During cardiac development, the epicardium is the source of multipotent mesenchymal cells, which give rise to endothelial and smooth muscle cells in coronary vessels and also, possibly, to cardiomyocytes. The aim of the present study was to determine whether stem cells are retained in the adult human and murine epicardium and to investigate the regenerative potential of these cells following acute myocardial infarction. We show that c-kit+ and CD34+ cells can indeed be detected in human fetal and adult epicardium and that they represent 2 distinct populations. Both subsets of cells were negative for CD45, a cell surface marker that identifies the hematopoietic cell lineage. Immunofluorescence revealed that freshly isolated c-kit+ and CD34+ cells expressed early and late cardiac transcription factors and could acquire an endothelial phenotype in vitro. In the murine model of myocardial infarction, there was an increase in the absolute number and proliferation of epicardial c-kit+ cells 3 days after coronary ligation; at this time point, epicardial c-kit+ cells were identified in the subepicardial space and expressed GATA4. Furthermore, 1 week after myocardial infarction, cells coexpressing c-kit+, together with endothelial or smooth muscle cell markers, were identified in the wall of subepicardial blood vessels. In summary, the postnatal epicardium contains a cell population with stem cell characteristics that retains the ability to give rise to myocardial precursors and vascular cells. These cells may play a role in the regenerative response to cardiac damage.


A relationship was established between the institution of oral contraceptive therapy and the development or enhancement of high blood pressure in eight of 11 patients. In six of eight patients who stopped taking medication, marked improvement or complete correction of hypertension occurred. In two patients, with a second trial of treatment, hypertension again appeared and disappeared. Oral contraceptive therapy produced impressive abnormalities in renin-substrate concentration and in its reactivity to exogenous renin as well as in endogenous renin activity and aldosterone excretion. The relevance of these abnormalities to the development of hypertension is not clear because similar effects occur in treated normotensive women. Further study of a possible connection between excesses of estrogenic and progestogenic substances, renin, aldosterone, and hypertension seems warranted.


BACKGROUND
Caffeine is the most frequently used psychoactive substance in the U.S. and more than 90% of reproductive-age women report some level of intake daily. Despite biological plausibility, previous studies on caffeine and fecundability report conflicting results. Importantly, prior studies measured caffeine exposure exclusively by self-report, which is subject to measurement error and does not account for factors that influence caffeine metabolism.

OBJECTIVES
Our objective was to examine associations between preconception serum caffeine metabolites, caffeinated beverage intake, and fecundability.

METHODS
Participants included 1228 women aged 18-40 years with a history of 1-2 pregnancy losses in the Effects of Aspirin in Gestation and Reproduction (EAGeR) trial. We prospectively evaluated associations of preconception caffeine metabolites (i.e., caffeine, paraxanthine, and theobromine) measured from 1191 serum samples untimed to a specific time of day and self-reported usual intake of baseline and time-varying cycle-average caffeinated beverages, with fecundability. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we estimated fecundability odds ratios (FOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) according to each metabolite. Follow-up was complete for 89% (n = 1088) of participants.

RESULTS
At baseline, 85%, 73%, and 91% of women had detectable serum caffeine, paraxanthine, and theobromine, respectively. 797 women became pregnant during ≤ 6 cycles of preconception follow-up. After adjusting for potential confounders, neither serum caffeine (Tertile (T)3 vs 1 FOR = 0.87; 95% CI = 0.71, 1.08), paraxanthine (T3 vs 1 FOR = 0.92; 95% CI = 0.75, 1.14), nor theobromine (T3 vs 1 FOR = 1.15; 95% CI = 0.95, 1.40) were associated with fecundability. Baseline intake of total caffeinated beverages was not associated with fecundability (>3 vs 0 servings/d adjusted FOR = 0.99; 95% CI = 0.74, 1.34), nor was caffeinated coffee (>2 vs 0 servings/d adjusted FOR = 0.93; 95% CI = 0.45, 1.92) or caffeinated soda > 2 servings/d adjusted FOR = 0.92; 95% CI = 0.71, 1.20).

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings are reassuring that caffeine exposure from usual low to moderate caffeinated beverage intake likely does not influence fecundability. Registration: NCT00467363 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00467363).


SUMMARY: Rapid fusion after contact between multinucleate, naturally synchronous plasmodia of the same strain of Physarum polycephalum was demonstrated by autoradiography. Fusion between plasmodia of equal size at the same stage in the mitotic cycle resulted in synchronous mitosis with a delay. This delay was slight if the nuclei were about to undergo mitosis at the time of fusion, but increased in a roughly linear fashion to about 4 h in plasmodia fused at an early stage in the mitotic cycle. Fusion between plasmodia at different stages in the mitotic cycle also resulted in synchronous mitosis, division of nuclei late in the cycle being delayed and of those early in the cycle being accelerated. When both plasmodia were in mid-interphase, the amount of acceleration was proportional to the difference in stages at the time of fusion, a 5 h phase difference giving about 3 h acceleration. However, non-synchronous mitosis resulted when a plasmodium about to undergo mitosis was fused with one earlier in the nuclear cycle, the nuclei in the former plasmodium presumably having reached a stage at which retardation could not occur.


Peritonitis in patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis while usually due to contamination of the dialysis line by skin organisms may also be due to intra-abdominal pathology. Three cases are described in whom peritonitis was due to acute appendicitis. The recognition of an intra-abdominal source of infection in patients on CAPD is discussed, and surgical management stressed.


Marijuana is often referred to as a gateway drug due to its placement in the stage-like progression of drug use (Kandel, 2002; Zimmer & Morgan, 1997). This study examines the gateway drug concept from an insiders' perspective. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 51 current and former users of marijuana. Data were collected between 2000 and 2002. Data on drug histories and perceptions about marijuana as a gateway drug were analyzed. While 80.3% (n = 41) of participants initiated their drug use experiences with alcohol or tobacco, one-third (n = 15) used an illicit drug other than marijuana prior to initiating marijuana. The adults in this study varied with regard to their perceptions about whether or not they thought marijuana was a gateway drug. Forty-five percent (n = 23) expressed viewpoints characterized as mixed or conflicting, 35% (n =18) did not support the idea that marijuana was a gateway drug, and 19.6% (n = 10) strongly supported the notion.


On September 19th 2019, the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS) Vancouver hosted its roundtable meeting which covered "The Nature of Contemporary Terrorism." The following presentation featured Dr. Robert Farkasch, a faculty lecturer in the Political Science Department at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Farkasch offers instruction in international political economy, international relations and terrorism studies. In his presentation, Dr. Farkasch appears to argue that religiously defined terrorism is the most dangerous ideological variant of terrorism and that the cause of terrorism is entrenched in our fear of death.
The subsequent roundtable discussion centred around a case study of Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year- old Australian man that opened fire upon two Mosques in Christchurch New Zealand earlier this year, killing 51 people. Many called the attacks Islamophobic due to his targets and the content within a 74-page manifesto that Tarrant authored and released beforehand. Audience members at the roundtable discussed the nature of Tarrant's attacks and how social media platforms could address radical positions within online spaces.


AIM To provide suggestions for hand injury prevention by study the demography and risk factors of casualties suffering from isolated hand injuries. METHODS All trauma patients with isolated hand injuries who were admitted to Al Ain Hospital for more than 24 h during a period of 3 years were studied. Patient demographics, location, mechanism/time of injury, and length of hospital stay were all analyzed. RESULTS Two hundred and ten patients were studied. Their mean age was 29.7 years. Males constituted 92%. Sixty-five point one percent of all cases were from the Indian subcontinent. The workplace was the most common location of injury (67.1%), followed by the home (17.1%) and road (6.2%). Machinery caused 36.2% of all injuries, followed by heavy object (20.5%) and fall (11%). Cases injured at home were young (P < 0.0001) with an associated higher incidence of females (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION Male workers in Al Ain city are at greater risk of sustaining hand injuries, predominantly from machinery. Safety education, personal protection, and the enforcement of safety standards are essential to the prevention and avoidance of hand injury.


A newly developed refresh scheme is introduced in a 16-Mb flash EEPROM. By providing each refresh block with its own nonvolatile element, excessive voltage stress of the flag element can be eliminated during the erase/program cycling. A small sector erase can be realized in the 16-Mb flash memory with this scheme. The EEPROM is realised in a 0.6 /spl mu/m single-metal triple-well CMOS process technology.


Arc-shaped integrated alumina ceramic armor for body bulletproof with the size of 300 × 250 × 6 mm, R400mm were prepared by semi-aqueous gel-casting. The excellent characters and advantages of the semi-aqueous gel-casting were analyzed; ballistic experiments were carried out to test the protection coefficient of 92%, 96%and 99 alumina ceramics. The experimental results showed that the 92% alumina ceramic and the 99% alumina ceramic had favorable performance while the 96% alumina ceramic had the worst one. But the 92% alumina ceramic had the highest protection coefficient which is 9.96.


The background stimulation universally seen when lymphocytes are cultured in vitro has been shown to be markedly lowered by reducing the proportion of B lymphocytes. B-rich fractions of lymphocytes had extremely high background stimulation. It is concluded that stimulation of T cells, probably by autologous B cells, provides the most probable explanation for the findings described.


Warming is held responsible for a rash of extinctions of global lizard populations. Lizards should be relatively invulnerable to warming: They are very good at evading thermal stress, tolerate high body temperatures, and resist water loss. Nevertheless, on page 894 of this issue, Sinervo et al. (1) document extinctions of lizard populations on five continents and argue that global warming is responsible. They use a simple biological model, validated against observed extinctions, to predict that warming will drive almost 40% of all global lizard populations extinct by 2080. If their prediction is even close to correct, lizards may be "the new amphibians" (2) in a race toward extinction.


A remote controlled robot system that includes a robot and a remote control station that communicate through a communication network. Communication with the robot is limited by a firewall coupled to the communication network. A communication server establishes communication between the robot and the remote control station so that the station can send commands to the robot through the firewall.


This Master's thesis reports the verification planning and verification process of a Verilog RTL model. Modern verification techniques like constrained randomization, assertions, functional coverage analysis and object orientation are demonstrated on an AES RTL model. The work of this thesis was naturally divided in three phases: First, a phase of literature studies to get to know the basics of verification. Second, the creation of a verification plan for the selected module. Third, implementation of the testbench, and simulation tasks. The verification plan created states the goals for the simulation. It also states plans for details about the testbench, like architecture, stimuli generation, random- ization, assertions, and coverage collection. The implementation was done using the SystemVerilog language. The testbench was simulated using the Synopsys VCS ver- ification software. During simulation, coverage metrics were analyzed to track the progress and completeness of the simulation. Assertions were analyzed to check for errors in the behavior during simulation. The analysis carried out revealed high code coverage for the simulations, and no major errors in the verified module.


Abstract Three-dimensional seismic data are used to document the geometry, scale and distribution of soft-sediment deformation features in the post-rift succession of the Lomre Terrace, offshore Norway. In the Cretaceous to Upper Oligocene succession a polygonal fault network, developed in the in response to compaction and dewatering of the interval, was mapped using dip and azimuth grid-based attributes. In the same stratigraphic interval a series of chaotic seismic reflection packages are developed which are visualized using a volume-based seismic coherency attribute and interpreted as the seismic expression of mobilized mud masses. Immediately overlying the mobilized mud masses are a series of fault-bounded depressions that are interpreted to have formed in response to deflation of the mobilized mud masses caused by loading of the overlying succession. A series of shallow, curvilinear erosion surfaces are present on the seismic horizon bounding the top of the Pliocene succession and represent iceberg-keel plough marks. This study demonstrates that interpretation and visualization of three-dimensional seismic data coupled with attribute analysis provide valuable insights into soft-sediment deformation features in sedimentary basins, in particular the scale, geometry and distribution of such features and their temporal and spatial inter-relationships.


The two bouts between Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston are widely considered the most anticipated and controversial fights in heavyweight boxing. Cassius Clay won the first bout in Miami Beach in February 1964, when Liston refused to come out for the seventh round. The second fight took place in Lewiston, Maine, fifteen months later in May 1965. Halfway through the first round, Ali countered a left from Liston with a fast right, knocking Liston down. He did not get up. Ali's right was so fast many spectators never even saw it. It was quickly dubbed the Phantom Punch and rumors began to swirl that Liston had thrown the fight. Many who believed Liston-a brutal fighter who picked up boxing in prison-had also thrown the first fight the year before in Miami were now vindicated. Journalist and sports historian Rob Sneddon takes a fresh look at the infamous Muhammad Ali-Sonny Liston fight of May 25, 1965, which ended in chaos at a high school hockey rink in Lewiston, Maine. Sneddon digs deep into the fight's background and comes up with fascinating new takes on boxing promotion in the 1960s; on Ali's rapid rise and Liston's sudden fall; on how the bout ended up in Lewiston -and, of course, on Ali's phantom punch. That single lightning-quick blow triggered a complex chain reaction of events that few people understood, either then or now. Even if you've seen films of the fight and think you know what happened, this book will change your perspective on boxing's greatest controversy.


Commiphora wightii (Arnott.) Bhandari is an important medicinal plant of herbal heritage of India. It belongs to family Burseraceae. The plant is an important medicinal plant and is used in large number of ayurvedic preparations to treat variety of diseases. It is mainly used to treat diseases like atherosclerosis, leprosy, pneumonia, rheumatism etc. The gum resin also has aphrodisiac, diuretic and immunostimulant properties. Primary metabolites viz, protein, lipid, carbohydrates and so forth play a key role in metabolic processes such as photosynthesis, respiration and nutrient assimilation. They are used as raw material and food additives. The present study was conducted to investigate biochemical estimation of primary metabolites viz, totalsoluble sugar, starch, lipids, proteins and phenols etc .in vitro plant parts.


PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the existence of income shifting using the practice of transfer pricing (TP), not only in sales but also in purchase and management service transactions, in Asian developing countries. The paper also investigates the role of the specific anti-avoidance rules (SAAR) in preventing TP practices in various types of transaction.Design/methodology/approachThe research employs panel data from a sample of 200 subsidiaries in ten countries over the period 2010–2014.FindingsDifferent results were obtained from previous research on developed countries, which found that TP practice was proven in sales transactions. This study finds no evidence for TP practices in sales transactions, but that they do take place in purchase, management service fee and management services revenue transactions. The study also finds evidence that SAAR reduces the practice of TP in sales transactions.Originality/valueThe research investigates TP practices, not only those related to sales, but also to purchases, management service fees and management service revenue to related parties. The sample comprises multinational subsidiaries located in Asian developing countries that have rarely been investigated in previous studies. This research examines the effect of SAAR in preventing TP practices in various types of transaction and develops scoring based on an instrument that integrates each SAAR rule/requirement.


This study investigates the connection between legislative and electoral politics in Switzerland. The authors postulate that party unity is higher in an election year, and more specifically in votes on issues that are important for the party platform and that are of greater visibility to voters. The authors analyse the entire voting record of the Swiss parliament (lower house) on legislative acts between 1996 and 2007, which consists of roll call votes as well as unpublished votes. The authors find a strong effect of elections on voting unity among certain parties, and also find encouraging support for the hypotheses that this effect is mediated by the visibility of the vote and related issue salience.


Demons and Illness from Antiquity to the Early-Modern Period explores the relationship between demons and illness from the ancient world to the early modern period. Its twenty chapters range from Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt to seventeenth-century England and Spain, and include studies of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.


Abstract A significant part of severe accidents (blackouts) in electric power systems (EPS) is associated with incorrect operation of relay protection and automation (RPA). One of the main reasons for the incorrect actions of the RPA devices is its rough settings, which often does not correspond to the real operating conditions for specific device. An analysis of currently used methods and tools for RPA setting up, shown that they are largely relied on the guidelines of previous decennaries. Respectively modern techniques have the same drawbacks associated with accounting the processes in specific RPA and primary transducers and its errors by approximate coefficients. It is possible to solve the indicated problem with a highly detailed analysis of the operation of key elements of RPA schemes in the specific operating conditions. The obtained results allow to estimate the processes in protected objects, processing errors in instrumental current (ICT) and voltage (IVT) transformers, as well as in RPA itself. Such possibility could be achieved by the detailed RPA mathematical modeling. The combination of an adequate EPS simulator and RPA models allows configuring parameters of the RPA settings ensuring its correct operation in real EPS. The article presents result of this research for distance protection


We present an algorithm for compiler-driven register name adjustment with the main goal of power minimization on instruction fetch and register file access. In most instruction set architecture (ISA) designs, the register fields reside in fixed positions within the instruction encoding, hence forming streams of indices on the instruction bus and to the register file address decoder. The number of bit transitions in these streams greatly determines the power consumption on the address bus and the register file decoder. While general-purpose registers are semantically indistinguishable and hence interchangeable, the particular register indices do have a direct impact on power consumption. The algorithms presented in this paper address this power minimization problem by reassigning/encoding the registers so that the bit transitions within the register index streams are minimized.


The vibrating roller crusher convert relative vibration generated by two rigid bodies to bring high-frequency impulse on grain layer (or granular) in chamber, which makes grain crush to particle. Based on the science of vibration, dynamics model in vibration-impact crushing system of a bilateral single-mass and vibration differential equations are established. By dynamic analysis, amplitude frequency curve, hysteresis impact curve and energy absorption curve are all founded. The curves on dynamic response are discussed. Under the consideration of their results, displacement, velocity and acceleration with the time history are induced. Impact on the left and right sides are unsymmetrical. Influence laws on amplitude frequency, impact, energy absorption from clearance and vibration frequency is also established.


Recent studies are discussed of societies in which medical procedures, involving injections and other modern techniques, are carried out by unqualified practitioners. These practitioners are discussed from the point of view of the sociology of health care.


This study reports on the secondary electron emission (SEE) performance of atomic layer deposited MgO films, with thicknesses in the range from 5 to 25 nm, for the application in the Timed Photon Counter. In this novel, photodetector MgO is utilized as a material for the fabrication of ultrathin transmission dynodes (tynodes). Two different types of PECVD silicon oxide films are applied on top of MgO, in order to protect it against etching steps in the fabrication of tynodes and also as a prevention against aging. Applicability of these two materials as capping films is evaluated in terms of achieved secondary electron yield (SEY) of MgO after their removal. Emission of secondary electrons is known to depend on numerous physical and chemical properties of the material, such as surface roughness and chemical composition. On that account, morphological and structural properties of modified MgO are determined by atomic force microscope and x-ray photoelectron spectrometer and linked to the changes in SEE behavior. The authors demonstrate that the application of a suitable capping layer followed by its removal provides an SEY of 6.6, as opposed to the value of 4.8 recorded from the as-deposited MgO film. Furthermore, in a following experiment, they showed that annealing of MgO films at high temperatures (up to 1100 °C) significantly improved the secondary electron emission, elevating the SEY to 7.2.This study reports on the secondary electron emission (SEE) performance of atomic layer deposited MgO films, with thicknesses in the range from 5 to 25 nm, for the application in the Timed Photon Counter. In this novel, photodetector MgO is utilized as a material for the fabrication of ultrathin transmission dynodes (tynodes). Two different types of PECVD silicon oxide films are applied on top of MgO, in order to protect it against etching steps in the fabrication of tynodes and also as a prevention against aging. Applicability of these two materials as capping films is evaluated in terms of achieved secondary electron yield (SEY) of MgO after their removal. Emission of secondary electrons is known to depend on numerous physical and chemical properties of the material, such as surface roughness and chemical composition. On that account, morphological and structural properties of modified MgO are determined by atomic force microscope and x-ray photoelectron spectrometer and linked to the changes in SEE beh...


Sialyltransferases are a family of 20 gene products in mice and humans that transfer sialic acid from its activated precursor, CMP-sialic acid, to the terminus of glycoprotein and glycolipid acceptors. ST3Gal-II (coded by the St3gal2 gene) transfers sialic acid preferentially to the three positions of galactose on the Galβ1-3GalNAc terminus of gangliosides GM1 and GD1b to synthesize GD1a and GT1b, respectively. Mice with a targeted disruption of St3gal2 unexpectedly displayed late-onset obesity and insulin resistance. At 3 months of age, St3gal2-null mice were the same weight as their wild type (WT) counterparts, but by 13 months on standard chow they were visibly obese, 22% heavier and with 37% greater fat/lean ratio than WT mice. St3gal2-null mice became hyperglycemic and displayed impaired glucose tolerance by 9 months of age. They had sharply reduced insulin responsiveness despite equivalent pancreatic islet morphology. Analyses of insulin receptor (IR) tyrosine kinase substrate IRS-1 and downstream target Akt revealed decreased insulin-induced phosphorylation in adipose tissue but not liver or skeletal muscle of St3gal2-null mice. Thin-layer chromatography and mass spectrometry revealed altered ganglioside profiles in the adipose tissue of St3gal2-null mice compared to WT littermates. Metabolically, St3gal2-null mice display a reduced respiratory exchange ratio compared to WT mice, indicating a preference for lipid oxidation as an energy source. Despite their altered metabolism, St3gal2-null mice were hyperactive. We conclude that altered ganglioside expression in adipose tissue results in diminished IR sensitivity and late-onset obesity.


This report was prepared for the Department of Labour, Reserve Bank of New Zealand and Treasury by Dr Denis Lawrence (Tasman Asia Pacific) and Professor Erwin Diewert (University of British Columbia) under contract. The authors examine New Zealand's market sector productivity performance using two databases. One has been prepared by the authors and contains a large number of input and output variables for the period 1972 to 1998. The second database involves data provided to the authors by officials and allows estimates to be prepared for 20 individual market sectors over the period 1978 to 1998. The authors provide estimates of New Zealand's total factor, labour and capital productivity, using an index number based methodology. They carry out many sensitivity tests relating to different input, output and functional form specifications. Labour input specifications are found to be important. The results are compared with Australian and OECD estimates and tested for structural breaks over time. Other recent New Zealand contributions to productivity literature are reviewed and statistical measurement problems are discussed. The data and techniques used are fully documented.


We propose an iterative and distributed Markov Chain Monte Carlo scheme for estimation of effective edge conductances in a graph. A sample complexity analysis is provided. The theoretical guarantees on the performance of the proposed algorithm are weak compared to those of existing algorithms. But numerical experiments suggest that the algorithm might still be effective while offering the advantages of low per iterate computation and memory requirements.


The present chapter presents the advanced design and technology of special equipment (SECSL) which uses concentrated solar light for deviation of asteroids and cleaning the space of debris. The elliptical orbit of any cosmic body as presented in Einstein ' s general theory of relativity is rotating around the ellipse center. The trajectory of a cosmic body is permanently affected by the gravity of other moving cosmic bodies. In the case of asteroids (relatively small masses), orbit changes can lead to a collision with the Earth. At this very moment, our civilization has no efficient and reliable mean to destroy or divert a cosmic body heading toward the Earth. This new idea represents a " light canon " which uses concentrated solar light for deviation or vaporization of dangerous asteroids. The equipment is composed out of two parabolic mirrors (one large and one small) with the same focal point and coincident axes. The mirrors reflect the sunlight between them hence the term " concentrated solar light. " Next, a similar idea to the SECSL equipment is presented but applied to space debris caused mostly by humans and a new way of disintegrating satellites, spent rocket boosters, thrust chambers, etc. in the Earth ' s atmosphere during reentry.


Cisternography, the imaging of activity after the introduction of radionuclides into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), was introduced by Di Chiro less than ten years ago, and during that interval developments in instrumentation for imaging, storage, and analysis, as well as in radiopharmaceuticals, have been rapid. There seemed a necessity for assessment—for examination of the method, both in relationship to basic physiological studies of the CSF and in relationship to clinical diagnosis. A symposium was held in Washington, DC, May 6 through 8, 1971, to meet that need and this well-produced volume is the result. It is organized in five parts. In the first, the physiology and pathophysiology of the system are considered, beginning with an introduction to the symposium by Hugh Davson in which the broad outlines of the physiology of the system are treated. Next, Michael Pollay summarizes some of the particulars connected with secretion and absorption of the


With the "mitochondrial Eve" theory proposed by Rebecca Cann in the eighties, human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been used as a tool in studying human variation and evolution. Although the existence of recombination in human mtDNA has been previously advocated, studies dealing with human variation and evolution have assumed that human mtDNA does not recombine and should be considered as pathological or very infrequent. Using both direct and indirect approaches, we provide consistent evidence of mtDNA recombination in humans. We applied the single molecule PCR procedure to directly test for recombination in multiheteroplasmic individuals without any overt pathology. Moreover, we searched for past recombination events in the whole mitochondrial genomes of more than 15,000 individuals. Results from our study update and expand both the seminal indirect findings and the scarce direct evidence observed to date, paving the way for the definitive rejection of the non-recombination dogma for human mtDNA. Acknowledgment of recombination as a frequent event in mtDNA will require the description of the population recombination rate(s) and to apply it to past and future studies involving mtDNA. MtDNA recombination affects our knowledge of human evolutionary history, regarding haplogroup divergence times, as well as the time to the mitochondrial most recent common ancestor. Finally, mtDNA recombination will have a substantial impact on our understanding of the etiology and transmission of mitochondrial diseases.


We study the problem of optimal reduced-dimension linear transform coding and reconstruction of a signal based on distributed correlated observations of the signal. In the mean square estimation context this involves finding the optimal signal representation based on multiple incomplete or only partial observations that are correlated. In particular, this leads to the study of finding the optimal Karhunen-Loeve basis based on the censored observations. The problem has been considered previously by Gastpar, Dragotti, and Vetterli in the context of jointly Gaussian random variables based on using conditional covariances. In this paper, we derive the estimation results in the more general setting of second-order random variables with arbitrary distributions, using entirely different techniques based on the idea of innovations. We explicitly solve the single transform coder case, give a characterization of optimality in the multiple distributed transform coders scenario and provide additional insights into the structure of the problem.


Conservationists are in need of objective metrics for prioritizing the management of habitats. For individual species, the threat of extinction is often used to prioritize what species are in need of conservation action. Using long‐term monitoring data, we applied a Bayesian diffusion approximation to estimate quasi‐extinction risk for 54 native fish species within six commercial navigation reaches along a 1350‐km gradient of the upper Mississippi River system. We found a strong negative linear relationship between quasi‐extinction risk and distance upstream. For some species, quasi‐extinction estimates ranged from nearly zero in some reaches to one in others, suggesting substantial variability in threats facing individual river reaches. We found no evidence that species traits affected quasi‐extinction risk across the entire system. Our results indicate that fishes within the upper Mississippi River system face localized threats that vary across river impact gradients. This suggests that conservation actions should be focused on local habitat scales but should also consider the additive effects on downstream conditions. We also emphasize the need for identification of proximate mechanisms behind observed and predicted population declines, as conservation actions will require mitigation of such mechanisms. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.


This course will utilize historical, sociological, and cultural perspectives in the
analysis of the current status of African-Americans in the United States. The
quest for equality, problems and prospects, and the role of African-Americans.


The juridification of the European policy process is increasingly fragile, and little understood. This study develops a novel methodology to investigate the influence of Member States on the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The focus is on the domain of copyright law which has seen a dramatic escalation of preliminary references to the Court, indicating a normative void. Examining 170 documents relating to 42 cases registered between 1998 and 2015, we measure empirically the impact of submissions by Member States and the European Commission on the interpretation of copyright concepts. We show that France is the most influential country by some distance, both in terms of the number of interventions (an 'investment' in policy) and in terms of persuasive power (arguments adopted by the Court). The evidence also suggests that the departure of the UK from EU litigation will disturb the delicate balance of CJEU jurisprudence.


Background: The ability of preoperative intravenous glucocorticoids to control pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has been examined in many studies, but it remains controversial. Therefore, we undertook a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the efficacy and safety of preoperative intravenous glucocorticoids for postoperative pain management after TKA. Methods: We systematically searched RCTs from electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, the Chinese Wanfang Database, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure database. The outcomes included visual analogue scale (VAS) scores at 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours after TKA; the occurrence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV); blood glucose at 6 and 24 hours after TKA; and the occurrence of infection. Results: Of the identified studies, a total of 11 RCTs involving 1000 patients (glucocorticoids = 501, control = 499) were included in this meta-analysis. Compared with a placebo, preoperative intravenous glucocorticoids significantly reduced VAS scores at 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours, with decreases of 3.63 points, 6.81 points, 10.40 points, and 3.15 points, respectively, on a 110-point VAS. Moreover, intravenous glucocorticoids were associated with significant decreases of 19.4% and 16.8% in the occurrence of nausea and vomiting, respectively. However, intravenous glucocorticoids were also associated with increased blood glucose with no clinical importance at 6 hours after TKA. No significant difference was found in the occurrence of infection or in blood glucose at 24 hours after TKA. Conclusion: Preoperative intravenous glucocorticoids are an effective and safe method to reduce postoperative pain and PONV in patients following TKA. More studies are necessary to identify the optimal dose and type of glucocorticoids for maximal pain control.


Motivation: While growing numbers of T cell receptor (TCR) repertoires are being mapped by high‐throughput sequencing, existing methods do not allow for computationally connecting a given TCR sequence to its target antigen, or relating it to a specific pathology. As an alternative, a manually‐curated database can relate TCR sequences with their cognate antigens and associated pathologies based on published experimental data. Results: We present McPAS‐TCR, a manually curated database of TCR sequences associated with various pathologies and antigens based on published literature. Our database currently contains more than 5000 sequences of TCRs associated with various pathologic conditions (including pathogen infections, cancer and autoimmunity) and their respective antigens in humans and in mice. A web‐based tool allows for searching the database based on different criteria, and for finding annotated sequences from the database in users' data. The McPAS‐TCR website assembles information from a large number of studies that is very hard to dissect otherwise. Initial analyses of the data provide interesting insights on pathology‐associated TCR sequences. Availability and implementation: Free access at http://friedmanlab.weizmann.ac.il/McPAS‐TCR/. Contact: email@example.com


Recent Studies on sustainability suggest a strong correlation between the physical environment of school building and students' performance and behavior. An argument is developed to support this premise based on a structured content analysis procedure. The typical approach for addressing sustainability in learning environments is analytically discussed. This approach—through guidance documents—emphasizes top-down policies that successfully address the professional community. However, school building users are rarely addressed through bottom-up strategies. PLADEW, a tool to sensitize school teachers toward understanding the key issues underlying sustainability was developed. This is based on the assumption that "if the learning environment has an impact on students' performance, productivity, and behavior, then teachers need to be aware of the physical elements of the school building that influence their students." It is regarded as an awareness tool that involves a checklist and a rating system. The tool was implemented in Carmel School, Mathews, North Carolina where teachers conducted self guided tours and became familiar with sustainability, and were able to comprehend and realize what features positively impact the teaching/learning process while enhancing their students performance. A brief set of recommendations was developed to emphasize bottom up strategies in the current efforts undertaking by school districts and government agencies.


This paper estimates the short-and-medium-run effects of participating in a subsidized vocational training program aimed at improving labor market outcomes of women residing in low-income households in a developing country. We combine pre-intervention data with two rounds of post-intervention data from a field experiment to quantify the short-and-medium-run effects of the program. In the short-run, we find that program participants are significantly more likely to be employed, work additional hours, and earn more. These short-run impact estimates are all sustained in the medium-run. We also identify credit constraints, local access, and lack of proper child care support as important barriers to program participation and completion. We are able to rule out two alternative mechanisms -- signalling and change in behavior that can drive these findings. Finally, a simple cost-benefit analysis suggests that the program is highly cost effective.


OBJECTIVE Diabetes is a major risk factor for renal function decline and failure. The availability of multiplex panels of biochemical markers provides the opportunity to identify novel biomarkers that can better predict changes in renal function than routinely available clinical markers. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The concentration of 239 biochemical markers was measured in stored serum from participants in the biomarker substudy of Outcome Reduction With Initial Glargine Intervention (ORIGIN) trial. Repeated-measures mixed-effects models were used to compute the annual change in eGFR (measured as mL/min/1.73 m2/year) for the 7,482 participants with a recorded baseline and follow-up eGFR. Linear regression models using forward selection were used to identify the independent biomarker determinants of the annual change in eGFR after accounting for baseline HbA1c, baseline eGFR, and routinely measured clinical risk factors. The incidence of the composite renal outcome (i.e., renal replacement therapy, renal death, renal failure, albuminuria progression, doubling of serum creatinine) and death within each fourth of change in eGFR predicted from these models was also estimated. RESULTS During 6.2 years of median follow-up, the median annual change in eGFR was −0.18 mL/min/1.73 m2/year. Fifteen biomarkers independently predicted eGFR decline after accounting for cardiovascular risk factors, as did 12 of these plus 1 additional biomarker after accounting for renal risk factors. Every 0.1 mL/min/1.73 m2 predicted annual fall in eGFR predicted a 13% (95% CI 12, 14%) higher mortality. CONCLUSIONS Adding up to 16 biomarkers to routinely measured clinical risk factors improves the prediction of annual change in eGFR in people with dysglycemia.


The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) electronically receives both urgent care center (UCC) data and hospital emergency department (ED) data from health care facilities in 43 of its 67 counties through its Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE-FL). This project will investigate and describe the differences between the data received from these two sources and provide best practices for grouping and analyzing these data sources.


A probabilistic kernel approach to pairwise preference learning based on Gaussian processes is applied to predict preference judgments for sound quality degradation mechanisms that might be present in a hearing aid. Subjective sound quality comparisons for 14 normal-hearing and 18 hearing-impaired subjects were used for evaluating the predictive performance. Stimuli were sentences subjected to three kinds of distortion (additive noise, peak clipping, and center clipping) with eight levels of degradation for each distortion type. The kernel approach gives a significant improvement in preference predictions of hearing-impaired subjects by individualizing the learning process. A significant difference is shown between normal-hearing and hearing-impaired subjects, because of nonlinearities in the perception of hearing-impaired subjects. In particular, hearing-impaired subjects have significant nonlinear preference judgments when making pairwise comparisons between peak clipped sentences with different clipping thresholds. The probabilistic kernel approach is shown to be robust when generalizing over distortions and over subjects.


Delayed, unresolved and pathologic grief reactions are common and often unrecognized occurrences following spontaneous abortion. The loss is frequently not appreciated, so the woman may not have the opportunity to work out her grief reaction. Family physicians can facilitate normal grieving and can detect delayed or pathologic reactions. It is helpful to encourage the woman and her partner to ask questions and to discuss such issues as cause, blame and guilt.


As the Social network game(SNG) is rising dramatically worldwide, an interesting aspect has appeared in the demographic analysis. That is the ratio of the game users by gender. Although the ratio of male and female users in online game was 60:40% previously, the ratio of male and female users in SNG stood at 47:53% which shows that the ratio of female users is higher than that of male users. Here, it should be noted that 35% in those 53% female users are the first-time users of game. This fact suggests that women who were not interested in game previously has taken an interest in SNG. Notwithstanding this issue, there have been little studies on the female users of SNG although there are many studies that analyzed the tendency of female users' online game play. This study conducted the analyzed how the game-playing tendency of SNG gamers was manifested in the game by gender. For that, this study will identify the tendency of SNG users by gender based on the preceding studies that analyzed the online game users by gender. The subject of this study was confined to the farm and urban construction simulation games which were offered based on the mobile application platform. Regarding the methodology of study, the first focus group interview(FGI) was conducted with the male and female users who had played games on Social network service(SNS) until recently. Later, the second one-on-one in-depth interview was conducted to gain an insight into the psychological state of the subjects. Keywords—Social network Game, Gender, Play inclination, Game psychology


Sodium bisulfite, a nonmutagen at neutral pH, induces neoplastic transformation of cultured Syrian hamster fetal cells. Morphologically transformed fibroblast colonies were isolated, and derived cell lines formed anchorage-independent colonies in agarose and progressively growing s.c. fibrosarcomas in nu/nu mice. Five tumorigenic cell lines analyzed by G- and C-banding were chromosomally abnormal with numerical deviations and structural alterations. Three tumors that developed in nude mice had the chromosome constitution of the inoculated transformed cell as well as secondary changes associated with tumor progression. Transformed cell lines had either a predominantly near-diploid or a near-tetraploid population with consistent chromosome gain and loss. Monosomy of the chromosome 13 observed in three cell lines was a nonrandom numerical alteration. Four lines had abnormal chromosomes resulting from deletions, unbalanced translocations, or centric fusions, and one cell line had a chromosome with a homogeneously staining region. Changes of chromosomes 1 and X were observed in three lines. The breakpoints on X chromosome nonrandomly involved the region qa5 which is frequently affected in hamster cells transformed by other carcinogens and may result in loss of genes essential for the maintenance of a normal phenotype. The formation of abnormal chromosomes cannot be directly attributed to the initial DNA damage as bisulfite concentrations effective in causing neoplastic transformation induced a significant but minimal increase in sister chromatid exchanges and failed to cause chromosome aberrations. Bisulfite inhibition of DNA replication might be a contributing factor in the occurrence of abnormal chromosomes. This cytogenetic analysis provides the first evidence that neoplastically transformed cells by a nonclastogenic carcinogen exhibit persistent chromosome rearrangements, a genetic alteration essential to the process of malignant transformation.


In this paper, we investigate a novel approach of establishing a data telemetry link for a dual-unit retinal prosthesis at microwave frequencies (1.45 and 2.45 GHz) using a pair of microstrip patch antennas. Appropriately sized extraocular (25/spl times/25 mm) and intraocular (6/spl times/6 mm) antennas are designed to operate at both the frequencies using the finite-difference time-domain method, and the coupling between them is examined computationally in the presence of a 0.25-mm resolution human-head model. Good agreement between numerical and experimental coupling results is shown and it is observed that the eyeball acts as a dielectric lens for the implanted antenna, thus improving the coupling between the extraocular and intraocular antennas. Specific absorption rate (SAR) computations are also performed at both the frequencies, and the peak 1-g SAR value is calculated. Detailed analysis of the design issues of the antennas, results of the numerical and experimental coupling measurements, and SAR calculations are presented.


Russia's foreign debt problems worsened substantially after the financial crisis of 1998. The paper focuses on the key role of the government in servicing foreign debt and promoting institution building by showing how foreign debt influences the choice between official and unofficial taxation. The enterprise sector is assumed to reallocate its resources between domestic investment and capital flight. It is discussed under which conditions debt rescheduling may create incentives for the government to promote institution building. The results of this paper shed light on the conditions under which the recent agreement with the London Club to write off substantial amounts of former Soviet debt can be successful.


Multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) wireless systems are those that have multiple antenna elements at both the transmitter and receiver. They were first investigated by computer simulations in the 1980s. Since that time, interest in MIMO systems has exploded. They are now being used for third-generation cellular systems (W-CDMA) and are discussed for future high-performance modes of the highly successful IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks. MIMO-related topics also occupy a considerable part of today's academic communications research. The multiple antennas in MIMO systems can be exploited in two different ways. One is the creation of a highly effective antenna diversity system; the other is the use of the multiple antennas for the transmission of several parallel data streams to increase the capacity of the system. This article presented an overview of MIMO systems with antenna selection. The transmitter, the receiver, or both use only the signals from a subset of the available antennas. This allows considerable reductions in the hardware expense.


This paper develops a metric of structural transformation that can account for the production of new varieties of goods embodying advancements in technological knowhow and design. Our measure captures the dynamics of an economy's transformation and can be viewed as an extension of the static measure developed by Hausmann and Klinger (2006). We apply this measure to four digit level sitc trade data of China, Malaysia and Ghana over the period 1962-2000. The results show the rapid transformation of the Chinese economy is characterized by two important factors: the high proximity of its export basket to the three main industrial clusters – capital goods, consumer durable goods, and intermediate inputs, and the increase in the values of the new goods belonging to these three clusters. Malaysia exhibits a similar but more modest pattern. In contrast, the structure of the Ghanaian economy appears unchanged over the entire 1962-2000 period. This economy is dominated by primary goods clusters, and the values of the goods in these clusters have remained relatively low. We also discuss qualitatively the role of policies and institutions in spurring transformation in the three countries.


With global temperatures projected to surpass the limits of thermal tolerance for many species, evaluating the heritable variation underlying thermal tolerance is critical for understanding the potential for adaptation to climate change. We examined the evolutionary potential of thermal tolerance within a population of chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) by conducting a full-factorial breeding design and measuring the thermal performance of cardiac function and the critical thermal maximum (CTmax) of offspring from each family. Additive genetic variation in offspring phenotype was mostly negligible, although these direct genetic effects explained 53% of the variation in resting heart rate (fH). Conversely, maternal effects had a significant influence on resting fH, scope for fH, cardiac arrhythmia temperature and CTmax. These maternal effects were associated with egg size, as indicated by strong relationships between the mean egg diameter of mothers and offspring thermal tolerance. Because egg size can be highly heritable in chinook salmon, our finding indicates that the maternal effects of egg size constitute an indirect genetic effect contributing to thermal tolerance. Such indirect genetic effects could accelerate evolutionary responses to the selection imposed by rising temperatures and could contribute to the population-specific thermal tolerance that has recently been uncovered among Pacific salmon populations.


Lethal cardiac complications leading to death and various arrhythmias have been reported after organophosphate and/or carbamate poisonings. The present study focuses on the long-term effects of repeated low-level exposure to diazinon, propoxur, and chlorpyrifos (CPF) on cardiac function in rabbits. The yearly based experimental scheme of exposure consisted of two oral administration periods, lasting 3 months and 1 month each, interrupted by an 8-month washout period (total duration 12 months). At the end of the experimental scheme, the rabbits underwent an echocardiographic evaluation under sedation, after which they were killed and the tissue and serum samples were collected. A mild localized cardiotoxic effect was established by echocardiography for the three pesticides tested. Severe histological alterations were identified, especially in the diazinon-treated animals in agreement with increased persistence of this pesticide established in the cardiac tissue. In addition, all pesticides tested increased the oxidative stress and oxidative modifications in the genomic DNA content of the cardiac tissues, each one following a distinct mechanism.


BACKGROUND: Modified tension band wiring is a common surgical technique forfixation of patella fractures; however, various complications have been associated withmetal implants in this configuration. Modification of techniques and non-metallicimplants have been proposed in order to reduce hardware associated complications whileoptimizing fixation strength. Our study investigated the biomechanical strengthprovided by various modifications of figure-of-eight tension band constructs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A finite element (FE) model of normal patella wasreconstructed based on CT images of a 46-year old man. Mathematical variations fromconversion of actual DICOM images into 3D geometric mesh were recorded. Simpletransverse fracture at the midpole was established with a 0.5 mm fracture gap. Twointerfragmentary fixations were made by using: 1) 2.0 mm K-Wires or 2) 4.0 mm. cannulatedcancellous screws. Figure-of-eight loop with 1.25 mm stainless-steel wire or FiberWireno.5 were allocated to each group. Figure of-eight loops in the K-wire group were invertical orientation while figure-of-eight loops in the cannulated screw group were inhorizontal orientation. These combinations constituted four different FE models. Analysiswas done on each model under the same environment, which was a 400N load on eachfragment at 45o flexion. Implant stress/strain and material deformation were determined.

RESULTS: The models with cannulated screws have von Mises stress on implant thatis three times less than those with K-wires. The least von Mises stress occurred on thecombined cannulated screws and horizontal FiberWire loop model (471.2 MPa). Thiscombination also provided least deformation to loading condition (0.1267 mm).Traditional construct with K-wires and metal wire loop was found to have maximalstress (1422.9 MPa) and maximal deformation (0.3856 mm).

CONCLUSION: Cannulated screws combined with FiberWire figure-of-eight loopoffers favorably low implant stress. Our findings demonstrate superior stability andresistance to implant failure of the construct. This low-profile tension band fixation couldbe a good alternative for transverse patella fracture.


Abstract In human-dominated landscapes, roads are known to negatively influence birds causing decline in species richness, as well as reduction in the number of avian species. However, linear stretches of green spaces formed by roadside plantations in urban streetscapes can support diverse avian communities. In spite of being an integral habitat feature of urban areas, there is a clear paucity of studies on avian diversity in urban streetscapes. The present study was carried out in Kolkata, where data on avian species richness and abundance was collected from 16 randomly placed belt transects (replicates), each of 500 m length and 20 m width, on different major roads throughout the study area keeping a minimum gap of 200 m between adjacent transects to avoid data overlapping. Each of these transects were traversed on foot twice in a month from January to March 2017 during days with calm weather conditions. We recorded 31 species of birds belonging to 8 orders and 19 families, of which maximum species belonged to the order Passeriformes (13 species). We found that both abundance and species richness of birds in transects with higher number of trees (78±4.1 individuals and 19.55±1.703 species of birds) were significantly higher than transects with fewer trees (53.74±2.5 individuals and 9.5±0.789 species of birds). Amongst various habitat features along these streetscapes, the total number of trees positively influenced both species richness (GLMM: F1, 90=14.485, P<0.05) and abundance of birds (GLMM: F1, 90=8.081, P<0.05). However, the other land use variables (i.e. number of bushes, waterbodies, markets and buildings) neither influenced the abundance of birds nor the species richness. Our findings can be useful for urban development to perceive the importance of various habitat features in urban streetscapes in sustaining avian diversity.


BACKGROUND
 Senior centers and other types of clubs provide activities for older adults to address boredom, social isolation, and loneliness. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of these activities have been cancelled. A limited range of web-based activities have been offered as alternatives. However, the effectiveness of these web-based group activities for older adults has scarcely been researched.

 OBJECTIVE
 We aimed to understand the extent to which web-based activities for older adults provide an adequate substitute for in-person activities.

 METHODS
 In this telephone survey, we interviewed 105 older adults in Israel who had been offered the opportunity to participate in web-based activities after routine activities closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the total sample, 49/105 (46.7%) participated in the activities and 56/105 (53.3%) did not. We inquired about the respondents' background characteristics, satisfaction with the activities, and reasons for participation or nonparticipation.

 RESULTS
 The respondents who participated in the web-based activities tended to be highly satisfied with at least some of them. They rated the enjoyment derived from the content of the activity as the most important motivator, followed by maintaining a routine and by enjoying the group and the presence of others. Over 50% of the participants (28/49, 57%) wished to continue with the exercise programming after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and 41% (20/49) wished to continue with the web-based lectures. Participants were more likely to report partaking in alternative activities than nonparticipants (P=.04). The most common reasons cited by nonparticipants were being unaware of the web-based program (24/56, 43%) despite a notification having been sent to the entire sample, lack of interest in the content (18/56, 32%), and technical issues (13/56, 23%), such as not owning or being able to fully use a computer. Both participants and nonparticipants were interested in a wide range of topics, with many being very particular about the topics they wished to access. Approximately half expressed willingness to pay for access; those who were willing to pay tended to have more years of education (P=.03).

 CONCLUSIONS
 Our findings suggest a need for web-based activities for countering boredom and feelings of isolation. The main factors that influence the use, efficacy, and sustainability of online activities are access, motivational and need-fulfilling factors, and whether the activities are sufficiently tailored to individuals' preferences and abilities. Challenges in substituting in-person services are promoting social relationships that are currently not sufficiently incorporated into most web-based programs, accommodating a wider range of topics, and increasing the accessibility of current programs to older adults, especially those who are homebound, both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.


Power converters offer a high capability to efficiently manage electrical energy flows. Until a few years ago, their primary use was in supplying motors in industrial applications and in electric traction systems. Nowadays, in addition to those fields they are employed in a very wide range of low, medium, and high power applications including residential applications, renewable energy systems, distributed generation, and automotive. Since digital control represents a key element of modern power converters, this paper presents a review on digital devices [microcontrollers, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA)], hardware and software design techniques as well as implementation issues useful for designing modern high-performance power converters.


Increases in class sizes combined with significant cutbacks in budgets have resulted in staff in higher education being asked to do more with less. The aim of this paper is to highlight how technology is being used to address pedagogical and logistical challenges in higher education in Ireland. Data was collected for this study from four different colleges across the higher education sector. A qualitative approach was taken and semi-structured interviews were held with eight academic staff from four different disciplines: Arts, Engineering, Humanities and Science. Common pedagogical challenges were identified from the interviews: assessment of presentation skills; group work and peer evaluation; the first year experience and student motivation. Several different technologies were examined in this research as practical solutions to the aforementioned challenges; on-line quizzes, wikis, on-line peer evaluation, YouTube, screen casting and audio feedback. Results of the research revealed positive feedback from the staff, with regard to the benefits of these technologies and an increased appetite for use of other technologies in the future. In addition, research illustrated that with minimal training for the staff, significant efficiencies can be obtained in these key areas of higher education. Future research would be to expand the number of academic staff and institutes involved in this study and examine the implementation of a training programme for staff on technology enhanced learning. Furthermore, future research should also investigate the impact of these technologies on the student learning experience.


Background In recent years the incidence of different types of pain is increasing. We have found the same in the St. Anne's hospital in the Czech Republic. Patients are now able to ask about the correct usage of opioid drugs in pharmacy consultation centre, which opened in 2011. Purpose To find out the consumption of opioid analgesics from 2008 to 2011. This is an analysis of prescriptions by doctors from the pain treatment centre. We also collected data from patient records in the pharmacy consultation centre and we wanted to know how many patients come to consult us. Materials and Methods Data were obtained from the pharmacy computer software. We made a retrospective evaluation, calculated the defined daily dosage (DDD) and compared consumption of opioid analgesics during 2008–2011 for ATC class N02A and other subclasses. We analysed the consultation records. Results Consumption of weak opioids decreased over that time, while consumption of strong opioids increased, which had to be prescribed. Opiates were prescribed more often to women. The highest consumption was of buprenorphine, than fentanyl and oxycodone, from weak opioids it was tramadol. Consumption of fentanyl increased from 35 735 DDD (2010) to 39 924 DDD (2011), while buprenorphine consumption decreased from 45 059 DDD (2010) to 38 675 DDD (2011). The amount of morphine used last year was twice that of previous years. The total number of patients who visited the pharmacy consulting centre was 41, six patients were from the pain treatment centre. Average age was 61.3. Patients wanted to control interactions, secondly combat adverse effects of opioids and requested information about neuropathic pain. Average consultation length was 22.5 minutes. Conclusions The consumption of strong opioids is gradually increasing, doctors follow guidelines and they aren't afraid of prescribing strong opioids. In future it would be appropriate to extend the distribution of informatory materials by the consultation centre – not only about the opioid analgesics. No conflict of interest.


Within a context of substantial adoption policy reform in England, this paper explores post adoption support. Findings from a small-scale survey of 22 local authorities in England and interviews with 11 adoption practitioners (from 11 of the authorities that completed the survey) are presented and related national policy discussed. The paper argues that support should continue postmatching a child with their adoptive parent(s) and that this should be the norm rather than the exception. It also emphasizes the need to improve the availability of and access to post adoption support in a timely manner.


In this second research note of a series of two, we aim to map the polarized flux emerging from a disk-born, dusty outflow as it was prescribed by Elvis (2000). His structure for quasars was achieved to unify the emission and absorption features observed in active galactic nuclei (AGN) and can be used as an alternative scenario to the typical dusty torus that is extensively used to account for AGN circumnuclear obscuration. Using Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations, we model an obscuring outflow arising from an emitting accretion disk and examine the resulting polarization degree, polarization angle and polarized flux. Polarization cartography reveals that a disk-born outflow has a similar torus morphology in polar viewing angles, with bright polarized fluxes reprocessed onto the wind funnel. At intermediate and edge-on inclinations, the model is rather close to a double-conical wind, with higher fluxes in the cone bases. It indicates that the optically thick outflow is not efficient enough to avoid radiation escaping from the central region, particularly due to the geometrically thin divergence angle of the outflow. As parametrized in this research note, a dusty outflow does not seem to be able to correctly reproduce the polarimetric behavior of an usual dusty torus. Further refinement of the model is necessary.


Designing and verifying distributed protocols in a multi-rate asynchronous system is, in general, extremely difficult when the distributed computations require consistent input views, consistent actions and synchronized state transitions. In this paper, we address this problem and introduce a formal, complexity-reducing architectural pattern, called Multi-Rate PALS system, to support virtual synchronization in multi-rate distributed computations. The pattern supports a component to be virtually synchronized with other components in different instantiations of this pattern. We present an application of a hierarchical control system to show that the composition of these instantiations can be used to achieve desired system-level properties, such as distributed consistency and distributed coordination. We verify the logical synchronization guarantee of this pattern, which holds as long as the pattern assumptions are satisfied. We also discuss the correctness analysis necessary to validate these assumptions and provide a tool support to perform this analysis automatically on the AADL models.


Magnetospheric substorms are elemental processes of solar wind energy storage and explosive release in Earth's magnetosphere. They encompass fundamental plasma physics questions, are ubiquitous during all types of geomagnetic conditions, contribute significantly to magnetic storms, and are a key element of Space Weather applications. This paper reviews recent major advances enabled by modern multi‐point space‐based and ground‐based platforms. These datasets have also empowered a system‐wide perspective and advanced modeling. We particularly highlight progress in two areas: (1) substorm onset timing and evidence for current sheet preconditioning and destabilization and (2) fast flows and dipolarizations, including the role of entropy in magnetotail plasma propagation.


The automated handling of universal logistic goods through robotic systems requires suitable and reliable methods for categorizing different logistic goods. They must be able to detect the pose of different types and sizes of logistic goods in order to identify possible gripping points or for selecting a suitable gripping system for the detected object type. For this purpose, Time-of-Flight or Structured Light sensors can deliver a dense 3D representation of the investigated scenario. This paper presents a 3D object categorization system for logistic goods based on synthetically generated model data. We generate the model data by using a sensor simulation framework for different TOF-sensor types. The framework creates point clouds of self-defined geometric models of logistic goods or CAD data. Afterwards, we use these synthetic point clouds for generating a suitable model database offline. In order to evaluate our approach, we describe the synthetic point clouds by global point feature description techniques to distinguish between different types of logistic goods. Finally, we evaluate our concept with real sensor data from different logistic goods.


Technological advancements are constantly increasing the size and complexity of data resulting from large-scale RNA interference screens. This fact has led biologists to ask complex questions, which the existing, fully automated analyses are often not adequate to answer. We present a concept of 1Click1View (1C1V) as a methodology for interactive analytic software tools. 1C1V can be applied for two-dimensional visualization of image-based screening data sets from High Content Screening (HCS). Through an easy-to-use interface, one-click, one-view concept, and workflow based architecture, visualization method facilitates the linking of image data with numeric data. Such method utilizes state-of-the-art interactive visualization tools optimized for fast visualization of large scale image data sets. We demonstrate our method on an HCS dataset consisting of multiple cell features from two screening assays.


Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Information Systems (IS) as an integrated technology has been introduced recently to facilitate the demanding operational and financial environment of the enterprises. The implementation process and the adoption of such systems is considered as a significant parameter influencing the success of operational performance and financial governance and could support the competitive advantage practices within the organisations. However, GRC literature is limited regarding the analysis of the implementation and adoption success. Therefore, there is a need for further research and contribution about these systems and more specifically their implementation process. Consequently, this investigation and analysis can provide an insight of this process by examining the aspects of the implementation, the lifecycle phases followed and the enterprise value drivers in each of these phases. Therefore, a framework was developed for structuring the analysis of this implementation including all these three elements as these were provided by the theoretic background. The empirical context of this research includes three field investigation studies based on the experience of key implementation stakeholder groups as participants. These investigation studies were analysed using thematic techniques following an interpretative qualitative analysis approach. It was proved that organisations have, directly or indirectly, followed specific lifecycle phases when they implement GRC systems as these are also described in the framework. Also they should consider specific aspects about the GRC systems and enterprise value drivers for the different lifecycle phases but also for a holistic approach of the implementation process. Hence new GRC implementation projects can use the phases and the analysis of these elements to facilitate and ease their decision-making and strategic planning before launching the implementation project. The analysis of the GRC implementation proved that a strict GRC environment can be established in the organisations through the successful implementation of a GRC technology. The implementation process of such technologies would require a preparation for the organisational environment in order the implementation project to succeed the GRC goals and the system to be integrated and optimised harmoniously within the enterprise environment. This study provides insight of how this implementation projects could be planned and developed and gives a directive blueprint for preparing organisations hosting such technological initiatives. The results of all field investigation phases, which can be considered as the contributions to theory and practice of this research, can have twofold implications: initially the development of a theoretical framework based on enterprise systems theories, and also an analysis of the GRC implementation process in specific. The framework is designed to structure the analysis of the GRC implementation aspects, the lifecycle phases and the enterprise value drivers of the GRC implementation process. This framework is used for visualising and structuring a specific analysis of the GRC adoption and success, and therefore this analysis can be used by practitioners and researchers to further evaluate and analyse this process. Furthermore, organisations can use this analysis for decision-making processes; as this analysis can provide a primary view for the implementation projects.


We have constructed a coarse-grained model of crystalline cellulose to be used in molecular dynamics simulations. Using cellobiose from the recently published MARTINI coarse-grained force field for carbohydrates [Lopez, C. A. et al. J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2009, 5, 3195−3210] as a starting point, we have reparameterized the nonbonded interactions to reproduce the partitioning free energies between water and cyclohexane for a series of cellooligomers, cellobiose through cellopentaose. By extrapolating the model to longer cellooligomers, and by assigning special cellulose−cellulose nonbonded interactions, we obtain a model which gives a stable, ordered structure in water that closely resembles the crystal structure of cellulose Iβ. Furthermore, the resulting model is compatible with an existing coarse-grained force field for proteins. This is demonstrated by a simulation of the motion of the carbohydrate-binding domain of the fungal cellulase Cel7A from Trichoderma reesei on a crystalline cellulose surface....


The effect of financial shocks on the cross-market linkages between oil prices (spot and futures) and stock markets is examined for four major crises. We employ the local Gaussian correlation approach and find that the two markets were regionalized for most of the 1990s and the early 2000s. Flights from stocks to oil occur in all crisis episodes, except the recent global financial crisis. The view that stock and oil markets behave like "a market of one" after the financialization of commodities is further supported by the presence of contagion between US stock markets and all the benchmark oil markets.


Simulation-optimization techniques are employed to analyze changes in farmland control arrangements as a result of using different constructs of intertemporal risk behavior. Risk behavior based on constant absolute risk aversion (CARA) and constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) mean-standard deviation functions are used to achieve this objective. Specfically, a multi-period programming framework for a representative grain farm is developed to explore farmland control decisions under these two behavioral assumptions. Our results suggest that the use of a CRRA behavioral construct in analyzing farmland control decisions produce predictions that are more consistent with observed farm behavior.


Research focusing on presidential, regional, and legislative elections has been conducted by previous researchers. However, there is little research comparing business and non-business respondents in predicting presidential intentions. Therefore, this study aims to compare student respondents from business schools and non-business students in predicting the intention of choosing a president. Moreover, Indonesia will undergo presidential election in 2019 where young voters such as college students are voters in significant amounts. Young voters are often identified as swing voters which their attitudes toward the candidates they choose are influenced by information from social media and the image of the presidential candidate. This study involved 214 respondents from both science and non-science education background. The data was analyzed by applying the structural equation modeling. The results of the study showed that there was no difference in study results for respondents with scientific backgrounds and respondents with non-scientific backgrounds. Both types of respondents show the same results that only 1 dimension of the variable of image that has a positive relationship with the attitude towards the candidate candidates. This dimension is charm. The result also shows that there is significant relationship between attitudes toward choosing the candidate with intention to choose the candidate. This study provides results discussion, managerial implications, and recommendation for future research.


Electroencephalograms (EEG) signals are of interest because of their relationship with physiological activities, allowing a description of motion, speaking, or thinking. Important research has been developed to take advantage of EEG using classification or predictor algorithms based on parameters that help to describe the signal behavior. Thus, great importance should be taken to feature extraction which is complicated for the Parameter Estimation (PE)–System Identification (SI) process. When based on an average approximation, nonstationary characteristics are presented. For PE the comparison of three forms of iterative-recursive uses of the Exponential Forgetting Factor (EFF) combined with a linear function to identify a synthetic stochastic signal is presented. The one with best results seen through the functional error is applied to approximate an EEG signal for a simple classification example, showing the effectiveness of our proposal.


The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of addition of Royal jelly in presence of heparin on buffalo (Bubalus Bubalis) sperm motility, acrosome reaction and in vitro fertilization (IVF) of buffalo oocytes. Frozen buffalo spermatozoa from five bulls were thawed and motile fraction was obtained by swim up technique. The spermatozoa were washed, treated with100 µg/ml heparin, and then exposed to 0.4% Royal Jelly (RJ) for 3 h. Sperm motility, acrosomal integrity and fertilization rate of matured oocytes were assessed at 1, 2 and 3 h. The percentages of sperm motility, intact acrosome and fertilization rate of matured oocytes were higher (P<0.05) in 0.4% RJ compared to that in the control. After 2 h of incubation the percentage of motility, intact acrosome of spermatozoa and fertilization rate of matured oocytes, respectively, were 93.6 %, 77.6% and 72.6% in 0.4% RJ. These results suggest that treating buffalo sperm with 0.4% RJ in combination with heparin is effective not only to induce sperm acrosome reaction but also is effective for in vitro fertilizing capacity of the cryopreserved buffalo spermatozoa.


Magnetostrictive Galfenol (Fe-Ga) is a promising and mechanically robust actuator material. Single crystals of Galfenol have been shown to exhibit up to 400 ppm magnetostrictive strains with saturating fields of several hundred oersteds. However, due to the high conductivity of Galfenol, it needs to be in thin sheet form for many device applications to avoid eddy current loses. One of the main challenges in producing engineering components from these materials is shaping of these materials while retaining a preferred crystallographic texture to optimize the magnetostrictive performance of the polycrystals. In this work, the effects of rolling on texture evolution of polycrystalline Galfenol are being investigated. Results from hot rolling experiments showed that careful control of rolling conditions can minimize the formation of cracks. They also suggested that significant dynamic recovery and recrystallization occurred during the deformation process, resulting in a large number of grain orientations with very little texture. Preliminary results also showed that the specimens can be successfully warm rolled to a thickness of less than 0.5 mm.


A three-dimensional MnO2/MnCo2O4/Ni core–shell heterostructured electrode has been fabricated through a facile method. This electrode architecture consists of four levels of interconnected hierarchy: a primary macroporous Ni foam scaffold (≥500 μm), an intermediate vertically-aligned MnCo2O4 core-nanoflake array (50–100 nm), topmost ultra-thin MnO2 nanosheets (∼10 nm) and short-range ordered mesopores (∼5 nm) on the MnO2 nanosheets. This freestanding, hierarchical porous electrode has advantages in enhancing electroactive surface area, enabling efficient mass transport through the porous structure. The heterostructured electrode exhibits a low onset potential (1.33 V vs. RHE), a high anodic peak current density (1000 mA cm−2 g−1 at 1.7 V vs. RHE) and long-term catalytic stability for urea oxidation, which surpasses previous reported electrode materials for urea electrolysis. Remarkably, the MnO2/MnCo2O4/Ni electrode possesses bifunctional catalytic activity for both urea oxidation and hydrogen evolution. A urea electrolytic cell with both anode and cathode using the heterostructured electrodes has been fabricated and a current density of 10 mA cm−2 has been achieved at a cell voltage of 1.55 V. This noble metal-free quadruple hierarchy electrode shows potential as a new platform for multi-purpose applications.


The paper reviews the literature on these tax incentives, with special focus on long-term saving, housing, and household liabilities. The paper addresses several areas of policy intervention: (1) the interest rate effect on personal saving; (2) the effect of tax incentives on long-term mandatory saving programs; (3) government programs that target saving for home purchase; (4) government programs that target health and saving for education; (5) the effect of tax incentives to borrow, rather than to save. For each of these five important issues, the paper provides empirical evidence on the main characteristics of government programs, with a special focus on middle-income countries. It also addresses a number of issues that should be of interest to policy-makers. First of all, on which grounds government policy should target some assets rather than others. Second, if tax-sheltered assets and liabilities lead to substitution away from more heavily taxed savings instruments or if they affect the overall level of saving. And finally, if there is any lesson that can be drawn from the experience of developed countries for the design of saving and borrowing incentives in middle-income countries.


The study of supermassive black hole (SMBH) accretion during their phase of activity (hence becoming active galactic nuclei, AGN), and its relation to the host-galaxy growth, requires large datasets of AGN, including a significant fraction of obscured sources.

X-ray data are strategic in AGN selection, because at X-ray energies the contamination from non-active galaxies is far less significant than in optical/infrared surveys, and the selection of obscured AGN, including also a fraction of heavily obscured AGN, is much more effective.

In this thesis, I present the results of the Chandra COSMOS Legacy survey, a 4.6 Ms X-ray survey covering the equatorial COSMOS area. The COSMOS Legacy depth (flux limit f=2x10^(-16) erg/s/cm^(-2) in the 0.5-2 keV band) is significantly better than that of other X-ray surveys on similar area, and represents the path for surveys with future facilities, like Athena and X-ray Surveyor.

The final Chandra COSMOS Legacy catalog contains 4016 point-like sources, 97% of which with redshift. 65% of the sources are optically obscured and potentially caught in the phase of main BH growth.

We used the sample of 174 Chandra COSMOS Legacy at z>3 to place constraints on the BH formation scenario. We found a significant disagreement between our space density and the predictions of a physical model of AGN activation through major-merger. This suggests that in our luminosity range the BH triggering through secular accretion is likely preferred to a major-merger triggering scenario.

Thanks to its large statistics, the Chandra COSMOS Legacy dataset, combined with the other multiwavelength COSMOS catalogs, will be used to answer questions related to a large number of astrophysical topics, with particular focus on the SMBH accretion in different luminosity and redshift regimes.


In this study the influence of filler particle size (40, 50, and 60 meshes) and coupling agent concentration (0 and 2 wt%) on the composite mechanical properties were studied. Specimens having 30 wt% wood flour of poplar were mixed with polypropylene and polypropylene grafted maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) as coupling agent. It was found that strength properties of the composites can be improved moderately by adding 2 wt% PP-g-MA. It was also observed that smaller filler particles provide higher tensile modulus than the larger sized filler. Moreover, increase in aspect ratio of the wood particles contributed to the enhancement in the mechanical properties of the composites. The elongation value was not found to have any considerable variation with particle size. The PP-wood flour composites exhibited low impact strength compared to pure PP. In general, Wood flour could be considered as a potential source of low cost, natural fibers for composites.


Wireless technologies combined with advanced computing are changing industrial communications. Industrial wireless networks can improve the monitoring and the control of the entire system by jointly exploiting massively interacting communication and distributed computing paradigms. In this paper, we develop a wireless cloud platform for supporting critical data publishing and distributed sensing of the surrounding environment. The cloud system is designed as a self-contained network that interacts with devices exploiting the time synchronized channel hopping protocol (TSCH), supported by WirelessHART (IEC 62591). The cloud platform augments industry-standard networking functions as it handles the delivery (or publishing) of latency and throughput-critical data by implementing a cooperative-multihop forwarding scheme. In addition, it supports distributed sensing functions through consensus-based algorithms. Experimental activities are presented to show the feasibility of the approach in two real industrial plant sites representative of typical indoor and outdoor environments. Validation of cooperative forwarding schemes shows substantial improvements compared with standard industrial solutions. Distributed sensing functions are developed to enable the autonomous identification of recurring cochannel interference patterns.


This article discusses sustainable development issues in China related to recent policy initiatives shaping urban planning and design policies throughout China. The article discusses recent plans for large satellite cities outside China's major cities and discusses zoning and planning issues related to the development of these cities as pedestrian and bicycle friendly urban areas. Specific plans for the satellite city Qingpu near Shanghai are discussed in the context of addressing the related issues of energy, the automobile, and urban sprawl. The article examines these urban planning policies as a form of New Urbanism with Chinese characteristics.


By 2014, the Affordable Care Act will rely heavily upon Medicaid as the program continues to evolve from its humble origins in 1965 to become part of the new foundation of a restructured American health care system. In the three short years since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid has become the "dark horse" successor to Medicare in its attempt to reform a rapidly failing system while at the same time expanding health care to the nation's estimated 50 million uninsured. Nearly five decades since its creation by an act of Congress, Medicaid is at last poised to steal the spotlight away from Medicare and change the course of modern American health care for decades to come.


Developing highly efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has emerged as one of the most important research hot spots in energy-related fields due to its critical role in coupling with hydrogen evolution reaction to enhance the total efficiency of water splitting. However, the well-established catalysts for water oxidation up to now are mainly effective in strongly alkaline solutions, thus hindering the practical application in total water splitting. Under this circumstance, herein, we put forward a novel oxygen-evolving electrocatalyst based on zirconium trisulfide (ZrS3) ultrathin nanosheets for the first time, achieving efficient water oxidation behavior in both alkaline and neutral solutions. With the merits of the abundant disulfide bonds on the surface of the ZrS3 ultrathin nanosheets, the OER performance exhibits great enhancement against the bulk material. An ultralow onset overpotential of 244 mV and a small Tafel slope of 45 mV decade−1 are achieved for the ZrS3 ultrathin nanosheets in strongly alkaline solution (pH = 14), while superior OER activity with low onset overpotential and small Tafel slope is also realized in weakly alkaline solutions and even under neutral conditions (pH = 6.9), suggesting the excellent water oxidation performance and showing broad applicable potential for total water splitting. The exploration of this novel catalyst will not only pave a new pathway in searching for advanced catalysts with high efficiency, but also offer an effective strategy in designing functional structures for other electrocatalysts.


Nowadays, according to the mobility and high speed of vehicles, network connectivity is became less in the Vehicle Ad Hoc Networks (VANET). So, end-to-end connectivity is almost impossible. Then, intermittent connectivity and message losing will be occurred. Store-Carry-Forward method is used in the Vehicular Delay Tolerant Networks (VDTN) to reduce message losing. Storing the message for a long time causes resource overflow. Thus, dynamic resource management by using different message criteria via MCDM will be improved VDTN' performance. In this paper, GABY resource management is proposed. The simulation results such as delivery probability and average latency are illustrated by ONE simulation environment.


We express our puzzlement over the role of the German comparative form "eher" in metalinguistic and modal comparisons. We can't do this alone. We have data, we have observations, we have speculations, but we need you to tell us what to do with them. We want to sit down with you and work on this together. The German word "eher" can express temporal comparisons roughly meaning "earlier than" or "before":1 (1) Die The Schildkröte tortoise war was eher earlier am at-the Ziel goal als than Achilles. Achilles 'The tortoise reached the goal before Achilles.' As happens all the time, "eher" has acquired uses beyond the temporal domain. One striking use seems to fall under what Morzycki (2011) classified as 'metalinguistic' comparisons: (2) Mein My Auto car ist is eher more flott cool als than schnell. fast 'My car is more on the cool side than on the fast side.' ⇤We have been puzzling over the role of "eher" in metalinguistic and modal comparisons for quite a while. We thank Chris Kennedy, Pete Klecha and Marcin Morzycki for conversations where we shared our bafflement with them. Elena Herburger and Aynat Rubinstein have independently embarked on a research project on "eher" (Herburger and Rubinstein 2014). This is not the time to compare our preliminary conclusions in any detail but we will draw on their WCCFL handout in a few places. 1Etymologically, "eher" appears to be the comparative to an old Germanic word meaning "early", cf. Gothic "air", related to the Greek "TMri" 'early, in the morning' (see http://www.dwds.de/?qu=eher). The Southern German and Austrian adverb "eh" ('anyway') may be a backformation. © 2014 Kai von Fintel and Angelika Kratzer. In: Luka Crnič and Uli Sauerland (eds.), The Art and Craft of Semantics: A Festschrift for Irene Heim, vol. 1, MITWPL 70, pp. 175–179 (3) Mein My Auto car war was eher more langsam slow als than schnell. fast 'My car was more on the slow side than on the fast side.' (4) Mein My Auto car war was eher more langsam. slow 'My car was more on the slow side.' (5) Mein My Auto car war was eher more langsam slow als than dein your Motorrad. motorbike 'My car's performance was a clearer case of slowness than your motorbike's performance.' According to Morzycki, 'metalinguistic' comparatives differ from 'ordinary' comparatives in relying on scales of imprecision or 'pragmatic slack' in the sense of Lasersohn (1999). There is a clear difference between ordinary comparatives and comparatives with "eher": (6) and (7) do not mean the same. (6) Ella Ella ist is grösser taller als than Ginger. Ginger (7) Ella Ella ist is eher more gross tall als than Ginger. Ginger 'Ella is a clearer case of tallness than Ginger.' (7) doesn't sound right if the two girls are both giants or dwarves (hence clear examples or counterexamples of tallness), or if one is a dwarf and the other is a giant, even if Ella is indeed taller than Ginger. For (7) to be acceptable, both Ella and Ginger have to be borderline cases of tallness. That's a necessary, but not a sufficient condition. (7) is also unacceptable if Ella and Ginger are both borderline cases of tallness, but they are very close in height. Under those circumstances, (8) is unacceptable, too: (8) Im In Vergleich comparison zu to Ginger Ginger ist is Ella Ella eher more gross. tall. 'In comparison to Ginger, Ella is more on the tall side.' If Ella and Ginger are very close in height, no reasonable way of making the predicate "tall" precise would place Ella in its positive and Ginger in its negative extension. Doing so would, in fact, violate the Similarity Constraint of Fara (2000), which Kennedy (2011) formulates as follows: The Similarity Constraint. When x and y differ to only a very small degree in the property that a vague predicate g is used to express, we are unable or unwilling to judge the proposition that x is g true and that y is g false. No such problem arises with the ordinary comparative in (6), which can be used even if the height difference is minuscule. Kennedy (2011) suggests that this feature of ordinary comparatives throws 176 Kai von Fintel and Angelika Kratzer


"The VeloPress Training Diaries" are the best way for cyclists and triathletes to consolidate training data, track progress, redefine goals throughout the season, and record the way their bodies respond from day to day. Designed as companions to Joe Friel's "Training Bibles", the new editions make space for every training detail, with charts to organise race results and fitness indicators, physiological test results, and more. With a training log that's personalised, portable, and easy to review and update, athletes can gain new insights into their performance.Designed with collaboration from cyclists and coaches, this next generation of training diaries will make it easier than ever to record and interpret every component of cycling and multisport training. Coach Joe Friel gives athletes a through introduction to the essential details of training and keeping a log. For athletes who are designing their own annual training schedule, he provides a guide to planning the entire season.With a year of undated weekly spreads, these diaries are the most comprehensive training logs available with space for: every training detail, from weather conditions to resting heart rate and daily nutrition; charts to organise race results and fitness indicators; physiological test results such as VO2max and lactate threshold; power meter data and weekly race results specific to cycling; and, two-a-day workouts and weekly summary data specific to triathlon.