We present a comprehensive study of the use of generative modeling approaches for Multiple-Instance Learning (MIL) problems. In MIL a learner receives training instances grouped together into bags with labels for the bags only (which might not be correct for the comprised instances). Our work was motivated by the task of facilitating the diagnosis of neuromuscular disorders using sets of motor unit potential trains (MUPTs) detected within a muscle which can be cast as a MIL problem. Our approach leads to a state-of-the-art solution to the problem of muscle classification. By introducing and analyzing generative models for MIL in a general framework and examining a variety of model structures and components, our work also serves as a methodological guide to modelling MIL tasks. We evaluate our proposed methods both on MUPT datasets and on the MUSK1 dataset, one of the most widely used benchmarks for MIL.


Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and other memory-related difficulties have both been treated successfully with herbs. Dementia is a neurodegenerative disease that causes the gradual deterioration of affective and cognitive capacities over time. Many factors, including poor cerebral blood flow, poison toxicity, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative injury, and, in some cases, the coexistence of other diseases like Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Huntington's Disease (HD), Parkinson's Syndrome (PD), and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), have been linked to Dementia (ADHD). Although semi-synthetic pharmaceuticals have been shown to be effective in treating Alzheimer's disease and dementia caused by AD, many of these drugs come with unwanted side effects. Therefore, traditional medicine provides a selection of plant-derived lead compounds that may prove useful in future medical research. This research examines the use of ayurvedic plants in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases in various parts of the world. Also, it has been found that plants can protect the brain system from the damaging effects of proinflammatory cytokines including IL-6, IL-1b, and TNF-a by increasing antioxidant activity, decreasing oxidant levels, and blocking the breakdown of acetylcholinesterase. The most important ayurveda medicinal herbs and the biochemical effects they have have been highlighted. This suggests that the above medicinal herbs and their active ingredients have therapeutic potential in treating neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. and sadness, all of which have been associated to neuroinflammation and neurotransmitter dysregulation.


This article focuses on the intrinsic conditions of housing (surface area, type of heating, salubrity, etc.) as a central component of reflections on environmental inequalities. Access to high-quality housing remains a major vector of social differentiation in Wallonia. We consider here housing conditions as an environmental variable that could reinforce socio-economic inequalities, in the same way as exposure to noise or air pollution, or access to urban amenities. Starting from a neighbourhood-level indicator of socio-economic deprivation, we analyse the factors that reinforce social and environmental inequalities through housing conditions. This focus is supplemented by the study of two urban amenities: accessibility from alternative forms of mobility to the car; access to green spaces. In this way, we bring out the specific aspects of the urban territories in Wallonia, and more specifically of the urban region of Liege, and we analyse how these amenities reinforce, compensate for or are disconnected from other social and housing inequalities.


Federated learning is promising in enabling large-scale machine learning by massive clients without exposing their raw data. It can not only enable the clients to preserve the privacy information, but also achieve high learning performance. Existing works of federated learning mainly focus on improving learning performance in terms of model accuracy and learning task completion time. However, in practice, clients are reluctant to participate in the learning process without receiving compensation. Therefore, how to effectively motivate the clients to actively and reliably participate in federated learning is paramount. As compared to the current incentive mechanism design in other fields, such as crowdsourcing, cloud computing, smart grid, etc., the incentive mechanism for federated learning is more challenging. First, it is hard to evaluate the training data value of each client. Second, it is difficult to model the learning performance of different federated learning algorithms. In this article, we survey the incentive mechanism design for federated learning. In particular, we present a taxonomy of existing incentive mechanisms for federated learning, which are subsequently discussed in depth by comparing and contrasting different approaches. Finally, some future directions of how to incentivize clients in federated learning have been discussed.


Protein secretion in gram-negative bacteria is often dependent on the general secretory pathway (GSP). In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, this system requires at least 12 Xcp (Gsp) proteins, which are proposed to constitute a multiprotein complex localized in the bacterial envelope. Hitherto, little was known about the mutual interactions between Xcp proteins. In this study, mutants affected in the xcpZ gene encoding a bitopic inner-membrane protein were analysed to investigate the role of this protein in the architecture of the secretory machinery. The absence of XcpZ resulted in a decreased amount of XcpY. Reciprocally, XcpZ was not detectable in a xcpY mutant, demonstrating a mutual stabilization of these two proteins. These results strongly suggest that XcpZ and XcpY interact within the functional secretory apparatus.


OBJECTIVE
To document the incidence of postoperative ocular hypertension (POH) after cataract surgery in dogs.

DESIGN
Retrospective analysis of medical records.

SAMPLE POPULATION
88 dogs that had had cataract surgery.

PROCEDURE
The effect of several categorical variables on the development of POH was evaluated statistically. Postoperative ocular hypertension was defined as intraocular pressure > 25 and > 30 mm of Hg.

RESULTS
The incidence of POH > 25 mm of Hg was 48.9%; > 30 mm of Hg, 33.8%; > 40 mm of Hg, 20.1%; and > 50 mm of Hg, 5.8%. Mean onset of POH > 25 mm of Hg was 4.9 hours. The incidence of POH was not affected by the type of surgery. Eyes that had phacoemulsification developed POH significantly more rapidly (mean, 3.9 hours), compared with those that had extracapsular lens extraction (8.4 hours). Mean phacoemulsification duration was greater in eyes that developed POH, and older dogs were more likely to develop POH. Development of POH was not correlated with sex, stage of cataract, type of surgical procedure performed, intraocular lens placement, preoperative lens-induced uveitis, or posterior lens capsule tears and vitrectomy. However, eyes that received intraocular lens implants developed POH more rapidly, compared with eyes without implants.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS
The high incidence and early onset of POH after cataract surgery suggests that routine use of antiglaucoma medications in the first 12 hours after surgery is warranted.


We introduce a state-based distributed prioritization mechanism for a sensor associated with a dynamical system to access a wireless network, when multiple such systems share the same network link. The priorities, designated Attention Factors, are assigned by each sensor to its data packets, based on measurements of the system state. The Attention Factor represents a quantized value of the minimum risk in not transmitting a given measurement. The Attention Factors from different sensors are evaluated and allotted slots, in a distributed manner, using a dominance-based protocol called tournaments. Packets with the same Attention Factor in a tournament collide, and are lost. We analytically evaluate the probability of a successful transmission using this access mechanism. We also find an upper bound for the estimation and control performance of a system using tournament access, which shows the benefits of using state-based priorities. The proposed tournament mechanism is implemented on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard protocol stack, and evaluated in a hardware-in-the-loop experimental setup.


In order to meet the demands of simplicity and reliability in active control systems for flexible structures, an inexpensive active truss element and control law has been developed in this research. A decentralized switching control law is used along with a compressible fluid in the truss element in order to dissipate energy during the motion of the structure. However, the energy is not absorbed in the same manner as a conventional viscous damper. The truss element retains its maximum stiffness, but has a reset-able nominal unstressed length. Energy is absorbed in the working fluid of the truss element through heat transfer to the environment when the nominal length is reset at the proper switching times. The control law is insensitive to changes in structural parameters such as mass, stiffness, and damping. In this paper, a mathematical model for the system is presented along with a stability analysis and experimental results.


OBJECTIVE--To investigate the cause of post-operative retention of urine in elderly men. DESIGN--Prospective study. SETTING--Northern General Hospital, Sheffield. PATIENTS--32 consecutive men (median age 73, range 55-85) referred to the urology department who were unable to pass urine either within 48 hours after operation and required catheterisation (23) or after removal of a catheter inserted at the initial operation (nine). INTERVENTION--Intermittent self catheterisation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Urological investigation by medium fill and voiding cystometry within four weeks after operation, and minimum follow up three months thereafter. RESULTS--6 patients resumed normal voiding before urodynamic assessment, three proceeded straight to prostatectomy, and one was unfit for self catheterisation. Of 22 men who underwent urodynamic investigation, only five had bladder outflow obstruction, who subsequently had successful prostatectomy; 15 showed either a low pressure-low flow system (seven) or complete detrusor failure (eight) and two showed pelvic parasympathetic nerve damage. With intermittent self catheterisation spontaneous voiding returned in all but one man within a median of 8 weeks (range 6-32 weeks). Recovery of bladder function took significantly longer in men with detrusor failure than in those with an underactive bladder (median 10 weeks (range 6-32 weeks) v median 8 weeks (range 6-8 weeks); p = 0.05). Three months later all patients had re-established their own normal voiding pattern with minimal residual urine on ultrasonography and satisfactory flow rates. CONCLUSIONS--Postoperative urinary retention in elderly men is not an indication for prostatectomy; a normal pattern of micturition can be re-established by intermittent self catheterisation in most men.


We report on the ultrafast laser inscription (ULI) of volume phase gratings inside gallium lanthanum sulphide (GLS) chalcogenide glass substrates. The effect of laser pulse energy and grating thickness on the dispersive properties of the gratings is investigated, with the aim of improving the performance of the gratings in the mid-infrared. The grating with the optimum performance in the mid-infrared exhibited a 1st order absolute diffraction efficiency of 61% at 1300 nm and 24% at 2640 nm. Based on the work reported here, we conclude that ULI is promising for the fabrication of mid-infrared volume phase gratings, with potential applications including astronomical instrumentation and remote sensing.


Uche Anizor (PhD, Wheaton College) and Hank Voss (PhD, Wheaton College) come eminently qualified to speak about the priesthood of believers, a term popularized by Martin Luther but a biblical concept rarely understood and practiced over the centuries. Anizor is an associate professor of biblical and theological studies at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University and author of a book on a related topic: Kings and Priests: Scripture's Theological Account of Its Readers.  Hank Voss, on the other hand, is a theological practitioner as national church planting direct at World Impact and senior national staff with The Urban Ministry Institute of Los Angeles.  Both have a passion for the topic and a vested interest in seeing the body of Christ put into practice the biblical doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Their desire is to develop a "theological vision" (21) of the doctrine of the people of God as priests in God's kingdom as part of their "identity in Jesus Christ" (21). They describe their thesis for this "well-rounded theological vision … one that is constructive rather than reactive … [and which] develops in four stages—biblical, historical, theological and practical"


simple methods which tend to be forgotten nowadays (kites and nephoscopes for instance). 55 NF for a paperback may seem expensive, but its 380 pages would be a good investment for anyone involved in measuring the atmosphere. All the latest devices of radar are fully described. British engineers may regret the absence of worked examples. This is a symptom of the difference of approach and has nothing to do with the complexity of British units, as some people suppose. In the extreme the Frenchman regards the problem as solved when the principle is understood; the Englishman wants to know how to get the answer on a particular occasion and cares little about the fundamentals, and perhaps he needs to be given a little more confidence that he can understand.—R. S. SCORER.


Perturbation of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) results in a conserved stress response called the unfolded protein response (UPR). Macrophages undergoing a UPR respond to LPS with log-fold increased production of IFN- b , a cytokine with diverse roles in innate and adaptive immunity. In this study, we found that thapsigargin-induced ER stress augmented recruitment of IFN regulatory factor-3, CREB binding protein/p300, and transcriptional machinery to the murine ifnb1 promoter during LPS stimulation. Although full synergistic IFN- b production requires X-box binding protein 1 (XBP-1), this UPR-regulated transcription factor did not appreciably bind the ifnb1 promoter. However, XBP-1 bound a conserved site 6.1 kb downstream of ifnb1 , along with IFN regulatory factor-3 and CREB binding protein only during concomitant UPR and LPS stimulation. XBP-1 physically associates with p300, suggesting a mechanism of multimolecular assembly at the +6.1 kb site. Luciferase reporter assays provide evidence this +6 kb region functions as an XBP-1–dependent enhancer of ifnb1 promoter activity. Thus, this study identifies a novel role for a UPR-dependent transcription factor in the regulation of an inflammatory cytokine. Our findings have broader mechanistic implications for the pathogenesis of diseases involving ER stress and type I IFN, including viral infection, ischemia-reperfusion injury, protein misfolding, and inflammatory diseases. The Journal of Immunology , 2010, 185: 2324–2330.


Objective: To isolate potential hydrocarbon degraders from different habitats within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) contaminated with Hydrocarbon Compounds (HC) and assess their degradation potential by a rapid qualitative method. Methods/Analysis: Eight different oil contaminated samples were collected for isolation of Hydrocarbon Degrading Bacteria (HDB) on the surface of nutrient agar plates where the appearance of bacterial colonies was observed and then phenotypically and biochemically characterized. Isolates were screened for HC degradation by the "whole plate diffusion" method after observation of the bacterial growth around the hole. PCR analysis was carried out to detect the key degrading gene, alkane hydroxylase gene (AlkB) in the positive HDB. Findings: Results indicated the recovery of 19 isolates from different HC contaminated samples with nine isolates namely (2A, 1D, So1, S1A, S3, KF1, SO2, AJ1 and 2B) were identified as positive degraders for one or more of the tested hydrocarbon compounds. The majority of these isolates were able to utilize heptane as a sole carbon source for their survival while the isolates SO2, S1A and S3 were the most potent as indicated by their growth around the agar hole-plate. Degradation of hydrocarbon compounds by indigenous microbial communities to marine environment was shown to be successful with a significant biodegradation role can be played by the recovered isolates. PCR analysis of the positive degraders for the presence of AlkB gene showed two groups with different band size products; group 1 (G1) (~330 bp) and group 2 (G2) (multiple of 330 pb). Novelty/Improvements: This study confirmed the HC degradation after detecting the marker AlkB gene in the positive degraders, and the use of th "Hole plate diffusion method" as a rapid qualitative evaluation method for bacterial HC degradation by bacteria. *Author for correspondence Indian Journal of Science and Technology, Vol 11(25), DOI: 10.17485/ijst/2018/v11i25/123331, July 2018 ISSN (Print) : 0974-6846 ISSN (Online) : 0974-5645


Several types of aggressive cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), often arise as a multifocal primary tumor. This suggests a high rate of premalignant changes in noncancerous tissue before the formation of a solitary tumor. Examination of the messenger RNA expression profiles of tissue samples derived from patients with cirrhosis of various etiologies by complementary DNA (cDNA) microarray indicated that they can be grossly separated into two main groups. One group included hepatitis B and C virus infections, hemochromatosis, and Wilson's disease. The other group contained mainly alcoholic liver disease, autoimmune hepatitis, and primary biliary cirrhosis. Analysis of these two groups by the cross‐validated leave‐one‐out machine‐learning algorithms revealed a molecular signature containing 556 discriminative genes (P < .001). It is noteworthy that 273 genes in this signature (49%) were also significantly altered in HCC (P < .001). Many genes were previously known to be related to HCC. The 273‐gene signature was validated as cancer‐associated genes by matching this set to additional independent tumor tissue samples from 163 patients with HCC, 56 patients with lung carcinoma, and 38 patients with breast carcinoma. From this signature, 30 genes were altered most significantly in tissue samples from high‐risk individuals with cirrhosis and from patients with HCC. Among them, 12 genes encoded secretory proteins found in sera. In conclusion, we identified a unique gene signature in the tissue samples of patients with cirrhosis, which may be used as candidate markers for diagnosing the early onset of HCC in high‐risk populations and may guide new strategies for chemoprevention. Supplementary material for this article can be found on the HEPATOLOGY website (http://interscience.wiley.com/jpages/0270‐9139/suppmat/index.html). (HEPATOLOGY 2004;39:518–527.)


Legal judgment prediction is the task of automatically predicting the outcome of a court case, given a text describing the case's facts. Previous work on using neural models for this task has focused on Chinese; only feature-based models (e.g., using bags of words and topics) have been considered in English. We release a new English legal judgment prediction dataset, containing cases from the European Court of Human Rights. We evaluate a broad variety of neural models on the new dataset, establishing strong baselines that surpass previous feature-based models in three tasks: (1) binary violation classification; (2) multi-label classification; (3) case importance prediction. We also explore if models are biased towards demographic information via data anonymization. As a side-product, we propose a hierarchical version of BERT, which bypasses BERT's length limitation.


In this study, the performance of the artificial neural network (ANN) and multiple regression (MR) models to predict the factor of safety, Fs, values of soil against liquefaction was investigated and compared. To achieve this, two earthquake parameters, namely, earthquake magnitude (Mw) and horizontal peak ground acceleration (amax ), and  six soil properties, namely, standard penetration test number (SPT-N), saturated unit weight (γsat), natural unit weight (γn),  fines content (FC), the depth of ground water level from the ground surface (GWL), and the depth of the soil from ground surface (d) varied in the liquefaction analysis and then the Fs value  was calculated for each case by using the Excell program developed and used in the development of the ANN and MR models. The results obtained from the simplified method were compared with those obtained from both the ANN and MR models.It was found that the predicted values from the ANN model matched the calculated values much better than those obtained from the MR model. Moreover, the performance indices such asthedetermination coefficient, variance account for, mean absolute error, root mean square error, and the scaled percent error were computed to evaluate the prediction capacity of the models developed. The study demonstrates that the ANN model is able to predict the Fs value of the soil against liquefaction, quite efficiently, and is superior to the MR model.


SUMMARY Dispersal of the prolamellar body tubules into primary lamellar layers has been studied in leaves of dark-grown bean seedlings (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Following complete photoconversion of protochlorophyllide the dispersal process can proceed in either light or darkness. The dispersal is reversibly inhibited in leaves at o °C. Above o °C the time course for the dispersal is temperature dependent. The spectral shift of the in vivo absorption maximum of newly formed chlorophyllide from 684 to 672 nm is also inhibited at o °C and the time course is temperature-dependent in a manner similar to that of the membrane dispersal. A causal connexion between the 2 phenomena can thus be suggested. Derangement of the tubular membranes produced by heat treatment or by freezing and thawing in darkness causes the appearance of photoactive protochlorophyllide absorbing at 635 nm. Photoconversion of protochlorophyllide 635 nm results in chlorophyllide absorbing at 672 nm and further dissociation of the membranes. Denaturation of the prolamellar body membranes by heating or by slow thawing results in the formation of photoinactive protochlorophyllide absorbing at 632 nm.


Flood risk management is a policy field in which the distribution of burdens and benefits plays an important role. As flood risks are distributed unequally among the members of society, people in risk areas benefit more from flood risk management than people living in a relatively 'risk-free' area. At the same time the infringements of property rights in the case of flood risk management are burdens that a small group of people have to bear in order to benefit a larger group of people, or in some cases, society as a whole. This unequal distribution of burdens is a distributional effect of flood risk management. This research defines distributional effects as 'the negative consequences of lawful flood risk management that infringe possessions or property rights.' For example, dispossession or devaluation of property or a loss of income. In order to reduce the adverse effects of flood risk management, compensation regimes are applied. Distributional effects cannot be studied without placing them in a broader context of distributive justice. Aristotelean distributive justice is mostly related to the distribution of benefits (rights, goods or, in this case, flood protection) or welfare, and can be applied to burdens as well. A consequence of the classification of the compensation for distributional effects as part of distributive justice is that a just distribution differs per society and per country, or even per region within a country. One can create a distributive standard to which the goods (or burdens) are allocated in a just manner, taking into account the specific context of the region, which does not demand absolute equality. Measures of flood risk management can be categorized in different strategies, classified by the European Floods Directive. European countries have one or more dominant strategies. The dissertation focusses on three jurisdictions: the Netherlands, the Flemish Region in Belgium and France. These jurisdictions have different dominant strategies, although all are broadening their flood risk management by using more than one strategy. Every strategy is connected to a specific compensation regime that mitigates the burdens caused by flood risk management measures. By changing from one strategy to another, the applicable compensation regime changes as well, although policy-makers are not in all cases aware of this consequence. This research shows that, by having this strong connection between strategies and compensation regimes, burdens are unequally spread internally in France and Flanders and are spread unequally externally between the three countries. The Netherlands can be seen as an example in which compensation takes place in a consistent manner in all strategies. Although the burdens are unequally spread, this does not automatically lead to the conclusion that France has an unjust distribution of burdens, because the perception of distributive justice also differs per country and time.


Osteoporosis is the result of a long process where resorption exceeds formation, compromising the cancellous and cortical microstructure of the bone and thus affecting its strength and increasing significantly the risk of fracture. To stop this process, we used, and are still using, antiresorptives, mainly bisphosphonates.1 Interestingly, this year we celebrate their 50th anniversary. The potential to reconstruct the skeleton materialised in 2002 with the introduction of teriparatide, a recombinant human parathyroid hormone (PTH) consisting of its N-terminal only fragment (aa 1–34). It is administered subcutaneously one time per day. The approved dose is 20 mcg and the use of the drug for more than 2 years during a patient's lifetime is not recommended. In 2017, abaloparatide, a PTH-related protein analogue, became the second US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved bone anabolic agent, with reported stronger effects on bone mineral density (BMD), especially at the hip, than teriparatide. The recommended dose is 80 mcg subcutaneously once daily and its use is limited to a total duration of 2 years. Furthermore, because of the unknown relevance of the rodent osteosarcoma findings to humans, cumulative use of abaloparatide and parathyroid hormone analogues (eg, teriparatide) for more than 2 years during a patient's lifetime is not recommended. On 9 April 2019, FDA approved the third bone anabolic agent, romosozumab (Evenity), a humanised antisclerostin monoclonal antibody and antagonist of Wnt signalling. Sclerostin is the product of the SOST gene and inhibits bone formation. It is administered subcutaneously monthly. Two separate subcutaneous injections, one immediately following the other, are needed to administer the recommended total dose of 210 mg. Its use is limited to a total duration of 1 year.

The approval of romosozumab heralded a chorus of statements such as 'this is an extraordinary important drug' and 'it is a tremendous advance' …


Augmented reality, AR in short, refers to the integration of digital information, like text, multimedia content, GPS data, etc, with the real-world user environment in real time. In this way, as the term implies, the existing, perceived environment is augmented by computer-generated sensory input overlaid in the form of new, complementary information on top of it. Augmented reality differs from virtual reality in the sense that it does not induce a new artificial environment but it enhances existing reality with additional elements of information – real or virtual of relative semantic content. Augmented reality was initially used in the context of military, medical and industrial applications, but soon its use expanded into several additional areas including entertainment and games, education, culture, architecture and construction, commerce, advertising. Sophisticated augmented reality applications utilize advanced technologies like computer vision and object/gesture recognition so that users can interact or even digitally alter their real environment. However, simpler augmented reality applications for smartphones exploit GPS and compass functionalities for determining user location and orientation and by means of an augmented reality "marker" they project digital information on the display of the user device. In this work, we present MyARCampus, a marker-based augmented reality application for mobile handheld devices, like mobile phones or tablets, which aims to facilitate student life within a university campus. In particular, our application provides detailed information about course timetables for classrooms as well as detailed information about bus timetables for bus-stops located within the Patras University Campus and can be easily extended to cover additional points of interest. Such information is usually provided in the form of printed, static announcements. However, updates and changes are rarely included timely in these printouts. Using MyARCampus, students can obtain anytime useful information about classroom and bus timetables which can highly facilitate course attendance and transportation within the campus and provide invaluable support for efficient schedule organization and management.


To improve the mechanical properties of concretes containing recycled aggregates, pozzolanic materials such as Silica Fume and Meta Kaolin were used to decrease the porosity of the recycled aggregates. These pozzolanic aterials were adhered on the surface of recycled aggregates and closed the open pores so that the water absorption was decreased 1~2% as the amount of adsorption was increased. Compressive strength of cement mortars and concretes using surface treated recycled aggregates reached above 95% of the strength of its natural counterparts. Investigation of the microstructures using the scanning lectron micrographs showed the formation of dense interface after the adsorption treatment of pozzolanics to recycled aggregates.


The study investigated the level of retirement adjustment of teacher retirees in Osun State, Nigeria. It also explored the extent to which pre- retirement guidance, social support, and psychological wellbeing could individually and collectively predict retirement adjustment. Survey research design was used, with a sample size of 161 drawn through a multi-stage sampling method from a population of primary and secondary schools' retirees in the study area. Four research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Two adapted and one adopted standardised scales were used for data collection. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed that the majority (75.0%) of the respondents experience moderate retirement adjustment. The results further revealed that social support has a significant contribution (t = 6.90, beta weight = .445, p .125). Finally, additional results showed that preretirement guidance, social support, and psychological wellbeing combine to significantly predict retirement adjustment (R = .676, R2 = .457, p< 0.05). It is suggested, among others, that pre-retirement guidance should be given legal and policy backing to motivate employers to prepare their workers for effective living in retirement.
Keywords: retirement adjustment, pre-retirement guidance, social support, psychological wellbeing, retirees, Nigeria.


During natural movements, the motoneurons innervating a single muscle have different patterns of activity that are correlated with differences in synaptic input. The caudal abducens motoneurons fire phasically in synchronous bursts before rapid posterior eye movements; the rostral abducens motoneurons fire only tonically when the eye is fixed or moving slowly. This physiological difference is not related to motoneuron size. In this respect the abducens motoneurons violate the "size principle" that has been advanced for spinal motoneurons. The difference is probably related to the present finding that the caudal but not the rostral cells receive numerous electrical synapses that are known to have a role in synchronizing phasic activity.


This essay explores the resituation of medieval and early modern kabbalistic diagrams in a New Age, new media context. Because they are taken out of their previous discursive context, there are real differences in their meaning and in their ritual enaction. Thus, the contemporary use of medieval sources is a "medievalism" dependent on new media. Contemporary scholars often define New Age religion according to its construction and application of syncretistic discourse without concern for historical continuity, and they link this to universalistic ideals and a monistic theology. Thus, syncretism and anachronism have ideological and theological significance. By examining the use of these diagrams, we can better understand how New Age, new media religions create, interpret, and enact sacred discourse.


Summary: We present the CT findings in two newborns with subcutaneous fat necrosis. This is an uncommon disease that occurs in neonates who have had difficult deliveries. The CT findings varied from discrete subcutaneous nodules to a diffuse subcutaneous fullness. Although the subcutaneous disease tends to spontaneously resolve within weeks to months, an associated hypercalcemia may have a fatal outcome.


STUDY OBJECTIVE--The aim was to test a large set of childhood leukaemia and lymphoma registrations for the presence of clusters in space and in time. DESIGN--The study was a space-time cluster analysis. SETTING--England, Wales and Scotland. PATIENTS--All registrations for leukaemia and lymphoma between 1966 and 1983 in children aged 0 to 14 years were examined. The records included date and age of registration, sex, diagnosis, and the map reference of the postcode of residence. Of the 9411 registrations, 8888 were suitable for inclusion. MAIN RESULTS--There was a statistically significant excess of case pairs occurring jointly within 0.5 km and 60 d of each other: 68 pairs compared with 50.0 expected. The excess was detectable in central England, in the north of England and Scotland, but not in the south west of England. It was concentrated within the age band 4 to 7 years and among the lymphatic leukaemias. Several potential artefacts were considered and excluded, but the possibility remained that clustered detections might be triggered by haematological examinations undertaken for some communicable disease. CONCLUSIONS--There was strong evidence of joint spatial-temporal clustering, with an excess of pairs separated by very short time and distance intervals. The causes are probably biological rather than artefactual, but further work will be necessary in order to exclude the latter.


Abstract. The raindrop size distribution (DSD) quantifies the microstructure of rainfall and is critical to studying precipitation processes. We present a method to improve the accuracy of DSD measurements from Parsivel (particle size and velocity) disdrometers, using a two-dimensional video disdrometer (2DVD) as a reference instrument. Parsivel disdrometers bin raindrops into velocity and equivolume diameter classes, but may misestimate the number of drops per class. In our correction method, drop velocities are corrected with reference to theoretical models of terminal drop velocity. We define a filter for raw disdrometer measurements to remove particles that are unlikely to be plausible raindrops. Drop concentrations are corrected such that on average the Parsivel concentrations match those recorded by a 2DVD. The correction can be trained on and applied to data from both generations of OTT Parsivel disdrometers, and indeed any disdrometer in general. The method was applied to data collected during field campaigns in Mediterranean France for a network of first- and second-generation Parsivel disdrometers, and on a first-generation Parsivel in Payerne, Switzerland. We compared the moments of the resulting DSDs to those of a collocated 2DVD, and the resulting DSD-derived rain rates to collocated rain gauges. The correction improved the accuracy of the moments of the Parsivel DSDs, and in the majority of cases the rain rate match with collocated rain gauges was improved. In addition, the correction was shown to be similar for two different climatologies, suggesting its general applicability.


Electron microscopial techniques were used to study mouse embryos at implantation stages (5 1/2 days post coitum). Evidence was obtained indicating that trophoblast cells remove uterine luminal epithelial cells by phagocytosis. Small coated vesicles very probably play an important role in the process of digestion of uterine cells by the trophoblast. Two types of endoderm cell were present: the embryonic endodermal cells contained organelles appropriate to a nutritive pathway; the extra-embryonic endodermal cells were relatively poorly developed compared with those of the embryonic endoderm, and remained as a discontinuous layer. The ectoderm contained few organelles. Epithelium formation is described. Junctions only develop between cells in the same germ layer except for occasional ones, including desmosomes, between trophoblast and uterine epithelial cells. The author wishes to thank Professors J.M.F. Landsmeer and W.T. Daems for their stimulating discussions during this research project and for their helpful comments during the preparation of the manuscript. The Laboratory for Electron Microscopy kindly provided full facilities. The assistance of Mr J. Tinkelenberg in the preparation of the drawing (Fig. 1) is acknowledged. Thanks are also due to Mrs 2. seeger for reading the English manuscript and to Miss Ria Stokman for typing it.


Impacts of parental emigration on educational outcomes of children and, in turn, the children's influence on peers are theoretically ambiguous. Using novel data I collected on migration experiences and timing, family background and school performance of lower secondary pupils in Poland, I analyse empirically whether children with parents working abroad (PWA) influence school performance of their classmates. Migration is mostly temporary in nature, with one parent engaging in employment abroad. As many as 63% of migrant parents have vocational qualifications, 29% graduated from high school, 4% have no qualifications and the remaining 4% graduated from university. Almost 18% of all children are affected by parental migration and, on average, 6.5% of pupils in a class have a parent abroad. Perhaps surprisingly, estimates suggest that pupils benefit from the presence of PWA classmates. PWA pupils whose parents graduated from high school exert the biggest positive impact on their classroom peers. Further, classmates are differently affected by PWA children; those who themselves experienced migration within the family benefit most. This positive effect is likely driven by the student level interactions or increased teachers' commitment to classes with students from migrant families. JEL-Classification: F22, I29, J13, O15


Given the broad range of substrates hydrolyzed by Nudix (nucleoside diphosphate linked to X) enzymes, identification of sequence and structural elements that correctly predict a Nudix substrate or characterize a family is key to correctly annotate the myriad of Nudix enzymes. Here, we present the structure determination and characterization of Bd3179 –- a Nudix hydrolase from Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus–that we show localized in the periplasmic space of this obligate Gram-negative predator. We demonstrate that the enzyme is a nucleoside diphosphate sugar hydrolase (NDPSase) and has a high degree of sequence and structural similarity to a canonical ADP-ribose hydrolase and to a nucleoside diphosphate sugar hydrolase (1.4 and 1.3 Å Cα RMSD respectively). Examination of the structural elements conserved in both types of enzymes confirms that an aspartate-X-lysine motif on the C-terminal helix of the α-β-α NDPSase fold differentiates NDPSases from ADPRases.


Fuel cells have been considered as the primary energy source for the distributed power generation as they are highly efficient, modular and clean. The main drawback is that the dc voltage generated by a single fuel cell varies from 0.7V to 1V. Due to the low input voltage in fuel cells, a suitable power conditioner is required to interface to the utility grid or local loads. To meet this requirement, this paper presents the design, development and performance of a hybrid cascaded multilevel inverter. The advantage of the proposed topology is that the modulation, control and protection requirements of each bridge are modular and it requires only a single dc source in each phase leg. A two-level H-bridge inverter using variable frequency inverted sine wave carrier modulation technique has been studied for total harmonic distortion (THD) and switching losses for fuel cell applications. A detailed study of the technique was carried out through MATLAB/SIMULINK for switching losses and THD. The results were verified


Using an enterprise-level dataset collected from 234 workshops located in the furniture cluster of the city of Arusha, Tanzania, this paper investigates the mechanisms of technical knowledge exchange that take place in clusters. A knowledge exchange link is defined as any two clustering entrepreneurs who perform similar manufacturing techniques in the production process. The results show that the strength of the ethnic networks of producers has positive effects on acquisition of manufacturing techniques, particularly in skills such as wood-joining, which are mainly influenced by a producer's own skills rather than production facilities. Using dyadic data analysis, this paper further finds that two producers from the same ethnic minority are more likely to exhibit the same manufacturing techniques compared with two producers from the same ethnic majority. These findings suggest that ethnic networks facilitate knowledge exchange in an industrial cluster, but that this positive externality of the ethnic network effect only takes place in small-sized ethnic groups, and only to the extent that sophisticated facilities are not essential in the knowledge learning processes.


The aim of this research is to analyze the implementation of Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA) as a strategy taken by PT Garuda Indonesia in facing the commercial flight business competition in Indonesia. This research adopted Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix theory and the SCA approach to identify the competitive position of Garuda among its competitors in the airline industry and to analyze the component of competitors, consisting familiarity towards its own product, familiarity towards competitors, familiarity towards the competitors' product and the component of competition techniques comprising cost advantage, product differentiation, market focus, pioneering products and market synergy. The result of this research shows that competitive position of Garuda in the airline industry in Indonesia is in the star quadrant, possessing the growth of long run opportunities. The strategies that could be adopted were forward integration, backward integration, horizontal integration, market penetration, market development and product development. Therefore it could be concluded that the SCA concept could be adopted as the marketing strategy of Garuda. The optimal adoption of the SCA concept as the marketing strategy that possessed the sustainable competition requires mending and improvement of such strategies as market synergy, human resources development and the market extension.


Nanobubbles filled with air or a variety of pure gases are observed to persist in bulk water for weeks and months. Nanoemulsions consisting of oil droplets in water are also remarkably stable against coagulation, with lifetimes up to weeks even if not coated with surfactants. The inverse system of nanodroplets of water in oil is also accessible for study and application. Voids on the nanoscale are formed in simulations of water under strong tension and are stable during the time of the simulation. The stability of these nano-entities is ultimately determined by the molecular-level structure of their interfaces. However, a thermodynamic theory might also be capable of providing some insight. We therefore consider spherical gas nanobubbles, immiscible liquid nanodroplets, and nanocavities formed in water under negative pressure on the same footing, and give a unified thermodynamic analysis of these systems. In all cases, mechanical equilibrium (local free energy maximum or minimum) is expressed by the Laplace equation, and thermodynamic stability (local free energy minimum) follows from the radius dependence of surface tension. All of them would be unstable if their surface tensions were constant. Data from the literature allow construction of numerical examples for cavities and gas nanobubbles. Spectroscopic data are cited in support of an interfacial water structure in gas nanobubbles and water droplets in oil that differ from their flat surface counterparts. The observed longevity of nanobubbles in particular has been thought to violate fundamental principles of diffusion and solubility. A close look at the Laplace equation and its derivation shows why this widespread belief is incorrect.


Recognising that inclusive education is critical to advancing All children's development, social inclusion and future productivity, this doctoral thesis seeks to engage the field of Thailand's early childhood inclusive education in a theoretical and practical conversation. Using Pierre Bourdieu's conceptual tools (Capital, Field and Habitus), the study explores and critically analyses the facilitators and barriers to early childhood inclusive education in terms of teachers and education policy maker's inclusive knowledge, beliefs, skills and practices in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. The conceptualisation from which this thesis is based, suggests that early childhood inclusive practice "exists in a social space given life through constant power struggles" (Eacott, 2010, p. 221). It is this contested space that defines the philosophy and practice of inclusive education, and arguably, teachers and policy makers' everyday practices. Using a mixed method design underpinned by Bourdieuian eclectic methodology and analysis, the study found that the early childhood teachers have limited knowledge and understanding of inclusive education and practice which they have attributed to: (1) a lack of effective training in inclusive education (2) inclusive education for young children is a new educational concept and agenda in Thailand. The study further identified that although the policy makers agreed that legislation and policy on inclusive education is adequate, this is not backed by effective implementation in real practice. Teachers reported that they felt significant stress and helplessness in their classrooms when planning teaching to meet the learning and developmental needs of children with disability and those with additional education needs. The teachers attributed these stressors to not knowing what to do with children with disability in their classes in addition to supports that were not forthcoming in their teaching of children with disability. Furthermore, the study uncovered that relational and cultural-religious beliefs of reincarnation and hierarchical relationships posed barriers to inclusive education in the early years classrooms in Thailand. This means, a number of children in the early childhood settings that claimed to be inclusive, are actually in search of inclusion.
The major implications glean from this study highlight the need for quality professional education, training and retraining of stakeholders (teachers, policy makers, support personnel etc) in leveraging knowledge and practice in educating children with disability/additional education needs. The study underscores the need for policy monitoring, flexibility in curricula, funding and novel ways of theorising issues of exclusion and inclusion. To accomplish these, the study provides a model to inform the development of a culturally relevant inclusive education for all young children in Thailand.


Introduction: Creating functional arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) at the wrist is challenging in paediatric patients because of the small calibre of the blood vessels. Methods: We report our experience with AVF surgery in children younger than 15 years of age using microsurgical techniques. Twenty-five patients underwent AVF surgery between 2003 and 2015 (20 for haemodialysis, 4 for plasmapheresis and 1 for parenteral nutrition). Median (range) age was 9 (2-15) years and median weight was 24 (8-61) kg. Results: The one-month occlusion rate was 8%. The primary and secondary patency rates at 1, 2, 3 years were: 60%, 49%, 42%, and 82%, 72%, 54%, respectively. The median (range) maturation time was 4.53 (0.5-11.2) months. We found no statistically significant effect of patient age, body weight, type of AVF and indication for AVF creation on the primary and secondary patency rates. Conclusions: Microsurgical AVF creation at the wrist can be performed with satisfactory results and should be the preferred technique in the paediatric population.


The exocrine pancreas and certain salivary glands of mammals secrete a variety of enzymes into the gastrointestinal tract, where they digest food. The same glands also release these enzymes into the bloodstream. This latter process has commonly been assumed to occur solely as the result of a pathological condition or as an inadvertent by-product of exocrine secretion due to the leakage of trace quantities of the enzymes into blood. However, a variety of evidence suggests that the endocrine secretion of digestive enzymes is a normal occurrence that can be of substantial magnitude in healthy individuals, is responsive to various physiological stimuli, and is distinct from exocrine secretion. Recent research has focused attention on this process as a promising means for the delivery of engineered proteins into the systemic circulation for pharmaceutical purposes. In this review, we survey research in this area and consider the evidence for the existence of an endocrine secretion of digestive enzymes, the cause of enzyme release into the bloodstream, its source within the tissue, and, finally, the physiological purposes that this secretion process might serve.


Task-based language teaching research has expanded substantially in foreign language (FL) contexts but most research studies have been carried out with young adults in university settings, despite the fact that FL programs for children are on the increase worldwide. However, there is a clear lack of research-based evidence of what children actually do while performing tasks, which is crucial in order to make decisions about appropriate educational provision, to inform policy makers, and to maximize children's learning opportunities. This paper focuses on current research on children in task-supported programs both in mainstream English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) contexts. It reviews studies carried out within interactional and sociocultural frameworks and shows how children successfully negotiate to make language meaningful, how they engage with the tasks and how they collaborate in different ways during task performance. Challenges and future research directions will be highlighted.


We present a study of the in-flight performance of the XMM-Newton EPIC MOS and pn detectors, with focus on the influence of proton flares and vignetting on the data. The very wide range in the conditions of our sample of observations, in terms of exposure length and background intensities, allows the detection of a wide range in the spectra of the proton flares, in contrast to the hard-spectrum flares proposed by Lumb et al. (2002, A&A, 389, 93) or Read & Ponman (2003, A&A, 409, 395). We also find an up to now unreported contamination in the low energy regime (E ≤ 0.5 keV) of the MOS1 observations, consisting of a significant increase in the measured intensities in two CCDs at the edges of the detector. This contamination yields in bright CCDs in the observations. Its effect must be taken into account for the study of sources detected in the affected CCDs. With respect to vignetting, we present in-flight exposure maps and we propose a method to repeat this calculation for user-definable energy bands. All the results presented here, have the goal to enable the study of very faint extended sources with XMM-Newton, like nearby galactic X-ray halos or the soft X-ray background.


We present the development of the gyroscopicbalanced control of an autonomous bikebot. The bikebot is an actively controlled bicycle-based robotic platform developed to study human dynamic postural balance motor skills through unstable physical human-robot interactions. We first present a dynamic model and analysis for the bikebot. A nonlinear balancing controller is designed to stabilize the underactuated bikebot on an orbital trajectory around the unstable equilibrium point that is coupled with another orbit of the actuated gyro-balancer. We demonstrate the analysis and control design with experimental validations. Finally, we present a set of human riding experiments to show how the bikebot can be used to perturb and excite human sensorimotor feedback loop for dynamic postural balance motor skills.


Medical imaging of the spine and pelvis is usually performed by conventional and digital radiography, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Radiographic imaging provides two-dimensional (2D) projection images, while CT and MR imaging provide a series of 2D cross-sections that are stacked into three-dimensional (3D) images. Although radiographic imaging is still widely used due to relatively low costs and wide area of application, a paradigm shift to the use of cross-sectional imaging has occurred due to its sensitivity, specificity, availability and trends in medical practice. In the case of spine and pelvis, 3D imaging allows the measurement of morphological properties valuable for ascertaining diagnosis, determining prognosis, and guiding treatment decisions. The morphological properties of the spine and pelvis can be described by a number of parameters that represent anatomical distances or angles. The spinal curvature is described by coronal vertebral inclination (CVI) and sagittal vertebral inclination (SVI), the rotation of a vertebra around its longitudinal axis is described by axial vertebral rotation (AVR), while the sagittal alignment of the pelvis is usually described by pelvic incidence (PI). Quantification of spinal curvature, vertebral rotation and sagittal pelvic alignment is important for a better understanding of the progression of spinal and pelvic deformities. However, the human capability to quantitatively evaluate morphological parameters from medical images is limited due to our non-systematic search patterns, similar characteristics of normal and pathological conditions, and biological variability of human anatomy. Technical limitations, such as image noise, distinctive characteristics of imaging techniques and variable positioning of the patient during image acquisition, also represent a major source of variability and introduce measurement errors. This thesis concentrates on the evaluation of spinal and pelvic parameters from 3D medical images. Spinal curvature, vertebral rotation and sagittal pelvic alignment were quantitatively evaluated by existing and novel manual and computerized measurement methods, and the results were analyzed in terms of the variability introduced by methods and observers. Although manual measurements are still widely used, the most established measurement of a specific parameter is not necessarily the best choice in terms of repeatability and reliability. Computerized measurements, which apply image processing and analysis techniques, are considerably faster and less observer-dependent than manual measurements, but currently developed to a point that still requires observer interaction, usually in the form of initialization. The reproducibility and reliability are higher when parameters are evaluated from 3D than 2D images, but 3D images are more demanding in terms of availability, manipulation and interpretation. However, 3D images help clinicians in making more accurate diagnosis and planning more effective treatment strategies for spinal and pelvic deformities, while methods for computer-assisted and computerized diagnosis are constantly being developed to aid in the interpretation of the increasing amount of medical image information. Quantitative evaluation of spinal and pelvic parameters from 3D images is a current and active topic in orthopedics and medical imaging that is far from being entirely explored, therefore opportunities for further research still exist and represent challenging tasks.


ABSTRACT With technocratic populist Andrej Babiš leading the Czech government coalition, the country has experienced some democratic backsliding. In contrast to its Hungarian and Polish counterparts, however, the Czech Constitutional Court has been spared from executive capture. This article argues that resilient constitutional courts may act as one of the key safeguards against illiberal populism. We demonstrate that resilient constitutional courts are products of an institutional framework, which prevents court-packing by loyal allies of populist leaders, and of courts' activities that increase their reputation with the public, thus making political attacks against them overly costly. We argue that the Czech Constitutional Court has exercised an approach of selective judicial activism that focuses on keeping political competition fair while avoiding involvement in controversial socially transformative judicial decision-making which would outrage large parts of the population. Moreover, by acting as a guardian of fair political competition, the Court contributed to the further fragmentation of the political landscape, which in turn prevented the accumulation of political power, and hence the Court shielded itself from political attacks.


Two-dimensional (2D) materials have gained significant attention owing to their unique physical and chemical properties, which arise mainly from their high surface–bulk ratios and topological effects. Since the discovery of graphene in 2004, the family of 2D materials has expanded rapidly. Thus far, several single-element 2D materials (graphene, phosphorene, etc.) have been reported; the majority of them contain two (MoS2, WSe2, etc.) or more elements (Mo2CTx, CrPS4, Bi2Sr2CaCu2Ox, etc.). Of these, three-element 2D materials, also called ternary 2D materials, represent a rather attractive direction of recent years. Typical ternary 2D materials include metal phosphorous trichalcogenides (MPTs), ternary transition metal chalcogenides (TMDs), transition metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes) and 2D ternary oxides. Ternary 2D systems result in multiple degrees of freedom to tailor their physical properties via stoichiometric variation. Moreover, they exhibit some properties not characteristic of binary 2D systems, such as band gap tuning. In this paper, we have reviewed the recent progress in various ternary 2D materials on the basis of their classification (MPTs, ternary 2D MXenes, ternary TMDs, BCN and other ternary 2D materials). The synthesis methods, structures, key properties (such as band gap tuning, phase transition and topological phase), and their applications, are summarized. In addition, the strategies to tackle challenges, as well as the outlooks of this field, are presented.


Metamagnets have been playing an important role as model systems in the physics of phase transitions for 30 years. Especially the isolating substances FeCl2 and FeBr2 have attracted much interest both in experimental and theoretical physics. In this thesis we focus on experimental investigations of Fe1-xMgxBr2 with x = 0 and 0.05. By SQUID-magnetometry, SQUID-susceptometry, elastic neutron scattering and calorimetry we studied the magnetic phase boundaries and especially the recently found new phase transition at H=H1(T) (Aruga Katori et al. 1996). Also we arrived to a physical understanding of the non-critical fluctuations at H=H-(T) in terms of a smeared 2-dimensional phase transition of the spin down sublattice.


Aims Plant diversity has been linked to both increasing and decreasing levels of arthropod herbivore damage in different plant communities. So far, these links have mainly been studied in grasslands or in artificial tree plantations with low species richness. Furthermore, most studies provide results from newly established experimental plant communities where trophic links are not fully established or from stands of tree saplings that have not yet developed a canopy. Here, we test how tree diversity in a species-rich subtropical forest in China with fully developed tree canopy affects levels of herbivore damage caused by different arthropod feeding guilds. Methods We established 27 plots of 30×30 m area. The plots were selected randomly but with the constraint that they had to span a large range of tree diversity as required for comparative studies in contrast to sample surveys. We recorded herbivore damage caused by arthropod feeding guilds (leaf chewers, leaf skeletonizers and sap feeders) on canopy leaves of all major tree species. Important Findings Levels of herbivore damage increased with tree species richness and tree phylogenetic diversity. These effects were most pronounced for damage caused by leaf chewers. Although the two diversity measures were highly correlated, we additionally found a significant interaction between them, whereby species richness increased herbivory mostly at low levels of phylogenetic diversity. Tree species with the lowest proportion of canopy leaf biomass in a plot tended to suffer the highest levels of herbivore damage, which is in contrast to expectations based on the resource concentration hypothesis. Our results are in agreement with expectations of the dietary mixing hypothesis where generalist herbivores with a broad spectrum of food plants benefit from increased resource diversity in tree species-rich forest patches.


Within American society, there is a general sense that changing the rules after the game has been played is unfair. While state legislatures more often enact prospective legislation, they nevertheless still regularly engage in retroactive civil lawmaking. In essence, state legislatures are changing the rules after the game has been played. Most Americans inaccurately assume such measures are unconstitutional under the federal constitution. Although several provisions of the United States Constitution offer potential sources of constitutional constraint upon retroactive civil lawmaking, ultimately, as they have been interpreted by the United States Supreme Court, these protections are extremely narrow, largely hollow, or both. This article demonstrates the extremely limited nature of the protection afforded by the federal constitution as a restraint upon retroactive civil lawmaking by state legislatures. Having done so, the article next explores why lawyers nevertheless continue to pursue federal constitutional arguments while failing to advance claims that state legislatures' retroactive civil lawmaking is unconstitutional under their respective state constitutions. After having addressed reasons for the tunnel vision experienced by many lawyers in thinking about constitutional law, the article next addresses the constitutional protections that attorneys will find if they shift their gaze from the United States Constitution to their respective state constitutions and provides a menu of potential options to pursue. In doing so, the article addresses both distinct state constitutional provisions, those with no federal counterpart, and state constitutional provisions that have a federal corollary, but which have been interpreted by state supreme courts as affording greater protections than their federal counterparts. As to the former, this article explores (1) state constitutional clauses that expressly impose general prohibitions upon retroactive/retrospective civil laws, (2) state constitutional open courts/right to remedy clauses, and (3) a number of detailed state constitutional provisions which prevent specific retroactive actions by state governments. As for those provisions with a federal corollary, the article specifically considers the contracts and due process clauses of state constitutions and the manner in which some state courts have interpreted such provisions as providing greater protection against retroactive civil laws. To summarize, while the sense of most Americans that retroactive civil lawmaking is unconstitutional under the federal constitution is misplaced, such measures are in fact often unconstitutional under state constitutions. Citizens and their attorneys are simply looking to the wrong constitution in seeking to invalidate retroactive civil laws enacted by state legislatures. They would find much stronger grounds if they looked to state constitutions instead.


Salinity is considered a common stress factor when nitrification is applied in waste water treatment. Observations often show a sub-optimal nitrification performance as a response to variations in in-fluent salinity. Recently, researchers have coupled microbial community dynamics and changes in the community structure to process stability, and there is a need for interdisciplinary research at the borderline between microbial ecology and process engineering to understand these links. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the community changes in two different nitrifying cultures adapted to different salinities as a response to a change in salinity. Two continuous moving bed bio-film reactors were first operated at salinities corresponding to the community origin. These were a 0 ppt salinity adapted culture, originating from low salinity municipal waste water, and a 33 ppt salinity adapted culture originating from a recirculated aquaculture filter. After a period of continuous operation at those salinities the salinity were switched: operating the 0 ppt salinity adapted culture with a 33 ppt salinity based cultivation medium, and the 33 ppt adapted culture with a 0 ppt salinity based cultivation medium. Changes in community structure and community dynamics were monitored over time with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Average Bray-Curtis similarities within each community showed that a static nitrifying community was not essential for complete nitrification, but rather an advantageous community trait that gave a higher resilience towards fluctuations in environmental factors such as pH, temperature and nitrogen loading. The results showed that the nitrifying culture adapted to 33 ppt salinity was more robust towards a change in salinity, and that the culture was halotolerant. Full nitrification was achieved from day 38 after the salinity change. The microbial adaptation strategy was not determined by either acclimation or by population shift, but rather a combination of the two determined by the community's inherent prerequisites. Further, it was demonstrated that during low salt adaptation a stable nitrification performance was not necessarily coupled to a stable community structure. Population shift was probably the main adaptation strategy for the 0 ppt adapted culture when adapting to 33 ppt salinity. Observations during continuous operation at this salinity showed only partial nitrification from day 54 after the salinity change with low ammonium oxidation rates. Up towards this point in time, and towards the end of the experiment, the community structure was constantly changing.


The migration of biliary calculi without apparent cause and even their disappearance have been the subject of sporadic reports over the past 250 years. Intestinal obstruction from a large gallstone passed into the bowel through a cholecystoenteric fistula was a well-known phenomenon. Many of the calculi recovered from the stool in the older reports probably resulted from internal fistulae.1,2 Although many of these older cases lack operative or autopsy evidence that fistulae were absent, in a few the clinical course is suggestive that the calculi followed the biliary ducts into the intestine. Harley3described a woman who passed a total of 12 stones "the size of large peas, the average weight 0.2 grammes." The passage of the first was attended by dark urine and clay-colored stools as well as jaundice, whereas those subsequently passed only produced jaundice and "high-coloured urine." Martin4described a 65-year-old female "suffering for


A simple clinical and a more elaborate instrumental study are presented on the cardio-circulatory action of Althesine and Etomidate (Hypnomidate) compared to thiopental (Pentothal). Statistically is Althesin not significantly worse than thiopental but significantly worse than Hypnomidate. Hypnomidate is less aggressive than thiopental although non significantly. Succinylcholine (1 mg/kg) aggravates the heart depressant actions of the tested drugs, while the intubation of the trachea produces sometimes a serious pressor response which can not be always blocked by prior administration of a low dose (0.1 mg i.v.) Fentanyl.


Schistosomiaisis, commonly referred to as bilharzia is a neglected tropical parasitic water
borne disease prevalent in developing countries and is endemic in KwaZulu-Natal, South
Africa. The World Health Organisation (WHO) aims to eliminate bilharzia as a public health
problem by the year 2020 and as a measure to work towards this goal, the South African
Department of Health (DoH) Ugu District, KwaZulu-Natal commenced a Mass Treatment
Campaign (MTC) targeted at rural schools to decrease bilharzia infection intensity and
prevalence levels. The DOH MTC utilises communication materials to communicate with
stakeholders and the public to create awareness of the campaign and bilharzia. This study
specifically explored the perceptions of learners towards the communication materials used
by the DOH MTC to communicate with the learners in order to generate improvements for
the current communication strategy.
The ability of an individual to receive information is commonly impacted by the community,
social networks and the environment and infrastructural settings of the community. The
Social Ecological Model of Communication and Health Behaviour (SEMCHB)
acknowledges that such factors may have an impact on how the individual receives
information. The study utilises the broader social ecological perspective, and particularly the
SEMCHB as a framework for understanding and exploring the perceptions of learners.
The study made use qualitative data through focus group discussions, semi- structured
interviews and participant observations to gain insights from learners. The study discovered
that many incorrect perceptions about bilharzia still surround the learners. The perceived
messages communicated through the DoH MTC still need to be communicated with learners,
since some learners face challenges in understanding the preferred message. The encoding of
the communicated messages through the poster, pamphlet and consent forms is influenced by
the individuals social networks hence this study recommends that future communication
message are designed with reference to the SEMCHB.


The authors use a growth accounting framework to examine growth of the rapidly developing Chinese economy. Their findings support the view that, although feasible in the intermediate term, China's recent pattern of extensive growth is not sustainable in the long run. The authors believe that China will be able to sustain a growth rate of 8 to 9 percent for an extended period if it moves from extensive to intensive growth. They next compare potential growth in China with historical developments in the United States and the European Union. They discuss the differences in production structure and level of development across the three economies that may explain the countries' varied intermediate-term growth prospects. Finally, the authors provide an analysis of "green" gross domestic product and the role of natural resources in China's growth.


Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks (H-CRAN) incorporate Heterogeneous Networks (HetNet) and Cloud Radio Access Networks (C-RAN) concepts for next-generation cellular networks. H-CRAN exploits the heterogeneity of macro and small cells from HetNet, enabling cellular networks to achieve a higher spectral efficiency. Meanwhile, concepts from C-RAN involving baseband units and remote radio heads enable H-CRAN to insert a centralized point of processing for cellular networks, reducing capital and operational expenditures. Although H-CRAN brings several opportunities to cellular networks, it is not free from challenges. Among the different challenges existent, we highlight the most relevant ones, (a) high intercell interference; (b) critical latency constraints in long-distance wireless signal processing; and (c) poor allocation of processing resources. To address these challenges, we propose a Software-Defined Networking (SDN)-based decision-making system able to be programmatically changed to make decisions that can decrease interference, meet delay constraints, and mitigate processing underusage for long-term operation of an H-CRAN. By adding concepts of SDN with a simplified object-oriented API, it is possible to logically centralize the control of H-CRAN considering a pool of physically distributed equipment. The methodology employed to show the feasibility of the proposed approach is based on the development of a prototype that supports a wide range of decision algorithms. This prototype was evaluated in three case studies conducted on a simulated environment based on 3GPP specification for simulators. In the first case study, we evaluate the network overload implied by adding an SDNbased decision-making system to H-CRAN. Afterwards, a decision algorithm is executed to exploit resource sharing deciding which elements of an H-CRAN can be used by two operators interchangeably to reduce interference and increase spectrum efficiency at the spectrum level. The third case study shows that the distance between cloud and remote radio heads must be considered in processing power allocation decisions and also when assigning a virtual baseband unit to the cloud. Evaluating the case studies becomes clear the need of an SDN-based decision-making system in H-CRAN to address the inherent challenges of these networks.


A numerical groundwater modeling approach is presented to quantify spatial and temporal trends in groundwater flow and availability, and to analyze the cumulative impacts of human activity on the shallow Bai Hassan aquifer underlying the central portion of the Lesser Zab River Basin, Kurdistan region, Iraq. The study area lies in the Kurdistan region of northeastern Iraq between the cities of Mosul, Kirkuk, Erbil, and Dokan. Increasing population, some of which has been displaced by conflict, coupled with continuing drought, climate change, and increasing agricultural irrigation, has intensified the need to identify water resources in the region. The Bai Hassan Formation (Pliocene – Pleistocene) is exposed in much of the basin and appears as a large potential source of water. Initial model inputs are in part based on the 365 historical data from the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources and monitoring of about 40 wells in the area during 2014.  The transient simulation model assumes 500 new wells will be drilled within the next ten years, with a discharge rate equal to 20 l/sec and with a pumping duration of eight hours daily.  Simulations model of the future pumping and recharge for five and ten years from the present shows a general decrease in hydraulic head in the unconfined aquifer on both sides of the Lesser Zab River but do not show a significant and immediate impact on the surface water flow. The recommended solution is to prevent excessive depletion in the middle and southern parts.


The goal of cryo-electron microscopy (EM) is to reconstruct the 3-dimensional structure of a molecule from a collection of its 2-dimensional projected images. In this article, we show that the basic premise of cryo-EM --- patching together 2-dimensional projections to reconstruct a 3-dimensional object --- is naturally one of Cech cohomology with SO(2)-coefficients. We deduce that every cryo-EM reconstruction problem corresponds to an oriented circle bundle on a simplicial complex, allowing us to classify cryo-EM problems via principal bundles. In practice, the 2-dimensional images are noisy and a main task in cryo-EM is to denoise them. We will see how the aforementioned insights can be used towards this end.


1. Hepatocytes isolated from starved rats and incubated without other substrates oxidized ethanol at a rate of 0.8–0.9μmol/min per g wet wt. of cells. Addition of 10mm-lactate increased this rate 2-fold. 2. Quinolinate (5mm) or tryptophan (1mm) decreased the rate of gluconeogenesis with 10mm-lactate and 8mm-ethanol from 0.39 to 0.04–0.08μmol/min per g wet wt. of cells, but rates of ethanol oxidation were not decreased. From these results it appears that acceleration of ethanol oxidation by lactate is not dependent upon the stimulation of gluconeogenesis and the consequent increased demand for ATP. 3. As another test of the relationship between ethanol oxidation and gluconeogenesis, the initial lactate concentration was varied from 0.5mm to 10mm and pyruvate was added to give an initial [lactate]/[pyruvate] ratio of 10. This substrate combination gave a large stimulation of ethanol oxidation (from 0.8 to 2.6μmol/min per g wet wt. of cells) at low lactate concentrations (0.5–2.0mm), but rates remained nearly constant (2.6–3.0μmol/min per g wet wt. of cells) at higher lactate concentrations (2.0–10mm). 4. In contrast, owing to the presence of ethanol, the rate of glucose synthesis was only slightly increased (from 0.08 to 0.12μmol/min per g wet wt. of cells) between 0.5mm- and 2.0mm-lactate and continued to increase (from 0.12 to 0.65μmol/min per g wet wt. of cells) with lactate concentrations between 2 and 10mm. 5. In the presence of ethanol, O2 uptake increased with increasing substrate concentration over the entire range. 6. Changes in concentrations of glutamate and 2-oxoglutarate closely paralleled changes in the rate of ethanol oxidation. 7. In isolated hepatocytes, rates of ethanol oxidation are lower than those in vivo apparently because of depletion of malate–aspartate shuttle intermediates during cell preparation. Rates are returned to those observed in vivo by substrates that increase the intracellular concentration of shuttle metabolites.


Sean Safford's 2009 book Why the Garden Club Couldn't Save Youngstown introduces a revolutionary idea that much of a community's economic resilience is tied to the social capital that exists within it. Recent research suggests that social capital not only benefits those who develop it, but it can serve as a source of economic development in the communities in which it arises. Past quantitative research on the economic benefit of social capital has only examined the city or higher levels of aggregation. This study measures social capital in three diverse socioeconomic neighborhoods to better understand how social capital can serve as a tool for economic development. An ordered probit regression model was developed to examine how individual and neighborhood levels of social capital benefit households within these communities. Moreover, this study addresses how differences in social capital across neighborhoods are explained by both individual and neighborhood characteristics.


Few investigations have been carried out on the ability of different plants to take up non-exchangeable potassium (K). The objective of this investigation was to examine the ability of different alfalfa cultivars to absorb K from phlogopite. An experiment was carried out with a completely randomized design with 3 alfalfa cultivars including Pickseed 2065 (MF), Rehnani (R) and Hamadani (H) grown in a quartz sand medium containing <53 micron sized phlogopite under complete and K-free nutrient solutions for a period of 6 months. During the growth period, the shoot was harvested 4 times. At the end of the experiment, the root was also separated from the growth medium and collected. Plant samples were extracted using the dry ash method and their K concentration was determined. Under the K-free nutrient solution, the highest shoot and root K concentration and uptake were found for the MF cultivar. The shoot and root K concentration in this cultivar were respectively 1.6 and 1.5 times higher than those in the R cultivar and 1.8 times greater than those in the H cultivar. The K uptake in the shoot and root of the MF cultivar was respectively 1.6 and 1.9 times higher than that of the H cultivar and 1.6 and 1.5 times higher than that of the R cultivar. Thus, in addition to other parameters, the type of plant variety should be taken into account when K requirement is evaluated.


Abstract The epidemic of deaths by homicide affects every society around the world and represents a major public health crisis. Detailed information on the characteristics of homicides victims from Islamic countries is limited. This article presents forensic epidemiological data on homicides in Isfahan, Iran, during 2013–2015. Isfahan has a population of more than 5 million and 69,387 deaths with 246 homicides between 2013 and 2015. Most victims were male (73%), between the ages of 15 to 29 years (39.5%), married (54%), and employed (54%). The relationship between the actor and the victims showed that 12% were married, 15% friends, 25% strangers, and 47% others or unknown. The most frequent method of homicides was by stabbing (45%), followed by firearms (23%), strangulation (14%), and blunt force trauma (7%). The top 3 methods among males were stabbing, firearms, and strangulation, whereas among females, it was stabbing, strangulation, and by other methods. There was no significant effect on homicide rates by month, weekday, or temperature. Investigators examining deaths in Muslin countries must understand and adjust for the culture, norms, and religious ideology.


Endogenous hypercortisolism (Cushing syndrome) usually implies the presence of a pathologic condition caused by either an ACTH-secreting neoplasm or autonomous cortisol secretion from a benign or malignant adrenal neoplasm. However, sustained or intermittent hypercortisolism may also accompany many medical disorders that stimulate physiologic/nonneoplastic activation of the HPA axis (formerly known as pseudo-Cushing syndrome); these two entities may share indistinguishable clinical and biochemical features. A thorough history and physical examination is often the best (and sometimes only) way to exclude pathologic/neoplastic hypercortisolism. The presence of alcoholism, renal failure, poorly controlled diabetes, and severe neuropsychiatric disorders should always raise suspicion that the presence of hypercortisolism may be related to physiologic/non-neoplastic Cushing syndrome. Since late-night salivary cortisol and low dose dexamethasone suppression have good sensitivity and negative predictive value, normal studies exclude Cushing syndrome of any form. However, these tests have imperfect specificity and additional testing over time with clinical follow-up is often needed. When there is persistent diagnostic uncertainty, secondary tests such as the DDAVP stimulation test and the dexamethasone-CRH test may provide evidence for the presence or absence of an ACTH-secreting tumor. This review will define and characterize the numerous causes of physiologic/non-neoplastic hypercortisolism and provide a rational clinical and biochemical approach to distinguish it from pathologic/neoplastic hypercortisolism (true Cushing syndrome). Page 2 of 30


Background Rett syndrome (RTT) is a severe, progressive neurodevelopmental disorder with multisystem comorbidities that evolve across a patient's lifespan requiring attentive coordination of subspecialty care by primary care providers. A comprehensive, up-to-date synthesis of medical comorbidities in RTT would aid care coordination and anticipatory guidance efforts by healthcare providers. Our objective was to review and summarise published evidence regarding prevalence of RTT medical comorbidities across all relevant organ systems. Methods Search of PubMed from January 2000 to July 2019 was performed using the search terms (Rett and MECP2 AND patient) OR (Rett and MECP2 AND cohort). Articles reporting the prevalence of clinical findings in RTT were assessed with respect to the size and nature of the cohorts interrogated and their relevance to clinical care. Results After review of over 800 records, the multisystem comorbidities of RTT were summarised quantitatively from 18 records comprising both retrospective and prospective cohorts (31–983 subjects). Neurological comorbidities had the highest prevalence, occurring in nearly all individuals with gastrointestinal and orthopaedic concerns almost as prevalent as neurological. With the exception of low bone mineral content which was relatively common, endocrine comorbidities were seen in only around one-third of patients. Although more prevalent compared with the general population, cardiac conduction abnormalities were the least common comorbidity in RTT. Conclusions Effective care coordination for RTT requires knowledge of and attention to multiple comorbidities across multiple unrelated organ systems. Many issues common to RTT can potentially be managed by a primary care provider but the need for sub-specialist referral can be anticipated. Since the median life expectancy extends into the sixth decade with evolving subspecialty requirements throughout this time, paediatric providers may be tasked with continued coordination of these comorbidities or transitioning to adult medicine and specialists with experience managing individuals with complex medical needs.


Sintered materials show a different stress-strain behavior when subjected to tensile or compressive loading, the response to compression being characterized by a higher elastic modulus, yield stress, and strain hardening rate. These differences tend to make the bending behavior somewhat more complex to analyze, particularly in the elasto-plastic field, as compared to conventional materials, having equal mechanical properties under tension and compression. As a consequence, the use of widely applied test techniques, such as the Three Point Bending (TPB), becomes more difficult for sintered materials, due to the lack of reliable analytical models capable of evaluating elasto-plastic stress-strain distribution as a function of applied load and deflection. In the present investigation, the results of uniaxial tensile-compressive and bending tests conducted on sintered ferrous alloys characterized by different microstructures and porosity are reported and briefly discussed. Then an analytical model, specifically aimed to analyze the elasto-plastic monotonic behavior of a TPB specimen made with a material having different tensile and compressive properties, is presented. Its predictions as regards load-deflection curves and elasto-plastic stress-strain distributions are compared with the results of TPB tests and of numerical (Finite Element) analysis, showing a fairly good agreement.


We present a regional, crustal-scale, 3D structural model of the Norwegian continental margin integrating sedimentary and crustal layers from the continental and the oceanic domain. The model includes six sedimentary units, underlain on the continental side by a thinned crystalline crust and a lower-crustal high-velocity body. In the oceanic domain, three crustal layers (2AB, 3A and 3B), thickened at the continent–ocean transition (COT), are modelled below the post-breakup deposits. Two major rift phases with different rift axes (Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary) have caused post-Jurassic subsidence and post-depositional deformation of the pre-Cretaceous units. The modelled COT suggests that the pre-breakup rifting event was related to differential stretching focused at the outer margin and that breakup took place in a 'base-up' magmatic process as a continuation of underplating. For the earlier rift event, stretching was distributed over the entire margin and led to accumulation of up to 12 km of Cretaceous deposits. The large sediment thickness of the Cretaceous units requires deep-water conditions and abundant sediment supply and thus coeval offshore subsidence and onshore uplift. All layers indicate a sinistral offset along the Jan Mayen Fracture Zone and its continentward continuation.


We investigate the medium induced fragmentation of jets in a high-temperature QCD plasma. Based on an effective kinetic theory of QCD, we study the non-equilibrium evolution of the jet shower and the chemical equilibration of jet fragments in the medium. By including radiative emissions as well as elastic interactions, our approach extends all the way from the jet energy scale to the temperature of the medium and includes important effects such as the recoil of the medium. We present results for the in-medium fragmentation, including chemical and kinetic equilibration of the soft fragments and discuss implications of our result to jet quenching physics and the problem of thermalization of the quark-gluon plasma in heavy ion collisions.


If nominal wages are downward rigid, moderate levels of inflation may improve labor market efficiency by facilitating real wage cuts. In this paper we attempt to test the hypothesis that downward real wage changes occur more readily in higher-inflation environments. Using individual wage change data from two sources, we find that about 6-10 percent of workers experience nominally rigid wages in a 10- percent inflation environment. This proportion rises to over 15 percent at a 5 percent inflation rate. We use the assumption of symmetry to generate counterfactual distributions of real wage changes in the absence of rigidities. These counterfactual distributions suggest that a 1 percent increase in the inflation rate reduces the fraction of workers with downward-rigid wages by about 0.8 percent, and allows real wages to fall about 0.06 percent faster. A market- level analysis of the effects of nominal rigidities, based on wage growth and unemployment at the state level, is less conclusive. We find only a weak statistical relationship between the rate of inflation and the pace of relative wage adjustments across local labor markets.


Volunteer tourism as a phenomenon and as a market has come a long way since its ideologically driven early days. It is now an established and ever commercialised market that meets the demand for a different travel experience for the more morally conscious traveller, while at the same time it provides opportunities for economic gain for the organisations that act as brokers of such experiences. This interaction raises several ethical issues in terms of serving a mission while making economic gains. In general, there is an acceptable relationship between monetary gain and altruistic service, within the context of enlightened self-interest provided that the beneficiary of economic gains diverts profits into serving their mission. This paper examines the supply for volunteer tourism for evidence of commercialisation and profit-driven behaviour and investigates a relationship between monetary gain and serving a mission by creating public goods.


Mitosis is the process of one cell dividing into two replicate cells. This process is a universal one, occurring throughout the phyla. Mitosis is a fundamental process. Without it, life ceases to exist.

A series of preparatory steps must take place before a cell enters mitosis, and these steps must be undone to exit mitosis. The cell has a nucleus which contains the genetic material, the DNA, as chromosomes packaged with proteins. Before the cell undergoes mitosis, the cell must make two copies of its DNA so that each daughter cell has a complete copy of the genetic material. At the onset of mitosis the nuclear envelope dissolves, and each chromosome lines up with its copy. The chromosomes are connected to proteins known as the mitotic spindle, which in turn are connected to two centrosomes at the two opposite poles of the cell. At the climax of mitosis, the two chromosome copies are pulled apart and each copy is assigned to opposite daughter cells. This is how cell inheritance works. The information on how to direct these dividing cells into making a human being or any organism is contained in those chromosomes. The whole point of cell division is to distribute the DNA molecules (the chromosomes) to each daughter cell accurately and equally. When that goes wrong and a cell has lost genetic material or has received a surplus of genetic material, the result may be cell death, a defective cell, or cancer.

During mitosis, under light microscopy, it seems at first that nothing is happening. Suddenly, the cell splits into two daughter cells followed by another period of quiescence. It is as if a switch is turned on and then turned off again. An on/off mechanical switch, like a light switch, may look very simple from the outside, but it has many intricate parts inside. So too, the biological switch which controls mitosis has very intricate inner workings. This article explores these inner workings.


Planting of Allium × wakegi Araki bulbs is physically strenuous because it is performed manually with a squatting position. Therefore, we have developed a simplified planting machine that can be used for planting Allium × wakegi Araki bulbs and a planting method. This study aimed to elucidate the effects of using this planting machine for the cultivation on subjective exercise intensity, work time, work position of laborers, and the subsequent plant growth. In order to improve the working posture during the use of the developed system, the working posture was evaluated using the OWAS method; the results demonstrated that in 90% of the control group, postures need consideration in the near future (AC3), while more than 90% of the treatment group showed normal postures which do not need any special attention, except in some special cases (AC1) and postures must be considered during the next regular check of working methods (AC2). Furthermore, the subjective exercise intensity at the end of the work during subjective evaluation was based on the modified Borg Scale; complaints of the lower back was 5.7–7.7, thigh was 3.3–8.8, and knee was 1.3–5.7 in the control group, complaints of the thigh was 0.7, knee was 0.3, and calf was 1.0 in the treatment group. The work time during planting was reduced significantly; however, a decrease in the entire working duration, including the preparation, was not observed. A countermeasure was considered that might improve the efficiency of loading the bulbs into the connected paper pot that occupies 59 –83% of the total. The sprouting and rooting days and the growth and yield obtained using the planting machine were comparable to the bulbs that were manually planted.


What would be the effect of imposing a 100 percent reserve require- ment to depository institutions? This paper contends that reserves do not compete with loans on the asset side of bank's balance sheets. Thus, they only affect liquidity provision by banks indirectly through their impact on the cost of loan and deposit creation. This cost could be driven to zero if, as the Eurosystem does, central banks remunerated required reserves at the same rate of their refinancing operations. The paper argues that the crucial constraint imposed by a fully backed banking system is collateral availability by depository institutions.