The Congo Basin in Central Africa is one of the major river basins of the world. Its history over
the last 75 Myr should record global and major regional events, including the Paleocene-Eocene
Thermal Maximum at ~55 Ma and the Miocene aperture of the Western branch of the East
African Rift System along its eastern border at ~25 Ma. Available data for associated off-shore
deposits show that the Congo River delta experienced a starvation period during the Midto
Late Cretaceous and Paleogene, with endorheic lacustrine to desert environments in the
upstream basin, followed by a period marked by high rates of drainage and sediment supply
in the Neogene.
Here we complement this sedimentation history with a multi-proxy analysis of an on-shore
Paleogene section along the west coast of Central Africa (Landana, Cabinda Enclave, Angola)
and with new age determination results for paleosurface-related manganese oxide deposits
from the southern margin of the Congo Basin in the DR Congo.
Newly obtained 39Ar-40Ar ages for cryptomelane from Katanga (Kasekelesa) and Kasai (Mt
Mwatshimwa) reveal an old (Cretaceous?) surface that developed before ~76 Ma and they suggest
the existence of at least two younger Eocene denudation episodes, during the Lutetian
(~45 Ma) and the Priabonian (~35 Ma). They furthermore confirm the identification of a series
of Mio-Pliocene denudation surfaces that were previously recognized by the same methods for
the Kisenge area, Katanga (De Putter et al., 2015). It is likely that the newly obtained Cretaceous
age records the subcontinental 'African Surface' that had previously not been identified for
Central Africa.
The Landana section presents a condensed (~45 m) Paleogene-Neogene sequence. The Paleogene
deposits (~25 m), dated by the rich fossil assemblage they contain (Sole et al., in prep.),
record a shallow marine carbonate environment with minor to moderate fine-grained terrigenous
detrital input. Sediment provenance, as documented by eNd, does not change significantly
in the course of the Paleogene, whereas weathering, as documented by eHf and δ30Si,
increases slightly from the Danian to the Lutetian (Bayon et al., 2016). This time interval corresponds
roughly to the assumed period of deposition of the Kalahari Group of the western
part of the Congo Basin, where it occurs as a ~150 m thick sand accumulation. The top of the
Lutetian beds of the Landana section is a major discontinuity, marked by strong silicification,
which would correspond to the Lutetian denudation surface in Katanga.
Sedimentation recorded by the Landana section changes drastically after this hiatus with Lutetian onset, becoming dominated by coarse-grained siliciclastic sediments. A major change
in sediment source is confirmed by eNd, whereas isotopic proxies of weathering (eHf, δ30Si)
document a major decrease in weathering intensity. The sharp increase in sediment discharge
is attributed to uplift along the southern and eastern margins of the Congo Basin, preceding
the opening of the East African Rift in the Oligocene.
A combination of sedimentological, geochemical and geochronological proxies provides new
constraints for a Paleogene time interval that is only poorly documented for the Congo Basin.
During this period, sediments, including those of the Kalahari Group, were deposited on
a denudation surface tentatively identified as the Cretaceous African Surface. The uplift that
occurred before opening of the East African Rift resulted in increased terrigenous off-shore
sedimentation after the Lutetian.
De Putter et al., 2015. Ore Geol. Rev. 71, 350-362
Bayon et al., 2016. Goldschmidt Conf. 2016, abstract book, 181
This abstract is a contribution to the Brain.be PalEurAfrica project: http://www.paleurafrica.be


In this paper, we propose a robust 3D face recognition system which can handle pose as well as occlusions in real world. The system at first takes as input, a 3D range image, simultaneously registers it using ICP(Iterative Closest Point) algorithm. ICP used in this work, registers facial surfaces to a common model by minimizing distances between a probe model and a gallery model. However the performance of ICP relies heavily on the initial conditions. Hence, it is necessary to provide an initial registration, which will be improved iteratively and finally converge to the best alignment possible. Once the faces are registered, the occlusions are automatically extracted by thresholding the depth map values of the 3D image. After the occluded regions are detected, restoration is done by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The restored images, after the removal of occlusions, are then fed to the recognition system for classification purpose. Features are extracted from the reconstructed non-occluded face images in the form of face normals. The experimental results which were obtained on the occluded facial images from the Bosphorus 3D face database, illustrate that our occlusion compensation scheme has attained a recognition accuracy of 91.30%.


This paper presents a comparison of high school teachers' views on citizenship education in three European countries – the Netherlands, Bulgaria, and Croatia. In all these countries, citizenship is an important part of school curriculum. The teachers need to find ways to deal with the everyday dilemmas of teaching a concept so highly loaded with diverse political meanings. What kind of citizens would they educate? How would they find a balance between neutrality and indoctrination? These and other questions were posed to over 60 teachers in the three countries in interviews using Q‐methodology, a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques. In all three countries, we found variations of four ideal types of views: Hierarchical, Individualist, Egalitarian, and Fatalist (group-grid theory of Douglas/Wildavsky). The number of types revealed and the degree of consensus within the countries varied per country. Subsequent analysis of the three countries together revealed a number of underlying themes, as well as a shared bottom-line standard of professionalism among the teachers. We will discuss the methodological challenges and insights of the study. First, we demonstrate that the employment of group-grid theory as an overarching framework within Q-methodology is a suitable instrument for a cross-country comparison, as it allows analysis of genuine interpretations by practitioners without pre-set measures and imposed meanings. Second, the study reveals the importance of looking at the internal diversity of "national contexts" as a way to avoid cultural and political labelling. Third, we will discuss the challenges and the chances of doing research by people who have access to and experience with more than one culture and language. As a result, we believe that the study will shed a light on the complexity of cultural, political, and historical contexts surrounding the introduction and implementation of citizenship education in 'established' and 'postcommunist' democracies alike [1] . Keywords: Citizenship education, Comparative study, Social science teachers, Q-methodology, Group-grid theory [1] Parts of this paper appear in " Views and beliefs of social science teachers on citizenship education: preliminary results from a comparative study of Bulgaria, Croatia, and the Netherlands. Proceedings of the Annual CiCe Network Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, June 11-13, 2013, to be published


Networks based on Ethernet bridging scale poorly as bridges flood the entire network repeatedly, and several schemes have been proposed to mitigate this flooding problem, however, none have managed to eliminate flooding completely. We present Automatic Integrated Routing (AIR) as the first routing protocol that eliminates flooding by assigning prefix labels to switches and building a Distributed Hash Table (DHT). The DHT maps host identifiers to the prefix labels of the switches through which they connect to the network. Each switch is assigned a prefix label using neighbor-to-neighbor messages. Prefix labels denote the locations of the switches in the network, and the prefix labels of any two switches automatically determine one or multiple routes between them. The DHT stores the mapping between the name of a host and its network location (prefix label) in a scalable fashion, with any one switch storing only a fraction of all the mappings. In contrast, prior approaches using DHTs to resolve host names incur the communication and storage overhead introduced by an underlying link-state routing protocol. Results using packet-level traces of Internet traffic demonstrate that AIR attains performance gains of orders of magnitude over Ethernet bridging and prior DHT-based schemes.


There is growing concern about image privacy due to the popularity of social media and photo devices, along with increasing use of face recognition systems. However, established image de-identification techniques are either too subject to re-identification, produce photos that are insufficiently realistic, or both. To tackle this, we present a novel approach for image obfuscation by manipulating latent spaces of an unconditionally trained generative model that is able to synthesize photo-realistic facial images of high resolution. This manipulation is done in a way that satisfies the formal privacy standard of local differential privacy. To our knowledge, this is the first approach to image privacy that satisfies $\varepsilon$-differential privacy \emph{for the person.}


Technostress is described as individuals' inability to effectively deal with information and communication technologies (ICTs). Addressing it is important because stressed individuals' productivity is adversely affected. We contribute to technostress literature by studying the impact of information overload and task-technology fit on technostress. We propose that information overload worsens technostress, whereas situations of task-technology fit alleviate technostress in individuals. Results from surveying 664 working professionals provide support for our proposed model. The implications from our study are discussed and provide an avenue for organizations to address technostress.


Persimmon cultivation has significantly grown in the Mediterranean Region in recent years. The production concentrates mainly in three astringent cultivars: Kaki Tipo in Italy, Triumph in Israel, and Rojo Brillante in Spain. Therefore, the varietal range expansion is one of the current challenges for persimmon producers in this area. Moreover, the introduction of nonastringent persimmon cultivars is particularly interesting because they can be commercialized immediately after harvest without applying deastringency treatment before commercialization. This study evaluated the harvest period and the postharvest response of six Japanese nonastringent cultivars (Kanshu, Shinshu, Soshu, Suruga, Youhou, Izu). During two seasons, fruit from each cultivar were harvested at two maturity stages. Fruit quality (external color, firmness, and total soluble solids) was evaluated after harvest and after different commercial scenarios (domestic market: 7 days at 20 °C, market to European Union (EU): 5 days at 5 °C plus 5 days at 20 °C, and market to countries with cold-quarantine treatment requirements: 21 days at 0 °C plus 5 days at 20 °C). Cultivars Kanshu, Shinshu, Soshu, and Izu were identified as early cultivars, and Soshu was the earliest one, which reached commercial maturity at the beginning of September. These four cultivars showed good quality after simulating commercialization on domestic and EU markets. Cultivars Suruga and Youhou overlapped the current harvest window, but their low chilling injury sensitiveness is highlighted, so they are of special interest to be cold-stored at the end of the season to be commercialized in overseas markets.


ABsTRAcr.-Discriminant analysis can use morphometric differences between known male and female birds to predict the sex of unknown individuals in field studies. Geographic variation in size and shape often limits the predictive value of a discriminant function to the population from which it was derived. Specific discriminant functions for populations of five species of fulmarine petrels (Northern Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis; Southern Fulmar, F. glacialoides; Antarctic Petrel, Thalassoica antarctica; Cape Petrel, Daption capense; and Snow Petrel, Pagodroma nivea) assigned 81 to 98% of birds in the samples to the correct sex, but the validity of each discriminant applied to alternative populations remained questionable. Our approach to overcome this limitation is to combine data from the different species into a single discriminant. Adequate performance of this generalized discriminant in samples of different species shows its validity for use in other populations of any of these species. The generalized function calculates the discriminant scores for individual fulmarine petrels as: Y = HL + 2.38BD + 0.41TL 0.21CL, where HL is head length, BD is bill depth, TL is tarsus length and CL is bill length (measurements in millimeters). The cut point to split sexes is different in each sample and may be calculated directly from discriminant scores, without reference to sexed birds, by using a maximum-likelihood method. Depending on species, the generalized method results in 84 to 97% correct classifications and can be applied to other populations of fulmarine petrels without requiring samples of birds of known sex. Received 19 November 1991, accepted 20 November 1992.


Today, it is generally accepted that socioeconomic issues play a pivotal role in determining the success of efforts aimed at the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. Yet there is still a great deal of incertitude as to how and to what extent these issues should be taken into account. In order to resolve this situation, it is necessary that the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) agree on a suitable set of socioeconomic parameters and on how these should be monitored and evaluated. The report develops recommendations for socioeconomic monitoring in the framework of the ecosystem approach. It identifies ten topics as generic dimensions that are strongly anchored in processes and bodies of the United Nations. The observation of these generic dimensions should help to fulfil the CBD's requirement that the socioeconomic situation should not be harmed by measures carried out within the context of the ecosystem approach. Moreover, specific (e.g. regional) assessment standards can be determined according to the different socioeconomic givens. With this in mind, it is recommended to add a second 'layer' of procedural rules that allow for the assessment, negotiation and priority-setting at the regional and local levels. These two elements should allow for an effective and efficient improvement of socio-economic monitoring for the purposes of the CBD.


Plantings of perennial lupine (Lupinus perennis) were observed over a 4-year period on 12 field-planting sites in northeastern Wisconsin and in 2 forest nurseries. On nonirrigated field plantings production varied considerably by sites. On sites of reasonably good nutrient content and moisture relations oven-dry weight of the crop per acre was in the range of 3,136 to 3,762 pounds per acre in the fourth year, with a nitrogen equivalent of 60 to 73 pounds per acre. On dry or very infertile sites the species was a failure, producing only a few hundred pounds of bulk dry matter per acre. In irrigated nurseries it produced an average of 3,203, 4,792, and 12,180 pounds per acre of oven-dry material in the first, second, and third years, respectively. Average nitrogen content on a per-acre basis ranged from 55 pounds the first year to 311 in the third year. Seed production in a second-year nursery planting was 480 pounds per acre and in a third-year stand, 812 pounds per acre.


Author(s): Nocito, Dominique | Advisor(s): Beran, Gregory J. O. | Abstract: The primary focus of this dissertation is the acceleration of the evaluation of the self-consistent polarization energy. Two new variants of Jacobi iterations are proposed here that exploit domain decomposition to accelerate the convergence of the induced dipoles. The first, divide-and-conquer JI (DC-JI), is a block Jacobi algorithm which solves the polarization equations within non-overlapping sub-clusters of atoms directly via Cholesky decomposition, and iterates to capture interactions between sub-clusters. The second, fuzzy DC-JI, achieves further acceleration by employing overlapping blocks. These algorithms employ knowledge of the 3-D spatial interactions to group important elements in the 2-D polarization matrix. These methods can be coupled with direct inversion in the iterative subspace (DIIS) extrapolation to accelerate their convergence.The DC-JI solver is adapted for periodic boundary conditions with particle-mesh Ewald treatment of long-range interactions and implemented in a massively parallel fashion within the Tinker-HP software package. Compared to widely used preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) or conventional Jacobi iterations (JI/DIIS) algorithms, DC-JI/DIIS solves the polarization equations ~20-30% faster in protein systems ranging from ~10,000-175,000 atoms run on hundreds of processor cores. Not only is DC-JI/DIIS faster than PCG, but it also gives more energetically robust solutions for a given convergence threshold. We further demonstrate how one can improve the stability of a polarizable force field molecular dynamics simulation or accelerate the evaluation of self-consistent polarization via a simple extension of the predictor in the Always Stable Predictor-Corrector (ASPC) method. Specifically, increasing the number of prior steps used in the predictor from six to sixteen reduces the energy drift by an order of magnitude. Alternatively, for a given level of energy drift, the induced dipoles can be obtained ~20% faster due to the reduced number of self-consistent field iterations required to maintain energetic stability.Finally, we have developed an averaged condensed phase environment (ACPE) model that address the high computational cost associated with modeling configurational average properties with quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) simulations. In the domain of embedding techniques ACPE lies in between explicit QM/MM evaluation of sampled configurations and continuum models. The ACPE model constructs an effective polarizable environment directly from explicitly sampled molecular dynamics configurations. ACPE can reduce the need for hundreds of QM/MM calculations to a few representative QM/MM calculations.


Background Limited data are available on the clinical impact of healthy lifestyle behaviors on the risk of dementia in patients with new‐onset atrial fibrillation (AF). Here, we aimed to evaluate the association between a combination of healthy lifestyle behaviors and the risk of incident dementia in patients with AF. Methods and Results Using the Korean National Health Insurance database between 2009 and 2016, we identified 199 952 adult patients who were newly diagnosed as AF without dementia. Patients were categorized into 4 groups by healthy lifestyle behavior score (HLS) with 1 point each being assigned for no current smoking, alcohol abstinence, and regular exercise. The HLS 0, 1, 2, and 3 groups included 4.4%, 17.4%, 53.4%, and 24.8% of the patients, respectively. We performed an inverse probability of treatment weighting to balance covariates between HLS groups. The HLS 1, 2, and 3 groups were associated with a lower risk of dementia compared with the HLS 0 group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.769; 95% CI, 0.704–0.842 for HLS 1; HR, 0.770; 95% CI, 0.709–0.836 for HLS 2; and HR, 0.622; 95% CI, 0.569–0.679 for HLS 3). The risk of dementia showed a tendency to decrease with an increase in HLS (P‐for‐trend <0.001). Conclusions A clustering of healthy lifestyle behaviors was associated with a significantly lower risk of dementia in patients with new‐onset AF. These findings support the promotion of a healthy lifestyle within an integrated care approach to AF patient management.


Purpose: To describe the curricular elements in blended physical education (PE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A survey of PE teachers was conducted regarding curricular elements related to content blocks, instruction, and assessment. A total of 174 Spanish secondary PE teachers (120 men and 54 women) participated in the survey. Results: For the nonface-to-face part, instruction relied mainly on challenge-based learning as an instructional strategy, the learning of the designed individual program as a teaching–learning style, health-based PE as a pedagogical model, and self-assessment as the most used assessment form. Discussion/Conclusion: The study describes an overview of the characteristics of the curricular elements used in the blended learning PE model in secondary education. Both the age of PE teachers and the socioeconomic level of the families are variables to consider.


Cyber security comprises of technologies, processes and practices designed to protect computers, programs, networks and data from hacking, damage or unauthorized access. Cyber security is also sometimes conflated inappropriately in public discussion with other concepts such as privacy, information sharing, intelligence gathering, and surveillance. Cyber security comes into picture as well as we encounter cyber crimes. To avoid giving cybercriminals the initiative, it is important for those involved in the fight against cybercrime to try to anticipate qualitative and quantitative changes in its underlying elements so that they can formulate their methods appropriately. The importance of being acquainted with the effects of cyber crime keeping in mind the recent activities that have taken place and offering solutions to protect an individual and/or an organization from them is laid down in this paper. Types of cyber security and cyber attacks are listed in this paper. It also throws light on the state of cyber crimes and cyber security in India. A gist of Indian cyber laws is presented in this paper as well.


Implementation of Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and State based water reform initiatives are likely to create significant structural adjustment pressures in irrigation areas throughout the Murray Darling Basin. There are concerns about the adequacy of short run models in both analyzing the impacts of these reforms and capturing the responses of irrigators to structural adjustment pressures. The legitimacy of these concerns are explored in this paper. A long run specification of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area has been developed, against which the short-run regional linear programming model developed by Jones and Fagan (1996) is compared. A range of policy settings are examined under these alternative specifications to investigate the level of divergence between the two approaches. This information provides an indication of the importance of accommodating strategic longer term changes in resource allocation in analyzing the impact of water reforms.


Abstract Given the multiple threats of atrocities in the world at any given time, where should states direct their attention and resources? Despite the rich and extensive literature that has emerged on the responsibility to protect (RtoP), little thought has been given to the question of how states and other international actors should prioritize when faced with multiple situations of ongoing and potential atrocities. As part of the roundtable "The Responsibility to Protect in a Changing World Order: Twenty Years since Its Inception," in this essay we first demonstrate the importance of questions of prioritization for RtoP. We then delineate some of the issues involved in assessing the issue of prioritization, beginning with what we call the "basic maximization model," and introducing additional atrocity-specific and response-specific issues that also need to be considered. We also emphasize the importance of considering how the need to address mass atrocities should be weighed against other global responsibilities, such as those concerning global poverty, global health, and climate change. We thereby set an agenda for future discussions.


Volume 1. Marriage and Motherhood: Mona Caird's The Morality of Marriage [1897] and the Contemporary Response Volume 2. The New Woman and Female Independence Volume 3. New Woman Fiction (1): Marriage, Motherhood and Work Volume 4. New Woman Fiction (2): Gender and Sexuality Volume 5. Literary Degenerates


A group of superluminous supernovae characterized by broad light curves have been suggested to be pair instability SNe (PISNe). Nebular spectra computed using PISN models have failed to reproduce the broad emission lines observed in these SNe, casting doubts on their true nature. Here, models of both PISNe and the explosion following the collapse of the core of a very massive star (100MΘ) are used to compute nebular spectra, which are compared to the spectrum of the prototypical PISN candidate, SN 2007bi. PISN models are confirmed to produce synthetic spectra showing narrow emission lines, resulting from the confinement of 56Ni to the lowest velocities (≤ 2000 km s-1) and in clear disagreement with the spectrum of SN 2007bi. Spectra more closely resembling SN2007bi are obtained if the PISN models are fully mixed in abundance. Massive core-collapse models produce enough 56Ni to power the light curve of PISN candidates, but their spectra are also not adequate. The nebular spectrum of SN 2007bi can be successfully reproduced if the inner region is artificially filled with oxygenrich, low-velocity ejecta. This most likely requires a grossly aspherical explosion. A major difference between PISN and massive collapse models is that the former emit much more strongly in the NIR. It is concluded that: (a) current PISN candidates, in particular SN 2007bi, are more likely the result of the collapse and explosion of massive stars below the PI limit; (b) significant asymmetry is required to reproduce the late-time spectrum of SN2007bi. © 2019 The Author(s).


2013 Columbia University Research Data Symposium February 27, 2013, New York, NY Sustainable data systems are critical components of the cyberinfrastructure needed to provide long-term stewardship of scientific data, including Earth science data, throughout their entire life cycle. A variety of approaches may help ensure the sustainability of such systems, but these approaches must be able to survive the demands of competing priorities and decreasing budgets over long time periods. Analyzing and comparing various approaches can identify viable aspects of each approach and inform decisions for developing, managing, and supporting the cyberinfrastructure needed to facilitate discovery, access, and analysis of data by future communities of users. A typology of sustainability approaches is proposed, and example use cases are offered for assessing the approaches over time. These examples help illustrate the potential strengths and weaknesses of each approach under various conditions and with regard to different objectives, e.g., open vs. limited access. By applying the results of these analyses to their particular circumstances, systems stakeholders can assess their options for a sustainable systems approach, which may incorporate multiple sustainability options, along with other metrics to ensure the sustainability of the scientific data and information for which they are responsible. In addition, clarifying and comparing sustainability approaches should inform the design of new systems and the improvement of existing systems to meet the needs for long-term stewardship of scientific data, and support education and workforce development efforts needed to ensure that the appropriate scientific and technical skills are available to operate and further develop sustainable cyberinfrastructure.


The fundamental principles that govern drug therapy are often overlooked by the busy clinician. This disregard frequently results in the use of particular drugs and regimens that may be less ideal for the clinical situation being managed. By convention, these principles are categorized as pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic. Pharmacokinetic processes include drug absorption, distribution, biotransformation (metabolism), and elimination - essentially reflecting the influence of the body on the drug administered. These principles were addressed in the preceding issue of this journal. Pharmacodynamics deals with the actual mechanisms of action and effects a drug produces on the patient and is the topic for this continuing education article.


Cell nuclei detection is the basis for many tasks in Computational Pathology ranging from cancer diagnosis to survival analysis. It is a challenging task due to the significant inter/intra-class variation of cellular morphology. The problem is aggravated by the need for additional accurate localization of the nuclei for downstream applications. Most of the existing methods regress the probability of each pixel being a nuclei centroid, while relying on post-processing to implicitly infer the rough location of nuclei centers. To solve this problem we propose a novel multi-task learning framework called vector oriented confidence accumulation (VOCA) based on deep convolutional encoderdecoder. The model learns a confidence score, localization vector and weight of contribution for each pixel. The three tasks are trained concurrently and the confidence of pixels are accumulated according to the localization vectors in detection stage to generate a sparse map that describes accurate and precise cell locations. A detailed comparison to the state-of-the-art based on a publicly available colorectal cancer dataset showed superior detection performance and significantly higher localization accuracy.


In this paper, the development of green compact of ZK60 magnesium alloy was studied in the context of MIM using screw type injection moulding machine model Battenfeld BA250CDC. The MIM feedstock used was 64 vol.% powder loading and the balance was palm stearin and low linear density polyethylene with the fraction of 60/40 by weight percent. The injection moulding parameters were then adjusted until the optimal condition of green part was accomplished. Results indicate that the feedstock exhibited good workability when injection moulded at the temperature of 190°C, injection pressure of 900kN, flow rate of 15,5cm3/s and with a very low ejection parameters. This technique provides an additional means to manufacture magnesium alloy components for a wide variety of applications.


It is often claimed that tools are embodied by the user, but whether the brain actually repurposes its body-based computations to perform similar tasks with tools is not known. A fundamental computation for localizing touch on the body is trilateration. Here, the location of touch on a limb is computed by integrating estimates of the distance between sensory input and its boundaries (e.g., elbow and wrist of the forearm). As evidence of this computational mechanism, tactile localization on a limb is most precise near its boundaries and lowest in the middle. We show that the brain repurposes trilateration to localize touch on a tool. In a large sample of participants, we found that localizing touch on a tool produced the signature of trilateration, with highest precision close to the base and tip of the tool. A computational model of trilateration provided a good fit to the observed localization behavior. To further demonstrate the computational plausibility of repurposing trilateration, we implemented it in a three-layer neural network that was based on principles of probabilistic population coding. This network determined hit location in tool-centered coordinates by using a tool's unique pattern of vibrations when contacting an object. Simulations demonstrated the expected signature of trilateration, in line with the behavioral patterns. Our results have important implications for how trilateration may be implemented by somatosensory neural populations. We conclude that trilateration is a fundamental spatial computation that unifies limbs and tools.


Software "design patterns" seek to package proven solutions to design problems in a form that makes it possible to find, adapt, and reuse them. A common claim is that a design based on properly applied patterns will have fewer defects than more ad hoc solutions. This case study analyzes the weekly evolution and maintenance of a large commercial product (C++, 500,000 LOC) over three years, comparing defect rates for classes that participated in selected design patterns to the code at large. We found that there are significant differences in defect rates among the patterns, ranging from 63 percent to 154 percent of the average rate. We developed a new set of tools able to extract design pattern information at a rate of 3/spl times/10/sup 6/ lines of code per hour, with relatively high precision. Based on a qualitative analysis of the code and the nature of the patterns, we conclude that the Observer and Singleton patterns are correlated with larger code structures and, so, can serve as indicators of code that requires special attention. Conversely, code designed with the Factory pattern is more compact and possibly less closely coupled and, consequently, has lower defect numbers. The Template Method pattern was used in both simple and complex situations, leading to no clear tendency.


Why are agricultural yields so low and growing so slowly in Africa? Using simple models, this paper proposes a research program to uncover the reasons for the low levels of input intensity and slow pace of technological innovation in African agriculture. Attention is focused on the relative prices of output and factors of production, credit constraints, imperfect insurance, learning externalities and insecure property rights. A set of research projects is proposed to examine these hypothesized sources of low and slow growing productivity.


An ancient sexual cycle governs the transmission of genetic information from generation to generation in humans and most other organisms excluding bacteria. Although there are lots of variations on the common theme, the general principles of inheritance in sexual organisms apply to single-celled fungi, plants


The internal pressures in the large and normal grain UO2 pellet rods irradiated at a linear heat rate of <29kW/m up to 21GWd/t U were studied to clarify the effect of in-pile densification and fission gas release. The large grain (grain size: 23μm) pellets were manufactured from the active powder produced by the new ADU (ammonium diuranate) process. The pore structure of the large grain pellets mainly consisted of coarse pores that were formed by adding a poreformer. The pore structure of the normal grain (8μm) pellets made from the current powder consisted of fine pores. In-pile and out-of-pile densification of the large grain pellets were smaller than those of the normal pellets and occurred owing to the disappearance of fine pores as fabricated. The increase in free volume of the large grain fuel rod did not occur significantly owing to its smaller densification during the initial irradiation period. The fuel stack length change during irradiation was predicted with the in-pile densification and swelling model. The increase in grain size decreased fission gas release by diffusion. As a result, it was found that the internal pressure of the large grain fuel rod was reduced after 10GWd/t U.


Accreting sources such as AGN, X-ray binaries or gamma-ray bursts are known to be strong, high energy emitters. The hard emission is though to originate from plasmas of thermal and/or non-thermal high energy particles. Not only does this emission allow to probe the unique properties of the matter in an extreme environment, but it also has a crucial backreaction on the energetics and the dynamics of the emitting medium itself. Understanding interactions between radiation and matter has become a key issue in the modelling of high energy sources. Although most cross sections are well known, they are quite complex and the way all processes couple non-linearly is still an open issue.
We present a new code that solves the local, kinetic evolution equations for distributions of electrons, positrons and photons, interacting by radiation processes such as self-absorbed synchrotron and brems-strahlung radiation, Compton scattering, pair production/annihilation, and by Coulomb collisions. The code is very general and aimed to modelled various high energy sources. As an application, we study the spectral states of X-ray binaries, including thermalization by Coulomb collisions and synchrotron self-absorption. It is found that the low-hard and high-soft states can be modelled with different illumination but the same non-thermal acceleration mechanism.


Information on the extent of genetic variability and heritability as well as correlation among agronomically important traits is a requirement to design a suitable plant breeding method. The present research was conducted at Sinana, Southeastern Ethiopia during the 2009 main crop growing season. The experimental material consisted of 16 durum wheat genotypes tested in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Twelve agronomic traits were included in the investigation. Highly significant differences were revealed among durum wheat genotypes for all traits studied, suggesting the possibility of improving durum wheat for these traits. Plant height and number of kernels per spike showed the highest phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variations and genetic advance, whereas, days to maturity and test weight had the lowest values. Plant height exhibited highest heritability value of 98.3% while number of spikelets per spike showed minimum value of 36.4%. The genotypic correlations estimated showed positive association of grain yield with days for heading (r=0.50), harvest index (r=0.69) and kernels number per spike (r=0.81). Harvest index (1.13) and biomass (0.81) exhibited the highest positive and significant direct effect on grain yield. Hence, these traits could be considered as suitable selection criteria for the development of high yielding durum wheat varieties.


Ammonia is known to be toxic to aquatic organisms. The national water quality criteria for ammonia in the marine environment have been established to protect aquatic organisms from the toxicity of ammonia. Discharge into Chesapeake Bay has not yet been regulated under this criteria. Ammonia limits of 1-2 mg/L total ammonia have been proposed for the marine waters in Virginia based on the national criteria of 0.035 mg/L of un-ionized ammonia. The limits have been questioned because the criteria were calculated using toxicity data from both freshwater and saltwater species, rather than solely from saltwater species. More ammonia toxicity tests need to be conducted to expand the database with saltwater species in order to develop a reliable and appropriate limits for ammonia discharge. Two saltwater species, one marine fish, Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia), and one marine invertebrate, ghost shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio), were tested in acute and 7day chronic tests. The acute tests for the Atlantic silverside were performed at three levels of salinity in order to develop a better understanding of the relationship between ammonia toxicity and salinity levels. The acute LC50values for both species were determined and compared to values in the literature. The 48-hour LC50 values for the Atlantic silverside were 1.50, 1.17, and 1.08 NH3 mg/L at salinities of 14, 22, and 30 ppth, respectively. The 96-hour LC50 for the ghost shrimp was 1.66 NH3 mg/L. The species mean acute values (SMAVs) for the Atlantic silverside (2% difference) and the ghost shrimp (31% difference) were compared to previous test results. The no-observed-effect-concentration (NOEC) was 0.48 NH3 mg/L for the Atlantic silverside based on growth, and 0.33 NH3 mg/L for the ghost shrimp based upon growth. The acute-chronic ratio for the ghost shrimp was 7.56. The refined national chronic criterion of un-ionized ammonia was 0.056 mg/L according to the test data from this research.


In order to positively cope with the international environmental regulations like UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) and to overcome energy crisis Korea, who depends on import for more than 97% of required energy, needs to continuously proceed to development, spread and expansion of alternativeenergy and then, to cultivate the capacity to keep the balance of demand and supply of energy by itself. In this aspect, the technology of BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic) is the field that the world is most interested in. However, at present, this technology is centered on increasing the efficiency of the module itself so it has lots of problems to be applied to buildings. Application of the integrated PV system in building external curtain wall can obtain much more generation of electric power than in roof-types whose area for installation is restricted, so it is excellent in terms of its possibility of application. Therefore, this paper intends to advance its practical use by proposing how to get integrated PV system which can be applied to building external curtain wall, and how to apply it.


Image captions and keywords are the semantic descriptions of the dominant visual content features in a targeted visual scene. Traditional image keywords extraction processes involves intensive data- and knowledge-level operations by using computer vision and machine learning techniques. However, recent studies have shown that the gap between pixel-level processing and the semantic definition of an image is difficult to bridge by counting only the visual features. In this paper, augmented image semantic information has been introduced through harnessing functions of online image search engines. A graphical model named as the "Head-words Relationship Network" (HWRN) has been devised for tackling the aforementioned problems. The proposed algorithm starts from retrieving online images of similarly visual features from the input image, the text content of their hosting webpages are then extracted, classified and analysed for semantic clues. The relationships of those "head-words" from relevant webpages can then be modelled and quantified using linguistic tools. Experiments on the prototype system have proven the effectiveness of this novel approach. Performance evaluation over benchmarking state-of-the-art approaches has also shown satisfactory results and promising future applications.


Nurses are imperative for healthcare systems' ability to effectively function during pandemics, yet multiple factors may affect their willingness and preparedness to work. The aim of the present cross-sectional survey was to identify factors associated with registered nurses' (RN) willingness and preparedness to work during the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The study was reported following the STROBE guidelines. A total of 358 nurses completed a self-administered online questionnaire. The participants were a part of a COVID-19 task force at a Danish university hospital during spring 2020. The results showed that the majority of RNs felt a professional obligation to engage in clinical work during the pandemic; however, their willingness and preparedness to work were affected by multiple factors, such as being relocated voluntarily, being prepared for the task and feeling safe. This study highlights that these factors are essential for the hospital management and nurse leaders to take responsibility for.


This study was performed to evaluate the effect of chrysin on testicular torsion and detorsion damage in rats in terms of biochemistry, histopathology and immunohistochemistry. The study was performed on Wistar albino rats between 250 g and 300 g. A total of 40 rats were used. Five groups were created with eight rats in each group. Group 1 was the control group, and no torsion procedure was performed. In Group 2, 2 hr of torsion and 2 hr of detorsion were applied. In Group 3, 2 hr of torsion and 24 hr of detorsion were applied. In Group 4, 2 hr of torsion, 2 hr of detorsion and 50 mg/kg intraperitoneal chrysin were applied. In Group 5, 2 hr of torsion, 24 hr of detorsion and 50 mg/kg of chrysin were applied. In the torsion/detorsion groups, the study determined decreases in glutathione and testosterone levels, increases in tumour necrosis factor‐α, interleukin‐4, interleukin‐6 and interleukin‐10 levels, and increases in expression levels of caspase‐3 and caspase‐8. Chrysin application reduced malondialdehyde, tumour necrosis factor‐α, caspase‐3 and caspase‐8 expression levels. We can say that chrysin can be used to reduce damage in cases of testicular ischaemia/reperfusion. For more reliable results, further clinical trials are recommended.


Species of Calonectria are important plant pathogens, several of which have a worldwide distribution. Contemporary taxonomic studies on these fungi have chiefly relied on DNA sequence comparisons of the β-tubulin gene region. Despite many new species being described, there has been no phylogenetic synthesis for the group since the last monographic study almost a decade ago. In the present study, the identity of a large collection of Calonectria isolates from various geographic regions was determined using morphological and DNA sequence comparisons. This resulted in the discovery of seven new species; Ca. densa, Ca. eucalypti, Ca. humicola, Ca. orientalis, Ca. pini, Ca. pseudoscoparia and Ca. sulawesiensis, bringing the total number of currently accepted Calonectria species to 68. A multigene phylogeny was subsequently constructed for all available Calonectria spp., employing seven gene regions, namely actin, β-tubulin, calmodulin, histone H3, the internal transcribed spacer regions 1 and 2 and the 5.8S gene of the ribosomal RNA, 28S large subunit RNA gene and translation elongation 1-alpha. Based on these data 13 phylogenetic groups could be distinguished within the genus Calonectria that correlated with morphological features. Dichotomous and synoptic keys to all Calonectria spp. currently recognised are also provided.


Crowdsourcing applications are becoming widespread; they cover very different scenarios, including opinion mining, multimedia data annotation, localised information gathering, marketing campaigns, expert response gathering, and so on. The quality of the outcome of these applications depends on different design parameters and constraints, and it is very hard to judge about their combined effects without doing some experiments; on the other hand, there are no experiences or guidelines that tell how to conduct experiments, and thus these are often conducted in an ad-hoc manner, typically through adjustments of an initial strategy that may converge to a parameter setting which is quite different from the best possible one. In this paper we propose a comparative, explorative approach for designing crowdsourcing tasks. The method consists of defining a representative set of execution strategies, then execute them on a small dataset, then collect quality measures for each candidate strategy, and finally decide the strategy to be used with the complete dataset.


Author(s): Aktinol, Eduardo | Advisor(s): Dhir, Vijay K | Abstract: Due to the complex nature of the subprocesses involved in nucleate boiling, it has not been possible to develop comprehensive models or correlations despite decades of accumulated data and analysis. Complications such as the presence of dissolved gas in the liquid further confound attempts at modeling nucleate boiling. Moreover, existing empirical correlations may not be suitable for new applications, especially with regards to varying gravity level. More recently, numerical simulations of the boiling process have proven to be capable of reliably predicting bubble dynamics and associated heat transfer by showing excellent agreement with experimental data.However, most simulations decouple the solid substrate by assuming constant wall temperature. In the present study complete numerical simulations of the boiling process are performed--including conjugate transient conduction in the solid substrate and the effects of dissolved gas in the liquid at different levels of gravity. Finite difference schemes are used to discretize the governing equations in the liquid, vapor, and solid phases. The interface between liquid and vapor phases is tracked by a level set method. An iterative procedure is used at the interface between the solid and fluid phases.Near the three-phase contact line, temperatures in the solid are observed to fluctuate significantly over short periods. The results show good agreement with the data available in the literature. The results also show that waiting and growth periods can be related directly to wall superheat. The functional relationship between waiting period and wall superheat is found to agree well with empirical correlations reported in the literature. For the case of a single bubble in subcooled nucleate boiling, the presence of dissolved gas in the liquid is found to cause noncondensables to accumulate at the top of the bubble where most condensation occurs. This results in reduced local saturation temperature and condensation rates. The numerical predictions show reasonable agreement with the results from experiments performed at microgravity. For nucleate boiling at microgravity the simulations predict a drastic change in vapor removal pattern when compared to Earth normal gravity. The predictions match well with experimental results. However, simulated heat transfer rates were significantly under-predicted.


ABSTRACT :  This instructional case presents available facts and circumstances surrounding Fortress Reinsurance (Fortress Re). Fortress Re, an agent securing aviation reinsurance, managed a reinsurance pool that covered all four planes involved in the September 11, 2001 disaster. Fortress Re had engaged in deceptive financial reporting, misleading its business partners to believe they were protected in the event of catastrophic loss. The events on 9/11 led to the discovery of this fraud, resulting in multiple lawsuits against Fortress Re, its owners, and its auditor, Deloitte. The case explores the questionable financial reporting and auditing practices employed, as well as significant charitable contributions made with fraudulent funds. The case can serve as an instructional resource for teaching financial accounting, auditing, tax, ethics, and law. The instructional use of this case has been tested in undergraduate and graduate classes. The case can improve students' research skills, since students must...


A mass spectrometer provides an ideal laboratory to probe the structure and stability of isolated protein ions. Interrogation of each discrete mass/charge-separated species enables the determination of the intrinsic stability of a protein fold, gaining snapshots of unfolding pathways. In solution, the metamorphic protein lymphotactin (Ltn) exists in equilibrium between two distinct conformations, a monomeric (Ltn10) and a dimeric (Ltn40) fold. Here, we use electron capture dissociation (ECD) and drift tube ion mobility-mass spectrometry (DT IM-MS) to analyze both forms and use molecular dynamics (MD) to consider how the solution fold alters in a solvent-free environment. DT IM-MS reveals significant conformational flexibility for the monomer, while the dimer appears more conformationally restricted. These findings are supported by MD calculations, which reveal how salt bridges stabilize the conformers in vacuo. Following ECD experiments, a distinctive fragmentation pattern is obtained for both the monomer and dimer. Monomer fragmentation becomes more pronounced with increasing charge state especially in the disordered regions and C-terminal α-helix in the solution fold. Lower levels of fragmentation are seen in the β-sheet regions and in regions that contain salt bridges, identified by MD simulations. The lowest charge state of the dimer for which we obtain ECD data ([D+9H](9+)) exhibits extensive fragmentation with no relationship to the solution fold and has a smaller collision cross section (CCS) than charge states 10-13+, suggesting a "collapsed" encounter complex. Other charge states of the dimer, as for the monomer, are resistant to fragmentation in regions of β-sheets in the solution fold. This study provides evidence for preservation and loss of global fold and secondary structural elements, providing a tantalizing glimpse into the power of the emerging field of native top-down mass spectrometry.


In this study, we investigated the analytical capabilities of DCHQ5, a new fluorescent chemosensor, belonging to the family of diaza-crown-hydroxyquinolines, for the quantitative assessment of total intracellular magnesium content, and its biological applications. We performed a comparative study of DCHQ5 and DCHQ1, the latter being the mother probe of the series, which showed preliminary encouraging results comparable to atomic absorption spectroscopy. We demonstrated that DCHQ5 is able to accurately quantify the total amount of Mg in a very "small" cellular population, by using a simple spectrofluorimetric assay. Furthermore, DCHQ5 demonstrated to be a versatile tool for different applications: its higher intracellular retentions allow to perform cytofluorimetric assays and two-photon confocal microscopy on whole and viable cells; its photochemical characteristic make it excitable in both UV and visible spectra, and the presence of different lifetimes allow to perform fluorescence life time imaging of intracellular Mg.
DCHQ5 was also exploited for studying the involvement of magnesium in the commitment of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hASCs) with a mixture of hyaluronic, butyric and retinoic acids (HBR). We found that in normal magnesium availability, hASCs precommitment is associated by an increase of total magnesium content during time and by a block in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. Moreover, our results demonstrated that magnesium deprivation triggers multilineage enrichments of HBR-induced preconditioning of hASCs.
The second part of this research was aimed at comparing single cells elemental analysis performed with synchrotron-based fluorescence and cell population analysis carry out by DCHQ5. We exploited innovative techniques of x-ray fluorescence microscopy by using a multimodal approach in order to achieve within the cells the spatial distribution of the concentration of magnesium and fundamental light elements for life. The combination of classical and innovative analytical techniques can shed new light in the comprehension of magnesium homeostasis.


Although expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) repeats are inherently toxic, causing at least nine neurodegenerative diseases, the protein context determines which neurons are affected. The polyQ expansion that causes Huntington's disease (HD) is in the first exon (HDx-1) of huntingtin (Htt). However, other parts of the protein, including the 17 N-terminal amino acids and two proline (polyP) repeat domains, regulate the toxicity of mutant Htt. The role of the P-rich domain that is flanked by the polyP domains has not been explored. Using highly specific intracellular antibodies (intrabodies), we tested various epitopes for their roles in HDx-1 toxicity, aggregation, localization, and turnover. Three domains in the P-rich region (PRR) of HDx-1 are defined by intrabodies: MW7 binds the two polyP domains, and Happ1 and Happ3, two new intrabodies, bind the unique, P-rich epitope located between the two polyP epitopes. We find that the PRR-binding intrabodies, as well as VL12.3, which binds the N-terminal 17 aa, decrease the toxicity and aggregation of HDx-1, but they do so by different mechanisms. The PRR-binding intrabodies have no effect on Htt localization, but they cause a significant increase in the turnover rate of mutant Htt, which VL12.3 does not change. In contrast, expression of VL12.3 increases nuclear Htt. We propose that the PRR of mutant Htt regulates its stability, and that compromising this pathogenic epitope by intrabody binding represents a novel therapeutic strategy for treating HD. We also note that intrabody binding represents a powerful tool for determining the function of protein epitopes in living cells.


The admittance measurements of a hetero-junction can be used to derive the density of the interfacial state in the hetero-junction. Hence, prediction conductance via frequency is very useful for comprehension of the admittance of a hetero-junction using a mathematical strategy. From the observations on the curve of the frequency-dependent conductance of the hetero-junction an analytic model with four-parameters was developed that relates conductance to frequency; the theoretical results agree quite well with the experimental data. The model shows potential for a variety of applications including different electronic devices. The model is a practical tool that can be readily used for assessing the electronic behaviors of a hetero-junction and is scientifically justifiable. In addition, the mathematical bridge to link the density of the interfacial state of the (pyronine-B)/p-Si structure to energy implies a good route to discuses the density of the interfacial state of interfaces.


Interest in software networking has grown significantly since the introduction of Network Function Virtualization (NFV). Software switches are used in NFV to steer traffic between different virtualized network functions and physical Network Interface Cards (NICs). It is becoming more and more important to objectively evaluate and compare the performance of the multiple alternative implementations that have recently been proposed. A comprehensive performance analysis is still missing for two main reasons: (i) the amount of time required to configure and compare all such tools is enormous; (ii) it is very difficult to define a proper methodology to compare different solutions in a fair manner. In this paper we propose a methodology based on four simple yet representative test scenarios used to evaluate the performance of software switches. We apply this methodology to measure throughput and latency metrics for 6 state-of-the-art software switches namely, OVS-DPDK, snabb, BESS, FastClick, VPP and netmap VALE. Our work constitutes a first step to building a better understanding of design tradeoffs and identifying performance bottlenecks.


On page 3105, Lathrop et al. show that different organs carry different combinations of the T cells that forestall autoimmune attacks. The study is the first to demonstrate that the immune system customizes its measures for preventing autoimmunity.

Figure 1

Regulatory T cell receptor genes vary by location.

Regulatory T (T reg) cells curtail autoimmunity by stifling assaults from activated T cells. After maturing in the thymus, T reg cells disperse throughout the body. Indirect evidence hints that the immune system adjusts the T reg cell lineup in each organ to match that organ's unique antigen profile. So the liver would harbor more T reg cells that prevent attacks on liver antigens, whereas the stomach would preferentially house those that shelter distinctive stomach proteins. However, researchers hadn't yet shown this immune tuning.

Lathrop et al. gathered T reg cells from the spleen and lymph nodes of mice. The team then sequenced the genes encoding the T cell receptor (TCR), which determines what antigen the cell targets. As the researchers suspected, T reg cells from different locations tended to have different TCRs. The T reg cell population in the lymph nodes draining the intestines was distinct from that of the nodes in the neck and that of the spleen. By contrast, populations of naive T cells didn't vary from place to place.

One possible explanation for the local differences is that exposure to a particular antigen causes naive T cells to transform into T reg cells—what's called conversion. To gauge the importance of conversion, the researchers transferred labeled naive and memory T cells into the mice and determined how many settled down in the spleen and lymph nodes and became T reg cells. The results indicated that conversion furnished only about 4–7% of the overall T reg cells. What might happen instead, the team suspects, is that an assortment of T reg cells arrives in an organ from the thymus, but only those that encounter an antigen they recognize multiply.


Introduction Tobacco companies have used below-the-line marketing in novel ways to promote their brands to youth in low/middle-income countries in Southeast Asia. This study explores how young male smokers in Cambodia experience below-the-line marketing strategies. Methods Convenience sampling was used to recruit 147 young male smokers (18–24 years) in Cambodia in early 2020. Local research assistants conducted mixed-methods interviews with participants in Khmer or English. Participants recalled exposure to below-the-line marketing strategies and provided in-depth descriptions about their experiences with individual sales promotions. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results 54% of participants recalled exposure to at least one below-the-line marketing strategy, including point-of-sale promotions (32.7%), individual sales promotions (27.9%) and online advertising (14.3%). Participants described individual sales promotions in public settings, and recalled that promoters were mostly female, attractive and targeted young males. Tactics used to encourage young people to accept promotional offers included free cigarettes and sample packets, swapping current cigarettes for new brands and collecting consumer details after interviewing. The brands and product features of cigarettes being promoted were readily described by participants. Conclusion This study provides evidence that illegal below-the-line marketing is still occurring in Cambodia, and increased monitoring and enforcement of advertising restrictions is needed.


Abstractly specifying, rapidly creating, and re-using models of domain structure are desirable
goals for knowledge engineering in AI Planning. However, while planning algorithms, and now knowledge engineering itself, are maturing areas of research, the descriptions used to formulate
dynamic domain descriptions is under researched. In this paper we describe on-going work
attempting to establish an algebraic approach to constructing domain descriptions.
We postulate that this formulation will serve several purposes: it will help descriptions of
domains to be rapidly built up by composing and interfacing pre-defined abstract, primitive machines.
It will help engineers re-use existing domains, and it will serve as a semantics for concrete
description languages such as PDDL.


Introduction: out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are one of the major complications of cardiovascular
diseases. Patients who survive a cardiac arrest suffer what is known as Post-Cardiac Arrest
Syndrome, which worst consequence is the post-anoxic encephalopathy, the leading cause of
disability in patients after cardiac arrest. Therapeutic hypothermia, among other interventions, has
proven to diminish the damage to the brain when the patient is in this situation. But, in order to
avoid the painful sensation this treatment causes, patients are sedated. This makes the
neurological evaluation of the patients unreliable with the tools we have until now. So, we have to
wait more than 72 hours to have an accurate prognostic of the patient. In such situation, where
therapeutic decisions on highly invasive acute cardiac assistance have to be taken, the actual
lapse of time is unacceptable.
In the last years, researchers have been looking for new tools that make possible to give an earlier
and accurate prognosis among patients who have suffered cardiac arrests successfully
resuscitated undergoing therapeutic hypothermia. Bispectral index monitoring has been proposed
as a proper tool to assess the neurological prognostic since it could provide us information about
the cerebral perfusion probably earlier than the available tools.
Objective: the aim of this study is to describe patterns among the graphs created with Bispectral
Index values of each patient and to identify if these patterns have a prognostic value in terms of
neurological and functional outcomes at discharge from hospital and at follow up at 6 months and
at the first year. We want to find as well a cut-off point, which in the first 24 hours allow clinicians to
classify patients who had suffered a cardiac arrest successfully resuscitated according to their
neurological outcomes.
Design: it will be a multi-centric prospective cohort study involving the coronary care units of
Hospital Universitari Josep Trueta (Girona), Hospital Universitari de la Vall d'Hebron (Barcelona),
Hospital Universitari de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Barcelona), Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge
(Hospitalet del Llobregat) and Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol (Badalona).
Methods: 330 adult patients who have suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest successfully
resuscitated and undergoing therapeutic hypothermia will be included in our study. Since the
moment therapeutic hypothermia starts, all of them will be connected to Bispectral index monitors
by a sensor-strip located in their foreheads. We will record the first 72 hours of Bispectral index
monitoring.
This study will be conducted in three years


The effect of acute unilateral complete ureteral obstruction (UUO) on renal hemodynamics has been examined in a pig model. Pigs were operated on under general anesthesia, electromagnetic flow probes were inserted around renal arteries, and catheters were implanted in renal veins and aorta for blood sampling. The influence of 15 h of obstruction on the physiological variation in immunoreactive angiotensin II (ANG II) was measured together with detailed analysis of the renal handling of ANG II in anesthetized animals. Pelvic pressure rose significantly within 2 h to a maximum of 59.9 +/- 2.9 cmH2O (n = 10). The ipsilateral renal blood flow (RBF) was reduced by 30% from 319 +/- 35 to 241 +/- 42 ml/min (P = 0.001), whereas contralateral RBF did not change. A temporary significant increase in mean aortic blood pressure was seen during the first 2 h after UUO. Renal vascular resistance increased by 44% in the obstructed kidney from 37 +/- 3 to 55 +/- 9 mmHg.ml-1.min.g during the course of obstruction. Concomitantly, the plasma concentration of immunoreactive ANG II increased from all three sample sites by 8-15 times. This increase was highly significant compared with the sham-operated group. The results show that the pig kidney responds to UUO by a net secretion of ANG II from the ipsilateral kidney. Our observations on the ANG II renal secretion rate suggest that part of the immunoreactive ANG II in the renal venous effluent originated de novo from intrarenal generation.


The article deals with the determination of parameters of longitudinal wood cutting by circular saw blade and construction of the cutting tool. A computational model was chosen to determine stress of the rotating circular saw blade. Stress analysis revealed that maximal stress caused by the temperature gradient was approximately ten times higher than the maximum stress extrapolated from centrifugal forces. In this work were determined the critical speed of the circular saw blade and the power needed to spin. The contribution of this work is the algorithm of the power required for longitudinal wood cutting wood by a circular saw blade, which allows optimal machine tool proposal. Moreover, the calculated state of stress is compared to the FEM model.


We present the surface brightness profile of M31's stellar halo out to a projected radius of 175 kpc. The surface brightness estimates are based on confirmed samples of M31 red giant branch stars derived from Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopic observations. A set of empirical spectroscopic and photometric M31 membership diagnostics is used to identify and reject foreground and background contaminants. This enables us to trace the stellar halo of M31 to larger projected distances and fainter surface brightnesses than previous photometric studies. The surface brightness profile of M31's halo follows a power law with index −2.2 ± 0.2 and extends to a projected distance of at least ∼175 kpc (∼2/3 of M31's virial radius), with no evidence of a downward break at large radii. The best-fit elliptical isophotes have b/a = 0.94 with the major axis of the halo aligned along the minor axis of M31's disk, consistent with a prolate halo, although the data are also consistent with M31's halo having spherical symmetry. The fact that tidal debris features are kinematically cold is used to identify substructure in the spectroscopic fields out to projected radii of 90 kpc and investigate the effect of this substructure on the surface brightness profile. The scatter in the surface brightness profile is reduced when kinematically identified tidal debris features in M31 are statistically subtracted; the remaining profile indicates that a comparatively diffuse stellar component to M31's stellar halo exists to large distances. Beyond 90 kpc, kinematically cold tidal debris features cannot be identified due to small number statistics; nevertheless, the significant field-to-field variation in surface brightness beyond 90 kpc suggests that the outermost region of M31's halo is also comprised to a significant degree of stars stripped from accreted objects.


The curriculum is the master control program of any education system. In this paper it describes the content that students learn, the pedagogy endorsed to teach that content, the assessment system used to measure learning and the certification protocols that authenticate that assessment. In nations recovering from a disaster or rebuilding after conflict, the imperatives of education are submerged in the plethora of more immediate concerns of a nascent government. In that environment, a school curriculum is unlikely to receive considered philosophical or theoretical consideration and the temptation is to either adopt a foreign curriculum or re-establish the old curriculum without any evaluation of its suitability for the emerging nation. This paper is a curriculum primer for first responders and consultants who find themselves in that situation and a reference guide for the Ministers and government officials who will be required to approve aid funding for a curriculum program.


A decade has passed since changes to the Homicide Act 1957, section 2 (under section 52 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009) were implemented. The issues that have arisen since implementation have resulted in significant role confusion in the operation of the partial defence, with the real risk of inconsistent outcomes in practice. The article argues that medicalisation of the partial defence in England and Wales has impacted the role of parties in reaching plea agreements pre-trial, rendered the delineation between legal and medical questions regarding the recognised medical condition requisite unclear and produced significant role confusion between medical experts and jurors in assessing the partial defence. The position stands in stark contrast to the approach under the Crimes Act 1900 (New South Wales) section 23A, where the legislation explicitly outlines the respective role of the medical experts and jurors and prohibits experts from commenting on whether murder ought to be reduced to manslaughter in such cases.


The non-differentiated HL60 cell can be stimulated to secrete when Ca2+ and guanosine 5'-[gamma-thio]-triphosphate (GTP gamma S) are introduced into streptolysin-O-permeabilized cells. Secretion is accompanied by activation of polyphosphoinositide phosphodiesterase (PPI-pde). Both responses show a concentration-dependence on Ca2+ between pCa 8 and pCa 5. The half-maximal requirements for Ca2+ for PPI-pde activation and secretion are pCa 6.4 +/- 0.1 and pCa 6.2 +/- 0.2 respectively. The rank order of potency of the GTP analogues to stimulate PPI-pde activation and secretion is similar; GTP gamma S greater than guanosine 5'-[beta gamma-imido]-triphosphate greater than guanosine 5'-[beta gamma-methylene]triphosphate greater than XTP approximately equal to ITP, but the maximal response achieved by each compound compared with GTP gamma S is much greater for secretion than for PPI-pde activation. A dissociation of the two responses is obtained with 10 mM-XTP and -ITP; secretion is always observed but not inositol trisphosphate formation at this concentration. GTP, dGTP, UTP and CTP are inactive for both secretion and PPI-pde activation. Both GDP and dGDP are competitive inhibitors of both GTP gamma S-induced secretion and PPI-pde activation. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate could not fully substitute for GTP gamma S in stimulating secretion, suggesting that the effect of GTP gamma S cannot result simply from the generation of diacylglycerol. In the absence of MgATP, secretion and PPI-pde activation is still evident, albeit at a reduced level. This also supports the hypothesis that protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation is not essential for secretion. The effect of MgATP is to enhance secretion, and to reduce both the Ca2+ and GTP gamma S requirement for secretion. In conclusion, two roles for guanine nucleotides can be identified; one for activating PPI-pde (GP) and the other for activating exocytosis (GE), acting in series.


Purpose: This study investigates use of social media by airports according to geographical location of the airport, airport size, and airport ownership and operation. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a content analysis of airport websites. The sample consists of 1559 airports worldwide that are members of Airports Council International (ACI). Findings: Almost one-fifth of airports use at least one type of social media; 13% use Facebook, 12% use Twitter, 7% use LinkedIn and 4% use YouTube. There is a greater use of social media by airports in North America and Europe, by larger airports, and by airports that are owned and operated by private interests. Originality/value: This study determines how widespread the use of social media is by airports. The degree to which airports and their customers actually use social media is also determined. Researchers can use the approach and findings of this study as a basis for investigating trends over time. Airport managers can use the findings to inform their own social media decisions.


Gene expression differences, combined with distinct patterns of genomic rearrangements and epigenetic modifications constitute the bases of molecular classification of breast cancer. Molecular subtypes may originate from different cell lineages in the mammary gland, but also from the early activation of oncogenes that may drive the establishment of these molecular subtypes. However, in the natural history of human cancer, it is difficult to discriminate between these two factors : cell lineage and initial oncogenic alterations. In this work, we designed an experimental strategy aiming at determining whether activation of distinct oncogenic pathways in human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC) could lead to different patterns of genetic and epigenetic changes. We show that initial activation of CCNE1, WNT1 and RASv12 in shp53 immortalized HMECs results in different and reproducible profiles of mRNA and miR expression, copy number alterations (CNA) and DNA methylation modifications. Interestingly, first the extend of CNA measured as fraction of the genome altered was lower in HMECs transformed by RAS than CCNE1 and WNT1 transformed HMECs revealing a lower genetic instability. This was confirmed by less numerous γH2Ax and 53BP1 nuclear foci in HMECs transformed by RAS. Second, HMECs transformed by RAS bore specific profiles of CNAs and DNA methylation, clearly distinct of those shown by CCNE1 and WNT1 transformed HMECs. Genes differentially expressed in the RAS and the CCNE1/WNT1 clusters and included in CNAs or with variable CpG methylation were mostly different, depicting the activation of distinct signaling pathways in these two clusters. These data indicate that early activation of distinct oncogenic pathways may leads to adaptive events resulting in specific pattern of CNAs and DNA methylation changes. We postulated that the early activation of oncogenes may be an important determinant of the establishment of breast cancer molecular subtypes along with cell lineage origin. Citation Format: Stan P. du manoir, Claire Fonti, Anne Saumet, Amanda Abi-Khalil, Beatrice Orsetti, Cleroux Elouan, Ambre Bender, Michael Dumas, Jacques Colinge, Michael Weber, Charles Theillet. Distinct oncogenic events induce different DNA methylation and copy number changes in human mammary epithelial cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3112.


This paper presents the results of the Mercatus Center's Small Bank Survey, which include responses from approximately 200 banks across 41 states with less than $10 billion in assets each, serving mostly rural and small metropolitan markets. The initial analysis suggests that Dodd-Frank significantly affects small banks and their customers. A large majority of respondents viewed Dodd-Frank as more burdensome than the Bank Secrecy Act, and the participating banks reported substantially increased compliance costs in the wake of new regulations. These costs include hiring new compliance personnel, increased reliance on outside compliance experts, additional resources allocated to compliance, and more time spent by noncompliance employees on compliance. The increased regulatory burdens have led small banks to reconsider their product and service offerings, including considering whether to stop providing residential mortgages. Many small bank customers, who will have difficulty locating convenient alternatives, will feel the indirect effects of Dodd-Frank.


1. Octopuses from which either the median superior frontal or the vertical lobes have been removed show reduced capacity to learn to attack an unfamiliar figure.

2. The duration of the increased tendency to attack after feeding is reduced by both operations. This suggests that the failure to learn is due to interruption of a self-re-exciting circuit.

3. Although these operated animals would not attack rectangles they continued to attack crabs for much longer than controls, in spite of shocks. They also retained signs of this inhibition less well.

4. When the median superior frontal lobe alone had been removed the remaining vertical lobe was able to exercise considerable restraint by virtue of its input from below.

5. This shows that the effect of this lobe in preventing attack at a particular figure cannot be wholly due to pre-synaptic inhibition, since the effect can appear when the relevant pre-synaptic fibres are absent. The 'pain' fibres are therefore able to activate the vertical lobe to produce inhibition of the system that produces attack at a particular shape.


Identifying how geoscientists interact with seismic images allows a deeper understanding of their rationale and the seismic interpretation process itself. Moreover, identifying nuances involving seismic interpreters performing slightly different roles opens new possibilities relative to how decision support systems could become part of the seismic interpretation. In this work, we detail an eye tracking study involving 11 seismic interpreters interacting with two seismic images. The results show that seismic interpreters, with different specialties, interact with seismic images differently. From the results, it is possible to better characterize gaze strategies from different seismic interpreters, which could also be used as input information for decision support systems.


While early eukaryotic life must have been unicellular, multicellular lifeforms evolved multiple times from protistan ancestors in diverse eukaryotic lineages. The origins of multicellularity are of special interest because they require evolutionary transitions towards increased levels of complexity. We have generated new sequence data from the nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA gene (LSU rDNA) and the SSU rDNA gene of several unicellular opisthokont protists – a nucleariid amoeba (Nuclearia simplex) and four choanoflagellates (Codosiga gracilis, Choanoeca perplexa, Proterospongia choanojuncta and Stephanoeca diplocostata) to provide the basis for re-examining relationships among several unicellular lineages and their multicellular relatives (animals and fungi). Our data indicate that: (1) choanoflagellates are a monophyletic rather than a paraphyletic assemblage that independently gave rise to animals and fungi as suggested by some authors and (2) the nucleariid filose amoebae are the likely sister group to Fungi. We also review published information regarding the origin of multicellularity in the opisthokonts.


The beginning of gravitational wave astronomy started on September 14th 2015 [13].
The event, GW150914, was so loud that the distinct morphological features indicative
of the merger of two inspiraling black holes was di�cult to deny.
The estimation of source parameters and parameterised tests of general relativity
in the strong �eld regime require the use of gravitational waveform models that
predict the inspiral, merger and ringdown of binary black holes according to general
relativity. This thesis is focused on providing the gravitational wave community
with an accurate model for the gravitational wave signal emitted by coalescing,
non-precessing binary black holes covering the inspiral, merger and ringdown.
The solutions to the Einstein equations for the late inspiral, merger and ringdown
of binary black holes can only be obtained by using numerical relativity. However,
the computational cost of a single simulation is on the order of weeks to months and
prohibits a dense sampling of the parameter space. Our method is founded on the
phenomenological modelling program, which was speci�cally designed to directly incorporate
results from numerical relativity and analytic approximations to construct
global models across the parameter space for gravitational wave searches.
We have re�ned the phenomenological method and developed a new waveform
model, IMRPhenomD, which is suitable not only for gravitational wave searches but
is also su�ciently accurate to be in used to estimate the parameters of gravitational
wave candidate events without incurring large systematic uncertainties due to waveform
modelling errors. Subsequent to the work presented here our waveform model
was also extended to include the e�ects of precession, which was used in the analysis
of advanced LIGO data during its �rst observing run (2015-2016), including the
analysis of GW150914.
We evaluate the current state of the �eld of waveform modelling by performing
numerous comparisons between leading inspiral, merger and ringdown waveform
models and �nd that independently developed models are largely in agreement.
This builds con�dence in our models when we use them outside of their respective
calibration regions. However, there are still large regions of parameter space where
the models are in disagreement and we highlight these regions as urgent targets for
new numerical relativity simulations.


Multiscale segmentation is always needed to extract semantic meaningful objects for object-based remote sensing image analysis. Choosing the appropriate segmentation scales for distinct ground objects and intelligently combining them together are two crucial issues to get the appropriate segmentation result for target applications. With respect to these two issues, this paper proposes a simple scale-synthesis method which is highly flexible to be adjusted to meet the segmentation requirements of varying image-analysis tasks. The main idea of this method is to first divide the whole image area into multiple regions; each region consisted of ground objects that have similar optimal segmentation scale. Then, synthesize the suboptimal segmentations of each region to get the final segmentation result. The result is the combination of suboptimal scales of objects and is therefore more coherent to ground objects. To validate this method, the land-cover-category map is used to guide the scale synthesis of multiscale image segmentations for the Quickbird-image land-use classification. First, the image is coarsely divided into multiple regions; each region belongs to a certain land-cover category. Then, multiscale-segmentation results are generated by the Mumford-Shah function based region-merging method. For each land-cover category, the optimal segmentation scale is selected by the supervised segmentation-accuracy-assessment method. Finally, the optimal scales of segmentation results are synthesized under the guide of land-cover category. It is proved that the proposed scale-synthesis method can generate a more accurate segmentation result that benefits the latter classification. The land-use-classification accuracy reaches to 77.8%.


Constrained Random Verification (CRV) is becoming the mainstream methodology for the functional verification of complex System on Chip (SoC) designs. In CRV, constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) solvers are used to generate the input stimulus required for verification. In order to achieve the verification closure, CRV tools have to produce multiple different solutions, distributed uniformly in the search space. One way to achieve even distribution of solutions is to divide the search space into several clusters and generate solutions from each cluster. Present day partitioning techniques treat the number of cluster as an input which must be given in advance. In this paper, we propose a method for estimating this parameter. The experimental results show that the proposed method helps to find the number of cluster accurately in a very short time.


Vivian Endicott Barnett, Curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, has organized major Kandinsky exhibitions and has written extensively on his art in American, German and Swedish publications. In the first of two volumes Kandinsky's temperas, gouaches and watercolours from the Munich years and the Russian period are definitively catalogued and discussed in chronological order (including those known only from documentary evidence). Many previously unknown pictures are published for the first time. The artist's earlier works, his bold abstractions from 1911 to 1914, and his little-known watercolours painted in Russia from 1915 to 1921 are fully documented and illustrated. Vivian Barnett also provides complete provenance, exhibition history and reference for more than 500 watercolours and gouaches, plus an addendum to the Catalogue of Oil Paintings (1982 and 1984). The original essays, complete list of exhibitions, selective biography and extensive colour illustrations make this volume essential for collectors and scholars.


Background Predicting treatment response or survival of cancer patients remains challenging in immuno-oncology. Efforts to overcome these challenges focus, among others, on the discovery of new biomarkers. Despite advances in cellular and molecular approaches, only a limited number of candidate biomarkers eventually enter clinical practice. Methods A computational modeling approach based on ordinary differential equations was used to simulate the fundamental mechanisms that dictate tumor-immune dynamics and to investigate its implications on responses to immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) and patient survival. Using in silico biomarker discovery trials, we revealed fundamental principles that explain the diverging success rates of biomarker discovery programs. Results Our model shows that a tipping point—a sharp state transition between immune control and immune evasion—induces a strongly non-linear relationship between patient survival and both immunological and tumor-related parameters. In patients close to the tipping point, ICI therapy may lead to long-lasting survival benefits, whereas patients far from the tipping point may fail to benefit from these potent treatments. Conclusion These findings have two important implications for clinical oncology. First, the apparent conundrum that ICI induces substantial benefits in some patients yet completely fails in others could be, to a large extent, explained by the presence of a tipping point. Second, predictive biomarkers for immunotherapy should ideally combine both immunological and tumor-related markers, as a patient's distance from the tipping point can typically not be reliably determined from solely one of these. The notion of a tipping point in cancer-immune dynamics helps to devise more accurate strategies to select appropriate treatments for patients with cancer.


A combined experimental and numerical investigation of the solidification process during gravity casting of functionally graded materials (FGMs) is conducted. Focus is placed on understanding the interplay between the freezing front dynamics and particle transport during solidification. Transparent model experiments were performed in a rectangular ingot using pure water and succinonitrile (SCN) as the matrix and glass beads as the particle phase. The time evolutions of local particle volume fractions were measured in situ by bifurcated fiber optical probes working in the reflection mode. The effects of important processing parameters were explored. It is found that there exists a particlefree zone in the top portion of the solidified ingot, followed by a graded particle distribution region towards the bottom. Higher superheat results in slower solidification and hence a thicker particle-free zone and a higher particle concentration near the bottom. The higher initial particle volume fraction leads to a thinner particle-free region. Lower cooling temperatures suppress particle settling. A one-dimensional multiphase solidification model was also developed, and the model equations were solved numerically using a fixed-grid, finite-volume method. The model was then validated against the experimental results and subsequently used as a tool for efficient computational prototyping of an Al/SiC FGM. @DOI: 10.1115/1.1339976#


Abstract A network of parallel workstations promises cost-effective parallel computing. This article presents the HyFi (Hybrid Filaments) package, which can be used to create architecture-independent parallel programs that is, programs that are portable and efficient across different parallel machines. HyFi integrates Shared Filaments (SF), which provides parallelism on shared-memory multiprocessors, and Distributed Filaments (DF), which extracts parallelism from networks of uniprocessors. This enables parallelism on any architecture, including homogeneous networks of multiprocessors. HyFi uses fine-grain parallelism and implicit shared-variable communication to provide a uniform programming model. HyFi adopts the same basic execution model as SF and DF; this work discusses the modifications necessary to develop the hybrid system. In particular, HyFi modifies the signal-thread model as well as the software distributed shared memory of DF. It also unifies the SF and DF reduction operations as well as the dynamic load-balancing mechanism of fork-join filaments. Application programs written using the HyFi API can run unchanged on any architecture. Performance is encouraging on fork/join applications, where excellent speedup is achieved. Also, the fine-grain model of HyFi allows up to a 14.5% improvement due to overlap of communication and computation. Unfortunately, we find that iterative applications do not speed up well due to the inability of the Pentium Xeon architecture to efficiently support concurrent memory accesses.


OBJECTIVES
This study shows the issues that should be considered when applying standardized rates using Community Health Survey(CHS) data.

METHODS
We analyzed 2008 CHS data. In order to obtain the reliability of standardized rates, we calculated z-score and rank correlation coefficients between direct standardized rate and indirect standardized rate for 31 major indices. Especially, we assessed the change of correlations according to population composition (age and sex), and characteristics of the index. We used Mantel-Haenszel chi-square to quantify the difference of population composition.

RESULTS
Among 31 major indices, 29 indices' z-score and rank correlation coefficients were over 0.9. However, regions with larger differences in population composition showed lower reliability. Low reliability was also observed for the indices specific to subgroups with small denominator such as 'permanent lesion from stroke', and the index with large regional variations in age-related differences such as 'obtaining health examinations'.

CONCLUSIONS
Standardized rates may have low reliability, if comparison is made between areas with extremely large differences in population composition, or for indicies with large regional variations in age-related differences. Therefore, the special features of standardized rates should be considered when health state are compared among areas.


We study the use of fi nancial contracts as bid-coordinating device in multi-unit uniform price auctions. Coordination is required whenever firms face a volunteer's dilemma in pricing strategies: one firm (the "volunteer") is needed to increase the market clearing price. Volunteering, however, is costly, as inframarginal suppliers sell their entire capacity whereas the volunteer only sells residual demand. We identify conditions under which signing financial contracts solves this dilemma. We test our framework exploiting data on contract positions by large producers in the New York power market. Using a Monte Carlo simulation, we show that the contracting strategy is payoff dominant and provide estimates of the benefits of such strategy.


ABSTRACT This article maps the many lives of the concept of fungibility in contemporary theories of both blackness and neoliberalism. Framed by the 2018 political chants across the US against 'white supremacy', the article unravels how neoliberalism obfuscates the singular vector of anti-blackness that grounds the colonial ontology of liberalism, modernity, and global capitalism. By tracing the concept of fungibility through the work of Hortense Spillers, Saidiya Hartman, and C. Riley Snorton, the article shows how fungibility works both ontologically and semiotically. The article then tracks fungibility through the neoliberal episteme, as derived from Michel Foucault's lectures on biopolitics, to expose how the neoliberal episteme bastardizes the concepts of social difference into clever accoutrement, thereby eroding the capacity of neoliberal subjects to grasp the persistent ontology of anti-blackness. While the article does not track these dynamics strictly along the trajectories of bio/necropolitics, the foundational role of black death in the colonial ontology of liberalism, modernity, and global capitalism is precisely what the neoliberal episteme obfuscates; by approaching neoliberalism, through Foucault, as the birthing of biopolitics, we see how the division and tensions between biopolitics and necropolitics are racialized. Put more stridently, neoliberalism enables the biopolitical celebration of both life and diversity as values in and of themselves, without any concern for the histories of specific forms of life and specific forms of difference. In this vein, necropolitics calls out the foundational and persistent role of anti-blackness in the colonial ontology of liberalism that neoliberalism intensifies. This leads to the article's concluding demand that white subjects must countenance fungibility in its ontological and semiotic iterations, speculating that we may be entering a historical moment when this might occur.


Gene therapy is a critical tool for the treatment of monogenic retinal diseases. However, the limited vector capacity of the current benchmark delivery strategy, adeno-associated virus (AAV), makes development of larger capacity alternatives, such as compacted DNA nanoparticles (NPs), critical. Here we conduct a side-by-side comparison of self-complementary AAV and CK30PEG NPs using matched ITR plasmids. We report that although AAVs are more efficient per vector genome (vg) than NPs, NPs can drive gene expression on a comparable scale and longevity to AAV. We show that subretinally injected NPs do not leave the eye while some of the AAV-injected animals exhibited vector DNA and GFP expression in the visual pathways of the brain from PI-60 onward. As a result, these NPs have the potential to become a successful alternative for ocular gene therapy, especially for the multitude of genes too large for AAV vectors.


CONTEXT
Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide, but treatment rates in primary care are low.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the cost-effectiveness from a societal perspective of 2 quality improvement (QI) interventions to improve treatment of depression in primary care and their effects on patient employment.

DESIGN
Group-level randomized controlled trial conducted June 1996 to July 1999.

SETTING
Forty-six primary care clinics in 6 community-based managed care organizations.

PARTICIPANTS
One hundred eighty-one primary care clinicians and 1356 patients with positive screening results for current depression.

INTERVENTIONS
Matched practices were randomly assigned to provide usual care (n = 443 patients) or to 1 of 2 QI interventions offering training to practice leaders and nurses, enhanced educational and assessment resources, and either nurses for medication follow-up (QI-meds; n = 424 patients) or trained local psychotherapists (QI-therapy; n = 489). Practices could flexibly implement the interventions, which did not assign type of treatment.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Total health care costs, costs per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY), days with depression burden, and employment over 24 months, compared between usual care and the 2 interventions.

RESULTS
Relative to usual care, average health care costs increased $419 (11%) in QI-meds (P =.35) and $485 (13%) in QI-therapy (P =.28); estimated costs per QALY gained were between $15 331 and $36 467 for QI-meds and $9478 and $21 478 for QI-therapy; and patients had 25 (P =.19) and 47 (P =.01) fewer days with depression burden and were employed 17.9 (P =.07) and 20.9 (P =.03) more days during the study period.

CONCLUSIONS
Societal cost-effectiveness of practice-initiated QI efforts for depression is comparable with that of accepted medical interventions. The intervention effects on employment may be of particular interest to employers and other stakeholders.