This working paper provides a summary assessment of the existing literature and data on digital forms of employment internationally. It illustrates the variability in how it is defined, how it is growing and what kind of risks are associated with these developments. Evaluation of these types of jobs is divided. On one hand, optimists point to the attractions and relative ease in finding employment on digital platforms; on the other hand, more critical perspectives argue that these employment contracts can result in exclusion from social protection systems. The evidence indicates that while overall a relatively small proportion of all employment digital work is growing, both on platforms as well as adoption amongst more traditional companies. The characteristics of digital workers can vary by region and occupation. Overall, they tend to be predominantly younger and more likely male, with a growing number of women albeit in particular occupations. Skills and earnings levels vary but the key issues of disputes is around pay, conditions and employment status. The consequences of this form of work for those with lower skilled digital employment can undermine their social citizenship: they lack comparable employment rights, or when unemployed entitlement to adequate social protection. The potential polarisation effects of digital exclusion and deficits will severely hamper the wider benefits of transparency offered by these technologies. During the pandemic these trends have become more apparent. The imbalance of bargaining power and regulatory governance to bridge gaps in citizenship entitlements undermines the collective potential of policy makers and trade unions to address these challenges. Nevertheless, there is emerging evidence of innovative challenges and contestation of these gaps by both union organisations and national regulators attempts to adapt social protection


ABSTRACT Members of the Serbian diaspora, especially those vocal in representing their home country's views, have previously been regarded as leaning towards nationalistic stances. The results of recent elections, however, indicate that today a rather different situation might be present. This study confirms this indication. The analysis sheds light on the political views of Serbian citizens abroad, discussing the results of two surveys conducted around the 2017 Serbian presidential elections. Three main sets of findings concerning the attitudes of the 'active diaspora' (diaspora members who took part, or wanted to take part, in the voting process) are outlined. First, there is a decisive rejection of the course the country has taken. Second, it is shown that concerns about governance top by far geopolitical issues. Finally, respondents have highlighted a wide-ranging set of issues concerning the voting procedure, which have hindered their ability to participate in the vote. Here they are used as a basis to formulate recommendations for a better electoral process for the diaspora. The overall findings indicate that Serbia's active diaspora might have the potential to participate more vigorously in the political life of the country and that, if emboldened, its weight in future elections could be much higher.


OBJECTIVE
The process of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) clearly contributes to cancer metastasis. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of the EMT-related transcription repressor ZEB1 and the expression of EMT-associated markers (E-cadherin, β-catenin and N-cadherin) in cervical squamous cell carcinoma. In addition, the role of ZEB1 and these EMT-associated markers in the progression and metastasis of cervical squamous cell carcinoma was explored.

METHODS
The expression of ZEB1, E-cadherin, β-catenin and N-cadherin was evaluated in 81 specimens of cervical squamous cell carcinoma by immunohistochemistry; the clinicopathological significance of these markers was then analyzed.

RESULTS
1) Of the 81 samples, 37 cases (45.7%) were positive for ZEB1, and nuclear expression of ZEB1 in tumor cells was positively associated with the differentiation status of the tumor tissue (P < 0.05), vascular invasion (P < 0.05) and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). 2) The loss of E-cadherin and β-catenin expression in tumor cells and the acquisition of N-cadherin expression were positively associated with the differentiation status of the tumor tissue (P < 0.05) and with the occurrence of vascular invasion (P < 0.05). 3) A significant negative correlation was observed between ZEB1 and E-cadherin expression (Spearman = -0.636, P < 0.05) and between ZEB1 and β-catenin expression (Spearman = -0.417, P < 0.05). Moreover, a significant positive correlation was observed between ZEB1 and N-cadherin expression (Spearman = 0.557, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
These results emphasize the role of EMT in cervical squamous cell carcinoma. The upregulation of ZEB1 is associated with the abnormal expression of E-cadherin, β-catenin and N-cadherin, which might promote the progression and metastasis of cervical squamous cell carcinoma.


Basketball competition is intense, shooting technique is the key to a team scoring. This paper applies differential equation modelling knowledge to make research on basketballmovement rules in the air, and gets basketball air movement trajectory formula. According to trajectory formula, it gets rim any distance status best release speed, angle. Combine with fluid mechanics knowledge, it carries out force analysis on basketball air movement, and it finds out basketball speed and air resistance function relationships by combing differential equationmodelling knowledge. Then it carries out basketball force analysis and gets basketball air movement trajectory formula, so that finds out basketball airmovement rules to make contributions to basketball playersÂ' shooting technique improvement


The effects of fertilisers on 8 tropical turfgrasses growing in 100-L bags of sand were studied over winter in Murrumba Downs, just north of Brisbane in southern Queensland (latitude 27.4°S, longitude 153.1°E). The species used were: Axonopus compressus (broad-leaf carpetgrass), Cynodon dactylon (bermudagrass 'Winter Green') and C. dactylon × C. transvaalensis hybrid ('Tifgreen'), Digitaria didactyla (Queensland blue couch), Paspalum notatum (bahiagrass '38824'), Stenotaphrum secundatum (buffalograss 'Palmetto'), Eremochloa ophiuroides (centipedegrass 'Centec') and Zoysia japonica (zoysiagrass 'ZT-11'). Control plots were fertilised with complete fertilisers every month from May to September (72 kg N/ha, 31 kg P/ha, 84 kg K/ha, 48 kg S/ha, 30 kg Ca/ha and 7.2 kg Mg/ha), and unfertilised plots received no fertiliser. Carpetgrass and standard bermudagrass were the most sensitive species to nutrient supply, with lower shoot dry weights in the unfertilised plots (shoots mowed to thatch level) compared with the fertilised plots in June. There were lower shoot dry weights in the unfertilised plots in July for all species, except for buffalograss, centipedegrass and zoysiagrass, and lower shoot dry weights in the unfertilised plots in August for all species, except for centipedegrass. At the end of the experiment in September, unfertilised plots were 11% of the shoot dry weights of fertilised plots, with all species affected. Mean shoot nitrogen concentrations fell from 3.2 to 1.7% in the unfertilised plots from May to August, below the sufficiency range for turfgrasses (2.8-3.5%). There were also declines in P (0.45-0.36%), K (2.4-1.5%), S (0.35-0.25%), Mg (0.24-0.18%) and B (9-6 mg/kg), which were all in the sufficiency range. The shoots in the control plots took up the following levels (kg/ha.month) of nutrients: N, 10.0-27.0; P, 1.6-4.0; K, 8.2-19.8; S, 1.0-4.2; Ca, 1.1-3.3; and Mg, 0.8-2.2, compared with applications (kg/ha.month) of: N, 72; P, 31; K, 84; S, 48; Ca, 30; and Mg, 7.2, indicating a recovery of 14-38% for N, 5-13% for P, 10-24% for K, 2-9% for S, 4-11% for Ca and 11-30% for Mg. These results suggest that buffalograss, centipedegrass and zoysiagrass are less sensitive to low nutrient supply than carpetgrass, bermudagrass, blue couch and bahiagrass. Data on nutrient uptake showed that the less sensitive species required only half or less of the nitrogen required to maintain the growth of the other grasses, indicating potential savings for turf managers in fertiliser costs and the environment in terms of nutrients entering waterways.


Abstract Patterns and distribution of fluvial architectural elements in the John Henry Member (Upper Cretaceous, Straight Cliffs Formation) are documented in the southwestern Kaiparowits Plateau, Utah through detailed, outcrop-based facies characterization and mapping across ∼ 20 km down depositional dip. Observed facies associations and fluvial architectures define seven distinct depositional units (DUs), from stratigraphic base to top: DU-0, braided-river channel belts and tide-influenced channels; DU-1, highly amalgamated meandering-river channel belts with local braided and tide-influenced interdistributary channels; DU-2, laterally extensive, highly sinuous meandering-river channel belts; DU-3, straight channels in thick floodplain deposits; DU-4, laterally restricted, moderately amalgamated meandering-river channel belts; DU-5, laterally extensive, moderately amalgamated braided-river channel belts; and DU-6, highly amalgamated braided-river channel belts. The John Henry Member is characterized by two trends: from DU-1 to DU-3, an upward decrease in grain size, channel-belt frequency and lateral extent, and a shift from braided to meandering channel geometries with episodic tidal influence; and from DU-4 to DU-6, an upward increase in grain size, channel-belt frequency and lateral extent, and a shift from meandering to braided channel geometries. Overall, these trends represent a hybrid of previous models for the formation of nonmarine depositional sequences. To the west, the lower trend was bounded at the base by an erosional surface that may represent a local valley-fill succession. Incision is potentially linked to a tectonically induced relative base-level fall, although other factors such as eustasy and autogenic processes cannot be discounted. A subsequent period of high accommodation is reflected in DUs 2, 3, and 4, and correlates to transgressive marginal marine strata located ∼ 60 km down depositional dip. The upper trend in the John Henry Member fluvial strata can be explained by up-dip, mainly tectonic controls on subsidence and sediment supply, and autogenic progradation of a large, distributive fluvial fan system in DUs 4, 5, and 6.


In order to avoid costly data collection practices common in hedonic valuation of aesthetic amenities, easy-to-collect secondary County tax and geospatial data are used to derive estimates for spatial effects on residential land values. Three Georgia Counties were selected due to data availability: Clarke, Henry, and Richmond. All properties meeting panel-design criterion are included in analysis samples. Large datasets prompt the omission of traditional hedonic model variables such as property characteristics. The focus of analysis is directed toward Canopy and Impervious land-cover estimates. Focal means are calculated at different ranges for immediate and neighborhood-wide assessment of surrounding cover. Community variables designed to describe neighborhood composition are included. Class, the measure of average size and Density, the average distance between nearby homes, are calculated at same neighborhood ranges as Focal means. Regressors also include distances to Schools, Hospitals, Airports, and Highways. Pooled Ordinary Least Squares performed with data normalized by log-transformation yields practical, statistically significant results. Consistency of estimates among Counties provides assurance of model viability, while variety is still strong between all Counties. Some concerns of data reliability and appropriateness of goodness-of-fit measure are voiced for any future analysis.


Incorporation of the prognostic microphysics scheme to model the grid-resolvable precipitation physics in general circulation models (GCMs) influences the simulated climatology in various ways: 1) the microphysics effect that represents clouds and precipitation processes with ice phases in the bulk microphysics scheme, 2) the cloudiness effect that considers the ice-phase properties in computing fractional cloudiness, 3) the radiation property effect that considers the ice-cloud properties in the radiation algorithm, and 4) the detrainment effect that considers the detrained liquid species from the convective clouds into the stratiform clouds. The individual role of these processes is investigated on a single column model (SCM) and seasonal simulation framework to improve our understanding of the ice-cloud radiation interaction in GCMs. In both the SCM and GCM simulations, the microphysics effect reduces large-scale precipitation, whereas the corresponding temperature changes are not distinct in the GCM simulations. The cloudiness effect is relatively insignificant in both testbeds. The radiation property effect plays an important role in modulating the temperature and moisture in both testbeds by directly influencing the radiative fluxes. The convective cloud detrainment effect reduces the global-mean precipitation significantly in the GCM simulation, whereas its effect is negligible in the SCM testbed. Our study demonstrates that an understanding of the fundamental characteristics of microphysics and associated cloudiness, radiation properties, and their interaction in modulating large-scale features is pre-requisite to the successful implementation of a specific prognostic cloud scheme in GCMs.


Real-time monitoring of gas-liquid pipe flow is highly demanded in industrial processes in the chemical and power engineering sectors. Therefore, the present contribution describes the novel design of a robust wire-mesh sensor with an integrated data processing unit. The developed device features a sensor body for industrial conditions of up to 400 °C and 135 bar as well as real-time processing of measured data, including phase fraction calculation, temperature compensation and flow pattern identification. Furthermore, user interfaces are included via a display and 4…20 mA connectivity for the integration into industrial process control systems. In the second part of the contribution, we describe the experimental verification of the main functionalities of the developed system. Firstly, the calculation of cross-sectionally averaged phase fractions along with temperature compensation was tested. Considering temperature drifts of up to 55 K, an average deviation of 3.9% across the full range of the phase fraction was found by comparison against image references from camera recordings. Secondly, the automatic flow pattern identification was tested in an air–water two-phase flow loop. The results reveal reasonable agreement with well-established flow pattern maps for both horizontal and vertical pipe orientations. The present results indicate that all prerequisites for an application in industrial environments in the near future are fulfilled.


In this paper, we present a reconfigurable architecture for networks-on-chip (NoC) on which arbitrary application-specific topologies can be implemented. When a new application starts, the proposed NoC tailors its topology to the application traffic pattern by changing the inter-router connections to some predefined configuration corresponding to the application. It addresses one of the main drawbacks of the existing application-specific NoC optimization methods, i.e., optimization of NoCs based on the traffic pattern of a single application. Supporting multiple applications is a critical feature of an NoC when several different applications are integrated into a single modern and complex multicore system-on-chip or chip multiprocessor. The proposed reconfigurable NoC architecture supports multiple applications by appropriately configuring itself to a topology that matches the traffic pattern of the currently running application. This paper first introduces the proposed reconfigurable topology and then addresses the problems of core to network mapping and topology exploration. Further on, we evaluate the impact of different architectural attributes on the performance of the proposed NoC. Evaluations consider network latency, power consumption, and area complexity.


Summary— Hypertension is highly prevalent in the US and around the world and its control is suboptimal. A variety of surveillance definitions for hypertension and hypertension control are in frequent use. We found a wide variation of prevalence of hypertension and hypertension control when different definitions, inclusion/exclu-sion criteria and age adjustment schemes were used by examining 19 published studies using NHANES 2003 to 2004 or more recent cycles. We proposed standard surveillance definitions of hypertension prevalence and control among adults and standard parameters for age-adjustment and population composition to enable meaningful population comparisons and monitoring of trends. We reported the age-standardized prevalence of hypertension and hypertension control rate for NHANES 2007 to 2008 using the recommended definitions. Conclusions— Surveillance definitions of hypertension and hypertension control vary in the literature. We present standard definitions of hypertension prevalence and control among adults and standard parameters for age-adjustment and population composition that will enable meaningful population comparisons and monitoring of trends. 1 Summary— In this long-term prospective cohort study, we studied the association of body mass index with risk of developing hypertension from young adulthood into middle age and through late life. Repeated assessments of body mass index, blood pressure, and risk factors for developing hypertension over the life course enabled us to examine the influence of lifestyle and behavior in young adult life through middle age on health later in life. Obesity in young adulthood conferred a 3-fold risk of hypertension after 46 years of fol-low-up, even after we accounted for change in lifestyle factors over the life course. Men who were of normal weight in early adulthood but who became overweight or obese in midlife were twice as likely to develop hypertension as men who maintained a normal weight. Loss of weight between young adulthood and middle age conferred no additional risk. Rate of change of body mass index over the life course was an independent predictor of risk of hypertension, independent of the level of body mass index, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity, and coffee drinking. Although the data were observational, the temporal relationship established by the long fol-low-up and repeated assessment of both body weight and blood pressure provided strong evidence for the association between body mass index and hypertension. This study showed that increase of weight at any time in the life course increased the risk of developing hypertension after adjustment for other risk factors. Conclusions— Our findings underscore the importance of higher weight and weight gain in increasing the risk of hypertension from young adulthood through middle age and into late life. 3 Summary— hypertension, In a large metropolitan area, hypertension detection and control has been a goal for many years. The results of this sustained focus are shown in the present report, in which ≈ 70% of hypertensive subjects in the adult population were aware of their hypertension, were treated, and had their blood pressure controlled to recommended levels. This may in part be because of higher rates of insurance, education, and income in the state of Minnesota; however, it also points to quality healthcare systems that have targeted high blood pressure as an important goal for cardiovascular disease prevention. With this combination of factors, it is possible to have high levels of blood pressure control and resulting declines in stroke deaths. Conclusions— The rate of hypertension detection and control in this community is among the highest observed in a US population and already exceeds Healthy People 2020 goals. 4 hypertension, and hyperlipidemia was uncommon and generally transient. Small changes in the treatment targets had large effects on the proportion of individuals achieving simultaneous control of glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. Conclusions— Simultaneous control of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia was uncommon and generally transient. Less stringent goals had a relatively large effect on the proportion achieving simultaneous control. Individuals who simultaneously achieve multiple treatment goals may provide insight into self-care strategies for individuals with comorbid health conditions. in experimental models of preeclampsia and in clinical trials. Conclusions— These studies provide a clue to the involvement of the LXR pathway in sEng release and its pathogenic role in vascular disorders such as preeclampsia. , Summary— Hypertension is a major cardiovascular risk factor influ-enced by genetic propensity and various environmental stimuli. The present longitudinal study aimed to examine the best combination of childhood physical and environmental factors to predict adult hypertension. Furthermore, we examined whether newly identified genetic variants for blood pressure enhance the prediction of adult hypertension. In this longitudinal study, 2625 individuals who participated in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study in the baseline year 1980 (when 3–18 years of age) were followed up 21 to 27 years (then 24–45 years of age). Youth risk factors independently associated with adult hypertension were the individual's own systolic and diastolic blood pressures, parental hypertension, youth overweight/obesity, low parental occupational status, and high genetic risk score. We also found that both parental hypertension history and the genetic risk score enhanced the prediction of adult hypertension when added sep-arately to the prediction model compared with the model consisting of only childhood blood pressure. Furthermore, the prediction power was significantly stronger when both of these variables were added to the same model. From these findings, it seems that the genetic risk score and parental hypertension provide complementary information. Present data suggest that a multifactorial approach, if implemented, could improve the identification of children with a high risk of adult hypertension. Moreover, these data demonstrate that the prediction of adult hypertension was enhanced when the novel genetic variants were taken into account. In terms of the care of individual patients with elevated blood pressure, our data emphasize the importance of overweight as a potential modifiable risk factor. Conclusions— Prediction of adult hypertension was enhanced by taking into account known physical and environmental childhood risk factors, family history of hypertension, and novel genetic variants. A multifactorial approach may be useful in identifying children at high risk for adult hypertension. 9 pathophysiology. Given the complex molecular and cellular pathways underlying the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension, therapies aimed at multiple pathways and cellular targets may prove to be more efficacious. Stem cell–based therapies hold such a promise because they can simultaneously target diverse signaling pathways and have long-last-ing effects. Accumulating studies support an important cytoprotective, anti-inflammatory role for mesenchymal stem cells with demonstrated efficacy against pulmonary hypertension in animal models of disease. We previously reported both prevention and reversal of severe pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure in a mouse model of hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension and have postulated a paracrine mode of mesenchymal stem cell protective functions. In this report, we show that mesenchymal stem cells secrete microvesicles (exo-somes), which are the vectors of their action, being both necessary and sufficient to confer cytoprotection on the lung vasculature. We show that, potentially through epigenetic mechanisms involving microRNA signaling, mesenchymal stromal cell exosome preparations can have long-lasting therapeutic effects on pulmonary hypertension. These findings may lead to the development of alternative strategies in the field of stem cell–based therapies, at least for certain lung diseases, in that delivery of in vitro purified exosomes could substitute for the delivery of intact cells. Exosome treatment, in addition to its enhanced practicality in terms of storage and administration, does not carry the danger of oncogenic potential of donor cells, an important consider-ation in all stem cell–based therapies. Conclusions— This study indicates that MEX exert a pleiotropic protective effect on the lung and inhibit pulmonary hypertension through suppression of hyperproliferative pathways, including STAT3-mediated signaling induced by hypoxia. Conclusions— percutaneous transluminal pulmonary (PTPA) improved subjective symptoms and objective variables, including pulmonary hemodynamics. PTPA may be a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. 12 Summary— Histone deacetylases (HDACs) have emerged as key targets to reverse aberrant epigenetic changes associated with cancer and autoimmune disease,and HDAC inhibitors show promise as antican-cer and anti-inflammatory agents. We examined the pattern of HDAC expression in lungs from patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension and investigated the effect of HDAC inhibition on the reversal of pulmonary hypertension in a rat model. Coupled to this, we explored the effects on mechanisms (proliferation, apoptosis, and inflammation) relevant to the pathology of pulmonary arterial hypertension in human and animal cell model systems. Our results demonstrate that increased HDAC activity contributes to the vascular pathology of pulmonary hypertension. The effectiveness of the HDAC inhibitors valproic acid and suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid in models of pulmonary arterial hypertension supports a therapeutic strategy based on HDAC inhibition in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Conclusions—


The potential for nutrient limitation to affect the phytoplankton community was assessed from 1997 to 1998 in Wilson Inlet, Western Australia. Samples of the endemic phytoplankton community were assayed by giving them nutrient mixes deficient in one of the following: nitrogen, phosphate, silicate, iron, trace metals, or vitamins. When ranked from those treatments with the most potential to limit phytoplankton biomass to those with less potential, the bioassay results suggested that N>P>>Si>Fe, and trace metals and vitamins were never potentially limiting. In summer and autumn, the bioassay data suggested that nitrogen and phosphorus were the nutrients with greatest potential to constrain phytoplankton biomass. Though the concentrations of soluble nutrients were high in winter, bioassays indicated that the phytoplankton community was potentially nutrient limited. Physical conditions such as high flow rate, greater turbidity, lower temperature, and greater light attenuation contributed to lower phytoplankton growth rates during winter. The bioassay data indicated that the phytoplankton biomass was least likely to be constrained by dissolved inorganic nutrients in spring than any other time of the year. In spring the endemic phytoplankton community responded to salinity‐stratification induced sediment‐nutrient release with a marked increase of biomass. Nitrogen was the nutrient with greatest potential to limit the phytoplankton biomass during spring. The bioassay data conflicted with the dissolved inorganic nitrogen to phosphorus molar ratios, which suggested that P was more likely to limit the phytoplankton biomass during spring. The discrepancy between the two data sets was probably caused by inaccuracies in measuring the concentration of dissolved inorganic phosphorus in spring. Therefore, the results from the current study suggest that the Redfield paradigm, based on the ratio of dissolved inorganic nutrient concentration, provided an inadequate description of phytoplankton nutrient limitation in Wilson Inlet.


The research examined the socio-emotional impact of sight loss on a sample of 18 blind and partially sighted adults from the east coast of Scotland (average age 64). The impact of sight loss in four core areas (mood, self-concept, social connectedness and loss) was explored. Data were collected using the mental health and social functioning subscales of the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire-25 and semi-structured interviews. Data indicated that participants experienced reduced mental health and decreased social functioning as a result of sight loss. Data also showed that participants shared common socio-emotional issues during transition from sight to blindness, relating to diagnosis, coping with deterioration of sight, experiencing loss, experiencing changed perceptions of self in relation to society, experiencing others in a changed way and experiencing rehabilitation. A theoretical model describing the socio-emotional transition from sight to blindness is proposed. Implications for practice are explored.


The infimal convolution of total (generalized) variation type functionals and its application as regularization for video and image reconstruction is considered. The definition of this particular type of regularization functional is motivated by the need of suitably combining spatial and temporal regularity requirements for video processing. The proposed functional is defined in an infinite dimensional setting and important analytical properties are established. As applications, the reconstruction of compressed video data and of noisy still images is considered. The resulting problem settings are posed in function space and suitable numerical solution schemes are established. Experiments confirm a significant improvement compared to standard total variation type methods, which originates from the introduction of spatio-temporal and spatial anisotropies. Mathematical subject classification: 94A08 49M29 65F22


Magnetically gated accretion has emerged as a proposed mechanism for producing extremely short, repetitive bursts of accretion onto magnetized white dwarfs in intermediate polars (IPs), but this phenomenon has not been detected previously in a confirmed IP. We report the 27 day TESS light curve of V1025 Cen, an IP that shows a remarkable series of 12 bursts of accretion, each lasting for less than 6 hours. The extreme brevity of the bursts and their short recurrence times (∼1–3 days) are incompatible with the dwarf-nova instability, but they are natural consequences of the magnetic gating mechanism developed by Spruit and Taam to explain the Type II bursts of the accreting neutron star known as the Rapid Burster. In this model, the accretion flow piles up at the magnetospheric boundary and presses inward until it couples with the star's magnetic field, producing an abrupt burst of accretion. After each burst, the reservoir of matter at the edge of the magnetosphere is replenished, leading to cyclical bursts of accretion. A pair of recent studies applied this instability to the suspected IPs MV Lyr and TW Pic, but the magnetic nature of these two systems has not been independently confirmed. In contrast, previous studies have unambiguously established the white dwarf in V1025 Cen to be significantly magnetized. The detection of magnetically gated bursts in a confirmed IP therefore validates the extension of the Spruit and Taam instability to magnetized white dwarfs.


The relationships between the auditory brainstem response (ABR) latencies and the results of three phychophysical measurements-pure tone audiometry, speech discrimination test and directional hearing test-were investigated in 58 subjects with presbyacusis. ABR latencies in presbyacusis patients were also compared with those in young adults with normal hearing or cochlear hearing loss. The results were as follows: There was a significant correlation between the average thresholds of pure tone audiometry and latencies of ABR waves I, III, V and/or interpeak latencies of waves I-III and I-V. There was a significant correlation between the scores of the speech discrimination test and latencies of waves I, III and V. There was also a significant correlation between the value of the directional hearing test and only interpeak latency of waves I-III. It was found that the I-III peak interval was prolonged in the ABR of presbyacusis, and that the results of pure tone audiometry and directional hearing tests were rather well correlated with the prolonged I-III peak interval.


In this paper a scheme is proposed for generating a programmable current reference which can be implemented in the CMOS technology. The current can be varied over a wide range by changing an external voltage applied to one of the control gates of FGMOS (Floating Gate MOSFET). For a range of supply voltages and temperature, CMOS current reference is found to be dependent, this dependence is compensated by subtracting two current outputs with the same dependencies on the supply voltage and temperature. The system performance is found to improve with the use of FGMOS. Mathematical analysis of the proposed circuit is done to establish supply voltage and temperature independence. Simulation and performance evaluation of the proposed current reference circuit is done using TANNER EDA Tools. The current reference shows the supply and temperature dependencies of 520 ppm/V and 312 ppm/oC, respectively. The proposed current reference can operate down to 0.9 V supply. Keywords-Floating Gate MOSFET, current reference, self bias scheme, temperature independency, supply voltage independency.


This practical book sets out how HR can become a true business partner. It will require a rethinking of HR's contribution to the organization in the future. All the key topics are covered in this work from a specific HR strategic model, reshaping of HR to align itself better with the business, and a number of new tools and techniques to aid in creating real financial value to the organization. Many HR personnel have already jumped onto the title of calling themselves a business partner, but what this involves is a very different and complex skill set as well as a new process approach to creating added value. Being a business partner is a very different and exciting approach to creating measurable value, specifically from HR activities and interventions.


Plasmonic metasurfaces, which can be considered as the two-dimensional analog of metal-based metamaterials, have recently attracted considerable attention due to the possibility to fully control the reflected or transmitted light, while featuring relatively low losses even at optical wavelengths and being suitable for planar fabrication techniques. Among all the different design approaches, one particular configuration, consisting of a subwavelength thin dielectric spacer sandwiched between an optically thick metal film and an array of metal nanobricks (also known as nanopatches), has gained awareness from researchers working in practical any frequency regime as its realization only requires on step of lithography, yet with the possibility to fully control the amplitude and phase of the reflected light. At optical wavelengths, the full control of the reflected light is closely associated with gap surface plasmon (GSP) resonances and, hence, the configuration is also known as GSP-based metasurface. In this work, we highlight the connection between the properties of GSP modes and the optical response of GSP-based metasurfaces, particularly discussing the possibility to independently control either the reflection phases for two orthogonal polarizations or both the amplitude and phase of the reflected light for one polarization by proper choice of geometrical and material parameters [1]. Having obtained thorough insight into the optical response of GSP-based metasurfaces, we design and realize at optical and near-infrared wavelengths a broad range of inhomogeneous metasurfaces targeting different applications. For example, we exemplify the control of reflection amplitude by performing plasmonic color printing on a subwavelength scale [2], while full control of reflection phases for orthogonal polarizations are illustrated by the realization of unidirectional polarization-controlled surface plasmon polariton couplers [3] and compact polarimeters [4]. Finally, the simultaneous control of the amplitude and phase of reflected light allow us to perform calculus operations, such as differentiation and integration, on the incident light [5], which signifies the possibility to do optical signal processing using GSP-based metasurfaces. References: 1. A. Pors and S. I. Bozhevolnyi, "Gap plasmon-based phase-amplitude metasurfaces: material constraints", Opt. Mater. Express 5, 2448-2458 (2015). 2. A. S. Roberts, A. Pors, O. Albrektsen, and S. I. Bozhevolnyi, "Subwavelength plasmonic color printing for ambient use", Nano Lett. 14, 783-787 (2014). 3. A. Pors, M. G. Nielsen, T. Bernardin, J.-C. Weeber, and S. I. Bozhevolnyi, "Efficient unidirectional polarization-controlled excitation of surface plasmon polaritons", Light: Sci. Applications 3, e197 (2014). 4. A. Pors, M. G. Nielsen, and S. I. Bozhevolnyi, "Plasmonic metagratings for simultaneous determination of Stokes parameters", Optica 2, 716-723 (2015). 5. A. Pors, M. G. Nielsen, and S. I. Bozhevolnyi, "Analog computing using reflective plasmonic metasurfaces", Nano Lett. 15, 791-797 (2015).


Provides the most up-to-date information on transgender science and its applications, for gender-diverse people, their supporters, and the professionals who assist them to lead healthy, happy, and successful lives.
 The number of people presenting at gender clinics worldwide for assistance has increased exponentially in the last decade. Transgender people also have become much more prominent in the media. An increase in political populism, however, has brought unprecedented attacks on trans* people. Covering a wealth of topics relevant to transgender people and their supporters, both social and professional, Heath and Wynne help readers to see through the flawed arguments of those who wish to inflict damage on the trans* community.
 The content of this book ranges from theoretical ideas about the origin of gender diversity to practical solutions for trans* people to enjoy life in their chosen gender. Physical health topics include hormone therapy, puberty blockers, breast augmentation/reduction, gender confirmation surgery, and speech therapy. Mental health topics include dealing with discrimination, bullying, and transphobia.
 The text is presented so that it can be understood with no scientific background, but is also highly relevant to the health professional. Copious footnotes and references allow those wishing to delve more deeply into the topics to do so easily. The book is also supported by readily accessible resources available online and on social media.


A new method is presented for the synthesis of functional methacrylate ester monomers. In this method, boron esters of appropriate alcohols were reacted with methacrylic acid to give the corresponding methacrylic ester monomers. The monomers N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DAMA), 2-chloroethyl methacrylate (CEMA), 2-bromoethyl methacrylate (BEMA), 2-methoxyethyl methacrylate (MEMA) and butyl methacrylate (BMA) were prepared in a laboratory scale by a two-step one-pot process. In the first step, the corresponding boron esters were formed by azeotropic removal of water. Subsequently, addition of methacrylic acid and heating at 140–160°C in the presence of pyridine resulted in acidolysis of the boron esters, yielding the functional methacrylate ester monomers in acceptable yields (41–71%). The monomers obtained were characterized by 1H-NMR and FT-IR spectra after isolation and purification. Their polymerizability was also demonstrated.


Changes in the international environment – the decline in the interest of the major states in providing global security, a decrease in the role and influence of the UN, a rise in the activities of non-state actors, transitions in a number of fragile states – require changes in the way we think about peace and security. It is no longer a matter of simply establishing strong global defense alliances and bolstering the capacity of states to provide security to their inhabitants. Long-term sustainable stability requires improved governance, protection of individual rights, equitable economic development, and engagement of many different individuals and institutions in order to work. This course explores the new international environment, and looks at different actors and some of the issues they face in trying to provide peace, stability and social and political development in this environment. This course is intended to provide a solid foundation for both inquiry and application. The course will introduce students to some of the major concepts and dilemmas faced by professionals and policymakers, and will also put them into the role of practitioners trying to develop responses to these challenges. The course will connect theory to practice through discussion, research, and case studies, and will stress application through frequent class exercises. It will be useful for anyone with an interest in conflict resolution and management, including professionals in the fields of diplomacy, conflict management, security, journalism, development assistance, humanitarian aid, the military or international peacekeeping who wish to develop their knowledge of this important area.


textabstractMozambique has been a centralized State since its independence in 1975. During this time, local government has depended on the Central Government and has lacked autonomy in both local policy decisions and resource management in addition to the complete failure of effective local services delivery. However, from the first democratic local elections in 1998, municipalities have put in place new structures and more participatory processes to aid decision-making and implementation. They have also each elected a mayor and a municipal assembly, the latter representing local communities, and they have enjoyed more autonomy in decision-making and management of financial resources. The study seeks to assess the extent to which these new structures and decision-making processes are able to respond to the needs and wants of the communities they claim to represent. Considering that the aim of decentralization down to the local level is to cure the ills of centralization of decision-making, when devolving powers and competences to municipalities, it is important to develop local capacities for effective basic service delivery coverage. Since these are new institutions, the study also identifies and examines if the capacity-building initiatives delivered by Central Government, donors and non-governmental organizations to these municipalities address the gaps in their capacity to deliver services. Because decentralization is a relatively new phenomenon in Mozambique, there is a lack of literature in the area. This research contributes to fill the gap and provides a detailed framework that combines leadership, politics and local government capacities to translate participatory approaches to governance into positive results. This study took place in five Mozambican municipalities: Dondo, Matola, Manhica, Nacala-Porto and Chimoio. The Mozambican municipal governments are meant to involve various actors, namely local community members, community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations, the private sector and others in the process of decision-making to respond to local needs effectively. The study looks at the following factors: leadership personal characteristics, institutional set-up and influence of political parties in decision-making. Apart from these political factors, this study examines other explanatory factors involving local government capacities namely the capacity to plan and make decisions, local government administrative capacity, local government financial management capacity and local government capacity to convene. These factors explain improvements in basic service delivery coverage. In some instances, ineffective leadership, inefficient administrative services and financial management explained poor service delivery coverage. Although the decentralization process is still relatively in its infancy, the research found that the existing municipal capacity to deliver services was still poor in most municipalities studied except Dondo and Matola. Apart from this, the impact of capacity-building initiatives delivered by donors, Central Government and non-governmental organizations to these new municipalities remained weak and municipalities still had shortage of qualified staff, infrastructure, finances, work materials and equipment. Because of these slow and weak capacity-building initiatives, local service delivery coverage was still unsatisfactory to local communities in most municipalities studied. In addition, although the Local Government Act (1997) seems to be clear and addresses most relevant issues concerning devolution, the Central Government resists change from fear of the unknown and departure from the status quo. Although it takes time for municipalities to learn and deliver services effectively, it seems that patron-client relationships pervaded the entire municipalization process, affecting service delivery negatively. In the end, a decentralization process intended as de-concentration for districts and devolution for municipalities became de-concentration for both districts and municipalities. Evidence also indicates that the party in power applies the majority democratic system to stifle political party competition and participation, to stimulate ruling party monopoly in decision-making, poor accountability and to limit the voice of the minority. In this regard, a single-party system is re-emerging in a country that claims to be a multiparty democracy.


We present the stochastic approach to nonlinear kinetic equations (without gradient terms) in a unifying general framework, which covers many interactions important in applications, like coagulation, fragmentation, inelastic collisions, as well as source and e ux terms. We provide conditions for the existence of corresponding stochastic particle systems in the sense of regularity (non-explosion) of a jump process with unbounded intensity. Using an appropriate space of measure-valued functions, we prove relative compactness of the sequence of processes and characterize the weak limits in terms of solutions to the nonlinear equation. As a particular application, we derive existence theorems for Smoluchowski's coagulation equation with fragmentation, e ux and source terms, and for the Boltzmann equation with dissipative collisions.


Stratigraphical problems of the Upper Jurassic deposits in the Warszawa Synclinorium The authors present stratigraphical subdivision of Upper Jurassic deposits penetrated by boreholes in anticlinaI structures of Lipno (boreholes Lipno 2 and Lipno 4) and Kamionki (boreholes Kamionki 1 and Kamionki 2), in the NW part of the Warsaw synclinorium (cf. Fig. 1, lithological and lithostratigraphical columns in Fig. 2 and some photomicrographs in Pls, 2-4). Higher-order lithostratigraphical units (group, formations) established by the authors are found over the whole Warsaw synclinorium area and also in some other parts of Poland. However, these units were not established in a strictly formal way, nor were they named after geographical localities, as adequate type sections should be chosen where these units are exposed at the surface, e.g. in the Holy Cross Mts or in the Polish Jura Chain.


Serial peak expiratory flow (PEF) records are useful for the screening and diagnosis of patients with occupational asthma. We have presented work on a method based on linear discriminant analysis (OASYS-2) and have now tried to improve on this technique and investigate the repeatabilities of expert interpretation. 268 serial PEF records made by workers with possible occupational asthma were divided into four sets. The first two were development sets; development set 1 was used to develop a discriminant analysis to match the human expert, who scored each complex (a sequence of work days, then rest days, then work days, or its counterpart: rest-work-rest) for its likelihood of having a work-related effect. This was modelled using 729 new measurements from each complex, together with the 50 measurements originally used in the development of OASYS-2. Linear discriminant analysis is a statistical technique which can refine from a large number of indices a narrower range that best predict a known outcome. Combinations of these indices are weighted and used to assign outcomes for novel cases. Models were produced containing a combination of measurements that generated scores best matching the expert. Development set 2 was used to test the model. Sets 3 and 4 were "gold standard" sets where the diagnosis had been made independently of the PEF record. Set 3 was used to set the cut-off for an occupational effect, the sensitivity and specificity for the combined model was determined from the fourth (gold standard) set. The fourth set was also used to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the human expert. The repeatability of the human expert re-scoring the same complexes had a weighted kappa score of 0.71. OASYS-3 was 100% repeatable. Comparing the scores awarded to whole records by the new (OASYS-3) and OASYS-2 analysis methods with the scores awarded by the human expert revealed mean (95% CI) differences of -0.28 (0.30, -0.26) and -0.34 (-0.37, -0.31) respectively. Hence both OASYS-3 and OASYS-2 tended to score records less positively for work-related changes in PEF than the expert. OASYS-3 scored complexes marginally better than OASYS-2. The sensitivity of OASYS-3 was better than OASYA-2 (82% and 75% respectively) for an equivalent specificity (94%). The sensitivity of the human expert was 100% with a specificity of 93%. OASYS-3 provides an objective method of interpreting serial peak flow records with a sensitivity and specificity approaching that of a human expert and is a modest improvement on OASYS-2.


ABSTRACT This paper breaks new ground in its comparative analysis of two international student migration (ISM) streams, one from the Global South to the Global North (India to developed Anglophone countries), and the other within the Global North (UK to North America, Europe and Australia). These two ISM movements reflect different positionalities within the global system of international student movements, and hence necessitate a critical perspective on the assumptions behind such a comparison, which questions the dominance of 'knowledge' about ISM that derives from 'the West' as a theoretical template. Two methods are employed to collect data: an online questionnaire survey of UK and Indian students who are, or have recently been, studying abroad; and in-depth interviews to UK and Indian international students. Motivations for studying abroad are remarkably similar in the questionnaire results; more subtle differences emerge from the interviews.


Chest X-Rays are generally used for diagnosing abnormalities in the thoracic area. Radiologists need to spend significant amount of time for interpreting scans. Automatic classification of these images could greatly help radiology interpretation process by enhancing real world diagnosis of problems. Hence, radiologists can focus on detecting abnormalities from the abnormal images rather than checking for it in all the images. In this paper, we present a machine learning approach to solve this problem. Here, the algorithm uses Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to learn and classify chest X-ray images as normal or abnormal based on image features.


The book reviews section generally accepts for review only those books whose content and level reflect the general editorial policy of Technometrics. Publishers are invited to send books for review to Eric R. Ziegel, Amoco Research Center, P. 0. Box 400, Naperville, IL 60566. Please include the price of the book. The opinions expressed in this section are those of the reviewers and do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff or the sponsoring societies.


Berossos and Manetho begins with a general introduction to the cultural history of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. It then presents a translation of the only known native narratives, written in Greek, of the histories of these two civilizations. The priest Berossos chronicled the past of ancient Babylon from the mythical creation of the world down to Alexander the Great's conquest in the fourth century b.c.e. For Egypt, the scribe Manetho's list of rulers from the reigns of the gods down to Alexander's conquest remains the basis for the dynastic arrangement of the pharaohs that is still used today. Berossos and Manetho offers particular emphasis on and discussion of the languages and scripts used to preserve the glorious past of these lands. Each author receives his own special introduction, which describes his life, the sources of his History, the nature and content of his writings, and his goals and accomplishments. There follows a translation of all the surviving ancient information about each author, and of all that can be recovered of his writings. For the first time, Berossos and Manetho--priests and contemporaries who write just when their lands had been pushed into Hellenization--have been translated in one volume. This volume will appeal to all people interested in ancient Israel, Greek history, and ancient history in general.


Immigration to the United States presents both challenges and opportunities that affect students' academic achievement. Using a 5-year longitudinal, mixed-methods approach, we identified varying academic trajectories of newcomer immigrant students from Central America, China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico. Latent class growth curve analysis revealed that although some newcomer students performed at high or improving levels over time, others showed diminishing performance. Multinomial logistic regressions identified significant group differences in academic trajectories, particularly between the high-achieving youth and the other groups. In keeping with ecological-developmental and stage-environment fit theories, School Characteristics (school segregation rate, school poverty rate, and student perceptions of school violence), Family Characteristics (maternal education, parental employment, and household structure), and Individual Characteristics (academic English proficiency, academic engagement, psychological symptoms, gender, and 2 age-related risk factors, number of school transitions and being overaged for grade placement) were associated with different trajectories of academic performance. A series of case studies triangulate many of the quantitative findings as well as illuminate patterns that were not detected in the quantitative data. Thus, the mixed-methods approach sheds light on the cumulative developmental challenges that immigrant students face as they adjust to their new educational settings.


Water suppliers adopt a variety of strategies to gain access to and control of water resources. In contrast to theoretical approaches which assert that the status of ownership determines water supplier strategies, we argue that supplier strategies depend on the activation of property rights and the specific public policies applied to the resource. These two components of the institutional water regime are thus factors that are more important in explaining the suppliers' strategies than the intrinsic characteristics of the water operator. We thus present two case histories of aquifer exploitation for drinking and mineral water production; we compare two companies in Belgium, one publicly and one privately owned. This comparison shows that the operator strategy is identical in both cases, regardless of whether the ownership status of the water supplier was public or private. Both companies attempted to appropriate the resource privately in order to maximize its security over the resource and its supply. In each case, the winning strategy consisted in gradually excluding all direct or indirect users of the resource such as competitors, farmers and residents. The aquifer was then effectively protected in quantity and quality over time; however this state of affairs does not necessarily entail sustainability of the resource in a broader sense, as social and economic aspects were not directly considered. © IWA Publishing 2007.


To heal tissue defects, cells have to bridge gaps and generate new extracellular matrix (ECM). Macroporous scaffolds are frequently used to support the process of defect filling and thus foster tissue regeneration. Such biomaterials contain micro-voids (pores) that the cells fill with their own ECM over time. There is only limited knowledge on how pore geometry influences cell organization and matrix production, even though it is highly relevant for scaffold design. This study hypothesized that 1) a simple geometric description predicts cellular organization during pore filling at the cell level and that 2) pore closure results in a reorganization of ECM. Scaffolds with a broad distribution of pore sizes (macroporous starPEG-heparin cryogel) were used as a model system and seeded with primary fibroblasts. The strategies of cells to fill pores could be explained by a simple geometrical model considering cells as tensioned chords. The model matched qualitatively as well as quantitatively by means of cell number vs. open cross-sectional area for all pore sizes. The correlation between ECM location and cell position was higher when the pores were not filled with tissue (Pearson's coefficient ρ = 0.45±0.01) and reduced once the pores were closed (ρ = 0.26±0.04) indicating a reorganization of the cell/ECM network. Scaffold pore size directed the time required for pore closure and furthermore impacted the organization of the fibronectin matrix. Understanding how cells fill micro-voids will help to design biomaterial scaffolds that support the endogenous healing process and thus allow a fast filling of tissue defects.


We use the introduction of a financial transaction tax (FTT) in France in 2012 to test competing theories on its impact. We find no support for the idea that an FTT improves market quality by affecting the composition of trading volume. Instead, our results are in line with the hypothesis that a lower trading volume reduces liquidity, and thereby market quality. Consistent with theories of asset pricing under transaction costs, we document a shift in security holdings from short-term to long-term investors. Finally, our findings show that moderate aggregate effects on market quality can mask large adjustments made by individual agents. JEL Classification: G10, G14, G18, H32


—The Lower Permian (upper Leonardian) Glorieta Sandstone in north-central New Mexico represents an eastward extension of a large erg whose maximum thickness (305 m) and tallest eolian dunes (21 m high) are preserved in the Coconino Sandstone of northern Arizona. Unlike the Coconino dune field, the Glorieta segment of the erg was thinner (<92 m) and was primarily deposited as wind-rippled sand sheets that were locally traversed by dunes less than 7 m high. Crossbed orientations suggest that Glorieta dunes were transported and deposited by northeasterly trade winds, while larger Coconino dunes were driven by northerly and northwesterly onshore winds. Eolian sands of the Glorieta passed southward into a shallow sea where limestones of the San Andres Formation were deposited. Sandstone tongues of the Glorieta extend ~150 km southward into the basal San Andres Formation, and several beds of marine carbonate within the main body of the Glorieta indicate periodic northward transgression of the sea across the erg. Similar U-Pb age populations of detrital zircons in the Glorieta and Coconino suggest similar provenance of the sandstones, which is interpreted to have been deflation of a transcontinental river system whose headwaters were in the Appalachian-Ouachita Orogen and Canadian Shield, with a local source of sediment from the denuded Uncompahgria and Frontrangia uplifts of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains.


Background: The relationship between pes planus and injuries of the lower extremity is controversial. However, few studies have used standardized means of evaluating and defining pes planus, and none have had a controlled patient population. The objective of this study was to evaluate an ideal population of physically active individuals to establish a potential correlation between pes planus, as defined by a standardized method, and injuries to the lower extremity. Methods: A standardized technique for evaluating arch height, based on a midfoot ratio established by Harris mat print calculations, was used to assess a consecutive series of 512 newly entered West Point cadets. Pes planus was defined as more than 2 standard deviations above the mean midfoot ratio of the population. After 46 months, a retrospective chart review was done to identify lower extremity injuries sustained in this group of young healthy patients. The results of the footprint analysis were correlated with the medical record findings. Results: Thirty-three cadets were found to have pes planus; 13 had only left foot involvement, 15 had right foot only involvement, and five had bilateral pes planus. There were no cavus feet. Statistically significant relationships were seen between the degree of pes planus and total number of injuries sustained (p = 0.007), the overall size of the foot and total number of injuries (p = 0.041), left flat feet and left midfoot injuries (p = 0.028), left pes planus and right midfoot injuries (p = 0.008), left pes planus and left knee injuries (p = 0.038), and right pes planus and right knee injuries (p = 0.027). Women had smaller feet (p = 0.000), smaller midfoot ratios (right, p = 0.013; left p = 0.003), yet they had an increased number of injuries (Pearson's coefficient −0.119; p = 0.007). Conclusions: The current study found significant relationships between pes planus and number of injuries sustained over a 4-year period at West Point. While women were found to have smaller feet and lesser degrees of pes planus, they sustained more injuries than men.


Illuminating fundamental aspects of plant cell wall mechanics will lead to novel biological and engineering inspired strategies for application in the cotton and wood fiber industries and in developing novel plant-derived materials that are increasingly seen as environmentally friendly alternatives. The stiffness properties of cell wall polymers such as cellulose microfibrils and xyloglucans are known but the relationship between the composite structure of the wall and its effective stiffness remains poorly understood. Understanding this relationship is important to engineers using and designing plant-derived materials and to biologists studying plant growth. We have developed a software system to generate microfibril-xyloglucan networks resembling those found in cell walls. Finite element analysis was implemented to predict the effective Young's modulus of varying sizes of the microfibril-xyloglucan network. Results from the finite element models show that the network's effective moduli of the cell walls having microfibrils parallel to applied loadings are relatively high (~90-215MPa) compared with those of the walls having randomly oriented microfibrils (~20-47MPa). The walls having microfibrils parallel to each other but perpendicular to applied loadings have lowest stiffness (~17-118kPa). The Young's moduli are significantly lower than those of its constituent polymers and generally in agreement with experimentally measured values.


The paper tackles recent tectonic changes often assessed as the crisis of liberal democracy and, broader, as the crisis of European modernity. The author depicts how the triumphalist mood of the early 1990-s captured by the famous notion of «the end of history» transforms into the catastrophic mindset of today. It is argued that the contemporary poly-crisis requires new theoretical approaches and a new social and political vocabulary. Three paths of theorizing are distinguished hereby. The first one builds upon «the end of history» mindset keeping the present as the main point of reference and Western liberal democracy as the peak point of ideational and institutional evolution. The second approach revolves around the cyclical reading of history while tracing pre-modern features in the recent developments, its conceptual arsenal includes the notions of re-traditionalization, demodernization, neotribalism, and the like. The author argues that an alternative approach is feasible, the one focused on brand new traits of contemporaneity that keeps future free from historical determination. The latter approach is being developed in the paper based on the ideas of Ulrich Beck, Ken ІДЕОЛОГІЯ І ПОЛІТИКА ИДЕОЛОГИЯ И ПОЛИТИКА IDEOLOGY AND POLITICS © 2018 Foundation for Good Politics ISSN 2227-6068 No 3(11), 2018 10 Jowitt, and Mary Kaldor. It is proved that within the globalized spaces of action, any local conflict has a global dimension and global repercussions; that the novelty of contemporary warfare should be re-assessed in post-Clausewitzian terms, namely as a new social and human condition. It is suggested that the erosion of modern nation-state augments the need for strong transnational institutions against an active cosmopolitan community of citizens, to which scholars can contribute both with their civic position and with their expertise. Active citizens not only maintain «islands of civility» amidst military conflicts but they might ignite «movements of hope» as an alternative to «movements of rage» and prop up «politics of sympathy» as opposite to «politics of anger».


Proposes an implementation of a monolithic filter with a 100 MHz cutoff frequency and a 200 MHz transmission zero. The method is based on the modified leapfrog simulation and requires no floating capacitors. Integrators are realized by balanced-type NICs because the NICs have excellent high frequency characteristics. Results of computer simulation are also presented


Trans-10, cis-12 (t10c12) conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) reduces lipid levels in adipocytes, but the mechanisms involved are still emerging. The hypotheses of this study were that t10c12 CLA treatment activated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and that the effectiveness of a low dose of t10c12 CLA would be increased when combined with an AMPK activator. We demonstrated t10c12 CLA, directly or indirectly, activated AMPK and increased the amount of phosphorylated acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Compound C, a potent inhibitor of AMPK, attenuated the phosphorylation of ACC, integrated stress response (ISR), inflammatory response, reduction in key lipogenic transcription factors, and triglyceride (TG) reduction that otherwise occurred in t10c12 CLA-treated adipocytes. Treatment of adipocytes or mice with a low dose of t10c12 CLA in conjunction with the AMPK activator metformin resulted in more TG loss than treatment with the individual chemicals. Additionally, although an inflammatory response was required for robust TG reduction, the combination of t10c12 CLA with AMPK activators had a similar TG loss with a reduced inflammatory response. A microarray analysis of the transcriptional response to either t10c12 CLA, metformin, or the combination, indicated the responses were very similar, with a correlation coefficient of 0.91 or better for genes in the ISR or lipid-related pathways. Altogether, these results support our hypotheses that t10c12 CLA activates AMPK, directly or indirectly, and that metformin increases the effectiveness of t10c12 CLA in reducing TG amounts in adipocytes. J. Nutr. 139: 2244‐2251, 2009.


This chapter explores the courts reaction to a co-contractor who fails to comply with the terms of that contract, but seeks to resist an action for breach of contract by claiming that to enforce the contract would be contrary to EU competition law - the Euro-defence. Reliance on Euro-defences has acquired and retains a distinct pejorative sense amongst judges in the English court. Using Shavell's basic theory of litigation it is argued that the Euro-defence dilutes the incentive to comply with contracts and also creates a strong incentive for a party with valid contractual rights to settle unmeritorious claims. Using Calkins theory of courts react to litigation strategies it is argued that the judicial reaction has been first to increase the burdens faced by a party wishing to raise the Euro-defence and secondly to reduce the benefit to be had by successfully raising the Euro-defence. The chapter concludes by considering whether the defensive invocation of EU competition law remains as a mechanism for ensuring compliance with competition law.


Diagnosis of suspected cases of gliomas such as intracranial space-occupying lesions (ICSOLs) is based on histopathologic analysis of tumor tissue obtained by invasive biopsies, which are, however, associated with risk of serious complication, high rates of mortality, procedural expenses, sequelae, and other risks. Liquid biopsy (LB)-based noninvasive approaches for diagnosis of gliomas based on circulating tumor biomarkers in peripheral blood have hence gained considerable interest. We describe the discovery of a unique 20 exosomal mRNA signature that can discern gliomas from healthy individuals. We obtained 15 mL of peripheral blood by venous draw from 222 individuals, among whom 47 had confirmed diagnosis of gliomas and 175 were asymptomatic. Exosomes were enriched from peripheral blood and were used for isolation of mRNAs. Exosomal mRNAs were used for expression analysis of 20,802 gene transcripts, including 18,574 coding genes and 2,228 noncoding genes based on University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) hg19 annotation. Differentially expressed mRNAs were analyzed using a machine learning algorithm to identify transcripts that were unique to or uniquely absent in known cases of gliomas and in healthy individuals. The machine learning algorithm identified a 20-mRNA signature that discerned gliomas from healthy individuals with high sensitivity (87%) and specificity (95%) with an overall accuracy of 94%. The differentially expressed transcripts included MST4, RARRES3, TARP, IL32, PPP3CC, RSL1D1, RSL24D1, EIF4B, ARHGEF3, DENND2D, EVL, SEC11A, RPL22L1, HIST1H1C, IRF8, SOS2, GLTSCR2, GIMAP7, HIST1H4D, and CDK11. These differentially expressed transcripts are potentially involved in various functions such as tumor suppression, protein phosphorylation-dephosphorylation, signal transduction (ligand binding), and cell cycle regulation. Our data indicate that exosomal mRNA profiling is a viable approach for discerning suspected cases of gliomas from healthy individuals. The noninvasive nature of this approach coupled with high sensitivity and specificity favor potential clinical application. Citation Format: Sachin Apurwa, Pooja Fulmali, Dadasaheb Akolkar, Darshana Patil, Sushant Pawar, Sneha Puranik, Vipul Todarwal, Akshay Ainwale, Pradip Devhare, Vineet Datta, Cynthe Sims, Ajay Srinivasan, Rajan Datar. An mRNA signature that accurately discerns gliomas from healthy individuals [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Liquid Biopsies; Jan 13-16, 2020; Miami, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2020;26(11_Suppl):Abstract nr B17.


In the developing rat hippocampus, GABAergic synapses undergo a Ca2+-dependent long-term potentiation (LTPGABA-A); this form of synaptic plasticity is induced in CA3 pyramidal neurons by delivering repetitive depolarizing pulses (DPs) to the recorded neuron, and it is expressed as a long-lasting increase in the frequency and amplitude of spontaneous GABAA receptor-mediated postsynaptic currents. In the present study, we examined the role of endogenous tropomyosin-related kinase receptor B (TrkB) receptor ligands and associated protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) in the induction of LTPGABA-A. The application of Lavendustin A, a broad spectrum PTK inhibitor, blocked the induction of LTPGABA-A, whereas Lavendustin B, its inactive form, had no effect. Moreover, k-252a and k-252b, two alkaloids that inhibit the kinase activity of the Trk receptor family, also prevented the induction of LTPGABA-A. On hippocampal slices incubated with the soluble form of TrkB receptor IgG (TrkB-IgG), which prevents the activation of TrkB receptors by endogenous ligands, DPs failed to induce LTPGABA-A, whereas the incubation with TrkA-IgG or TrkC-IgG had no such effect. Altogether, these data indicate that endogenous TrkB ligands and associated PTK activity are necessary for the induction of GABAergic LTP in the developing rat hippocampus.


Kava pyrones have been sold in Germany as OTC anxiolytics until June 2002, when all preparations with a kava pyrone content of more than 10(-4) of a homeopathic stock solution were withdrawn. Other countries in which kava pyrones have been used as anxiolytics, namely GB and the USA, have not followed suit. Kava pyrone anxiolytics have been positively reviewed by the Cochrane Collaboration; also newer German clinical studies have indicated pharmacological anxiolysis at the recommended doses. To use the first choice of treatment, psychotherapy, for all uncomplicated cases of pathological fear does not appear to be realistic. Current data about kava pyrone toxicity are unclear. Judging from the few well documented cases of kava pyrone hepatotoxicity (appr. 2 out of 36) in Germany and Switzerland, an immunologically mediated idiosyncratic mechanism appears to be most likely, especially at higher doses, whereas a direct toxic mechanism is much less likely. No direct results are available for the incidence of kava pyrone-related adverse drug effects. From spontaneously reported cases the incidences of adverse drug reactions cannot be obtained, a rough estimation indicates the incidence of hepatotoxicity to be comparable to those of benzodiazepines. Taken together, the withdrawal of kava pyrone-based anxiolytics appears to be an ill founded over-reaction given the lack of superior therapeutic alternatives. Neither the case evaluations presented by the BfArM (Bundesamt für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte = Federal Office for Drugs and Medical Products) nor the complete rejection of proof for therapeutic efficacy of kava pyrone anxiolytics are scientifically well founded.


Wadi Sikait (WNW-ESE) is one of the most famous emerald sites in the world, since Pharonic times. The exposed rocks are ophiolitic melange (consists of mafic-ultramafic fragments set in metapelites matrix), metamorphosed sandstones, gabbros, granites and post-granite dykes (lamprophyres) and veins (quartz). The metamorphosed sandstone (MSS) rocks (vary from greywacke to arkosic in composition) outcrop at Wadi Sikait at two locations. The first MSS outcrop (Sikait-1) is located west the upstream of W. Sikait highly  tectonized, elongated in NW-SE (1.8 km in length) and thinning in NE-SW (100-400 m in width) forming float-boat-like shape  and intruded by fertile porphyritic granite (15 ppm eU) and lamprophyre dykes (vary in thickness from 0.5 to 2 m and up to 1.4 km in length). The second MSS outcrop (Sikait 2), is located at the bending of Wadi Sikait covering a small area (0.5 km) and intruded also by the fertile porphyritic granites. The MSS rocks cut by two generation of quartz veins; a) barren quartz veins (E-W, N-S and NNE-SSW) cross-cut the foliation planes of MSS and b) mineralized quartz veins (NE-SW)-bearing visible mineralization (wolframite, cassiterite and xenotime) and varies from 1-2 m in width and extends for 15 m in length parallel to the foliation planes. The MSS rocks show relics of primary bedding, banding and obvious foliation in NW-SE with angel of dip 35°/SW. The common alteration products are represented by kaolinitization, flouritization, hematitization, chloritization and manganese dendrites. The alterations are associated with visible greenish yellow U- minerals in Sikait-1.  The results of the spectrometric survey were achieved in the form of 1:1,000 scale radiometric maps (K%, eU, eTh, U-mobility) for the first outcrop (Sikait 1). The chemical U content (60 to 480 ppm) is more than the equivalent U content (15 -100 ppm), this result support the youngest age (less than one million years) for U-mineralization. The emplacement of both of lamprophyre dykes and porphyritic granites may be played an important role as a heat source, which lead to U-mobilization from hot granites, transported (along deep faults, foliation planes and banding) and redeposit in MSS rocks under suitable conditions.

 Key words: Sandstone, lamprophyre, U-minerals, Sikait.


Water resources are the foundation that mankind depends on for his existence and development. In order to realize the sustainable development of the society and economy, we must give more consideration to the comprehensive evaluation about regional water utilization level. The method of Set Pair Analysis (SPA) is used to study the relationship between certainty and uncertainty among the objective things and its core is to compute the connection degree among the things. The paper puts forward a new method based on SPA to build the evaluation standards according to the actual conditions of regional water utilization. Employing this new method, the paper studies the water utilization level of the area along the lower Yellow River quantitatively, and compares the evaluated results with the results from multi-hierarchy grey relation comprehensive evaluation model (MGRCEM). The comparison shows that the overall results from the SPA method are consistent with those from MGRCEM. Moreover, the SPA method has many advantages such as convenient and simple computation, objective and reasonable evaluation results and so on. The applied method can serve as a new approach for water utilization studies, and the evaluation standards built in the paper can solve some evaluation problems of regional water utilization level effectively.


This paper reviews methods for summarizing and comparing wealth distributions. We show that many of the tools commonly used to summarize income distributions can also be applied to wealth distributions, albeit adapted in order to account for the distinctive features of wealth distributions: zero and negative wealth values; spikes in density at or around zero; right-skewness with long and sparse tails combined with non-trivial prevalence of extreme values. Illustrations are provided using data for Finland.


In order to evaluate whether ophthalmic preparations can be safely used within 12 hours after first opening, four different sterile ocular medications,were opened and tested for spontaneous bacterial contamination after exposure to air. Samples (10ml) were collected from 5 containers of each ophthalmic preparation after 0, 2, 4, 8 and 24 hours. No viable microorganisms were found during and at the end of the evaluation time. In order to assess if the ocular bacterial population might contaminate the medications, about 105 microbial cells of different species (Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, S. haemolyticus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, S. pyogenes, Corynebacterium spp., Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumanii, and Candida albicans) were added to the containers and incubated at 35°C or at room temperature. Samples were collected and the number of viable microrganisms was estimated.The medicaments showed a bacteriostatic or bactericidal activity (<100 survivors after 24 h of exposure) against the majority of all relevant species, with the exception of E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and A. baumanii, which demonstrated to be able to grow in some of these ocular preparations.These data indicate that the risk of spontaneous contamination of the containers after first opening is low, and that all solutions do not offer a favourable substrate for the growth of the microrganisms showing in the great majority of the cases an antimicrobial activity. These results suggest that a safe usage of these ocular medications can be extended from the recommended 12 hours at least 24 hours after first opening.


This report combines analysis of firm-level insurance data with welfare and employment information to explore the availability of employment-based insurance for welfare recipients who are transitioning into the labor market in Los Angeles county. To understand the complex and dynamic nature of this issue, multiple data sources are utilized to provide information from the perspective of both welfare recipients who are transitioning into the labor market (laborsupply side) and the firms that employ them (labor-demand side). The primary data sources include an employer benefits survey completed in 2000, administrative welfare and employment data covering a period from 1996-2001, and a survey of recent welfare recipients conducted in 2002/2003.


Sheath Brown Rot (SBR) is one of the most important diseases that affect rice plant. The disease cause rots to the sheaths, panicles and leaves of rice plant. The disease also contaminating rice seeds through grain's discoloration thus leads in reduction of rice production. In this study, 50 bacteria isolates that fluoresced under UV illumination on King's B Selective (KBS) medium were obtained. Out of 50 isolates, 25 isolates were positive for both Hypersensitivity Reaction (HR) and pathogenicity tests. They also showed positive results for several biochemical reactions such as oxidase, arginine dihydrolase and trehalose utilization tests. Based on the preliminary tests, all isolates have been identified as Pseudomonas fuscovaginae (P. fuscovaginae). The 16S rDNA sequence analysis showed that all the isolates had 97-99% sequence similarities to Pseudomonas fuscovaginae in the GenBank database. This result was also supported by the constructed phylogenetic tree with the Acidivorax avenae outgroup. It was noted that all 25 isolates originated from the same node with the P. fuscovaginae group. The findings on characteristics of P. fuscovaginae in Peninsular Malaysia hopefully can be used in future studies especially on Malaysian P. fuscovaginae biology and their control.


The plasma dynamics of enhanced confinement regimes in the TFTR core and the DIII-D core and edge are compared in order to identify a common physics basis. Despite differences in transition timescale and location, as well as the sign of the radial electric field Er, observations suggest that E × B shear effects on turbulence induced transport play a dominant role in governing barrier dynamics in all cases. Fast confinement bifurcations are observed in the TFTR core enhanced reverse shear (ERS) regime and in the edge DIII-D H mode. Both show spontaneous Er shear layer formation prior to the confinement change and a negative Er well that persists as steep gradients form. These dynamics differ from those of DIII-D negative central shear (NCS) plasmas. There, slow transitions are observed when the applied torque from unidirectional beam injection is small, while faster development and more dramatic confinement improvements occur at higher applied torques. Unlike the H mode and ERS cases, the NCS core generally has a positive Er hill and no strong Er shear precursor. However, similarity experiments performed on TFTR indicate that ERS, L mode and NCS-like regimes can all be accessed in a continuous fashion by varying the E × B shear through changes in the applied torque at constant power. As in the DIII-D NCS case, core confinement in TFTR reverse shear plasmas improves slowly as co-rotation begins to dominate the determination of Er, no strong Er shear layer develops prior to that improvement, and the plasma possesses a positive Er hill. Reductions in transport with Er gradients of either sign are consistent with the picture of E × B shear suppression and decorrelation of turbulence. At fixed input power, intermediate levels of confinement improvement are achieved by varying the E × B shear with changes in the applied neutral beam torque. The data suggest that control over the plasma pressure profile in a reactor may be possible if an external source of E × B shear, such as might be applied with RF techniques, is used to modify the shear which otherwise occurs.


Techniques are presented to compactly represent substrate noise currents injected by digital networks. Using device-level simulation, every gate in a given library is modeled by means of the signal waveform it injects into the substrate, depending on its input transition scheme. For a given sequence of input vectors, the switching activity of every node in the Boolean network is computed. Assuming that technology mapping has been performed, each node corresponds to a gate in the library, hence, to a specific injection waveform. The noise contribution of each node is computed by convolving its switching activity with the associated injection waveforms. The total injected noise for the digital block is then obtained by summing all the noise contributions in the circuit. The resulting injected noise can be viewed as a random process, whose power spectrum is computed using standard signal processing techniques. A study was performed on a number of standard benchmark circuits to verify the validity of the assumptions and to measure the accuracy of the obtained power spectra.


Framed within an emotion-centred model, the current study investigated the mediating role of negative and positive emotion between job stressors and counterproductive work behaviours (CWB) and organisational citizenship behaviours, and the moderating effects of personality and ability-based emotional intelligence (EI) on the relationships between job stressors and emotions. Results from a sample of 202 Caribbean employees across eight public and private sector organisations showed that both positive and negative emotion mediated the relation between job stressors and citizenship behaviours, whereas only negative emotion was found to mediate the relation between job stressors and CWB. Some support was found for the moderating effects of personality and EI. Implications for research and practice are discussed.


The apparent affinity constants for the binding of Cs+, Rb+, K+, Li+, Tl+ and NH4+ to (Na+ + K+)-dependent adenosine triphosphatase from teleost gills were measured and the values discussed in terms of the ion-selectivity isotherm described by Eisenman & Krasne (1975) [in MTP International Review of Science: Biochemistry Series One (Fox, C.F., ed.), vol. 2, pp. 27--59, Butterworths University Park Press, Baltimore]. The ion selectivity of the present enzyme is remarkably similar to that from nerve and brain.


The study sought to evaluate the extent to which an online course in literacy leadership appropriately trained prospective literacy coaches, already situated in Caribbean schools, to assume roles as literacy leaders in their respective contexts. A secondary aim of the study was to evolve a research-driven model of literacy leadership suited for guiding the training and school-based practice of literacy coaches across the islands of the Caribbean. Having exposed the 60 graduate-level literacy leadership candidates - spanning 10 Caribbean islands - to four research-driven learning modules centred on key attributes and processes of effective literacy-focused schools, the researchers sought to immerse teams of candidates in activities cited in the research as critical in instituting these attributes and processes in schools. A combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis of problem-based text interactions surrounding these activities, as well as candidates' own post-course ratings of course content was used to answer key research questions. Did candidates gain an overt understanding of what is involved in establishing an effective literacy infrastructure in schools? Was a viable training model used? The research affirms the efficacy of innovations geared at training literacy practitioners online across the islands of the Caribbean.


Background: The incidence of heart failure in diabetic subjects is high even in the absence of hypertension and coronary artery disease. Aims: The purpose of this study was to study the incidence of diastolic dysfunction in diabetic subjects and its relation to age, duration of diabetes mellitus (DM), Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, obesity indices and diabetic microangiopathies. Settings and Design: This was a case control prospective study conducted at the teaching hospital during a one year period. Materials and Methods: A total of 127 subjects (case) with type 2 diabetes of more than five years duration were studied. Total 100 healthy subjects were included as the control group. Echocardiography was performed to assess left ventricular diastolic function. Results: Out of the total 127 subjects, 69 (54.33%) from the case group had diastolic dysfunction, and 11% amongst 100 in the control group population showed the diastolic dysfunction (P < 0.001). Patients with a longer duration of DM (of 11 to 15 years) had a higher prevalence of diastolic dysfunction (P < 0.02). Subjects with high waist circumference and high waist to hip ratio had statistically significant diastolic dysfunction with 'P' =0.001 and 'P' = < 0.02 respectively. Subjects with HbA1c > 7.5% had a higher prevalence of diastolic dysfunction than subjects with HbA1c < 7.5% (P < 0.02). Diastolic dysfunction was present in majority of the subjects with autonomic neuropathy and retinopathy. Conclusions: Present study reveals high incidence of diastolic dysfunction in asymptomatic diabetic; subjects and, this finding was correlated with the duration of diabetes, HbA1c levels, obesity indices and diabetic microangiopathies. We conclude that early diagnosis and institution of treatment will reduce morbidity and improve the outcomes, and prevent future heart failure.


We study the impact of door-to-door canvassing interventions implemented in 2011 on the registration rate and participation of newly registered citizens at the 2012 French Presidential and General elections. 4,118 buildings hosting 38,000 citizens were randomly allocated to a control group or one of six treatment groups varying by the timing and number of visits as well as their content: simple door-to-door canvassing (providing encouragement and information), or home registration. In addition to varying the intensity of the treatment, this experimental design enables us to disentangle the selection impact from the treatment impact of the more intensive home registration visits on the propensity to vote of newly registered citizens. Our interventions increased the number of new registrations by 30% on average, and citizens registered thanks to our visits were almost equally as likely to cast a ballot at the subsequent elections as newly registered citizens in the control group: arguably, higher registration costs play a more important role than lower interest in politics in explaining their failure to register, absent any intervention. Home registration selected additional citizens characterized by a lower propensity to vote than those also selected by door-to-door canvassing, a difference which results from a slightly lower underlying interested in the elections, rather than a negative treatment impact of getting registered at home on the beneficiaries' motivation and involvement. Finally, the interventions increased the share of registered citizens who were born abroad and selected younger people, compared to previously registered citizens. They selected citizens living in addresses in which the average propensity to vote was lower than for the newly registered citizens in the control group: although identical for all, the registration process imposes a higher cost to some subgroups of the population, it reinforces preexisting exclusions and undermines the representativity of the electoral outcomes.


Background: The first pregnancy marks a transition into motherhood and influences the number of children a woman bears throughout her reproductive period, and consequently the size, composition, and future growth of the population in a community. The aim of this survey was to determine the average age at first pregnancy among primigravidae attending antenatal clinic in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective study among women who booked for antenatal care at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital over a 1 year period. Data were retrieved from case files and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 17 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Result: The mean age at first pregnancy was 23.9 ± 4.27 years. Teenage women accounted for 10.2% of the total population. Majority of the women were Hausas (71.8%), Muslims (86.1%), unemployed (80.9%), and had formal education (92.4%). Ethnicity (Hausas versus other tribes), religion (Islam versus Christianity) and occupation (employed versus unemployed) were not statistically associated with the age at first pregnancy above teenage age group (X2= 2.578, P = 0.108; X2 = 1.788, P = 0.181; X2 = 3.350, P = 0.067, respectively). However, formal education was statistically associated with average age at first pregnancy (X2= 13.486, P = 0.001). Conclusion: The age at first pregnancy was found to be 23.9 ± 4.27 years. This was within the recommended age of 20–35 years. Women with formal education were more likely to delay the age at first pregnancy until after teenage years. Formal education will certainly contribute to reducing maternal mortality and morbidity associated with teenage pregnancies.


This manuscript reports the results of a qualitative study of personal injury lawyers in Connecticut. Building on the results of an earlier study of lawyers in Florida (Transforming Punishment Into Compensation: In the Shadow of Punitive Damages, 1998 WIS. L. REV. 211), the study describes and explores the implications of professional norms and practices that govern tort settlement behavior. In particular, the study explores the moral and practical barriers to collecting "blood money" (money from individual defendants, as opposed to liability insurance companies), as well as the moral and practical explanations for victims' apparent ability to partially trump the claims of subrogating workers compensation and health insurance carriers. The results pose a challenge to the conventional understanding that tort law in action is a simpler, more streamlined version of tort law on the books. In addition, the results suggest that compensation and retribution concerns figure far more prominently in tort law in action than the deterrence concerns emphasized in much of the theoretical and doctrinal literature.


We profile the US dollar debt incurred by borrowers in a dozen prominent emerging market economies (EMEs). These countries account for the bulk of total US dollar debt owed by EMEs. We measure the dollar borrowing of non-banks resident in these economies as well as that of their affiliates offshore, and relate these items to commonly used debt measures. We also discuss the limitations of our data. These data fail to assign bank debt to the right home country if firms have obtained dollar bank loans through offshore affiliates. And they understate dollar debt when firms borrow dollars indirectly through foreign exchange forwards.


We studied the effects of the volatile general anesthetic isoflurane on single acetylcholine (ACh) receptor channels from clonal BC3H-1 cells. Excised patches were exposed to concentrations of isoflurane ranging from 0.18% to 4.0%, in the presence of 200 nM ACh. Isoflurane transformed channel behavior from isolated openings into bursts of brief openings. The channel open time decreased monotonically with the concentration of isoflurane; the mean open time was half of control at 0.4% isoflurane. The duration of bursts also decreased in the presence of isoflurane. The duration of brief closures within bursts was 300-400 musec at concentrations above 0.3% isoflurane. The number of openings per burst increased moderately with isoflurane but did not exceed 3. The frequency of bursts increased with the concentration of isoflurane. The apparent single-channel conductance decreased to 75% of control at 4% isoflurane. These results are discussed in terms of models of channel block. The concentration dependence of the open time, the gap duration, and the conductance are consistent with a sequential open-channel blocking mechanism in which most but not all blocking events were resolved. A model that assumes that isoflurane "blocks" both open and closed channels was then considered. This model is consistent not only with the open time data but also with the burst duration and number of openings per burst. These results indicate that isoflurane has effects on closed as well as open ACh receptor channels.