There are several factors that bring down student interest in technical education within Slovakia and other European Union countries. Authors of this article have now considered one effective method that could improve this situation. This new method is to change of teaching strategies by applying methods of creative thinking. The article further examines the demonstration of these methods applied in elementary schools and defines barriers to their application in educational practice.


Objective To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis examining the effectiveness of behavioural interventions targeting diet, physical activity or smoking in low-income adults. Design Systematic review with random effects meta-analyses. Studies before 2006 were identified from a previously published systematic review (searching 1995–2006) with similar but broader inclusion criteria (including non-randomised controlled trials (RCTs)). Studies from 2006 to 2014 were identified from eight electronic databases using a similar search strategy. Data sources MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, ASSIA, CINAHL, Cochrane Controlled Trials, Cochrane Systematic Review and DARE. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies RCTs and cluster RCTs published from 1995 to 2014; interventions targeting dietary, physical activity and smoking; low-income adults; reporting of behavioural outcomes. Main outcome measures Dietary, physical activity and smoking cessation behaviours. Results 35 studies containing 45 interventions with 17 000 participants met inclusion criteria. At postintervention, effects were positive but small for diet (standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.22, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.29), physical activity (SMD 0.21, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.36) and smoking (relative risk (RR) of 1.59, 95% CI 1.34 to 1.89). Studies reporting follow-up results suggested that effects were maintained over time for diet (SMD 0.16, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.25) but not physical activity (SMD 0.17, 95% CI −0.02 to 0.37) or smoking (RR 1.11, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.34). Conclusions Behaviour change interventions for low-income groups had small positive effects on healthy eating, physical activity and smoking. Further work is needed to improve the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions for deprived populations.


ABSTRACT One hundred seventy Staphylococcus aureus isolates, collected in 1996 to 2004, were reidentified by phenotypic and genotypic methods. One hundred ten of these (65%) were confirmed, as previously denoted, to be clumping factor (CF)- or free coagulase-deficient S. aureus, based on their phenotype. Based on the CF or coagulase production, three groups of phenotypically deficient S. aureus isolates were distinguished. Group 1 encompassed CF-positive and coagulase-deficient isolates, group 2 consisted of CF-deficient and coagulase-positive isolates, and group 3 included isolates that were CF positive, had delayed coagulase activity, and were deficient in other species-specific features. All investigated strains harbored the clfA, clfB, coa, spa, and nuc genes, but the presence of their products was not detected by the phenotypic methods. Glycopeptide susceptibility testing showed that 26 isolates (23.6%) were hetero-glycopeptide-intermediate S. aureus(hGISA) or hetero-teicoplanin-intermediate S. aureus (hTISA), based on the population analysis profile. The relatedness of the isolates was evaluated by multiple-locus variable number of tandem repeats analysis, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and multilocus sequence typing. The phenotypically deficient S. aureus isolates were classified into PFGE types B (ST239-III) and D (ST246-IA) and were related to the common clones, Hungarian and Iberian, respectively, which have been widely disseminated in Poland and globally. The simultaneous occurrence of hGISA/hTISA and the CF-deficient phenotypes was found for 62.1% of isolates belonging to group 2. The majority of these isolates were assigned to the Iberian clone (PFGE type D; ST247-IA). An association between the defect in coagulase and that in thermonuclease production was observed, which concerned 59.2% of isolates of group 1. The majority of these isolates belonged to the Hungarian clone (PFGE type B; ST239-III).


The review discusses the ways in which marine pollution proliferates due to plastics and microplastics and provides an overview of the possible influences of the plastics in water body along with its detrimental effects. Erosion and degradation of plastics on the beaches end up in their surface embrittlement in addition to microcracking, it yields micro-particles which are then carried by carriers into the water-body by the tidal waves or winds. Opposing the inorganic fine particles existing in ocean water-body, microplastics tend to accumulate into the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) by breakdown and detachment. The POPs are distributed amongst many types of plastics that pollute the environment. Most of the pollutants under POPs polluting water show it is consequent due to micro-plastics and other plastic mediums. Also, when these micro-particles containing a tremendous amount of POPs are ingested by marine biota and species, it poses a remarkable influence on them. However, Bioavailability and how much potential transfers of POPs can occur in distinct levels of trophic is still unknown while the harm caused by such POPs in species needs to be studied and quantified with help of proper scientific modelling techniques. As the plastic pollution in oceans is rising at an alarming rate it is necessary to understand probable impacts of plastics and microplastics in oceans and other water bodies.


According to contemporary learning theory, drug-seeking behavior reflects the summation of 2 dissociable controllers. Whereas goal-directed drug-seeking is determined by the expected current incentive value of the drug, stimulus-elicited drug-seeking is determined by the expected probability of the drug independently of its current incentive value, and these 2 controllers contribute additively to observed drug-seeking. One applied prediction of this model is that smoking cessation pharmacotherapies selectively attenuate tonic but not cue-elicited craving because they downgrade the expected incentive value of the drug but leave expected probability intact. To test this, the current study examined whether nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) nasal spray would modify goal-directed tobacco choice in a human outcome devaluation procedure, but leave cue-elicited tobacco choice in a Pavlovian to instrumental transfer (PIT) procedure intact. Smokers (N= 96) first underwent concurrent choice training in which 2 responses earned tobacco or chocolate points, respectively. Participants then ingested either NRT nasal spray (1 mg) or chocolate (147 g) to devalue 1 outcome. Concurrent choice was then tested again in extinction to measure goal-directed control of choice, and in a PIT test to measure the extent to which tobacco and chocolate stimuli enhanced choice of the same outcome. It was found that NRT modified tobacco choice in the extinction test but not the extent to which the tobacco stimulus enhanced choice of the tobacco outcome in the PIT test. This dissociation suggests that the propensity to engage in drug-seeking is determined independently by the expected value and probability of the drug, and that pharmacotherapy has partial efficacy because it selectively effects expected drug value.


Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signaling pathways have been shown to be essential for opioid‐induced plasticity. We conducted an exploratory study to evaluate BDNF variability in opioid addict responders and nonresponders to methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). We analyzed 21 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the BDNF genomic region. Responders and nonresponders were classified by means of illicit opioid consumption detected in random urinalysis. Patients were assessed by a structured interview (Psychiatric Research Interview for Substance and Mental Disorders (PRISM)‐DSM‐IV) and personality was evaluated by the Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory. No clinical, environmental and treatment characteristics were different between the groups, except for the Cooperativeness dimension (P < 0.001). Haplotype block analysis showed a low‐frequency (2.7%) haplotype (13 SNPs) in block 1, which was more frequent in the nonresponder group than in the responder group (4/42 vs. 1/135; Pcorrected = 0.023). Fine mapping in block 1 allows us to identify a haplotype subset formed by only six SNPs (rs7127507, rs1967554, rs11030118, rs988748, rs2030324 and rs11030119) associated with differential response to MMT (global P sim = 0.011). Carriers of the CCGCCG haplotype had an increased risk of poorer response, even after adjusting for Cooperativeness score (OR = 20.25 95% CI 1.46–280.50, P = 0.025). These preliminary results might suggest the involvement of BDNF as a factor to be taken into account in the response to MMT independently of personality traits, environmental cues, methadone dosage and psychiatric comorbidity.


Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) have now emerged as an alternative to the traditional mode of infrastructure provision both in India and rest of the world due to its proven potential to solve infrastructure inadequacies faster and cost-effectively. The paper analyses trends and patterns of various infrastructure sectors and regional distribution of PPPs at global, national and sub-national levels to identify to what extent PPPs have been able to curb infrastructure deficit. The growth empirics reveal that there has been a sharp increase in the number of PPP projects, and that these have contributed immensely to enhance regional and sectoral infrastructure availability. In addition, the paper has observed that PPP projects under the national highway category are way ahead in time and cost efficiency as compared to the non-PPP projects. However, these projects have tended to concentrate in certain sectors and regions, both globally and in the Indian context despite the incentives currently available to these endeavors. The present paper explores the possible reasons for this uneven growth in India. Probable reasons for this uneven growth factors like differences in political will across national and sub-national governments in promotion of infrastructure PPP policies and lack of effective functioning of governments' various infrastructure executive departments including PPP nodal agencies for identifying, executing, coordinating various departments and in promotion of policies for hassle free and quick implementation and to redress the various differences. Financial assurances to the concessionaires on their investments, availability of land and other incentives like tax incentives, capital grant (Viability gap funding) and coordination by users and nature of project risks, degree of private sector risk management capacity are some the other important factors


Cloud Computing: Web-Based Applications That Change the Way You Work and Collaborate On-Line Computing as you know it has changed. No longer are you tied to using expensive programs stored on your computer. No longer will you be able to only access your data from one computer. No longer will you be tied to doing work only from your work computer or playing only from your personal computer. Enter cloud computingan exciting new way to work with programs and data, collaborate with friends and family, share ideas with coworkers and friends, and most of all, be more productive! The cloud consists of thousands of computers and servers, all linked and accessible to you via the Internet. With cloud computing, everything you do is now web-based instead of being desktop-based; you can access all your programs and documents from any computer thats connected to the Internet. Whether you want to share photographs with your family, coordinate volunteers for a community organization, or manage a multi-faceted project in a large organization, cloud computing can help you do it more easily than ever before. Trust us. If you need to collaborate, cloud computing is the way to do it. Learn what cloud computing is, how it works, who should use it, and why its the wave of the future. Explore the practical benefits of cloud computing, from saving money on expensive programs to accessing your documents ANYWHERE. See just how easy it is to manage work and personal schedules, share documents with coworkers and friends, edit digital photos, and much more! Learn how to use web-based applications to collaborate on reports and presentations, share online calendars and to-do lists, manage largeprojects, and edit and store digital photographs. Michael Miller is known for his casual, easy-to-read writing style and his ability to explain a wide variety of complex topics to an everyday audience. Mr. Miller has written more than 80 nonfiction books over the past two decades, with more than a million copies in print. His books for Que include Absolute Beginners Guide to Computer Basics, Googlepedia: The Ultimate Google Resource, and Is It Safe?: Protecting Your Computer, Your Business, and Yourself Online. His website is located at www.molehillgroup.com. Covers the most popular cloud-based applications, including the following: Adobe Photoshop Express Apple MobileMe Glide OS Google Docs Microsoft Office Live Workspace Zoho Office CATEGORY: Web Applications COVERS: Cloud Computing USER LEVEL: Beginner-Intermediate


Tropical peatlands are fragile ecosystems with an important role in conserving biodiversity, water quality and availability, preventing floods, soil intrusion, erosion and sedimentation, and providing a livelihood for people. However, due to illegal logging, fire and conversion into other land use, the peatlands in Indonesia are under serious threat. Efforts to restore Indonesia's tropical peatlands have been accelerated by the establishment of the Peatland Restoration Agency in early 2016. The restoration action policy includes the rewetting, revegetation and revitalisation of local livelihood (known as the 3Rs). This paper summarises the regulatory, institutional and planning aspects of peatland restoration, in addition to the implementation of the 3Rs in Indonesia, including failures, success stories, and the criteria and indicators for the success of peatland restoration.


Although there has been significant progress in developing high-temperature thermoelectric materials, seeking promising near-room-temperature candidates has been extremely difficult, and the discovery of such materials, which would be beneficial for low-grade waste-heat power generation and cooling near room temperature, has been rarely reported. Here we report the enhanced near-room-temperature performance (ZTmax = ∼1.1 at 350 K, ZTavg = ∼1.0 between 300 K and 673 K) of copper chalcogenide (AgCu)0.995Te0.9Se0.1 by successfully stabilizing the face-centered cubic (FCC) phase at room temperature. Surprisingly low lattice thermal conductivity (∼0.4 W m−1 K−1) and a good power factor (∼13.8 μW cm−1 K−2) are simultaneously achieved near room temperature due to the unique properties of the FCC phase. A competitive conversion efficiency of 11% is obtained in a (AgCu)0.995Te0.9Se0.1-based single leg at a low temperature difference of 400 K. The high thermal stability and low operating temperature, combined with the economically competitive efficiency, will greatly promote the application of (AgCu)0.995Te0.9Se0.1-based devices in power generation from low- and medium-grade waste heat. The results also indicate a new strategy to improve the near-room-temperature performance and stability of copper chalcogenide thermoelectric materials and a new direction for further research.


The diagnosis of cancer is mainly performed by visual analysis of the pathologists, through examining the morphology of the tissue slices and the spatial arrangement of the cells. If the microscopic image of a specimen is not stained, it will look colorless and textured. Therefore, chemical staining is required to create contrast and help identify specific tissue components. During tissue preparation due to differences in chemicals, scanners, cutting thicknesses, and laboratory protocols, similar tissues are usually varied significantly in appearance. This diversity in staining, in addition to Interpretive disparity among pathologists more is one of the main challenges in designing robust and flexible systems for automated analysis. To address the staining color variations, several methods for normalizing stain have been proposed. In our proposed method, a Stain-to-Stain Translation (STST) approach is used to stain normalization for Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stained histopathology images, which learns not only the specific color distribution but also the preserves corresponding histopathological pattern. We perform the process of translation based on the "pix2pix" framework, which uses the conditional generator adversarial networks (cGANs). Our approach showed excellent results, both mathematically and experimentally against the state of the art methods. We have made the source code publicly available 1.


It is still an unanswered question how much trading activity is needed for efficient price discovery in commodity futures markets. For this purpose, we investigate the price discovery process of two thinly traded agricultural futures contracts traded at the European Exchange in Frankfurt. Our empirical results show that the trading volume threshold which is necessary to facilitate efficient price discovery is very low. As our findings are based on constant and time‐varying vector error correction models, we also show that neglecting time‐variation in the parameters can lead to misleading results. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 36:851–869, 2016


Abstract. Hydroseeding is a technique increasingly used to establish vegetation on degraded areas in order to provide environmental protection. The objective of this article was to evaluate the effectiveness of four different hydroseeding methods (bonded fiber matrix hydroseeding, thick hydroseeding, reinforced hydroseeding plus water retention, and reinforced hydroseeding) on a degraded artificial slope in the southern Mediterranean area determining total vegetation cover, hydroseeding vegetation cover, hydroseeding success index (HSI), natural and hydroseeded vegetation height. The test area does not allow the use of any operating machinery for soil and vegetation management, and the only applicable technique is therefore hydroseeding. After hydroseeding was applied (in December 2010), 21 checks were carried out every 15 days (from January 2011-December 2011) to verify the occurrence and development of the hydroseeded species in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the different hydroseeding techniques in the study area. The results of the first experimentation performed in Sicily show that hydroseeding has good prospects of application on degraded areas in semiarid Mediterranean environments. In our study HSI > 0.8 was obtained only in test 2 (thick hydroseeding, period February-June 2011) where there was the simultaneous presence of earthworm humus and mulch.


ABSTRACT Background: Leprosy is a slowly progressive and chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprosy. In many parts of the world, this is a very serious and humiliating disease. Early diagnosis and treatment are the most important strategies to control it. This study aimed to describe and analyze specific policies and strategies for people with leprosy. Subject and Method: A systematic review was conducted by searching articles in 2 electronic databases, namely PubMed and Mendeley. The articles were collected based on PRISMA flow diagram. Results: From the ten articles that were collected, it was reported that the leprosy control policy could be carried out in several ways: (1) including government policies related to socio-economy, especially for the poor (2) eliminating the negative stigma about leprosy sufferers, and (3) the system of giving drug therapy through Multi-Drug Therapy. Of the seven journals that are a synthesis review, other things need to be considered related to leprosy control, including gender and leprosy diagnosis must be made as soon as possible before lepers suffer from a worse illness. Conclusion: socio-economic policies, eliminating stigma, providing drug therapy with MDT can reduce leprosy in a region. Keywords: leprosy control, systematic review Correpondence: Dian Ayu Pertiwi. Public Health Masters Program, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, West Java. Email: email@example.com. Mobile: 082124901758 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26911/the7thicph.05.18


1. Pericardial organs of Libima emargmata and L. dubia were isolated, the nerves from the thoracic ganglion were stimulated electrically, and propagated electrical activity was recorded. Fluid which bathed the neurohaemal organ was assayed for cardio-excitor effects on the isolated crab heart, when necessary, made tachyphylactic to drugs.

2. Neither 10-6 M 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), 10-5 M dopamine (DA), nor 10-5 M UML applied directly to the pericardial organ evoke release, nor do DA or UML alter release in response to stimulation.

3. The rate of cardio-excitor release is normal in pericardial organs taken from reserpinized animals. Histochemical examination of the pericardial organs by the formaldehyde-induced fluorescence method confirmed depletion of the monoamines.

4. These experiments, taken together, provide strong evidence against a role of monoamines in the release of cardio-excitor hormone from this neurosecretory structure.


Presents approximate solutions of the MIT bag model for quarks in cylindrical bags. For a cylindrical bag surface it is found that Dirac's equation does not admit solutions corresponding to the linear boundary condition in psi = psi . It admits, nevertheless, solutions which satisfy the original confinement condition psi psi =0 exactly. The pressure balance condition is approximately satisfied through the variational minimisation of hadronic energy. These cylindrical quark bags to give not only the string limit of the bag model but also the correct slope of the leading Regge trajectory for baryons at the low angular momenta. States on a given trajectory differ from one another in axial-momentum excitations of a single quark.


A level of antibodies to nerve growth factor (NGF) in blood serum of children with brain dysgenesis has been studied. This level was investigated in follow-up study that allowed to compare it with psychomotor development of the children as well as anatomical brain defect expression (according to MRT and EEG data). Comparing to controls, an increase of antibodies levels in blood serum was found in the patients. No relation of antibodies levels to anatomical brain defect severity was observed. The highest level was shown for the children with the absence of positive dynamics for psychomotor development. In the follow-up study of the children with satisfactory compensation of neurological syndromes, this level decreased to control one. Appearance and elevation of the autoimmune response to NGF can be one of the biological factors, arguing for deterioration of compensatory nervous system potential.


One may consider the application of remote sensing as a trade-off between the imaging platforms, sensors, and data gathering and processing techniques. This study addresses the potential of hyperspectral imaging using ultra-light aircraft for vegetation species mapping in an urban environment, exploring both the engineering and scientific aspects related to imaging platform design and image classification methods. An imaging system based on simultaneous use of Rikola frame format hyperspectral and Nikon D800E adopted colour infrared cameras installed onboard a Bekas X32 manned ultra-light aircraft is introduced. Two test imaging flight missions were conducted in July of 2015 and September of 2016 over a 4000 ha area in Kaunas City, Lithuania. Sixteen and 64 spectral bands in 2015 and 2016, respectively, in a spectral range of 500–900 nm were recorded with colour infrared images. Three research questions were explored assessing the identification of six deciduous tree species: (1) Pre-treatment of spectral features for classification, (2) testing five conventional machine learning classifiers, and (3) fusion of hyperspectral and colour infrared images. Classification performance was assessed by applying leave-one-out cross-validation at the individual crown level and using as a reference at least 100 field inventoried trees for each species. The best-performing classification algorithm—multilayer perceptron, using all spectral properties extracted from the hyperspectral images—resulted in a moderate classification accuracy. The overall classification accuracy was 63%, Cohen's Kappa was 0.54, and the species-specific classification accuracies were in the range of 51–72%. Hyperspectral images resulted in significantly better tree species classification ability than the colour infrared images and simultaneous use of spectral properties extracted from hyperspectral and colour infrared images improved slightly the accuracy over the 2015 image. Even though classifications using hyperspectral data cubes of 64 bands resulted in relatively larger accuracies than with 16 bands, classification error matrices were not statistically different. Alternative imaging platforms (like an unmanned aerial vehicle and a Cessna 172 aircraft) and settings of the flights were discussed using simulated imaging projects assuming the same study area and field of application. Ultra-light aircraft-based hyperspectral and colour-infrared imaging was considered to be a technically and economically sound solution for urban green space inventories to facilitate tree mapping, characterization, and monitoring.


Regional Missile Defense from a Global Perspective explains the origins, evolution, and implications of the regional approach to missile defense that has emerged since the presidency of George H. W. Bush, and has culminated with the missile defense decisions of President Barack Obama. The Obama administration's overarching concept for American missile defense focuses on developing both a national system of limited ground-based defenses, located in Alaska and California, intended to counter limited intercontinental threats, and regionally-based missile defenses consisting of mobile ground-based technologies like the Patriot PAC-3 system, and sea-based Aegis-equipped destroyer and cruisers. The volume is intended to stimulate renewed debates in strategic studies and public policy circles over the contribution of regional and national missile defense to global security. Written from a range of perspectives by practitioners and academics, the book provides a rich source for understanding the technologies, history, diplomacy, and strategic implications of the gradual evolution of American missile defense plans. Experts and non-experts alike-whether needing to examine the offense-defense tradeoffs anew, to engage with a policy update, or to better understand the debate as it relates to a country or region-will find this book invaluable. While it opens the door to the debates, however, it does not find or offer easy solutions-because they do not exist.


Traditional optimization procedures were mostly developed under the constraints of limited memory in computer hardware and based on the use of real variables. The most prominent example is the award winning simplex method of linear programming. It embodies the essence of point-to-point iteration based on local information of directions of feasible descent (for minimization problems). However, with the advance in inexpensive computer memory and the prevalence of combinatorial type of system optimization problems, emphasis in solution approaches begin to shifts towards set-to set iteration of narrowing down the search. In this talk we shall examine this developing paradigm for optimization and discuss progress in this field of research.


In this reply to Schaafsma a.o., the author argues that it is inevitable that hermeneutics is part of the enterprise of systematic theology, and that the approach of Schaafsma a.o. has the following advantages: (1) It is applicable within secular universities; (2) It appeals to the many who have few religious certainties but are seeking for religious truth; (3) It can be applied in comparative theology and interreligious dialogue. Nevertheless, he argues that the hermeneutical approach that is proposed by itself does not suffice as the method of systematic theology, because (1) It does not enable theologians to go beyond the interpretation of texts and to check their theological proposals against the realities behind these texts, and (2) It no longer takes it starting point in faith, thus assimilating systematic theology to the humanities. If confessional theology would limit itself to this, it would lose its reason for existence.


The majority of Indonesian people fond of beef, so beef into meat favourit among other meats. Local beef cattle population which became a source of national beef production is likely to increase average 2.72% per year over a period of 16 years (2000 to 2016). The volatility of beef in Indonesia who had reached Rp 150,000 per kg before near the Eid al-Fitr 2015 has been troubling and troubling consumer society beef. This turbulence leads to an imbalance between consumption and production of local beef, where comsuption exceeds production, resulting in a deficit of beef. Based on projected production and consumption of beef, until 2019 Indonesia still deficit of beef. However behind the price volatility of beef in Indonesia, not only because of deficit of meat, but also the existence of a cartel of beef trade. Cartels are agreements some traders in setting the price of meat high in order to reach the high profit. The government, through the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (Komisi Pengawas Persaingan Usaha, KPPU) has fined 32 feedloter accused cartel of beef trade.


The key aim of this article is to provide a description of the structure and uses of N95 mask that is necessary to advance Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during this COVID19 pandemic Examples of personal safety gear designed to shield the user from infectious debris and from fluids contaminating the skin include the N95 respirators and medical masks (skin covers) A commercially available N95 respirator needs a suit factor of one hundred within the work-place to be deemed adequate While we did not subjectively locate the respiration function needed with the prototype masks to vary from that necessary with a standard N95 filtering face device, this mask should not be used by people with respiratory risk of any sort Although testers wear the masks easily for an hour, at any point in strenuous work or adverse environmental environments we can not think about their usefulness This review offers detailed knowledge and appreciation of the structure, applications of N95 masks and, in turn, the advantages of N95 masks over other forms of surgical masks Limitation and prospective range of the research were also addressed, as this subject is necessary to advance PPE in this COVID19 pandemic This research contributes greatly to learning about the composition and uses of N 95 masks, and also helps to educate and make the general public informed of the critical role of N 95 masks during this pandemic assault © 2020 Ubiquity Press All rights reserved


Drawing on fieldwork in Bristol, UK, the article resituates the increasingly popular policy framing of a "learning city" within recent anthropological debates on urban political materiality. Using research findings from fieldwork conducted in sites of informal and non-formal learning on the margins of a UNESCO Learning City, we argue for an ethnography that is attentive to the ways in which learning manifests itself in everyday life. Through three field sites—a community space, a bicycle workshop, and a contested heritage campaign—we demonstrate the significance of material culture, controversy, and care as constitutive of learning processes within urban life. Through these examples, we aim to reframe questions on the complexity of learning at a city scale as part of affect-driven knowledge and the material, embodied transmission of skill and everyday practice. By tracing how learning plays out in everyday life, we can begin to interrogate what happens beyond the neoliberal forms of educational governance, and the extent to which the everyday practices challenge or reinforce top-down formulations as well as potentially transforming forms of knowledge production. [Learning; City; Materiality; Affect; Everyday; Ethnography; Heritage; Skill]


In this study its authors sum up their practice of emergency treatment of 569 patients with acute surgical pathology, needing an urgent laparoscopy intervention. They present a programme of laparoscopy methods, including a complex of organisation and medical problems and in particular those of the material base development together with the solution of some training methodology and scientific questions. It is emphasized, that the laparoscopy methods have great possibilities in the diagnostics and treatment of acute surgical pathology cases and that an urgent surgical aid should be expedient. Due to the rational application of endovideosurgery methods, the overall lethality was reduced by 1.5 times, negative after-effects--by 4%.


Wave energy will have a key role in meeting renewable energy targets en route to a low carbon economy. However, in common with other renewables, it may be sensitive to changes in climate resulting from rising carbon emissions. Changes in wind patterns are widely anticipated, and this will ultimately alter wave regimes. Indeed, evidence indicates that wave heights have been changing over the last 40 years, although there is no proven link to global warming. Changes in the wave climate will affect wave energy conversion. Where the resource is restricted, there may be reductions in energy exports and, consequently, negative economic impacts. On the other hand, increased storm activity will increase installation survival risks. Here a study is presented that, for the first time, indicates the sensitivity of wave energy production and economics to changes in climate.


The present prospective study was designed to determine the prevalence of pleural effusion at approximately 28 days after cardiac surgery and their subsequent course. This consecutive case study included 389 patients; 312 had only coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) surgery, 37 had both valve and CABG surgery, and 40 had only valve surgery. Chest radiographs were obtained approximately 28 days postoperatively. Patients were subsequently contacted by telephone 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively and questioned about the presence of fluid in their chest and related symptoms. The prevalence of pleural effusions in the patients undergoing only CABG surgery (63%) or CABG surgery plus valve surgery (62%) was significantly (p = 0.05) higher than that in the patients undergoing valve surgery only (45%). The prevalence of effusions occupying more than 25% of the hemithorax was 9.7%. The primary symptom associated with these larger effusions was dyspnea. Chest pain and fever were uncommon. Over the 12-month follow-up, the effusions tended to resolve. In conclusion, the prevalence of pleural effusions occupying more than 25% of the hemithorax is approximately 10%, 28 days postoperatively. These larger pleural effusions produce dyspnea but not chest pain or fever, and most of the effusions disappear gradually over the subsequent months.


Summary The mafic lavas of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands are of a highly varied composition, reflecting a complex history of magma genesis and a variety of source compositions. The lavas of the Cape Verde Islands are characteristically highly silica undersaturated, with alkali-rich ankaramites, larnite-normative melilitites and carbonatites. In contrast, the lavas of the Azores vary from strongly nepheline- to hypersthene-normative types. Isotopic ratios and trace elements also show considerable variation, consistent with derivation from multicomponent mantle sources. Three distinct groupings of lava compositions can be seen in Pb-Sr-Nd isotope space, and each is characterized by its own trace-element enrichment. (i) The majority of the lavas from the Azores and northern Cape Verdes Islands have isotope and trace-element systematics similar to basalts recovered from elevated segments of the mid-Atlantic Ridge (eg during Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 82) (Ba/La <12, 206Pb/204Pb=19.3–20.0). (ii) The islands of Sao Miguel and Faial in the Azores are characterized by radiogenic strontium and lead isotope ratios and marked fractionation of the most incompatible trace elements (eg 87Sr/86Sr=0.70522, 206Pb/204Pb=19.88, 207Pb/204Pb=15.75, Ba/Nb=12, La/Nb=0.84). (iii) In contrast, the southern Cape Verde Islands have relatively unradiogenic Pb-Sr-Nd isotope ratios (eg 87Sr/86Sr=0.70393, 206Pb/204Pb=18.74, 207Pb/204Pb=15.53, Ba/La=22, Ba/Nb=15, La/Nb=0.67). Mixing relationships between isotope and trace-element ratios indicate the involvement of at least four, and possibly five, chemically distinct source regions in the petrogenesis of mafic lavas. It is shown that these different source regions represent combinations of the depleted upper mantle (mid-ocean ridge basalt source), recycled oceanic lithosphere and two components of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle. No direct unequivocal evidence is found for a fifth component, namely undepleted primitive mantle reservoir, although helium isotope data suggest influxes of material and heat from the lower mantle. Similarly, it is suggested that continental crust has no direct contribution to the petrogenesis of these ocean island basalts and its role in the mantle is limited to the production/modification of the subcontinental lithosphere above subduction zones.


This article addresses the question of how creating an age-friendly city has come to be an important policy and planning issue in Portland, Oregon. In 2006, researchers from Portland State University's Institute on Aging examined the meanings of age friendliness among a broad range of participants in Portland, Oregon. The research was conducted in conjunction with the World Health Organization's (WHO) Age-Friendly Cities project and followed the completion of two earlier non–WHO-related projects. The city of Portland, through the Institute on Aging, was one of nine original members to apply for and be accepted into the WHO Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities. An Age-Friendly Portland Advisory Council was formed to guide the development of an action plan, monitor progress over time, and suggest additional research. To understand how Portland's age-friendly policy effort has developed over time, we use Kingdon's (1984) agenda-setting framework to explain how the policy problem was formulated, how solutions were developed, and the influence of local politics. The policy actors, including individuals and organizations working within and outside of government, are described. The Portland experience provides a case study that other cities, especially those with a strong commitment to community-engaged urban planning, may find useful as they develop age-friendly initiatives.


Don Juan is a myth about a seducer, a man with many love adventures, a women's heat conqueror, and many other predicates. Don Juan as a myth is well-known world wide over, appearing in about 50 writings such as novels, plays, operas. But a French writer Eric-Emannuel Schmitt proposes a new figure of Don Juan in his play La Nuit de Valognes (Night in Valognes): the seducer is judged by five victims and convicted to marry one of his victims in order to stop his adventures. Surprisingly, Don Juan accepts this verdict without conditions. This sudden change becomes the theme of the play: the demythification of Don Juan. A flash back scene shows the beginning of this change and the interpretations that might arise from here. One possible interpretation is proposed and discussed in this paper: Don Juan found the way to a purer love, which is the union with God, and decides to begin his journey. This play can thus be categorised as a sufi text.


The field of pile design and construction in the United Kingdom is currently in a period of
change. Not only are new processes and techniques being developed but also the legislative
landscape is changing with the introduction of new Europe wide normative standards (BSI,
2004, 2007).
This project sought to optimise pile design through better understanding and interpretation of
ground conditions and of the pile-soil interaction for two pile types, continuous flight auger
and bored displacement piles.
Quantitative methods for interpreting and summarising previous knowledge and experience
have been developed; the strata are divided into discrete bands and properties are represented
with summary statistics. Experience and previous knowledge relating to the shear strength of
London Clay have been quantified and presented using this approach. Furthermore, a
straightforward tool has been provided for the implementation of such data into design; the
previous knowledge and new site specific data are combined using Bayesian updating.
Through use of this technique, the uncertainty associated with interpreting ground conditions
from site data has been demonstrated to be reduced. The techniques described have been
adopted into design practice within the sponsoring company.
Bored displacement piles are a relatively new pile type. There is little published data or
scientific understanding of the processes undergone by the soils during and after construction
and the effect that these have on pile performance. This research identified the need for, and
developed, a unified framework of descriptors for the various types of bored displacement
pile and investigated the installation energy and performance of bored displacement piles in
London Clay. The energy to construct the pile was observed to be highly variable and not
directly related to capacity. Performance of bored displacement piles was observed to be
similar to continuous flight auger piles of similar dimensions; typical values for the adhesion
between bored displacement piles and the surrounding soil were established and these were
comparable to those achieved by continuous flight auger piles.In addition, to enable the analysis of the probability of failure of a pile, the sources of
variation have been investigated and the variability quantified. Besides the soil conditions, the
dimensions of the pile, notably pile diameter, were found to be a significant source of
variation.


Celebrity sexual scandal has long attracted the attention of the popular media and is a motivating force in the construction of celebrity identity. Its aftermath is often carefully stage-managed by agents, publicists and promoters, but always mediated and beyond the control of the celebrity. It is the relationship between celebrity and a particular sexual transgression – autoerotic asphyxiation (AEA) – that is our focus here in terms of how celebrity and AEA have been similarly read and discussed. This is illustrated through a consideration of the diverse case studies of the peculiarly perverse and untimely deaths of INXS front man Michael Hutchence, found naked in a hotel room in 1997, veteran B-movie actor David Carradine, discovered hanging from a wardrobe in a Thai hotel in 2010, and the bizarre reports regarding British Conservative MP Stephen Milligan's death in 1994. In considering the practices and discourses around it, we argue that AEA both reveals and makes sense of the tensions and contradictions inherent in celebrity identity. In particular, the article considers the complex negotiations between the private and public selves, contradictory discourses that seek to make sense of an AEA death and the impact it has on the celebrity persona. Ultimately we argue that the nature and content of the sex act and death reconfigures and fixes the celebrity identity that existed prior to the celebrity's association with AEA.


Short-term forecasting of residential and commercial building energy consumption is widely used in power systems and continues to grow in importance. Data-driven short-term load forecasting (STLF), although promising, has suffered from a lack of open, large-scale datasets with high building diversity. This has hindered exploring the pretrain-then-fine-tune paradigm for STLF. To help address this, we present BuildingsBench, which consists of: 1) Buildings-900K, a large-scale dataset of 900K simulated buildings representing the U.S. building stock; and 2) an evaluation platform with over 1,900 real residential and commercial buildings from 7 open datasets. BuildingsBench benchmarks two under-explored tasks: zero-shot STLF, where a pretrained model is evaluated on unseen buildings without fine-tuning, and transfer learning, where a pretrained model is fine-tuned on a target building. The main finding of our benchmark analysis is that synthetically pretrained models generalize surprisingly well to real commercial buildings. An exploration of the effect of increasing dataset size and diversity on zero-shot commercial building performance reveals a power-law with diminishing returns. We also show that fine-tuning pretrained models on real commercial and residential buildings improves performance for a majority of target buildings. We hope that BuildingsBench encourages and facilitates future research on generalizable STLF. All datasets and code can be accessed from https://github.com/NREL/BuildingsBench.


The latest improvements in CMOS technologies have eliminated buffered crossbar memory requirements. Combined with a novel microarchitecture approach, these new technologies allow for implementation of a combined input-crosspoint queuing (CICQ), single-chip 32 times 32 switch as the core for a future fabric on a chip (FoC). This switch operates directly on variable-size packets, reducing overall data path complexity and increasing effective bandwidth.


Huber proposed the Pepsi family of epsi-contaminated normal distributions to model environments characterized by heavy-tailed distributions. Based on this two-component mixture distribution, mean-median (MEM) filters were proposed. The MEM filter output is a combination of the sample mean and the sample median, where observation samples are weighted uniformly. This property of MEM filters constrains them to the class of smoothers lacking frequency-selective filtering capabilities. This paper extends MEM filtering to the weighted sum-median (WSM) filtering structure admitting real-valued weights, thereby enabling more general filtering characteristics, i.e, bandpass and high-pass filtering. The proposed filter structure is also well motivated from a presented maximum likelihood (ML) estimate analysis under epsi-contaminated statistics. The ML analysis demonstrates the need for a combination of weighted sum (WS) and weighted median (WM) type filters for processing of signals corrupted by epsi-contaminated noise. The WSM filter is statistically analyzed through the determination of filter output variance and breakdown probability. The combination parameter alpha is optimized to minimize the filter output variance, which is a measure of noise attenuation capability. Moreover, filter design procedures that yield a desired spectral response are detailed. Finally, the proposed WSM filter structure is tested utilizing signal processing applications including low-pass, bandpass, and high-pass filtering and image processing applications including image sharpening and denoising, evaluating and comparing the WSM filter performance to that of the WS, WM, and MEM filters


Inflammation plays a critical role in initiation of adaptive immunity, pathogen clearance and tissue repair. Interleukin (IL)-1β is a potent pro-inflammatory cytokine and therefore its production is tightly regulated: its secretion requires the assembly of a macromolecular protein complex, termed the inflammasome. Aberrant activation of the inflammasome has been linked to debilitating human diseases including chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Thus, there is a great interest in understanding how inflammasomes are regulated. Here we show that Dicer, an enzyme necessary for the production of mature micro-RNAs (miRNAs), is required for optimal activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes in bone marrow macrophages. Our data indicate that miRNAs may play an important role in promoting inflammasome activation.


This study analyzes the experiences and identities of Kurdish women fighting the Islamic State (IS) in northern Iraq as part of the Peshmerga Army. The case is especially interesting because these women have engaged in ground combat and because there is an empirical gap in knowledge, especially concerning Muslim women's experiences as soldiers. Wars bring great destruction but can also catalyze social change. While seeking balance between their identities as good mothers and professional soldiers, many Kurdish women see their war participation as a chance to increase their agency and improve equality in society, as combat operations create a window of opportunity to change perceptions of women's roles. Women soldiers still face prejudices and feel that they must prove their worth as fearless warriors in ground combat. However, interviewed soldiers said that they were not striving for equality but equivalency, stressing those qualities that women in particular can contribute in battle.


On November 1, 1994 an Air Passenger Duty (APD) was introduced in the United Kingdom, and since, this tax continues to be controversial. This article examines the effect of the ADP on UK outbound tourism demand for 10 international destinations. An autoregressive distributed lag model is developed and income, price, and tax elasticities are estimated. The income and price elasticities obtained, ranged between 0.36 and 4.11 and −0.05 and −2.02, respectively. The estimated tax elasticities suggest that the implementation of APD had a negative effect on UK outbound travel for five destinations and the demand is inelastic to changes in taxes although the magnitudes vary across destinations. The general message is that although the stated objective of APD is to reduce travel and associated carbon emissions, the effectiveness of APD, however, has been marginal; travelers are prepared to pay more in the main to maintain their demand.


New optimum binary shortened cyclic codes with redundancy r = 32 and burst-error correction capability b are presented. The codes are found by performing an exhaustive computer search using the Kasami algorithm, and their performance is compared with analytical bounds by Reiger, Abramson and Campopiano. The true burst-error correction capability of the [2112, 2080] shortened Fire code selected for 10 Gb/s Ethernet is determined to be b = 11 and [2112, 2080] shortened cyclic codes with higher burst-error correction capability b = 13 are given. The double burst-error detection properties of three cyclic redundancy check codes used in standards are compared.


During machining occurring losses conduct into the machine tool and lead to deformations that im-pair the machining accuracy. Thus, high effort is invested into the compensation of thermo-elastic er-rors. One new approach is to use the information extractable from part programs in combination with CNC controller systems to forecast occurring losses in terms of a look ahead function. The method al-lows the evaluation of part programs with respect to its thermal influence on the machine tool. There-fore, the method is applied on selected part programs, resulting loss distributions are discussed in terms of their thermal impact, and potential follow-up strategies are stated.


A cDNA encoding beta-ureidopropionase (BUP) was isolated from a human liver cDNA library, expressed in E. coli, and purified from the culture extract. The 2,006 bp cDNA contained a 1,152 bp open reading frame encoding a protein of 384 amino acids with a molecular weight of 43,165 Da. The subunit molecular weight of the enzyme expressed was about 43,000 Da. The enzyme was inhibited by 1 mM propionate, but not by 10 mM beta-alanine. Chemical analysis of the purified human BUP showed 0.54 zinc atoms per subunit, and the sequence of BUP cDNA contained one putative zinc-binding site motif. The purified enzyme had a pI of 5.65, and exhibited positive cooperativity with N-carbamoyl-beta-alanine as the substrate with a Hill coefficient 2.0. These properties of human BUP, except the inhibition by beta-alanine, were similar to the rat liver purified enzyme. Beta-alanine inhibits rats BUP activity. The complex regulatory function and the negative cooperative mechanism of BUP by beta-alanine have been observed in rats. This kind of mechanism may not exist in humans, because beta-alanine did not inhibit human BUP.


This explanatory research aims to know the effect of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) andWork-Family Conflict (WFC) to predict Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) and to findwhich one is more effective to predict OCB. The subject in this research is 87 employess at PTKantor Pos Indonesia (Persero) Surabaya 60000. The result shows that there is an influencebetween LMX and WFC in predicting OCB where the score of p-value F-test is 0,000 (<0,05), andit is found that WFC is more effective in predicting OCB compared with LMX.


A white light interference optical profiler (WL-IOP) operating in the vertical scanning interferometry (VSI) mode has been home-made developed and integrated into a commercial Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). The result is a 3D metrological tool operating with sub-nanometer resolution vertically over a wide range laterally: from 1mm down to 10nm. This is a faster and in many case a higher performance alternative to the more standard stylus profiler / AFM combination.


Introduction: Tobacco smoking is highly prevalent among the HIV-1-infected population. In addition to diminished immune response, smoking has been shown to increase HIV-1 replication and decrease response to antiretroviral therapy, perhaps through drug–drug interaction. However, the mechanism by which tobacco/nicotine increases HIV-1 replication and mediates drug–drug interaction is poorly understood. Areas covered: In this review, the authors discuss the effects of smoking on HIV-1 pathogenesis. Since they propose a role for the cytochrome P450 (CYP) pathway in smoking-mediated HIV-1 pathogenesis, the authors briefly converse the role of CYP enzymes in tobacco-mediated oxidative stress and toxicity. Finally, the authors focus on the role of CYP enzymes, especially CYP2A6, in tobacco/nicotine metabolism and oxidative stress in HIV-1 model systems monocytes/macrophages, lymphocytes, astrocytes and neurons, which may be responsible for HIV-1 pathogenesis. Expert opinion: Recent findings suggest that CYP-mediated oxidative stress is a novel pathway that may be involved in smoking-mediated HIV-1 pathogenesis, including HIV-1 replication and drug–drug interaction. Thus, CYP and CYP-associated oxidative stress pathways may be potential targets to develop novel pharmaceuticals for HIV-1-infected smokers. Since HIV-1/TB co-infections are common, future study involving interactions between antiretroviral and antituberculosis drugs that involve CYP pathways would also help treat HIV-1/TB co-infected smokers effectively.


To control severe soil erosion on the Loess Plateau, China, a great number of soil conservation measures have been implemented since 1950s and subsequently, the "Grain for Green" project was implemented in 1999. The measures and the project resulted in a large scale land use/cover change (LUCC). Understanding the impacts of the measures and the project on streamflow, sediment load and their dynamic relation is essential because the three elements are closely related to the sustainable catchment management strategy on the Loess Plateau. The data for seven selected catchments in the middle reaches of the Yellow River were used and standardized with the precipitation and the controlling area for analysis. The nonparametric Mann-Kendall test and the Pettitt test were employed to detect trends and change points of the annual streamflow and annual sediment load. Simple linear regressions for the monthly streamflow and sediment load from May to October were made to express their relationship. Based on the change point identification and the time when the project began to be implemented on the Loess Plateau, the complete time for the data records was divided into three periods to compare the change degrees of streamflow, sediment load and their relation for the catchments. Results show that there are three types of responses in streamflow, sediment load, and their dynamic relations for the seven catchments. The effects of the LUCC on streamflow, sediment load, and their relationships are greatest in the three transition zone catchments followed by the two rocky mountain catchments. The effects are much weaker in the two loess hilly-gully catchments. In general, the change degrees for sediment load are much greater than those for streamflow, which results from the decreased streamflow and weakening trend of their dynamic relation period by period in catchments.


Confining nanoparticles within the channels of one dimensional nanotubes (1D NTs) is one of the effective measures to design sintering resistant catalysts. To achieve this goal, improving the infiltration efficiency of metal precursors into the channels of 1D NTs has been regarded as one of the key issues. Herein, a novel method has been developed to exclusively confine Ni nanoparticles within SiO2 NTs using Ni phyllosilicate (NiPhy) NTs@SiO2 core shell nanocomposites as precursors, where NiPhy NTs will in situ decompose into Ni nanoparticles within the SiO2 shell NTs upon reduction under H2 at 700 °C. Strong interactions between Ni and the SiO2 NT shell, the confinement effect and the hindrance effect provided by the SiO2 nanoparticles sitting among the Ni nanoparticles within the channel of SiO2 NTs prevent the sintering of Ni nanoparticles. These nanocomposites show good catalytic performance and carbon resistance for CO2 reforming of CH4 reaction to produce synthesis gas. This novel method can be easily applied to design other sintering resistant catalysts with exclusive confinement of other metals (M = Co, Fe, Cu etc.) within the channels of SiO2 NTs for other applications.


Monitoring and tracking human activities around restricted areas is an important issue in security and surveillance applications. The movement of different parts of the human body generates unique micro-Doppler features which can be extracted effectively using joint time-frequency analysis. In this paper, we describe the simultaneous tracking of both location and micro-Doppler features of a human using particle filters (PF). The results obtained using the data from a 77 GHz radar prove the successful usage of particle filters in tracking micro-Doppler features of the human gait.


One of the most common adverse events of disease-modifying drugs in multiple sclerosis are local adverse reactions including redness and swelling at the injection site, compaction, panniculitis, lipoatrophy and others. This article provides an overview of the existing publications on the prevalence, pathogenesis and pathomorphology as well as data on the prevalence and characteristics of local reactions during DMD therapy of 193 patients. Authors defined a safety profile for local adverse reactions to interferon-Β and glatiramer acetate and traced the relationship of lipoatrophy and pannikulita with effectiveness of therapy.


This study was designed to monitor the morphological development of the reproductive tract of the Nubian bucks in relation to puberty. Thirty-two Nubian male kids were used in this study. Their ages ranged between 1 day and 24 weeks. The study was undertaken to correlate the body weight (BW), heart girth circumference (HG), scrotal circumference (SC), testicular descent into the scrotum and penile separation from prepuce (PS) with age at puberty. Penile separation started slightly at 12 weeks of age and continued with advancing age till it was completely achieved between 22 and 24 weeks of age. Strong correlation has been established between the levels of the reproductive hormones and the morphological maturation of the reproductive tract. The first surge in the levels of these hormones (occurred between weeks 10 and 12) coincided with the increase in the diameters of the seminiferous tubules, the epididymis, ductus deferens and the penis. The first appearance of secondary spermatocytes and initiation of penile separation occurred during this period. The second surge was associated with the first appearance of spermatids, spermatozoa and completion of penile separation, which occurred between 20 and 24 weeks.

 Key words:  Nubian bucks, spermatogenesis, body measurements.


Turner syndrome (TS) is a chromosomal condition affecting an estimated 1 in 2,500 girls where the second X chromosome is missing, or partially formed. This abnormality affects multiple body systems and can lead to short stature, cardiac, neural, and renal abnormalities. Due to the chronic, non-life threatening nature of lymphedema in comparison to other symptoms of TS, it is often ignored by girls and women with TS and their physicians. Consequently, little is known about how lymphedema affects girls and women with TS across the lifespan. Therefore, the objective of the study was to deliver an online survey for females with TS and caregivers in the US, UK, and Canada to provide a worldwide perspective on their current experience with lymphedema within the spectrum of TS. There were 219 participants who completed the survey, and we were able to identify incidence and characteristics of lymphedema across the lifespan. In addition, we found that females with 45,X karyotyping were more likely to report lymphedema symptoms. Lymphedema is not the most significant concern of females with TS, but education, physician evaluation, and assistance with referrals for treatment and management would improve the ease of managing lymphedema in girls and women with TS.


The focus of this paper is the transition of managers and professionals out of organisational employment into portfolio work. The interest in this individual transition is its resonance with wider debates about the changing nature of career. The demise of the traditional hierarchical career is widely predicted as is its replacement by a proliferation of more fluid and individual career choices, encompassed in the over-arching notion of the boundaryless career. The two studies on which this paper is based have taken an in-depth look at individuals who appear to exemplify this move out of organisational employment and into more independent working. The paper draws inductively on interviews with individuals who had left organisations to set up on their own. Hence the data is grounded in the accounts of individuals and seeks to explore their interpretations of their experiences. The paper focuses on participants' expectations of their new employment context and its realities. In considering the major implications of these findings, it questions dualistic conceptualisations of career and argues for theoretical frameworks based more on synthesis and linkage.


PhD Thesis Title: Strategies to adapt to climate change in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia: landscape    impact assessment for on-farm adaptation By Alemayehu Muluneh Bitew Agriculture and the economies of Ethiopia are highly sensitive to climatic fluctuations. Rainfall is the most important determinant of Ethiopia's economic success or failure from year to year. A 10% decrease in seasonal rainfall from the long-term average generally translates into a 4.4% decrease in the country's food production. Studies indicate that future climate change scenario by 2050 could also cause Ethiopian GDP to be 8-10% smaller than under a no-climate change baseline. The Central Rift Valley (CRV) of Ethiopia is a potential food producing area and yet one of the most drought prone areas in the country and already face an enormous food security challenge . The main objective of this study was, therefore, to quantify changes in current and future growing season rainfall characteristics including rainfall extremes and to evaluate their impacts with the intension of evaluating and developing potential adaptation options for maize cropping in the drought-prone CRV of Ethiopia. Projections for future climate in the CRV suggested that the Belg rainfall which is already erratic, occurring very late or failing altogether for the current climate will continue to decrease during the rest of this century which makes future Belg crop production very difficult. But, the Kiremt season total rainfall is likely to show an increase. Our field experiment and modelling has proven that for the current climate and future projections supplemental irrigation can avoid total crop failure in drought years and is a viable option to improve food security in the Rift Valley dry lands of Ethiopia. Furthermore, shifting sowing period of maize from the current Belg season (April or May) to the first month of Kiremt season (June) can offset the predicted yield reduction caused by climate change.


Under the action of solid body rotation, homogeneous neutrally stratified turbulence undergoes anisotropization and onset of the inverse energy cascade. These processes are investigated using a quasi-normal scale elimination (QNSE) theory in which successive coarsening of a flow domain yields scale-dependent eddy viscosity and diffusivity. The effect of rotation increases with increasing scale and manifests in anisotropization of the eddy viscosities, eddy diffusivities and kinetic energy spectra. Not only the vertical (in the direction of the vector of rotation $\unicode[STIX]{x1D734}$ ) and horizontal eddy viscosities and eddy diffusivities become different but, reflecting both directional and componental anisotropization, there emerge four different eddy viscosities. Three of them decrease relative to the eddy viscosity in non-rotating flows while one increases; the horizontal 'isotropic' viscosity decreases at the fastest rate. This behaviour is indicative of the increasing redirection of the energy flux to larger scales, the phenomenon that can be associated with the energy backscatter or inverse energy cascade. On scales comparable to the Woods's scale which is the rotational analogue of the Ozmidov length scale in stably stratified flows, the horizontal viscosity rapidly decreases, and in order to keep it positive, a weak rotation limit is invoked. Within that limit, an analytical theory of the transition from the Kolmogorov to a rotation-dominated turbulence regime is developed. It is shown that the dispersion relation of linear inertial waves is unaffected by turbulence while all one-dimensional energy spectra undergo steepening from the Kolmogorov $-5/3$ to the $-3$ slope.


Silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) have been reported to be synthesized by microwave-assisted methods under high pressure. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about the synthesis of SiNPs via microwave-assisted methods under normal pressure. Here we developed a new, facile, one-pot microwave-assisted method for the synthesis SiNPs (∼4.2 nm) with excellent water solubility under normal pressure by employing glycerol as the solvent. Furthermore, glycerol might be responsible for the photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) value up to 47% for the resultant SiNPs. The use of organic solvent could afford less nanoparticle surface defects compared with those prepared in aqueous solution, thus improving the fluorescent efficiency. The as-prepared SiNPs simultaneously featured bright blue-green fluorescence, long lifetime (∼12.8 ns), obvious up-conversion luminescence originating from two-photon absorption, superbly strong photostability, and favorable low toxicity. As a satisfactory probe, the as-synthesized SiNPs were successfully applied in fluorescence imaging of human cervical carcinoma cell lines (HeLa) and zebrafish.


In the past two decades there has been a growing concern in politics and schools to pay more attention to norms and values. Teachers and schools are confronted with normative problems, school violence and students who sometimes seem to have lost their way when it comes to norms and values. Teachers play a crucial and exemplary role in the process of developing students' awareness of norms and values in school and in society as a whole. This is a complex process that requires a great deal of moral courage of teachers. Confronted with an increase in the number of pedagogical duties the question arises what the teachers' view is on their normative professionalism. The concept of teaching as a moral endeavour is a fundamental element in the series of studies presented in this book. One of the aims of this book is to be of importance for educational practice, educational policy and teacher education. It can be used in courses of pedagogy, curriculum studies and teacher education to stimulate the reflection about the practical consequences of the societal and educational policy debate about moral and democratic education for the daily work of the teacher. The common focus of this book is on the role of teachers, the moral courage which is demanded of them and the joint commitment with moral and democratic education.


We consider the problem of unconstrained minimization of a smooth function in the derivativefree setting. In particular, we study the pattern search method (of directional type). Despite relevant research activity spanning several decades, until recently no complexity guarantees— bounds on the number of function evaluations needed to find a satisfying point—for methods of this type were established. Moreover, existing complexity results require long proofs and the resulting bounds have a complicated form. In this paper we give a very brief and insightful analysis of pattern search for nonconvex, convex and strongly convex objective function, based on the observation that what is in the literature called an "unsuccessful step", is in fact a step that can drive the analysis. We match the existing results in their dependence on the problem dimension (n) and error tolerance (ǫ), but the overall complexity bounds are much simpler, easier to interpret, and have better dependence on other problem parameters. In particular, we show that the number of function evaluations needed to find an ǫ-solution is O(n/ǫ) (resp. O(n log(1/ǫ))) for the problem of minimizing a convex (resp. strongly convex) smooth function. In the nonconvex smooth case, the bound is O(n/ǫ), with the goal being the reduction of the norm of the gradient below ǫ.


Fifty years of literature on aid effectiveness has so far proven inconclusive. Two main challenges still require some attention. The first is to properly identify the causal effect of aid on poverty alleviation. To address it, I exploit differences in the number of years countries have been temporary members of the United Nations Security Council as an instrument for the average amount of economic aid disbursed by the United States. The second is to obtain reliable data on poverty, which I confront by using multidimensional poverty data from the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). For a sample of 64 developing countries, I estimate a significant relationship between higher amounts of aid received during the period 1946–1999 and lower Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) between 2000 and 2014. On the contrary, the relationship does not seem to be significant when poverty is measured from an income perspective. Alternative measures of poverty could help improve the understanding of the relationship between development aid and poverty alleviation and might also contribute to improved targeting for aid disbursements.


ABSTRACTe haW ve used a new coupled two-dimensional diagenetic and sedimentological model to in-vestigate the evolution of a simple aggrading carbonate platform subject to glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations. The model employs variable hydrological zones, internally defined from plat-form exposure and climate, to provide a framework within which diagenetic processes aresimulated at specified rates. Simulations show a clear stacked sequence of diagenetic zones,which are readily recognizable because of their lateral continuity and distinct trends in dia-genetic evolution from platform interior to margin. However, spatial associations between un-conformity surfaces and underlying diagenetic zones that suggest causality are misleading. Theinteraction between high amplitude sea-level fluctuations and subsidence results in substantialoverprinting and a complex diagenetic history that could not be unraveled by traditional strati-graphic and sedimentological methods.Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on August 31, 2013


The behaviour of harbour porpoises can be deduced from the variation pattern of their vocalisations. They produce only narrow-band high-frequency (NBHF) clicks, emitted in so-called click trains. Therefore, available acoustic recordings can be used to increase our understanding of their behaviour. Behavioural studies, however, are time consuming and require an accurate, automated classifier and a click train identifier. Here, we present D-PorCCA, a graphical user interface to study recordings from harbour porpoises in the wild. D-PorCCA is an independent tool developed in Matlab and includes an impulsive-sound detector and a new high-accuracy porpoise click classifier (PorCC). PorCC classifies each signal as either: noise (N), low-quality (LQ), or high-quality (HQ) porpoise click. The user can decide on the echolocation events they want to visualise, specifying the length of the click train (including both HQ and LQ clicks) and the minimum separation time between echolocation events. These events are plotted as time vs amplitude, vs inter-click interval, and vs centroid frequency (or direction of arrival, if available). Additionally, the waveform, power spectrum, and spectrogram of each click within the echolocation event is available. Click trains of interest can be easily selected by the user and extracted for further analysis. These events are then automatically cleaned of echoes and other noise sources, after which the pattern of the click train is automatically investigated to determine whether there is one or more animals vocalising simultaneously (i.e., overlapping click trains), as well as which behaviour the animal was potentially engaged in (e.g., feeding). D-PorCCA is a user-friendly tool with potential for behavioural studies of wild harbour porpoises as well as other NBHF species, as it focuses on clicks trains, and can be used to fill knowledge gaps of these elusive species. Moreover, it has potential for application in large monitoring project, such as SAMBAH.


I Population dynamics of Liriodendron tulipifera throughout the successional sere were investigated with a spatial simulator of forest community dynamics. The simulations were complemented by data from Appalachian cove forests at different stages of development. Gap size was a key consideration in simulation of Liriodendron recruitment; seed regeneration of this shade-intolerant species was unlikely except in large gaps (> 0.04 ha). 2 In simulations of long-term forest development (800 years) without exogenous disturbance, Liriodendron was a dominant species in early succession (50-150 years), but it was absent or present at low levels in stands > 500 years of age. The simulated basal area levels of Liriodendron approximated actual levels in cove forests having a disturbance regime characterized by a very low frequency of severe, large-scale events. 3 The idea that canopy gap size distributions change over the course of forest development was supported by the simulations. Given that intolerant species require large gaps for successful establishment, it was clear that temporal patterns of large gap formation affected the dynamics of such species. Intolerants were unable to regenerate during the stem exclusion phase, but they could regenerate during the subsequent understorey reinitiation and old-growth phases having large gaps. 4 Certain simulated disturbances imposed on old forests elevated Liriodendron basal area. Components of the disturbance regime included patch size, return interval, severity and spatial dispersion. The largest increases in Liriodendron basal area resulted from disturbance patches > 0.04 ha. Gaps, 0.1 ha in size, formed at intervals < 100 years by the mortality of c. 25% of the canopy trees in a stand, were sufficient to maintain the high levels of Liriodendron observed in some primeval forests of eastern North America.


Abstract
 A handful of scholars have recently focused on the importance of "the deportation to Babylon" in Matt 1:11, 12, 17 and the determinative role it plays for understanding the author's conceptualization of redemptive history. Others, however, demur. This article draws attention to three observations heretofore neglected in the discussion of what "the deportation to Babylon" might mean for appreciating the narrative's theological setting, as well as interpreting the entire gospel: (1) an "interrupted chiasm"; (2) the precise meaning of μετοικεσία in 1:11, 12, 17; and (3) the enumeration of the generations in 1:17. The aggregate effect is to read Matthew's genealogy in apocalyptic terms as an attempt to assert Yahweh's covenantal faithfulness despite the chaos of historical events—namely, the exile that inhibits the path to fulfilling Davidic and therefore also Abrahamic promises.


The March 2003 deployment of Autosub in the Antarctic was the first field study under the Autosub Under Ice program of the UK Natural Environment Research Council. Several missions were run under sea ice in the western Bellingshausen Sea at depths ranging from 90 to 200 m. Data from the upward-looking ADCP on the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) indicate a strongly oscillating horizontal velocity of the ice underside due to ocean swell. Swell period, height, direction, and directional spread are computed every 800 m from the ice edge to 10 km inward. To our knowledge, these are the first scalar and directional wave data collected by an AUV under sea ice. We observe exponential, period-dependent attenuation of waves propagating through sea ice. Mean period increases with distance from the ice edge. Directional spectra show gradual changes in swell properties during propagation through the ice pack. The wave field appears to refract during propagation. The spread does not seem to relate to distance from the ice edge. More under-ice runs and modeling are needed to confirm these observations. If suitably deployed, an ordinary ADCP may be used with this technique to study waves in open or ice-covered water, both scalar and directional properties.


The field of image generation has made significant progress thanks to the introduction of Diffusion Models, which learn to progressively reverse a given image corruption. Recently, a few studies introduced alternative ways of corrupting images in Diffusion Models, with an emphasis on blurring. However, these studies are purely empirical and it remains unclear what is the optimal procedure for corrupting an image. In this work, we hypothesize that the optimal procedure minimizes the length of the path taken when corrupting an image towards a given final state. We propose the Fisher metric for the path length, measured in the space of probability distributions. We compute the shortest path according to this metric, and we show that it corresponds to a combination of image sharpening, rather than blurring, and noise deblurring. While the corruption was chosen arbitrarily in previous work, our Shortest Path Diffusion (SPD) determines uniquely the entire spatiotemporal structure of the corruption. We show that SPD improves on strong baselines without any hyperparameter tuning, and outperforms all previous Diffusion Models based on image blurring. Furthermore, any small deviation from the shortest path leads to worse performance, suggesting that SPD provides the optimal procedure to corrupt images. Our work sheds new light on observations made in recent works and provides a new approach to improve diffusion models on images and other types of data.


Many countries, especially in the West, have provided legal recognition of same sex unions, albeit in different forms. However, there are still many countries where homosexual activities are criminalized with different levels of penal punishment, including the death penalty. Why do some countries have severe punishment of homosexual activities while other countries have adopted legal protection of equal rights such as gay marriage? This study utilizes a newly constructed dataset of the legal status of LGBT people in 185 countries to explore the sources of this variation. What cross-national factors are associated with the current legal status of LGBT relationships? Are rich countries more likely to have legal protection for LGBT relationships than poor countries due to post-industrial values? Are democracies more protective of different expressions of sexuality than authoritarian ones? Or does the LGBT issue hinge on religiosity or different types of religious denominations? Our findings indicate the legal treatment of LGBT people is highly correlated with regime type; religiosity and prevalence of certain religious denominations; a country's legal tradition; modernization and economic development; as well as the extent to which a country is enmeshed with the international human rights regime.


Children with phenylketonuria (PKU) follow a protein restricted diet with negligible amounts of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Low DHA intakes might explain subtle neurological deficits in PKU. We studied whether a DHA supply modified plasma DHA and neurological and intellectual functioning in PKU. In a double-blind multicentric trial, 109 PKU patients were randomized to DHA doses from 0 to 7 mg/kg&day for six months. Before and after supplementation, we determined plasma fatty acid concentrations, latencies of visually evoked potentials, fine and gross motor behavior, and IQ. Fatty acid desaturase genotypes were also determined. DHA supplementation increased plasma glycerophospholipid DHA proportional to dose by 0.4% DHA per 1 mg intake/kg bodyweight. Functional outcomes were not associated with DHA status before and after intervention and remained unchanged by supplementation. Genotypes were associated with plasma arachidonic acid levels and, if considered together with the levels of the precursor alpha-linolenic acid, also with DHA. Functional outcomes and supplementation effects were not significantly associated with genotype. DHA intakes up to 7 mg/kg did not improve neurological functions in PKU children. Nervous tissues may be less prone to low DHA levels after infancy, or higher doses might be required to impact neurological functions. In situations of minimal dietary DHA, endogenous synthesis of DHA from alpha-linolenic acid could relevantly contribute to DHA status.


In this letter, we investigate the circularly polarized bistatic scattering from sastrugi snow surfaces at the  $L$ -band (1.575 GHz) at different azimuthal angles. Comparisons of circularly polarized bistatic scattering are made between the likewise (left-hand circularly polarized transmitting and left-hand circularly polarized receiving or right-hand circularly polarized transmitting and right-hand circularly polarized receiving) and the counterwise (RL or LR). Numerical simulations show that the counterwise configurations are only preferred, in the sense of maximum received power, for randomly sastrugi surface, but not always so when the surface structure is double-layered, at which the likewise polarized scattering strength is comparable to, and at certain azimuthal angles it is even larger than, that of the counterwise polarized scattering. Physical mechanism of such a behavior is explicated by the phenomena of local Fresnel reflections. Results from this letter offer physical insights for bistatic sensing of layered snow surface. It is suggested that for microwave remote sensing of snow surface by bistatic signals (e.g., global positioning system), both transmitting and receiving polarizations in likewise and counterwise be adopted.


There is a long tradition of paper based materials evaluation in ELT, but at this juncture, a scarcity of studies on ELT Multimedia (MM) materials evaluation. Such studies as have been undertaken have tended to adopt the perspective of the materials developer rather than the end user. But there have been no developed studies of evaluation methods which could be adopted by potential users. Despite calls being made for systematic evaluation, not many proposals have been developed, and there has been little exploration of potential best practice, or of the 'goodness of fit' between methods and evaluation puposes. This study aims to investigate evaluation methods in order to establish best practice in the evaluation of multimedia CALL applications, with a focus on learners' experience and opinions, and with the aim of enabling potential teacher-users of CALL materials to gauge the suitability of materials for their learners. Chapter one of this thesis provides a rationale for this study and an overview of the background to this research. Chapter two presents a review of literature undertaken in four domains: educational evaluation and research methods; Human Computer Interaction (HCI) usability evaluation methods; ELT materials evaluation; and studies ofCALL materials in use. Chapter three focuses on the design and conduct of the study by explaining how some methods of evaluation were trialled in a pilot study and four were selected for adoption and analysis in the main study. The methods selected were Foeu.r Groups, Rttrospective Protorolr, PLUM and SUM! Questionnaires and Activity Monitonitg. To determine the qualities and limitations of these methods, a set of criteria was developed from the literature on software usability evaluation methods in HCI and a broader literature on educational evaluation and research methods. The four data study chapters (4-7) each discuss one of the chosen methods and descnbe how the method was ,6perationalised in an evaluation of learner responses to multimedia software. The final chapter draws together the discussion of the findings and presents different proposals for best practice. The focus in the discussion of findings is on how the chosen methods performed according to the set of criteria. The findings confirm that focus groups and questionnaires are quick and efficient methods whereas retrospective protocols and activity monitoring provide more detailed and protracted data. Teacher evaluators can be guided by the objectives of their evaluation to explore different combinations ofthese methods. Participants in the pilot were 12 ESL students from the University of Warwick and in the main study 45 Freshman/sophomore students from a university in Pakistan. The materials used to operationalise methods were the EASE CD-ROMS listening to Lectures and Seminar Skills 1: Presentations. The research contributes to the field in undertaking an in-depth and extensive study of evaluation methods applicable to CALL materials, whi~ adopt a leamer-centred perspective, and conform to sound principles within educational evaluation, yet which draw on practice in the field of HCI, since this expertise is so relevant in the rapid development of multimedia materials for use in ELT. Moreover, by developing the composite set of core criteria this study has created a tool which practitioners in the field can use to select most appropriate methods for their particular evaluation purposes.


Background Non adherence to medication in myocardial infarction patients ranges from 13-60% (Garavalia et al, 2009). Consistent use of secondary prevention medication after a coronary event is associated with lower adjusted mortality and higher survival rates compared with patients who are not compliant (Newby et al, 2006). Strategies to tackle the burden of non adherence could involve pharmacy care and services including Medication Use Review and the New Medicine Service with a motivational interview as part of the counselling session of a community pharmacist. Objective To investigate the feasibility and potential impact of a pharmacy care intervention involving motivational interviews and referral to the community pharmacy services, amongst patients with acute coronary syndrome, on adherence to medication and on health outcomes. Methods This thesis reports a prospective, intervention, controlled feasibility/pilot study. Seventy one patients discharged from a London Heart Attack Centre following acute treatment for a coronary event were enrolled and followed up for six months. Thirty two pharmacies in London were allocated into intervention or control sites. The intervention was delivered by community pharmacists face-to-face in the pharmacy, or by telephone as part of the New Medicine Service or a Medication Use Review. The consultation included a 15-20 minute motivational interviewing session aimed at improving protective cardiovascular medicine adherence. As this was a feasibility study, measures of uptake, workability and acceptability were gathered from all stakeholders. A measure of fidelity to the intervention was also performed. The primary outcome measure was adherence to secondary prevention medication using a self report adherence measure. Secondary clinical outcomes included blood pressure and LDL-C. Data collection of outcome measures took place at baseline, 3 months and 6 months. An intention-to-treat analysis was conducted for the outcome measures. Results Given a small sample size, the feasibility study was not powered to measure clinical outcomes. However, at 3 and 6 months there was a statistically significant difference in adherence between the intervention group and the control group (P= 0.026), (P=0.004) respectively. In addition, there was a statistically significant relationship between the level of adherence at 3 months and beliefs regarding medicines (P=0.028). Patients who reported better adherence expressed positive beliefs regarding the necessity of taking their medicines. However, given the small sample size, no statistically significant outcome difference in terms of recorded blood pressure and LDL-C was observed over the six months of the study. Conclusion The feasibility, acceptability and potentially positive clinical outcome of the intervention was demonstrated, along with a high level of patient acceptability. It had a significant impact on cardiovascular medicine taking adherence. But these findings must be interpreted with caution. The intervention should be tested in a larger trial to ascertain its full clinical utility.


This illustrated volume brings together a collection of the paintings found in the Vatican City, one of the world's great artistic repositories. World-famous masterpieces by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Caravaggio are shown alongside works from the private rooms of the Papal apartments. Presented in chronological order from the 11th to the 18th centuries, the book gathers works from all three of the collections that constitute the Vatican Museum - the museum proper, the Vatican Library and portions of the Vatican Palace. Introductory essays by members of the Vatican's professional staff place the works in context and a fold-out of Michelangelo's recently restored Sistine Chapel ceiling is also included.


Problems that are complete for exponential space are provably intractable and known to be exceedingly complex in several technical respects. However, every problem decidable in exponential space is e ciently reducible to every complete problem, so each complete problem must have a highly organized structure. The authors have recently exploited this fact to prove that complete problems are, in two respects, unusually simple for problems in expontential space. Speci cally, every complete problem must have unusually small complexity cores and unusually low space-bounded Kolmogorov complexity. It follows that the complete problems form a negligibly small subclass of the problems decidable in exponential space. This paper explains the main ideas of this work.


Working with youth involves mentoring and guiding youth through development of their physical, emotional, intellectual, and social skills, as they become adults. One would assume a great responsibility of working with young people comes with extensive training in one particular field; however, this is not always the case (Barcelona, Hurd, & Bruggeman, 2011). The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions expressed by undergraduate students preparing for a career in youth work regarding their knowledge and competence of supervision in a park and recreation setting.  It was found in the pre- and post- surveys that future youth workers believe they are confident in supervision. There was statistically significant difference in confidence levels and abilities to take a supervisory role. In addition, students indicated significant growth in their confidence and ability to properly follow risk management procedures. Furthermore, three themes emerged: first, future youth workers welcome the challenge and responsibility of supervision duties; second, risk management is important to future youth workers; and third, future youth workers want to engage in supervision responsibilities and practices. The findings of the study suggest future youth workers may not realize the gravity of their decisions to combat issues of victimization among youth participants or may not fully understand what it  looks  like to be negligent as it relates to supervision responsibilities.


The behavior of steel structures is significantly affected by the connections between the steel members. For this reason, special attention to the prediction of the joint rotational behavior is devoted by Eurocode 3 which provides the well-known component method. In EC3, starting from the results of several researches, the formulations for the characterization of the behavior of T-stubs with two bolts per row are given, but with reference to T-stubs with four bolts per row, even though they are present in many actual structural situations, the limited number of experimental tests and analytical models has not led yet to the codification of this component in the code. In this work, starting from the results of three experimental tests on T-stub with four bolts per row, carried out at the laboratory on materials and structures of the University of Coimbra, a FE model in ABAQUS has been set up in order to analyze the yield line patterns corresponding to the different collapse mechanisms. Subsequently, with reference to the yield line shape different from that of T-stub with two bolts per row, the effective lengths have been revaluated applying an energy approach. The definition of the effective width for all the possible collapse mechanisms allowed to set up a proposal for determining the resistance of T-stubs with 4 bolts per row consistent with the approach provided by Eurocode 3. The model accuracy has been verified by means of a comparison with the results provided by a numerical analysis.


While a number of different gap junction proteins have now been identified, hepatic gap junctions are unique in being the first demonstrated case where two homologous, but distinct, proteins (28,000 and 21,000 Mr) are found within a single gap junctional plaque (Nicholson, B. J., R. Dermietzel, D. Teplow, O. Traub, K. Willecke, and J.-P. Revel. 1987. Nature [Lond.]. 329:732-734). The cDNA for the major 28,000-Mr component has been cloned (Paul, D. L. 1986. J. Cell Biol. 103:123-134) (Kumar, N. M., and N. B. Gilula. 1986. J. Cell Biol. 103:767-776) and, based on its deduced formula weight of 32,007, has been designated connexin 32 (or Cx32 as used here). We now report the selection and characterization of clones for the second 21,000-Mr protein using an oligonucleotide derived from the amino-terminal protein sequence. Together the cDNAs represent 2.4 kb of the single 2.5- kb message detected in Northern blots. An open reading frame of 678 bp coding for a protein with a calculated molecular mass of 26,453 D was identified. Overall sequence homology with Cx32 and Cx43 (64 and 51% amino acid identities, respectively) and a similar predicted tertiary structure confirm that this protein forms part of the connexin family and is consequently referred to as Cx26. Consistent with observations on Cx43 (Beyer, E. C., D. L. Paul, and D. A. Goodenough. 1987. J. Cell Biol. 105:2621-2629) the most marked divergence between Cx26 and other members of the family lies in the sequence of the cytoplasmic domains. The Cx26 gene is present as a single copy per haploid genome in rat and, based on Southern blots, appears to contain at least one intron outside the open reading frame. Northern blots indicate that Cx32 and Cx26 are typically coexpressed, messages for both having been identified in liver, kidney, intestine, lung, spleen, stomach, testes, and brain, but not heart and adult skeletal muscle. This raises the interesting prospect of having differential modes of regulating intercellular channels within a given tissue and, at least in the case of liver, a given cell.