+GM-CSF+ cells were higher in memory CD4 T cells expressing integrin β7 in patients receiving natalizumab compared with healthy donors and patients with relapsing-remitting MS not receiving natalizumab. By contrast, integrin β7 negative memory CD4 T cells only presented a modest increased in their proportion of Th17/Th1 cells under natalizumab. We further observed that integrin β7+ Th17/Th1 cells migrated as efficiently as integrin β7− Th17/Th1 across a monolayer of brain microvascular endothelial cells. Discussion Our study shows that circulating integrin β7+ memory CD4 T cells of patients with relapsing-remitting MS under natalizumab are enriched in proinflammatory cells supporting the hypothesis that integrin β7+ memory CD4 T cells could play a pathogenic role in the disease rebound observed at natalizumab discontinuation.


Non-sinusoidal oscillation of continuous casting mold is an effective approach, which can insure high-quality at high casting speed. Based on sinusoidal oscillation waveform, a non-sinusoidal oscillation equipped with optimum mode virtues can be constructed. By employing paragraph-function, boundary condition and continuity condition, the correspondent analytical expression formulas can be calculated, and then, its technological parameters can be determined Finally, putting matlab procedure into use and optimizing oscillation parameter, the optimal technological parameter limits can be confirmed.


Despite a variety of efforts to develop the clinical teaching skills of family practice faculty, objective and reliable evidence of improvement has been lacking. In this study, family practice faculty physicians were videotaped during consultations with residents. Following a brief intervention, specific teaching skills increased, as indicated by follow-up videotapes and resident ratings. In particular, faculty physicians were more likely to verbally reinforce residents' efforts following the intervention. Analysis of 150 videotaped consultations revealed that several teaching behaviors remained at low rates, such as discussion of family issues. These results, when examined from the perspective of the "parallel process," suggest that faculty frequently do not model the interpersonal behaviors expected of residents during patient interviews.


ABSTRACT Assessing how democracy varies within countries is paramount to the subnational turn in comparative politics. Despite recent contributions, we still lack a comparable measure of democracy for provinces inside countries. To overcome this limitation, I present the Index of Subnational Electoral Democracy (ISED), a measure that tracks the electoral dimension of democracy across the provinces of nine Latin American countries, the United States, Canada, and India for a period of roughly 40 years, making it the largest dataset on subnational regime outcomes to date. I then use the ISED to assess the democratic trajectories of Argentinian, Brazilian, Mexican, and Indian states, revealing that: 1) Indian provinces have been, on average, more democratic than their Latin American counterparts. 2) The relative position of provincial regimes within these countries has been remarkably stable over time. 3) Most subnational units in the Americas have had "low intensity" regimes. 4) Subnational regime hybridity has been the norm rather than the exception, and that 5) for the Latin American cases under consideration, democracy and development are positively connected at the local level. I conclude by outlining the ISED's research applications and reflecting on the implications of these five conclusions for future research on subnational democracy.


The medical profession has long subscribed to a body of ethical statements developed primarily for the benefit of the patient. As a member of this profession, a physician must recognize responsibility to patients first and foremost, as well as to society, to other health professionals and to self. The following Principles adopted by the American Medical Association are not laws but standards of conduct which define the essentials of honorable behavior for the physician.


Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), a membrane glycoprotein that forms Cl- channels. Previous work has shown that when some CF- associated mutants of CFTR are expressed in heterologous cells, their glycosylation is incomplete. That observation led to the hypothesis that such mutants are not delivered to the plasma membrane where they can mediate Cl- transport. Testing this hypothesis requires localization of CFTR in nonrecombinant cells and a specific determination of whether CFTR is in the apical membrane of normal and CF epithelia. To test the hypothesis, we used primary cultures of airway epithelia grown on permeable supports because they polarize and express the CF defect in apical Cl- permeability. Moreover, their dysfunction contributes to disease. We developed a semiquantitative assay, using nonpermeabilized epithelia, an antibody directed against an extracellular epitope of CFTR, and large (1 microns) fluorescent beads which bound to secondary antibodies. We observed specific binding to airway epithelia from non-CF subjects, indicating that CFTR is located in the apical membrane. In contrast, there was no specific binding to the apical membrane of CF airway epithelia. These data were supported by qualitative studies using confocal microscopy: the most prominent immunostaining was in the apical region of non-CF cells and in cytoplasmic regions of CF cells. The results indicate that CFTR is either missing from the apical membrane of these CF cells or it is present at a much reduced level. The data support the proposed defective delivery of some CF-associated mutants to the plasma membrane and explain the lack of apical Cl- permeability in most CF airway epithelia.


I exploit unusual policy variation in Indonesia to examine how local responses to intergovernmental grants depend on their persistence. A national reform produced permanent increases in the general grant that were larger for less densely populated districts. Hydrocarbon-rich districts experienced transitory shocks to shared resource revenue. Public service delivery strongly responded to the permanent shock, but not to the transitory shocks, consistent with districts providing lumpy public services as a function of lifetime fiscal resources. I provide supporting evidence for this mechanism and rule out other potential mechanisms. I discuss implications for decentralization policy and research on taxation and accountability.