When banks are considered fragile and what trigger them to be fragile? This research attempts to answer those questions by measuring bank fragility and identify probable factors determining bank fragility of the Malaysian commercial banking sector during the period of 1996-2011. Previous studies have employed different methods to measure the bank fragility. Among the methods used are event study, "government intervention" in
term of liquidity support to detect bank fragility and some prefers to use indicator such as Non-Performing Loan (NPL) to identify bank systemic risk. This research constructs the Banking Sector Fragility Index (BSFI) to measure fragility of commercial bank during the period studied. The index is then used to identify the determinants of commercial bank fragility. Results of BSFI show that the commercial banking sectors are in fragile condition from 1996 until 2000 and in a highly fragile stage between 1996 and 1998 since the BSFI are less than -0.50. In addition, findings based on the Logit regression analysis infer that the likelihood of Malaysian commercial banks to be fragile is significantly determined by total loans to total assets and interbank rate. While, Pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) proved that bank specific factors and macro-economic factors have relationship with the level of BSFI.


Weight loss is the cornerstone of therapy for people with obesity because it can ameliorate or completely resolve the metabolic risk factors for diabetes, coronary artery disease, and obesity-associated cancers. The potential health benefits of diet-induced weight loss are thought to be compromised by the weight-loss-associated loss of lean body mass, which could increase the risk of sarcopenia (low muscle mass and impaired muscle function). The objective of this review is to provide an overview of what is known about weight-loss-induced muscle loss and its implications for overall physical function (e.g., ability to lift items, walk, and climb stairs). The currently available data in the literature show the following: 1) compared with persons with normal weight, those with obesity have more muscle mass but poor muscle quality; 2) diet-induced weight loss reduces muscle mass without adversely affecting muscle strength; 3) weight loss improves global physical function, most likely because of reduced fat mass; 4) high protein intake helps preserve lean body and muscle mass during weight loss but does not improve muscle strength and could have adverse effects on metabolic function; 5) both endurance- and resistance-type exercise help preserve muscle mass during weight loss, and resistance-type exercise also improves muscle strength. We therefore conclude that weight-loss therapy, including a hypocaloric diet with adequate (but not excessive) protein intake and increased physical activity (particularly resistance-type exercise), should be promoted to maintain muscle mass and improve muscle strength and physical function in persons with obesity.


This article presents a series voltage-combining Doherty power amplifier (PA) achieving high output power (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$P_{\mathrm {out}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) and high power-back-off (PBO) efficiency for 28-GHz fifth-generation (5G) applications. We introduce a new transformer-based series output combiner design method to achieve a true-Doherty load modulation that uses a compact footprint. The output stages of the main PA and the auxiliary PA (aux. PA) both use a differential three-stacked FET topology for high output power without posing a reliability issue. The intermediate-node matching is achieved by using a shunt inductor for voltage waveform alignment and efficiency improvement. A modified differential quadrature hybrid is proposed to achieve the desired quadrature power splitting function without the need for an input balun. For the proof of concept, the proposed PA is implemented in a 22-nm CMOS fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) technology with a core area of 0.2 mm2. At 28 GHz, the measured saturated output power (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$P_{\mathrm {sat}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>), 1-dB output compression point (OP1dB), and peak power-added efficiency (PAE) are 22.5 dBm, 21.1 dBm, and 28.5%, respectively. State-of-the-art International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) figure-of-merit (FOM) and power density are achieved. The measured PAE at 6-dB PBO is 22.1%, which results in an efficiency enhancement ratio of 1.56/3.12 with respect to an ideal class-B and class-A PA. The proposed PA can support 2.4-Gb/s 64-quadratic amplitude modulation (64-QAM) and 0.8-Gb/s 256-QAM signal with a competitive average PAE. Excellent device reliability is validated by operating the implemented PA under 3-dB gain compression point for 12 h with less than 0.06-dB <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$P_{\mathrm {out}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> variation. The proposed Doherty PA with a compact footprint is suitable for the integration purpose of future 5G multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and phased-array applications.


Background and Aim: Along with the development of cardiac diagnostic procedures, new risk factors ,such as homocysteine role in cardiovascular disease, have been proposed. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the levels of homocysteine and total antioxidant capacity in patients with acute myocardial infarction compared with the control group. Materials and Methods: A case-control study was conducted on 45 patients with myocardial infarction admitted to Vali-e-asr hospital in Birjand and 45 healthy people matched with the case group.Total antioxidant capacity applying FRAP method and homocysteine levels were measured using ELISA The obtained data was analyzed by means of SPSS software at the significant level P <0.05. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in terms of age, sex, body mass index, lipid profile and fasting blood glucose between two groups. Total antioxidant capacity in case and control groups, respectively 837.86±175.07 and 981.91±276.57 µmol/L and average level of homocysteine in the case and control groups, 15.77±8.09 and 12.19±6.75 respectively. Statistical analysis showed that the antioxidant capacity in the patient group was significantly lower than the control group (P=0.004) and no significant difference in the levels of homocysteine in both groups (P = 0.11). Conclusion: The study showed that oxidative stress and low antioxidant capacity can be associated with the pathogenesis of MI; and more studies are required to confirm the relationship between homocysteine and cardiovascular disease.


In this paper, we generalize the recently studied stochastic matching problem to more accurately model a significant medical process, kidney exchange, and several other applications. Up until now the stochastic matching problem that has been studied was as follows: given a graph G= (V,E), each edge is included in the realized sub-graph of G independently with probability pe, and the goal is to find a degree-bounded sub-graph Q of G that has an expected maximum matching that approximates the expected maximum matching of G. This model does not account for possibilities of vertex dropouts, which can be found in several applications, e.g. in kidney exchange when donors or patients opt out of the exchange process as well as in online freelancing and online dating when online profiles are found to be faked. Thus, we will study a more generalized model of stochastic matching in which vertices and edges are both realized independently with some probabilities pv, pe, respectively, which more accurately fits important applications than the previously studied model.

We will discuss the first algorithms and analysis for this generalization of the stochastic matching model and prove that they achieve good approximation ratios. In particular, we show that the approximation factor of a natural algorithm for this problem is at least 0.6568 in unweighted graphs, and 1/2+ε in weighted graphs for some constant ε >0. We further improve our result for unweighted graphs to 2/3 using edge degree constrained sub-graphs (EDCS).


In this thesis I examined communication between hospital doctors and the influence of their communication on the quality of patient care. Communication failures in the complex, socio-technical environment of hospital care are widely considered to affect the quality of care and the occurrence of inadvertent patient harm. Research indicates the importance of social identity and intergroup relationships articulated through power, control, status and competition. This research adopted a language and social psychology theoretical framework to understand the intergroup dynamics in large health care organisations. The underlying theoretical premise for this inquiry was that communication between doctors is an intergroup process. The first study evaluated whether communication between doctors predicts the quality of care for hospital patients. I conducted a retrospective observational study of all patients hospitalised with upper gastrointestinal bleeding in a large teaching hospital. The study measures were process and outcome indicators of the quality of care, including time taken to perform upper endoscopy, and measures of interspecialty communication derived from medical record review. I used multiple logistic regression to assess the impact of interspecialty communication behaviours and clinical features on the quality of care. Early endoscopy (within 24 hours of admission) was predicted by communication between doctors from the emergency department or admitting unit and a gastroenterologist (OR 21.4, p < .001), admission within the gastroenterology unit (OR 22.7, p < .01), and admission on weekdays (OR 3.72, p = .01). The Blatchford clinical severity score was not a significant predictor of early endoscopy. Interspecialty communication strongly predicted the quality of care for patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and was more important than traditional clinical variables. These findings implicate the interface between specialty units as a source of variation in the quality of patient care, and suggest a potential target for quality improvement interventions. The second study focused on interspecialty communication among doctors, for patients requiring the involvement of multiple specialist departments. I conducted an interview study, framed by social identity and communication accommodation theories, of doctors' experiences of managing such patients, to explore the impact of communication. Interviews were analysed using Leximancer (text-mining software) and interpretation of major themes. Findings indicated that intergroup conflict is a central influence on communication. Contested responsibilities emerged from a model of care driven by single-specialty ownership of the patient, with doctors allowed to evade responsibility for patients over whom they had no sense of ownership. Counter-accommodative communication, particularly involving interpersonal control, appeared as important for reinforcing social identity and winning conflicts. The third study investigated doctors' written communication using a sample of medical records, specifically doctors' progress notes, and the frameworks of social identity and communication accommodation theories. These records include standardised and stylised language, and are intended to record assessment and treatment of patients according to known guidelines for practice. An interpretive analysis of the language and discourse in these records revealed that doctors used medical record entries both to express their specialty identity and to negotiate intergroup conflict. Non-accommodation and interspecialty conflict sometimes took precedence over facilitation of patient treatment and management. The final study employed survey methods to triangulate findings from the earlier studies. One hundred and forty-seven doctors from several specialties completed a questionnaire on their perceptions of responsibility for patient care, perceptions of their own and other specialties, and beliefs about hospital policies; they also interpreted medical record entries by members of their own or other specialties. Results indicated disagreements over which doctor should take responsibility for multiple aspects of patient care, with differences predicted by group memberships. Doctors believed that patient care was best handled by doctors with an interpersonal connection or at the same level of seniority. In interpreting written communication, participants were more proficient when the record was written by a member of their ingroup, as the charts contained ingroup language and concepts. Together, these studies explored the impact of intergroup communication on the quality of patient care in hospitals. Specialty identity and intergroup conflict were invoked over ambiguous and contested responsibilities for patient care. Patient care was a commodity over which identities were negotiated and conflict enacted. Intergroup behaviour allowed clinicians to evade responsibility for patient care; blame between specialty departments was prevalent and intergroup communication, including strong negative statements about members of other specialties, was the norm. The findings implicate the structural organisation of patient care in the genesis of an intergroup climate, and indicate a central and pervasive influence of identity on communication between doctors and intergroup conflict on patient care. These findings have clear implications for future research, where there is a need to investigate strategies to resolve intergroup conflict and to develop health care improvement strategies that consider the intergroup context of health care delivery. To be effective, interventions must focus on the structural aspects of hospitals as organisations, ambiguities in which currently perpetuate intergroup disharmony. Interventions to increase the interpersonal salience of interactions may moderate the impact of intergroup factors, but this strategy alone will not solve the problem. Hospitals are intergroup organisations, and the quality of patient care must be addressed through intergroup means.


Abstract Qa-2 antigen, a nonclassical MHC antigen, is one of a group of cell surface antigens that may be anchored to the cell surface by a glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI) linkage rather than, as is the case with the classical MHC antigens, K, D, and L, by a transmembrane linkage. Recent studies have shown that T cells may be activated through the cross-linking of GPI anchored Qa-2 antigens by anti-Qa-2 antiserum. The Qa-2 antigens involved in signal transduction in activated T cells are sensitive to lipolytic cleavage by phosphatidylinositol-dependent-phospholipase C (PI-PLC). Since T cell function is known to decline with age, a study was undertaken to determine whether the relative amount of lipase sensitive Qa-2 antigen changes with age. Ficoll- Hypaque purified peripheral blood lymphocytes were obtained from C57BL/6 and A strain mice from 6-30 months of age. The cells were incubated with or without phosphatidylinositol- dependent-phospholipase C followed by incubation with anti-Qa-2 monoclonal antibodies and a fluorescein labeled second antibody. Analysis on a FACScan flow cytometer demonstrated that the A strain mice had a single population of Qa-2 positive lymphocytes which increased in lipase sensitivity with age. The C57BL/6 strain mice of all ages had two populations of Qa-2 positive cells, one staining with high fluorescence intensity (high antigen density) and the other with low fluorescence intensity (low antigen density). The proportion of cells found in the high density peak increased markedly with age, suggesting on overall increase in Qa-2 expression. In young animals, only the high density peak was sensitive to PI-PLC treatment. In older animals, the cells originally appearing in the high density population shifted to the low density population after treatment with PI-PLC, suggesting that there must be both lipase sensitive and lipase insensitive forms of Qa-2 present on lymphocytes in these aging C57BL/6 mice. Overall, these data suggest that the proportion of lymphocytes expressing lipase sensitive Qa-2 is increased on lymphocytes of old mice. Since a role for lipase sensitive GPI-linked Qa-2-antigen has recently been postulated in T cell activation, it is possible that the increased lipase sensitive Qa-2 antigen may play a role in age-related changes in T cell function.


Objectives: The objective of this study was to observe the relation of Values In Action (VIA) virtues, well-being, and resilience within a unique, non-Western population of Indigenous youth in the Peruvian Amazon. Methods: Data were collected from students (n = 172, age range: 11-16 years) attending a rural village school via selfreport surveys to assess relationships using the VIA Youth-96 (VIA-Y-96) Assessment, Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI-A), and the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28). Results: The factor analysis of the CYRM-28 yielded a 3-factor breakdown (Social Engagement, Cultural Citizenship, and Guidance) instead of eight. Different VIA virtues predicted each of the three factors of the revised 3-factor CYRM-21Peru model (CYRM-21-P); Transcendence, Humanity, and Wisdom were predictors of well-being; and higher reported resilience leads to higher well-being. Most participants scored very high on the PWI-A. Implications: Research presented in this paper involved a unique population of Indigenous youth residing in the Peruvian Amazon, and found that (a) VIA virtues were differentially associated with well-being, (b) Humanity was a significant predictor across Cultural Citizenship and Social Engagement in the revised CYRM-21-P, and (c) higher resilience was correlated with higher well-being. Implications of this research can be used to inspire future research of Indigenous populations in a Latin American context to develop youth development programs that teach students from a strength-based perspective to improve vocational, academic, psychological, and social well-being.


I will be discussing a medical dictionary based on the Keyword in context (KWiC) concept and speech recognition as a valuable tool for both speeding up data input tasks and preventing overstrained hands and arms while using the keyboard. The latter is vital for me as my daily full-time work consists of compiling medical dictionaries for students and professionals (creating and updating complex and dynamic data) and creating medical spellcheckers. Non-Anglophone medical students and health care professionals around the globe need an active command of professional English for their career. Yet the lexical tools available for acquiring these skills are few and insufficient: American and British explanatory dictionaries expect readers to be native speakers, while bilingual medical dictionaries are basically glossaries and provide unlabelled translations. The only medical learner's dictionary in the world to date is the excellent Fachwortschatz Medizin, a comprehensive dictionary compiled by Michael and Ingrid Friedbichler. It helps non-native speakers to acquire language skills step by step, is structured using modular medical concepts and combines various lexical features:  monolingual dictionary: 100,000 medical terms grouped into 1400 sections with key headwords defined in simple English; contextualized with collocations and sample sentences demonstrating correct use, extracted from a 20-million-word corpus of medically authoritative texts;  semi-bilingual dictionary: support in the user's native language (German, Dutch) in the form of 42,000 translated keywords;  thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms and related terms;  domain-specific glossary: readers from all medical fields can focus on content relevant to their specialization;  PC edition: full-context search, customizable display (pronunciation, definition, translations, collocations), cross-references etc. After acquiring the Dutch rights I realised out that farming out the translation work would require me to extensively monitor translators. I decided to translate the 42,000 medical terms myself instead, using speech recognition and a large monitor to display my database, a web browser, a word processor and two medical dictionaries. I developed voice-driven macros for automating 600,000 Google searches, creating 2000 records, searching dictionaries and my 52,000-record medical database etc. This allowed me to translate up to 400 terms per working day and complete this immense task within reasonable time.


Objectives: Endoscopic valve therapy leads to an improvement of lung function, exercise tolerance and quality of life in emphysema patients. Only few data exist on the long-term outcome. This analysis evaluated the impact of valve therapy on the survival of COPD patients. Methods: From 2005-2013, 449 patients (mean age 64 years, 54% male) with emphysema underwent valve therapy. Patients were followed for a mean time of 37.3±21.3 months. 128 patients (29%) developed complete lobar atelectasis, whereby 34 out of these also experienced pneumothorax; in 50 patients (11%) pneumothorax without lobar atelectasis and in 261 patients (58%) only target lobe volume reduction or no volume change were observed. Baseline of survival was set as the date of first valve implantation. Results: Patients with and without atelectasis showed similar characteristics. Baseline FEV 1 %, RV(l), TLC(l) and TLCO(%) were significantly better in the atelectasis group, however the difference was not clinically relevant (FEV 1 32±8% vs. 30±9%, RV 5.4±1.2L vs. 5.8±1.4L, TLC 7.9±1.6L vs. 8.2±1.7L, TLCO 32±12% vs. 30±11%; all p<0.05). Patients with lobar atelectasis had a significant survival benefit compared to patients without atelectasis (p=0.009; 5-year survival rate 63.5% vs. 43.9%). The advent of pneumothorax in 84 patients did not influence the survival (p=0.52). Conclusions: Lobar atelectasis following endoscopic valve therapy is associated with a survival benefit.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
This study was aimed at examining major cytogenetic response (MCR) as a valid predictor of the course of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and at assessing the survival of CML patients treated with interferon alpha (IFN) in dependence on the combination of MCR (yes or no) with the baseline risk group of the New CML score. MCR was defined as a reduction of Philadelphia chromosome-positive bone marrow cells to <or= 35%. The New CML score discriminated three risk groups with significantly different survival probabilities.

DESIGN AND METHODS
Data from individual patients with a confirmed diagnosis of Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML treated with IFN were collected from 10 prospective studies in Europe and Japan. Stratified for baseline risk group, patients with a major cytogenetic response by 21 months after the start of therapy (n=171) were compared with patients achieving a minor response or less (n=487). Survival probabilities after the landmark at 21 months were compared by using the two-sided log-rank test.

RESULTS
MCR was a major predictor for low- and intermediate-risk patients (log-rank test, p <or= 0.0001), but not for high-risk patients. Ten-year survival probabilities for the low- and intermediate-risk patients who had a MCR were 75% (95 CI: 65-86%) and 56% (95 CI: 37-75%), respectively. The corresponding probabilities for patients who did not achieve a MCR were 21% (95 CI: 6-35%) and 16% (95 CI: 6-25%).

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS
Cytogenetic response per se is not a valid surrogate marker, as it is dependent on the baseline prognostic profile. The combination of risk group and cytogenetic response does, however, provide useful clinical information. The survival data presented here can serve as a benchmark for the assessment of the long-term effectiveness of imatinib.


In this paper, we consider steady-state scheduling techniques for mapping a collection of task graphs onto heterogeneous systems, such as clusters and grids. We advocate the use of steady-state scheduling to solve this difficult problem. Due to space limitations, we concentrate on complexity results. We show that the problem of optimizing the steady-state throughput is NP-complete in the general case. We formulate a compact version of the problem that belongs to the NP complexity class but which does not restrict the optimality of the solution. We provide many positive results in the extended version (Beaumont et al., 2004). Indeed, we show how to determine in polynomial time the best steady-state scheduling strategy for a large class of application graphs and for an arbitrary platform graphs, using a linear programming approach.


The fermentation process has an important role in determining the quality of cocoa beans by forming taste, color, aroma, and appearance. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of inoculum concentration and fermentation time on the characteristics of dry cocoa beans and determine the best conditions for both inoculum addition concentration and fermentation time to produce dry cocoa beans under Indonesian national standards. The research used completely randomized design with two factors; the first factor was the starter concentration consisting of controls (0%), 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, and 2% (v/w). The second factor is the fermentation time, namely 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, and 5 days. Treatment was repeated twice to get 50 units of the experiment. The results showed that the addition concentration of mixed inoculum ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus plantarum ) had a significant effect on changes in temperature and pH during fermentation, and it also had a significant effect on total unfermented beans. This study showed that time fermentation treatment had a very significant effect on all tests. The interaction of the two treatments had a significant effect on temperature changes during fermentation; it also significantly affected total unfermented beans. According to the Indonesian National Standard of cocoa beans, the best treatment, and the fastest fermentation time to produce the first quality standard (cut test) is a concentration of 1% mixed inoculum and fermentation in 3 days.


It has been repeatedly observed [Zooko, Shirky, PNML, Close] that global namespaces suffer from a variety of difficulties. While different analyses have focused on different problems, the conclusion emerges that global names are often overloaded with too many purposes, purposes that come into conflict as the system reaches global scale. One representation of the conflict is, global namespaces attempt to achieve the following trio of properties all at the same time: each name should be global, memorable, and securely collision free. Domain names are an example of a system that attempts to achieve this trinity: domain names are global, and memorable, but as the rapid rise of phishing demonstrates, they are not securely collision free. Though it may not be possible for any single namespace to have all three properties, petname systems do embody all three properties. Informal experiments with petname-like systems suggest that petnames can be both intuitive and effective. Experimental implementations already exist for simple extensions to existing browsers that could alleviate problems with phishing. As phishers gain sophistication, experimenting with petname systems as part of the solution seems compelling.


Previously, a group of 40 Yersinia enterocolitica-like strains that were isolated from water and fish were called group X2. These strains produced acid from L-rhamnose, did not ferment sorbose, cellobiose, melibiose, or raffinose, and rarely fermented sucrose (5% in 48 h. 10% in 7 days). This pattern of reactions separated group X2 strains from Yersinia enterocolitica, Yersinia intermedia, Yersinia frederiksenii, and Yersinia kristensenii. Positive reactions for acetoin production (Voges-Proskauer test), ornithine decarbox-ylase, and lack of acid production from melibiose distinguished group X2 strains from both Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Yersinia pestis. Group X2 strains exhibited variable reactions only in tests for citrate utilization, hydrolysis of Tween 80, and acid production from maltose. Genetically, group X2 strains formed a single deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization group with an average level of relatedness of 86% or more (86% as determined by the S1 method at 60°C or by the hydroxyapatite method at 75°C and 92% as determined by the hydroxyapatite method at 60°C). The level of divergence among related sequences in 60°C reactions was 0.5%, as determined by the hydroxyapatite method. The relatedness of group X2 strains to other Yersinia species was 42 to 73% in 60°C reactions. The divergence in these reactions was 11.0 to 15.5%, and the relatedness to other yersiniae in 75°C reactions was 21 to 38%. Group X2 strains were 11 to 32% related to 67 species of the Enterobacteriaceae that belonged to genera other than Yersinia. On the basis of these biochemical and genetic data, we believe that group X2 represents a single new species in the genus Yersinia. The name Yersinia aldovae sp. nov. is proposed for this species. The type strain of Y. aldovae is strain CNY 6005 (= CDC 669-83 = ATCC 35236).


provide additional information. In one fetus with CDW, the MRI confirmed the lesion and in addition showed agenesis of the corpus callosum, but did not change management. In one of the first MRI's on a fetus with DWV, the lesion in the vermis of the cerebellum could not be visualised and this changed management. Our experience is that small vermal defects or subtle lesions in the posterior fossa are very difficult to visualise on MRI before 24 weeks, because of slice thickness and fetal movements; in these cases US seemed superior. Conclusion: Compared to high resolution US of posterior fossa pathology, MRI did not provide additional information that changed management in this series. Small defects in the vermis of the cerebellum are easily missed on MRI.


The chromogenic properties of tungsten trioxide (WO3) have been studied by photoluminescence spectroscopy at 4.2 K in order to characterize the electronic structure of this material and see how this relates to optical responses during chromogenic coloration. Transition processes between electron energy states are often the cause of optical phenomena and it is important to identify such processes in order to understand the chromogenic coloration of tungsten oxide films. Much research work has been devoted to characterize the physical and chemical mechanisms that are responsible for this coloration and this is of fundamentalimportance to understand the chromogenic behavior. The latest research shows that oxygen vacancies could play an important role in certain coloration processes, but it is still a matter of debate whether these are important for the overall response. This work aims to identify specific transitions that are related to oxygen vacancies by measuring photoluminescence from films with controlled vacancy content. The main goal of the project was to set up an experiment that could measure photoluminescence at liquid helium temperature. This was done by installing and integrating the components included in this experimental set-up. The films had been prepared prior to this work and were deposited on a nanocrystalline CaF2 substrate, which is a material that has a very large band gap and was therefore expected to fully transparent in the UV range. However it was found that the substrate inelastically scattered the UV excitation light, which produced strong signals that overshadowed the photoluminescence and prevented an effective characterization of the electronic structure in the films. Instead, suggestions were given on how to minimize uncertainty factors and overcome the difficulties met in this work. It was also found that the films attain a lasting blue coloration by exposure to UV light in vacuum, and that this might be due to oxygen being desorbed from the film during experiments in vacuum.


INTRODUCTION Environmental protection, social equity and community livability are often considered to conflict with economic goals. Critics often argue that policies to protect the environment and achieve social objectives reduce economic productivity. Climate change emission reductions strategies in particular are frequently attacked by industry groups because they would reduce employment and economic development. [1] Such claims are not necessarily true. Some policy changes help achieve environmental and social objectives and provide economic benefits. These are called "no regrets" strategies because they are justified regardless of uncertainties about environmental risks, such as global warming. For example, a revenue-neutral shift from employment and general sales taxes to resource consumption taxes could reduce pollution while increasing economic productivity and employment. [2] One recent study found that increasing fuel taxes and using the revenues to replace more economically harmful income taxes could increase GDP by 7.7% and average household wealth by 5.5%, while reducing fossil-fuel use by 38%. [3] Similarly, the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment concluded "...if a gasoline tax were coupled with an equal-revenue increase in investment tax credits, short-run macroeconomic losses resulting from motor fuel tax increases could be more than offset by the short-run macroeconomic gains." [4] These shifts provide economic benefits because higher fuel taxes encourage energy efficiency and technological innovation, reduce the economic costs of imported petroleum, and encourage employment and investment which stimulates economic development. Our institute has identified many "no regrets" strategies in the transportation sector, many of which involved no new taxes or fees. They provide multiple benefits, including reduced traffic congestion, road and parking facility savings, consumer savings and accident reductions, and significant environmental protection. We call these "Win-Win Transportation Management Strategies." WHAT ARE WIN-WIN STRATEGIES? Win-Win strategies are cost effective, technically feasible changes in current policies and practices that help solve transportation problems by increasing consumer choice and encouraging more efficient travel behavior. Win-Win strategies are based on market principles. Most involve minimal regulation and some reduce existing regulations altogether. They remove barriers and market distortions that reduce consumer choice and encourage excessive motor vehicle travel (by "excessive" I mean driving above what would occur in a more efficient market). If fully implemented to the degree that they are economically justified (from savings in facility costs, congestion reduction and road safety), Win-Win strategies could reduce motor vehicle impacts by 15-30%, or even more if implemented in conjunction with additional TDM policies. [5] This could achieve the Kyoto emission reduction objectives while increasing consumer benefits and economic development at the same time. Win-Win strategies are essential for sustainable transportation. WHY WIN-WIN STRATEGIES WORK These are, admittedly, big claims. To understand why such large benefits are possible, it is important to clarify a few basic economic concepts. Efficient markets have two basic requirements: Consumers must have viable choices, and prices for goods and services should generally reflect their full production costs. Most markets satisfy these requirements. Consumers have many choices when it comes to buying food, clothing and shelter, and the prices for most products and services cover production costs. But the transportation market violates these market principles. Although consumers have many choices when it comes to purchasing a vehicle, they often have few alternatives to driving if they want to participate in common activities. …


Argumentation Theory provides tools for both modelling and reasoning with controversial information and is a methodology that is going to be proposed as a way to give explanations to results provided using machine learning techniques. In this context, labelling-based semantics for Abstract Argumentation Frameworks (AFs) allow for establishing the acceptability of sets of arguments, dividing them into three partitions: acceptable, rejected and undecidable (instead of classical Dung two sets IN and OUT partitions). This kind of semantics have been studied only for classical AFs, whilst the more powerful weighted and preference-based framework has been not studied yet. In this paper, we define a novel labelling semantics for Weighted Argumentation Frameworks, extending and generalising the crisp one.


Importance of the field: Trastuzumab has become a mainstay in the treatment of women with human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2)-overexpressing breast cancer in the metastatic and adjuvant settings. Although trastuzumab is generally well tolerated, cardiac toxicity has emerged as a rare but potentially serious complication that limits its use in some patients. It is critically important to understand the nature of this cardiac risk when counseling patients, especially as new anti-HER2 agents are developed and tested in combination with trastuzumab. Areas covered in this review: This review describes the incidence, risk factors and natural history of trastuzumab-associated cardiac toxicity reported in updated efficacy and cardiac safety analyses of metastatic and adjuvant trastuzumab clinical trials. Mechanisms of trastuzumab-associated cardiotoxicity are proposed and compared to what is known about anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity. The existing cardiac safety data for lapatinib and other newer HER2-targeted therapies are also discussed, both as single agents and in combination with trastuzumab. What the reader will gain: The reader will gain a comprehensive understanding of the existing cardiac safety data for trastuzumab including the notable differences in trial design and study populations between each of the major adjuvant trials. Readers will become familiar with the risk factors associated with trastuzumab-induced cardiotoxicity as well as with the natural history of its course. Take home message: The majority of trastuzumab-related cardiac events observed have been asymptomatic declines in left ventricular ejection fraction. The incidence of severe congestive heart failure and cardiac death observed in the large adjuvant trastuzumab trials ranges from 0.6 to 4%. Both symptomatic and asymptomatic events are largely reversible and manageable; however, little is known about the significance of asymptomatic left ventricular ejection fraction decline and longer cardiac follow-up is needed. Close cardiac monitoring must be performed for all patients receiving anti-HER2 agents currently in the clinic or in development.


With rapid expansion of nanotechnology, microminiaturization has become imperative in the field of micro/nano fabrication. A nanomanipulation system with high degrees of freedom that can perform nanomachining, nanofabrication and mechanical/electrical characterization of nanoscale objects inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM) is presented. The manipulation system consists of several individual operating units each having three linear stages and one rotational stage. The body of the manipulator is designed using the idea of superposition. Each operating unit can move in the permissible range of SEM's vacuum chamber and can increase or decrease the number of units according to the requirement. Experiments were executed to investigate the in-situ electrical resistance of nano materials.


The developmental kinetics of antibody-forming cells (AFC) and of cells synthesizing immunoglobulins without detectable antibody function against the antigen injected (IFC) were compared in lymph nodes of normal mice and tolerant mice receiving an immunogenic challenge. Tolerant states to bovine serum albumin (BSA), induced in adult mice, and to human gamma-globulin (HGG), induced in newborn mice, were studied. Whatever the tolerant state induced, the following main results were obtained: 1) both AFC and IFC were suppressed in tolerant mice, and this to approximately the same extent for the two populations; 2) both the suppression of the AFC and of the antigen-induced IFC were specific to the tolerogen used.


The article addresses the negotiated meaning of notorious places through a consideration of a recent tendency in Danish TV documentaries where marginalized, often peripheral, places are portrayed and debated. Based partly on sociological research about territorial stigmatisation, partly on location studies as a method, the article stresses that inhabitants often contest and contradict the mediated stigmatization of their towns from an ambivalent position. On the one hand, participants in the programs are aware of the stigmatizing gaze of others, but on the other they also express a degree of local pride. The ambivalence of place meaning established through TV representation and the participants' attitude towards their 'real' places reflect a mediated doubling of place, where the inhabitants are in "the event-as-broadcast" and in "the event in-situ" simultaneously. As a result, such 'tainted locations' may be contested directly from within documentary representation. krter a ademisk academic quarter Volume 17 11 Territorial stigmatisation and the negotiation of place Jørgen Riber Christensen Kim Toft Hansen


BACKGROUND
For patients considering breast augmentation, 3-dimensional (3D) imaging provides a preoperative simulation of the postoperative result. However, the clinical accuracy of these simulations has not been assessed.

OBJECTIVE
The authors compared preoperative simulations with postoperative results of breast augmentation to permit more informed decisions about breast augmentation.

METHODS
To determine differences between simulations and actual results, volumetric and contour analyses were performed for patients who underwent 3D imaging both preoperatively and 3 months after breast augmentation. All patients received round smooth silicone implants or anatomically shaped cohesive silicone gel implants; the mean volume was 295 cc.

RESULTS
Twenty patients (40 breasts) underwent 3D imaging both pre- and postoperatively. There were no procedural complications or revisions. The mean difference between preoperative simulation and postoperative breast volume was 27.2 cc (range, 1.4-99.5 cc), representing a 9.2% mean difference in volume and an accuracy of 90.8%. The mean absolute difference (root mean square) of all surface points along the breast in aggregate was 4.0 mm (range, 1.8-8.3 mm). No specific location along the surface contour of the breast could be identified as having the greatest differences.

CONCLUSIONS
The preoperative simulation provided by 3D imaging is >90% accurate in predicting postoperative breast volume. The mean absolute differential for surface contour in this study was 4 mm, representing 98.4% accuracy based on average surface area.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
3.


The purpose of this study is to examine the role of work-family positive value, which is based on gender theory and ecological theory, as a mediation of the influence of husband's support toward both job and marital satisfaction among working women. The subjects of this study were 188 female workers who lived together with their husbands and took care of children below 12 years. By applying structural equation modeling, the proposed model fit with the data (χ2 = 1,628; p=0.202 and GFI = 0.996). Furthermore, the result shows that the effect of variabel of husband's support increases when the work-family positive value as a mediating variable is applied. The theoretical and practical implications of the result are discussed.

Keywords: husband's support, work-family positive value, job satisfaction, marital satisfaction


Importance: While "omics" studies have advanced our understanding of inflammatory skin diseases, metabolomics is mostly an unexplored field in dermatology. Objective: We sought to elucidate the pathogenesis of psoriatic diseases by determining the differences in metabolomic profiles among psoriasis patients with or without psoriatic arthritis and healthy controls. Design: We employed a global metabolomics approach to compare circulating metabolites from patients with psoriasis, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, and healthy controls. Setting: Study participants were recruited from the general community and from the Psoriasis Clinic at the University of California Davis in United States. Participants: We examined metabolomic profiles using blood serum samples from 30 patients age and gender matched into three groups: 10 patients with psoriasis, 10 patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and 10 control participants. Main outcome(s) and measures(s): Metabolite levels were measured calculating the mean peak intensities from gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Results: Multivariate analyses of metabolomics profiles revealed altered serum metabolites among the study population. Compared to control patients, psoriasis patients had a higher level of alpha ketoglutaric acid (Pso: 288 ± 88; Control: 209 ± 69; p=0.03), a lower level of asparagine (Pso: 5460 ± 980; Control: 7260 ± 2100; p=0.02), and a lower level of glutamine (Pso: 86000 ± 20000; Control: 111000 ± 27000; p=0.02). Compared to control patients, patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis had increased levels of glucuronic acid (Pso + PsA: 638 ± 250; Control: 347 ± 61; p=0.001). Compared to patients with psoriasis alone, patients with both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis had a decreased level of alpha ketoglutaric acid (Pso + PsA: 186 ± 80; Pso: 288 ± 88; p=0.02) and an increased level of lignoceric acid (Pso + PsA: 442 ± 280; Pso: 214 ± 64; p=0.02). Conclusions and relevance: The metabolite differences help elucidate the pathogenesis of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and they may provide insights for therapeutic development.


BACKGROUND Thyroid gland is unique among endocrine organs. Thyroid tumours are the most common endocrine tumours which affect females more frequently at age range of 30-60 years most of which are benign. Malignant neoplasms of thyroid are not uncommon with follicular pattern lesions. Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy is itself not a reliable method to differentiate between benign and malignant follicular tumours. Surgical resection helps in accurate diagnosis of these tumours. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To study the distribution of lesions according to age, sex and with clinicohistomorphological correlation. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study is a retrospective and prospective analysis of thyroid swellings received at our tertiary care centre during the period of two and half years between January 2013 and June 2015 in the age range of 6 years to 78 years. A total of 148 specimens received during the period were analysed for clinical and histomorphological features. Immunohistochemistry was done for diagnosis of difficult cases. RESULTS Out of total 148 cases, most common clinical presentation was multinodularity in 67 cases (45%), solitary nodules in 54 (36%). Out of benign lesions-84 (57%) were nodular hyperplasias, 5 cases (3%) of colloid cyst. Malignant lesions composed 32 cases, PTC constituted 25 cases (18%), 3 (2%) cases of medullary carcinoma of thyroid, anaplastic carcinoma of thyroid diagnosed (0.5%). CONCLUSION Our study over a period of two and half years of thyroidectomies showed female preponderance. The most common lesion amongst benign lesions was nodular hyperplasia and papillary carcinoma was commonest in malignancies.


In the past more and more advanced and fine-tuned processes for steel production have resulted in increased demands for new and more costeffective ferroalloys used as constituents in the processes. Casting techniques and equipment are continually studied for potential improvements. In order to ensure a high and consistent quality in the alloys and the casting equipment, the heat transfer from the alloy to the mould during casting must be understood. Research on free metal flows is scarce and to remedy this a doctoral study at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology was initiated. The study was limited to the region around the impingement point of the metal jet, because this is the critical area for both heat and mass transfer. The flow develops radially, first as a thin film spreading evenly over the surface. At a certain point the thickness of the film increases suddenly - known as a hydraulic jump. Only steady-state conditions on a flat plate (without accumulation of fluid) are studied. The jump develops before the flow reaches the edge of the plate and maintains this position until steady-state conditions are obtained. This system is believed to be a good approximation for the initial conditions during the filling of an open mould. This is also the period when the thermal load on the mould is greatest. Numerous practical and mathematical simulations have been carried out and a relatively simple analytical model depicting the surface rofile of the liquid metal including heat transfer to the surroundings has been developed. The computational fluid dynamics code FLUENT was also used to compute the surface profile with the Volume-Of-Fluid technique, but with little success. The code was instead used to determine the flow and temperature fields inside the already established surface profile.Various laminar and turbulent flow models (variations of the k - emodel) were tried and compared. Experiments with water were carried out for studying the flow field. Tin was used for heat transfer studies. Finally, these simulations were compared with results from the practical experiments. Introductory experiments were carried out with ferrosilicon with the intent to perform complete experiments with this metal.Measured heat flow usually exceeded predicted values, particularly in the stagnation region. Good agreement is shown between the results from the FLUENT simulations and the new analytic model, which shows good promise of acting as a useful alternative to the much more demanding numerical simulations.


Background An ever-increasing technological development in the field of radiology urges a need for guidelines to provide predictable and just health services. A musculoskeletal guideline was developed in Norway in 2014, without active implementation. Purpose To investigate the impact of active guideline implementation on the use of musculoskeletal diagnostic imaging most frequently encountered in general practice (pain in the neck, shoulders, lower back, and knees). Material and Methods The total number of outpatient radiological examinations across modalities registered at the Norwegian Health Economics Administration between January 2013 and February 2019 was assessed using an interrupted time series design. Results A 12% reduction in the total examination of Magnetic Resonance Imaging shoulder and knee, and x-ray lower back and shoulder was found at a significant level (p = 0.05). Stratified analysis (Magnetic Resonance Imaging examination as one group and x-ray examinations as the other) showed that this reduction mainly was due to the reduction in the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging examinations (shoulder and knee) which was reduced by 24% at a significant level (p = 0.002), while x-ray examinations had no significant level change (p = 0.71). No other statistically significant changes were found. Conclusion The impact of the implementation on the use of imaging of the neck, shoulder, lower back, and knee is uncertain. Significant reductions were demonstrated in the use of some examinations in the intervention county, but similar effects were not seen when including a control group in the analysis. This indicates a diffusion of the implementation, or other interventions or events that affected both counties and occurred in the intervention period.


Results: In all women with atrophy and normal endometrium EI for endometrium was 0–2 points (72 women). In patients who had polyps, hypertrophy and cancer in the pathological result (34 women), EI was 3–4 points. The difference was significant (χ2 Pearson test; P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Elastography combined with conventional transvaginal ultrasonography is a helpful tool in differentiation of uterine bleeding in perimenopausal women and may decrease the number of unnecessary invasive procedures.


Experiments were designed to detect and determine differences between nitrite/nitrate concentration ([NOx]) in plasma across 15 species selected from seven classes of vertebrates. Blood collected in syringes was placed immediately into ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)-containing tubes and was centrifuged. Plasma [NOx] was determined by measurement of chemiluminescence. Across classes of vertebrates, baseline plasma [NOx] ranged from 0.6 to 171.3 nmol/ml. Mean +/- SD plasma [NOx] was highest in a fresh-water, jawless fish (lamprey, 95.5 +/- 9.1 nmol/ml) and lowest in a saltwater cartilaginous fish (skates, 1.1 +/- 0.4 nmol/ml). Both amphibians tested had a wide range in plasma [NOx], which was explained partly by temporal changes during the year. Within the mammalian class, plasma [NOx] ranged from 3.8 to 43.2 nmol/ml. Results of this study indicate that NO is detectable in plasma of all classes of vertebrates and that baseline concentration varies among species.


A rigger system is a mechanism on a single scull, a fast rowing boat designed for a single person. The system facilitates an optimal row performance accelerating the boat to a considerable speed. In the sport of competitive rowing the traditional sliding seat mechanism is used. Although the system became controversial in competitive rowing, Planeer BV implemented it in the first prototype of the Volans 2, which was targeted at recreational rowers. This master thesis is about the redesign and development of a new sliding rigger system.


Human motion capture technologies have been widely used in a wide spectrum of applications, including interactive game and learning, animation, film special effects, health care, navigation, and so on. The existing human motion capture techniques, which use structured multiple high-resolution cameras in a dedicated studio, are complicated and expensive. With the rapid development of microsensors-on-chip, human motion capture using wearable microsensors has become an active research topic. Because of the agility in movement, upper-limb motion estimation has been regarded as the most difficult problem in human motion capture. In this paper, we take the upper limb as our research subject and propose a novel ubiquitous upper-limb motion estimation algorithm, which concentrates on modeling the relationship between upper-arm movement and forearm movement. A link structure with 5 degrees of freedom (DOF) is proposed to model the human upper-limb skeleton structure. Parameters are defined according to Denavit-Hartenberg convention, forward kinematics equations are derived, and an unscented Kalman filter is deployed to estimate the defined parameters. The experimental results have shown that the proposed upper-limb motion capture and analysis algorithm outperforms other fusion methods and provides accurate results in comparison to the BTS optical motion tracker.


Production processes in apparel manufacturing typically involve hybrid assembly lines. In order to perform at predetermined production rates, careful balance control of the sewing operations on these assembly lines is very important. The right number of operators to be moved in and out of a sewing section has to be accurately determined. In this paper, the authors extend the literature on fuzzy logic applications to control systems by proposing a simple, yet effective, rule-based system that captures the knowledge of experienced supervisors in a set of fuzzy rules. These rules specify how balance control can be achieved based on the level of difference between; (1) the actual and target buffer level; and (2) the actual and target section performance. Since these parameters are normally expressed in linguistic terms, they are encoded in rules expressed with fuzzy logic. The number of operators to be moved in and out of a sewing section can, therefore, be determined by means of fuzzy inferences. To evaluate the effectiveness of the system, we compared its performance to the decisions made by experienced supervisors at a large shirt factory. The system was found to increase in production efficiency by 30%.


Purpose – Owing to its specificities, the family small and medium enterprise (SME) shows a particular behavior as for the creation, development, sharing, protection and transmission of knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to study the specificities of the processes of knowledge creation and development in family firms. Design/methodology/approach – Through a questionnaire, hypotheses of the model were tested. The study is based on 118 firms belonging to various industries. After evaluating the reliability and validity of the items through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the model was tested through structural equation modeling (LISREL). Findings – The model retained induces the following conclusions. Internationalization knowledge positively influences internationalization degree of the firm. The conservatism of family SME does not directly influence the level of internationalization knowledge. The influence of conservatism on internationalization knowledge is exerted only through the decisional dimension of independence orientation. The independence orientation of family SME, then with its two dimensions simultaneously (decisional and resource independence), does not significantly influence internationalization knowledge. Contrary to decisional independence which influences indirectly the degree of internationalization (through the intermediation of internationalization knowledge), resource independence influences directly the dependant variable. The mediation of internationalization knowledge is thus not totally proven. Social networking positively influences the amount of internationalization knowledge. Research limitations/implications – A major weakness is the absence of a synchronic approach as the dependent and independent variables are measured at the same moment. A more longitudinal approach would be valuable to analyze the causal relationships between the independent variables and internationalization knowledge and internationalization degree. A second limitation is that the characteristics of the sample may limit the generalizability of the results.


We examined 5-methyltetrahydrofolate transport across the basolateral membrane (BLM) of rat liver using isolated membrane vesicles. Uptake of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate by BLM vesicles (BLMV) was found by osmolarity and initial uptake studies to be mostly the result of transport of the substrate into an active, intravesicular space with some binding (approximately 25%) to membrane surfaces. Uptake was similar in the presence of an inwardly directed Na+ or K+ gradient, indicating that transport is not dependent on Na+. Uptake of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate was linear for the first 30 s and was more rapid when an initial pH gradient was imposed across the vesicular membrane [extravesicular pH (pHo) = 5.0, intravesicular pH (pHi) = 7.5]. Under pH gradient conditions, uptake at 3-5 min was about twofold higher than at equilibrium (60 min). The initial rate of uptake at pHo = pHi = 5.0 was more rapid than at pHo = pHi = 7.5, but in neither case was uptake above equilibrium observed. Uptake under pH gradient conditions and at pH 5.0 (no pH gradient) was saturable (apparent Michaelis constants of 0.58 and 0.36 microM, respectively; maximum uptake rates of 1.25 and 0.79 pmol.10 s-1.mg protein-1, respectively).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


8 cases of ocular hypotony due to traumatic goniocyclodialysis were successfully treated by argonlaser photocoagulation with few complications during a follow-up of 6-68 months. The authors emphasized early application of the therapy as an effective and safe procedure to recover almost normal anatomic and physiologic structures of the chamber angle.


In a bid to improve research output, educational institutions across the world have tried incentivising faculty with financial rewards for journal publications. However, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of monetary incentives, for tasks that require cognitive and creative abilities, is either absent or scarce at best. Using a unique natural experiment setting, across several schools of management education in India, we investigate whether and the extent to which monetary incentives for research influence research output. While some institutions implemented very specific monetary reward programs around 2012, others did not. Our strategy exploits the idea that while all institutions experienced a long-term increasing trend in research publications, only those with an incentive policy in place would have experienced a jump, if any, in publications around 2012. Specifically, we investigate whether publications increased in those journals which were covered by the incentive scheme. Most importantly, we explore the quality-quantity trade-off. If one higher quality publication fetches as much monetary reward as several lower-quality publications, do researchers choose the latter or the former? Our preliminary results indicate that the total number of publications in journals, rewarded by the incentive scheme, increased significantly. Moreover, the increase is driven primarily by relatively lower ranked publications across all institutions. At the same time, we also document an increase in the proportion of high ranked to low ranked publications due to the incentive policy.


: Patients with Parkinson's disease treated with levodopa over the past 15 years were compared, by parallel statistical methods, to a group of similar patients followed for 15 years before the levodopa era. The duration of illness at each Stage of disease was longer in the treated group, and, at each duration of illness, there was less disability and death. The prevalence of peak-dose dyskinesias increased with increased duration of treatment, but seldom out-weighed the benefits of treatment. Although extreme fluctuations of therapeutic response were not seen during the first 2 years of treatment, their prevalence was otherwise uninfluenced either by the duration of treatment or by postponing treatment. There is, however, some evidence that the postponement of treatment is accompanied by an increased proportion of patients who become "unresponsive" to levodopa. The age at death was 4.5 years older than in the untreated group, and the mortality rate equal to that of the general population. There is ample evidence that treatment with levodopa improves the quality and length of life, and no real evidence that delaying therapy confers benefits in the future.


ABSTRACT Long-distance migration is energetically costly and often has a significant impact on bird health and condition. Therefore, understanding the health status of birds during long-distance migration is of ecological interest; however, obtaining invasive health measures is not always feasible or practical. Bird feathers can provide information about individual bird condition independent of invasive and expensive blood tests and have been used previously as indicators of condition, even long after the season of feather growth. Here, we investigated this question using 2 migratory songbirds in North America, Western Palm Warblers (Setophaga palmarum palmarum), which have conspicuous white patches on their tail feathers, and Gray Catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis), which have prominent daily growth bars on their tail feathers. Feathers were collected from birds captured on Jekyll Island, Georgia, during their fall migration. From the feathers we quantified the size of white patches on warbler rectrices and estimated growth bar length (as an index of feather growth rate) on catbird rectrices using image analysis. We also obtained 2 measures of bird health for each species: estimates of white blood cell abundance from blood smears (immune status) and size-corrected body mass (body condition). Analyses of feather traits and how they relate to bird health indicated that warblers (n = 42) with larger white patches had significantly higher body condition indices, although no association with white blood cell abundance, and catbirds (n = 27) with faster feather growth had significantly lower white blood cell abundance, but no association with body condition. Given the utility of these feather characteristics, our results suggest these metrics can be used to provide some insights into the biology of songbirds during one of the most critical portions of the annual cycle, migration.


Biological phenotypes of interest commonly result from complex, multicellular systems.  From hundreds of cells that determine micro-environments to the billions of cells that make up complex organs.  At the same time cellular and molecular biologists have unveiled intricate details on the intracellular processes that drive cell behavior and decision-making.  Bridging this gap, between microscopic and macroscopic scales, is a critical challenge in systems biology.  One potentially powerful tool is multiscale agent based modeling.  With this strategy, discrete agents, such as cells, are computationally modeled on a high-resolution grid, which represents the extracellular space.  However, the computational complexity can often force modelers to use low-resolution approximations of the biological system.  To this end, we have developed Biocellion, a multicellular modeling framework that takes advantage of high-performance parallel computing.  Biocellion relieves the modeler of common, yet complex computational problems allowing for computational efficiency and scaleability over multiple cores and machines.  In this presentation, we will present the details of this new modeling platform in the context of two examples that demonstrate the computational power and flexibility of Biocellion.  First, we will describe the implementation of an epidermal skin model described in the literature.  We will demonstrate how Biocellion can be used to produce significant speed up of the simulation.  This improved performance gives us the ability to increase the size and complexity of the model, which is important in simulating clinically relevant systems.  Secondly, we will describe the use of Biocellion in modeling and design of microfluidic chips for the study of budding yeast.  This study demonstrates the ability for Biocellion to quantitatively describe systems with complex geometries at the micrometer length scale. Finally, we will discuss future plans for Biocellion to help foster adoption in the community and provide high performance computing solutions to new, multicellular modeling challenges.


A federally funded grant program at USM to addresses sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking on USM's campus through prevention and education efforts.


The overall aim of this investigation was to identify novel bacterial and fungal
biocatalytic routes towards monoterpene alcohols such as enantiopure linalool and
menthol, and geraniol, each of which find many applications within the flavour and
fragrance industries.
The first part of the investigation targeted hydrolytic transformations of
racemic monoterpene esters. Enantioselective linalyl acetate esterase activity was
detected in Rhodococcus ruber DSM 43338, offering a potential route towards
enantiopure (R)- and (S)- linalool. Fractions displaying complementary
enantioselectivity for the reaction were isolated from anion-exchange
chromatography of cell extracts, giving enantiomeric excess values for linalool
ranging from 60% (R)- to 79% (S)-. Attempts to isolate the genes encoding relevant
esterases via polymerase chain reactions resulted in a gene fragment representing
75% of a putative tertiary alcohol esterase (TAE). An alternative gene putatively
encoding a TAB from a closely related Actinomycete Nocardia farcinica (NITAE)
was cloned and expressed in E. coli, and the enzyme purified and characterised.
NITAE was inactive towards linalyl acetate, but catalysed the hydrolysis of racemic
menthyl acetate to give the commercially-preferred 1(R)-enantiomer of menthol.
In the second part of the project, a strain of Rhodococcus erythropolis MLTl
was isolated by selective enrichment from soil surrounding hop plants using the hop
terpene f3-myrcene as sole carbon source. Resting-cell preparations transformed 13-
myrcene to the high-value monoterpene alcohol geraniol. While the relevant enzyme
remains to be identified, initial studies suggested an inducible operon for f3-myrcene
degradation in MLTl.


Humic acid (HA) is a specific and stable component of humus materials that behaves similarly to growth stimulants, esp. auxin hormones, contributing to improving growth indices and performance of plants. As a rich source of HA, vermicompost (VC) is also a plant growth stimulating bio-fertilizer that can enhance growth indices and performance in plants. The purpose of the present study is to compare the influence of VC enriched with bacterial and/or fertilizer, commercial humic acid (CHA) extract, and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) on improving growth characteristics and performance of rapeseed under greenhouse conditions. The results showed the complete superiority of VC over the CHA and IAA (approximately 8% increase in the dry weights of root and aerial organ and nearly three times increase in seed weight). The highest values of these indices were obtained with VC enriched with Nitrogen, Sulfur, and Phosphorus, Azotobacter chroococcum and Pseudomonas fluorescens; the lowest value was obtained with VC enriched with urea. Additionally, the application of 3% VC and the control involved the highest and lowest values in all traits, respectively. The SPAD (chlorophyll index) value and stem diameter were not significantly affected by different application levels of VC. Overall, the applications of IAA and the CHA were not found to be suitable and therefore not recommended.


Depression is associated with poorer recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI), yet awareness of depression risk post-TBI among providers and patients is low. The aim of this study was to estimate risk of depression post-TBI among adults 18 years of age and older and to identify risk factors associated with developing depression post-TBI. We conducted a retrospective, matched cohort study using claims data for privately insured and Medicare Advantage enrollees in a large U.S. health plan. Adults ≥18 years of age diagnosed with TBI (n = 207,354) with 12 months continuous insurance coverage pre-TBI and 24 months post-TBI were matched to controls without TBI (n = 414,708). We identified the presence of depression on any in- or outpatient claim occurring during the study period (both before and after TBI). Of the initial 622,062 individuals, 62,963 (10%) had depression pre-TBI and were excluded from incidence calculations. Incidence of depression post-TBI was 79.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 78.5,80.5) per 1,000 person-years compared to 33.5 (95% CI, 33.1,34.0) per 1,000 person-years for those without TBI. The adjusted hazard ratio for depression post-TBI was 1.83 (95% CI, 1.79,1.86). We observed effect modification by sex and age, with males and older adults at increased risk. History of neuropsychiatric disturbances pre-TBI was the strongest predictor of depression post-TBI. Risk of depression increases substantially post-TBI. Groups at increased risk include those with a history of neuropsychiatric disturbances, older adults, and men. This study highlights the importance of long-term monitoring for depression post-TBI.


During the first few hours after heart transplantation, the occurrence of graft failure is unpredictable and devastating. An explosive cascade of inflammatory events within the reperfused graft vasculature is likely to be mediated, at least in part, by the local expression of the leukocyte adhesion receptor intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1, CD54). Furthermore, although proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-1 (IL-1) are known to autoinduce their own (and ICAM-1) expression in vitro, there are no data to identify their functional in vivo cross talk in the setting of isograft transplantation. To determine the role of ICAM-1 in primary graft failure, we used an isogeneic vascularized model of heterotopic cardiac transplantation. ICAM-1 mRNA and protein increased in grafts during the early posttransplant period and were predominantly localized in the endothelium. The functional significance of this was established using donor hearts obtained from either ICAM-1-deficient (ICAM-1 -/-) or control (ICAM-1 +/+) mice. ICAM-1 +/+ grafts exhibited increased neutrophil infiltration, reduced left ventricular compliance, and poorer survival than did ICAM-1 -/- grafts. Increased ICAM-1 expression was not limited to ICAM-1 +/+ grafts but also occurred in unmanipulated recipient organs located remote from the site of surgery (but only after transplantation of ICAM-1 +/+, not ICAM-1 -/-, cardiac grafts). This expression of ICAM-1 in remote organs appeared to be triggered by IL-1alpha released from the graft, because (1) in situ hybridization revealed increased IL-1 mRNA within cells of the reperfused graft, including myocytes and endothelial cells; (2) ICAM-1 expression in remote organs coincided with a significant increase in serum levels of IL-1alpha after transplantation of ICAM-1 +/+ grafts; both remote organ ICAM-1 expression and IL-1alpha levels were blunted by implantation of ICAM-1 -/- grafts; and (3) remote organ ICAM-1 expression and neutrophil infiltration and IL-1 levels could be blocked by the administration of an IL-1 receptor antagonist. These data demonstrate an apparent positive-feedback loop in which local ICAM-1 and IL-1 expression leads to a mutual amplification of each other's expression within the reperfused graft, promulgating inflammatory events that are likely to be an important cause of primary cardiac graft failure. Because IL-1 receptor blockade reduces the IL-1-mediated autoinduction of IL-1, reduces the expression of ICAM-1 in both the graft and remote organs, and improves graft survival, it may provide a new and effective strategy to prevent the occurrence of primary cardiac graft failure.


One type of submarine composite pipeline structure, with carbon steel-concrete-stainless steel (CCS) double-skin tube (DST), was introduced in this paper. This composite pipeline was expected to make optimal use of the three types of the materials, and provide significant structural and internal corrosion resistance. During installation and service stage, submarine pipelines may experience significant torsion effects. Global response of the system depends on both the behavior of each constituent part and interactions between them. In this paper, an interaction model considering the friction and the cohesive force between the steel tube and the concrete is introduced, and a finite element model of the submarine pipeline under torsion is established by using this interaction model. The developed finite element model was verified through the comparisons between the numerical and experimental determined results, in terms of torque rotation angle histories, stiffness and ultimate torque. The results show that the ultimate strength and stiffness of the model considering cohesive force are increased by 4.6% and 11.9% respectively compared with the model only considering friction force.


This document introduces the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), explains its importance to the internet, and provides a set of best practices that can help in protecting BGP. Best practices described here are intended to be implementable on nearly all currently available BGP routers. While a number of enhanced protocols for BGP have been proposed, these generally require substantial changes to the protocol and may not interoperate with current BGP implementations. To improve the security of BGP routers, the recommendations listed below are introduced. While the recommendations can contribute to greatly improved BGP security, they are not a complete defense against all threats. Security administrators and decision makers should select and apply these methods based on their unique needs.


Software companies focusing on Usability Engineering face two major challenges, the first being the sheer lack of usability specialists leading to missing competences in the industry and the second, which regards small companies suffering from the constraint of low budgets, thus not being able to fund usability specialists or comprehensive consultancy. Training of non-usability personnel in critical usability engineering methods has the potential of easing these challenges. It is, however, unknown how much and what kind of research that has been committed to novice training in UE methods. This paper presents a comprehensive literature study of research conducted in this area, where 129 papers are analyzed in terms of research focus, empirical basis, types of training participants and training costs. Findings show a need for further empirical research regarding long term effects of training, training costs and training in user based evaluation methods.


Using in situ hyperspectral measurements collected in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, the authors discriminate six species of conifer trees using a recent, nonparametric statistics technique known as penalized discriminant analysis (PDA). A classification accuracy of 76% is obtained. Their emphasis is on providing an intuitive, geometric description of PDA that makes the advantages of penalization clear. PDA is a penalized version of Fisher's linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and can greatly improve upon LDA when there are a large number of highly correlated variables.


As the deterioration of environment, the effect of acid rain on concrete structures is even more serious. The durability problems caused by acid rain are increasingly concerned by the worldwide. In this paper, the method to simulating acid rain solution in laboratory is proposed and the cyclic soaking-drying to accelerate the acid rain attack is introduced on the basis of the survey and analysis on the components of acid rain around China. Considering that the majority of concrete structures are actually under loads, the load devices for durability test are analyzed, and the devices suitable for the multi-factor durability tests are adopted. The above works will be helpful to carry out the neutralization tests and establish the predicting model of neutralization depth for fly ash concrete.


The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) has been translated into different languages (e.g., Spanish, German, and Greek) and several authors investigated psychometric properties, internal structure, and the convergent validity of translated versions of the PAI. Recently, an Italian version of the test has been published, but its psychometric properties has never been explored. The aims of the present study were: (a) to examine the hypothesized subscale structure of scales that have subscales, (b) to evaluate the internal structure of the 22 PAI full scales, and (c) to report on the convergent validity of the PAI scales with the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III) scales. The sample consisted of 1,538 participants recruited from all over Italy. Our findings provided support to the cross-cultural applicability of the PAI and contributed to enhance confidence in the validity and utility of the PAI.


In this article, the authors explore six quantitative environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) strategies to provide insights into best practices for ESG portfolio construction. These strategies offer different approaches to the trade-off between desired ESG attributes and investment performance. They conclude that fully understanding the dynamics of these trade-offs will allow investors to select the strategy that best matches their ethical and financial views.


Abstract. Underactuated multibody systems have fewer control inputs than degrees of freedom. In trajectory tracking control of such systems an accurate and efficient feedforward control is often necessary. For multibody systems feedforward control by model inversion can be designed using servo-constraints. So far servo-constraints have been mostly applied to differentially flat underactuated mechanical systems. Differentially flat systems can be inverted purely by algebraic manipulations and using a finite number of differentiations of the desired output trajectory. However, such algebraic solutions are often hard to find and therefore the servo-constraint approach provides an efficient and practical solution method. Recently first results on servo-constraint problems of non-flat underactuated multibody systems have been reported. Hereby additional dynamics arise, so-called internal dynamics, yielding a dynamical system as inverse model. In this paper the servo-constraint problem is analyzed for both, differentially flat and non-flat systems. Different arising important phenomena are demonstrated using two illustrative examples. Also strategies for the numerical solution of servo-constraint problems are discussed.


Integrity of endothelial barrier is a determinant of the prognosis in the acute lung injury caused by sepsis. The epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs), metabolites of arachidonic acid, exhibit protective effects in various pathogenic states, however, whether EETs play a role in endothelial barrier enhancement and the involved mechanisms remain to be investigated. Here, we show that increased EETs level by endothelial specific cytochrome P450 epoxygenase 2J2 over-expression and soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibitor TPPU reduced lipopolysaccharide-induced endothelial hyper-permeability in vivo, accompanied by improved survival of septic mice. In addition, sEH inhibitor AUDA and 11,12-EET also decreased endothelial hyper-permeability in the in-vitro study. Importantly, the relative mechanisms were associated with reduced GRP78-Src interaction and ROS production, and subsequently reduced RhoA/ROCK activation, and eventually decreased VE-cadherin and myosin light chain (MLC) phosphorylation. Thus CYP2J2-EETs is crucial for RhoA-dependent regulation of cytoskeletal architecture leading to reversible changes in vascular permeability, which may contribute to the development of new therapeutic approaches for pulmonary edema and other diseases caused by abnormal vascular permeability.


Demyelinating pseudotumor mainly attacks in teenagers and more commonly seen in female compared with male counterparts. Comprehensive understanding of medical history, clinical manifestations, imaging and pathological characteristics contribute to clinical diagnosis and management of demyelinating pseudotumor. Demyelinating pseudotumor in the central nervous system is mainly characterized as nerve fiber demyelination and inflammatory cell infiltration surrounding the minute vessels. However, the clinical and imaging characteristics of demyelinating pseudotumors mimic those of brain tumors, especially the brain glioma. It is likely to make a misdiagnosis of demyelinating pseudotumors. Herein, we reported one case of intracranial demyelinating pseudotumors and described the diagnosis and treatment of this patient in this study.


Laser-induced damage in fused silica optics greatly restricts the performances of laser facilities. Gray haze damage, which is always initiated on ceria polished optics, is one of the most important damage morphologies in fused silica optics. In this paper, the laser-induced gray haze damages of four fused silica samples polished with CeO2, Al2O3, ZrO2, and colloidal silica slurries are investigated. Four samples all present gray haze damages with much different damage densities. Then, the polishing-induced contaminant and subsurface damages in four samples are analyzed. The results reveal that the gray haze damages could be initiated on the samples without Ce contaminant and are inclined to show a tight correlation with the shallow subsurface damages.


Despite the high incidence of numerical deficits in neurological patients, little attention has been paid to the development of diagnostic tools. In fact, most of the published reports on acquired numerical disorders, whether single case or group studies, do not refer to standardised measures of performance providing little, if any, control data specifically collected for the examination. In this study we present data of 282 healthy controls of different age groups and educational levels in a new battery of Number Processing and Calculation (NPC). The NPC battery includes a total of 35 tasks, assessing different counting abilities, various aspects of number comprehension (such as parity and magnitude judgements), numerical transcoding, calculation, arithmetic reasoning and conceptual knowledge. Special attention is paid to the assessment of different calculation abilities, including simple fact retrieval, rule based processing, mental calculation and written calculation in all four operations. Moreover, text problem solving is assessed as well as the understanding of arithmetic principles. Thus, the NPC battery differs from the EC 301 battery proposed by Deloche et al., 1994 (Dellatolas, Deloche, Basso, & Claros-Salinas, 2001) and allows a more fine grained diagnosis which is relevant for planning targeted interventions. The battery is easy to administer and does not require special materials or equipment.


Background Cancer immunotherapy research is expanding to include a more robust understanding of the mechanisms of treatment response and resistance. Identification of drivers of pro-tumor and anti-tumor immunity during treatment offers new strategies for effective alternative or combination immunotherapies. Currently, tissue or blood samples are collected and analyzed, then dichotomized based on clinical end points that may occur months or years after tissue is collected. While overall survival is ultimately the desired clinical outcome, this dichotomization fails to incorporate the nuances that may occur during an anti-tumor response. By failing to directly measure immune activation at the time of sampling, tumors may be misclassified and potentially obscure important biological information. Non-invasive techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET), allow for global and quantitative measurements of cancer specific processes and are widely used clinically to help manage disease. Methods We have previously developed a novel PET agent that can non-invasively quantify granzyme B release in tumors and have demonstrated its ability to predict response to checkpoint inhibitor therapy in multiple murine models of cancer. Here, we used the quantitative measurement of granzyme B release as a direct and time-matched marker of immune cell activation in order to determine immune cell types and cytokines that correlate with effective checkpoint inhibitor therapy in both tumors and tumor-draining lymph nodes. Results Through PET imaging, we were able to successfully distinguish distinct microenvironments, based on tumor type, which influenced immune cell subpopulations and cytokine release. Although each tumor was marked by functionally distinct pathways of immune cell activation and inflammation, they also shared commonalities that ultimately resulted in granzyme B release and tumor killing. Conclusions These results suggest that discrete tumor immune microenvironments can be identified in both responsive and non-responsive tumors and offers strategic targets for intervention to overcome checkpoint inhibitor resistance.


ABSTRACT Silicate melt inclusions (SMIs) are small droplets of magma that become trapped in minerals during crystal growth. SMIs in olivine crystals can provide critical information on the range of melt compositions and processes that occur during melt generation, evolution, transport, and eruption. The Pliocene–Quaternary volcanic rocks in the Qorveh–Bijar volcanic belt of western Iran show porphyritic and microlithic textures, with olivine and clinopyroxene being the dominant minerals. Magnesian olivines in these volcanic rocks contain primary SMIs. The composition and characteristic of olivine-hosted SMI of these rocks are investigated to constrain the source lithology for mafic volcanism. Bulk compositions of the SMIs overlap those of their host rocks and extend to higher CaO/Al2O3 values. The estimated entrapment pressures and temperatures of the studied SMIs are 9.1–10.3 kbar and 1220–1355°C. The calculated mafic parental melt contains 42.36 wt.% SiO2, low total alkalis (3.22 wt.%), and high MgO (16.1 wt.%). Exploratory calculations using pMELTS show that this parental composition underwent variable degrees of fractional crystallization, as reflected by the variable compositions of the SMIs. Several lines of evidence including pyroxene xenocrysts and high FeO/MnO, FC3MS (FeO/CaO – 3*MgO/SiO2), and Zn/Fe ratios (14–21), suggest that a metasomatized pyroxenitic source contributed to the genesis of the parental melt. Amphibole in the SMIs indicates a high volatile content in the parental melt, which we conclude was generated from a metasomatized lithospheric mantle source. The pyroxenite source also contained garnet. Our geochemical results lead us to propose a new petrogenetic model. Specifically, we infer that a dense and unstable portion of the lithosphere underwent localized laminar detachment and downward flow, i.e. lithospheric drip. This drip underwent volatile-enhanced partial melting during descent through the underlying hot asthenosphere and generated the studied volcanic rocks.


Substituted Phenyl acetic acids have been used for the synthesis of various γ-butyrolactone. γ-butyrolactone compounds were designed by docking studies with cycloxygenase II active site. Thirteen compounds of γ-butyrolactone have been synthesized, characterized and subjected for analgesic activity in mice by hot plate method. Some of the compounds have been found to show better hydrogen and hydrophobic interactions with the cyclooxygenase enzyme. Out of 13 compounds 05 compounds have shown significant analgesic activity and can serve as future potential to be active as analgesic agents by inhibiting cyclooxygenase II enzyme. It has been observed that the analgesic activity of the compounds depends on the structure activity relationship of certain functional group. Structure activity relationship studies shows that by introduction of groups like halogens, hydroxyl and methoxy group plays a prominent role in enhancing analgesic activity of the substituted butyrolactones.


Blob theory has been widely applied to describe polymer conformations and dynamics in nanoconfinement. In slit confinement, blob theory predicts a scaling exponent of 2/3 for polymer diffusivity as a function of slit height, yet a large body of experimental studies using DNA produce a scaling exponent significantly less than 2/3. In this work, we develop a theory that predicts that this discrepancy occurs because the segment correlation function for a semiflexible chain such as DNA does not follow the Flory exponent for length scales smaller than the persistence length. We show that these short length scale effects contribute significantly to the scaling for the DNA diffusivity, but do not appreciably affect the scalings for static properties. Our theory is fully supported by Monte Carlo simulations, quantitative agreement with DNA experiments, and the results reconcile this outstanding problem for confined polymers.


In this paper, we provide preliminary findings of an empirical study which supports the hypothesis that electronic markets do not become "disintermediated" as they become facilitated by information technologies. We explore thirteen case studies of companies participating in electronic commerce and find evidence across markets which indicate necessary roles for electronic market intermediaries including matching suppliers and customers, providing trust, and providing interorganizational market information. Two specific examples are explored in greater detail to show the unsuccessful (Bargain Finder) and successful (Agents Inc.) identification of electronic market intermediary roles.


This article discusses prehistoric irrigation canals recently excavated near Phoenix, Arizona. The canals were constructed by the Hohokam Indians between A.D. 850 and 1450. Several aerial photographs taken at various times in the past five decades clearly show the paths of hundreds of the canals, including some of those recently excavated. These data provide new insights on Hohokam irrigation technology and society. Despite the destructive inroads of modern development, much significant archeological information can still be retrieved both by conventional excavation methods and by the archival study of aerial photographs.


Is There Hope for Anthropology? Holger Jebens and Karl-Heinz Kohl, Eds. The End of Anthropology? Oxon, UK: Sean Kingston Publishing, 2011, 262 pages.Anthropology will soon be closed for business. So, at least, have said Romantics, Anthony Giddens, and a host of anthropological greats - Mead, Levi-Strauss, Worsley, Sahlins, Geertz among others - who have variously ventured into disciplinary divination. Such prognostications have come in many forms. Some hinge on the idea that anthropology's object of study, the traditional Other in faraway lands, is vanishing or is already gone. Without this object, the reasoning goes, anthropology has nothing left to do. Others prophecise the discipline's demise based on the ethical, epistemological and political critiques levelled against the discipline from the mid-1980s. In this vision anthropology's theories, concepts, methods and ethical positions are bankrupt, and utterly irrelevant to today's fast-moving, postcolonial, global and globalizing world. Here, too, the discipline's end is nigh, due this time to our changing world and to the novel forms of academic autocannibalism that characterize it.Jebens' and Kohl's (2011) The End of Anthropology? provides a powerful riposte to such pessimisms - the title's interrogative form is a giveaway - through an engaging set of reflections on the state of anthropology today and its future promise. While contributors are not uniformly optimistic, nor do all agree on what anthropology is, what it should do, where it should go, or how it should get there, none is prepared to administer anthropology's Last Rites. There is plenty of hope among these anthropologists about anthropology's future. Indeed, as Jebens' chapter suggests, the fact that anthropologists have long spun gloomy tales of anthropology's imminent demise is itself grounds for hope, not hopelessness, about our end.This book contains not just one end but many possible ends, and in different senses. These include both demise and goal, as Crapanzano discusses in his splendid chapter: as in "the demise of anthropology" and also "the goal of anthropology." As it happens, for most contributors these twin "ends" are tightly intertwined: the reason anthropology is not nearing its end is precisely due to its promising disciplinary ends (Comaroff, Spyer, Kuper, Godelier). Others agree, adding that anthropologists must actively merge and market their discipline to ensure its survival in our rapidly-changing world (Gingrich, Hannerz). A few contributors, conversely, imply that the relation between anthropology's ends and end is less straightforward, and are more vexed by external forces that shape the discipline (Howell, Crapanzano). For these (relative) pessimists, these are troubling times for anthropology.But make no mistake. This is a book of hope, underscored by Kohl's introduction and the editors' decision to sandwich the few less celebratory contributions between the many anthropological optimisms. And insofar as it is, the volume successfully captures and conveys a sense of optimism that many, perhaps most anthropologists share today about their discipline, a sense that (to borrow Godelier's chapter title) "In today's world, anthropology is more important than ever." To ensure the discipline's longevity, we just have to keep doing anthropology, and doing it well; we must consolidate and communicate more effectively our ideas and practices to the worldat-large. Vive l'anthropologie!The book as a whole is a delightful reminder of the range of positions, possibilities and promise our discipline holds. There are good reasons to be optimistic - even enthusiastic! - about many of anthropology's new and old ends and the profound insights they offer (see also Moore and Sanders 2006). Yet there are also good reasons to ask whether such optimism and enthusiasm will translate into recognition outside the discipline and ensure anthropology's future. My fear, I must confess, is that they may not, that the end of anthropology and anthropology's ends are not as tightly linked as some might hope. …


Weak memory presents a new challenge for program verification and has resulted in the development of a variety of specialised logics. For C11-style memory models, our previous work has shown that it is possible to extend Hoare logic and Owicki-Gries reasoning to verify correctness of weak memory programs. The technique introduces a set of high-level assertions over C11 states together with a set of basic Hoare-style axioms over atomic weak memory statements (e.g., reads/writes), but retains all other standard proof obligations for compound statements. This paper takes this line of work further by showing Nipkow and Nieto's encoding of Owicki-Gries in the Isabelle theorem prover can be extended to handle C11-style weak memory models in a straightforward manner. We exemplify our techniques over several litmus tests from the literature and a non-trivial example: Peterson's algorithm adapted for C11. For the examples we consider, the proof outlines can be automatically discharged using the existing Isabelle tactics developed by Nipkow and Nieto. The benefit here is that programs can be written using a familiar pseudocode syntax with assertions embedded directly into the program.