Triazolophanes are used as the venue to compete an aliphatic propylene CH hydrogen-bond donor against an aromatic phenylene one. Longer aliphatic C-H...Cl(-) hydrogen bonds were calculated from the location of the chloride within the propylene-based triazolophane. The gas-phase energetics of chloride binding (ΔG(bind) , ΔH(bind) , ΔS(bind) ) and the configurational entropy (ΔS(config) ) were computed by taking all low-energy conformations into account. Comparison between the phenylene- and propylene-based triazolophanes shows the computed gas-phase free energy of binding decreased from ΔG(bind) =-194 to -182 kJ mol(-1) , respectively, with a modest enthalpy-entropy compensation. These differences were investigated experimentally. An (1) H NMR spectroscopy study on the structure of the propylene triazolophane's 1:1 chloride complex is consistent with a weaker propylene CH hydrogen bond. To quantify the affinity differences between the two triazolophanes in dichloromethane, it was critical to obtain an accurate binding model. Four equilibria were identified. In addition to 1:1 complexation and 2:1 sandwich formation, ion pairing of the tetrabutylammonium chloride salt (TBA(+) ⋅Cl(-) ) and cation pairing of TBA(+) with the 1:1 triazolophane-chloride complex were observed and quantified. Each complex was independently verified by ESI-MS or diffusion NMR spectroscopy. With ion pairing deconvoluted from the chloride-receptor binding, equilibrium constants were determined by using (1) H NMR (500 μM) and UV/Vis (50 μM) spectroscopy titrations. The stabilities of the 1:1 complexes for the phenylene and propylene triazolophanes did not differ within experimental error, ΔG=(-38±2) and (-39±1) kJ mol(-1) , respectively, as verified by an NMR spectroscopy competition experiment. Thus, the aliphatic CH donor only revealed its weaker character when competing with aromatic CH donors within the propylene-based triazolophane.


A woman in her twenties experienced a central scotoma in her left eye while she was gazing at the visual display of a Smartphone. Her Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) the following day was 20/15 OD and 20/60 OS. A ringshaped yellowish reflex surrounding the central fovea was observed in the left eye on a fundus photograph, and the inner segment Ellipsoid and Interdigitation Zones (EZ and IZ, respectively) were defective at the foveola on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). Ten days later, her BCVA became 20/25 OS. Although defects in the EZ and IZ remained, the fundus abnormality became obscured. Forty days later, her BCVA returned to 20/20 OS, her fundus findings appeared normal, and both EZ and IZ demonstrated nearly normal appearances. Although transient macular damage has been reported in young Patients after prolonged gazing at a computer game display, to our knowledge, this is the first report presenting similar OCT-detectable macular damage that is likely related to Smartphone usage. Since Smartphone's have become exclusively popular all over the world among not only adults but also younger population, ophthalmologists should be aware that macular damage can occur in Smartphone users, particularly after gazing at the display under dim background illumination. Although such cases are rare, the damage is usually transient and spontaneously recovers after reducing the duration of Smartphone usage.


Nowadays, nanosatellites are widely used in space technology due to their small size, ease of deployment, and relatively short development period. CubeSat specifications have been suggested as an effort to standardize nanosatellite mission design. Standardization opens the door for inter-CubeSat communications that can be used to form a CubeSat Cloud and mimic regular large multifunctional satellites with wide range of features, measurements, and sensing capabilities. In this paper, we introduce a Comprehensive CubeSat (CoCube, Gurgaon, India) online database. CoCube database focuses mainly on the different subsystems used during the design and implementation stages of existing CubeSat missions. Based on the lessons learned by comparing various CubeSat design alternatives and components' structures and analyzing the best practices of CubeSat development, LibanSAT design is introduced. LibanSAT is a 1U CubeSat that serves two main objectives: (i) greenhouse gases observation and (ii) educational purposes. We benchmarked off-the-shelf subsystems from various suppliers and chose the most suitable for our target mission based on cost, size, weight, and power consumption. Finally, we introduce a new CubeSat security algorithm based on predefined anomaly detection baseline that serves as intrusion prevention system for the control channel.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe how gender stereotypes and self-stereotypes of Danish managers vary among managers at different job levels, from lower level managers to CEO level, in a large survey of Danish private-sector managers.

Design/methodology/approach
This study is explorative. Measures of stereotypes and self-stereotypes are constructed and analyzed with regressions models that control for a large number of individual and firm characteristics.

Findings
The results document significant gender differences in stereotyping among managers. Male managers have significantly more masculine stereotypes of successful leaders, and they rate themselves higher on masculine traits than female managers. For CEOs, the picture is different. Stereotypes do not differ by gender and female CEOs have more pronounced masculine stereotypes than female managers at lower levels. Female managers at the age of 50 are the least gender stereotyping managers. Younger female managers have significantly more masculine stereotypes about the role as a successful leader.

Research limitations/implications
This study is based on cross-sectional data and does not claim to uncover causal relationships.

Practical implications
The results suggest that gender stereotypes and self-stereotypes among Danish private-sector managers are not going to change quickly indicating that new government policies with more focus on gender equalization and affirmative actions are called for.

Originality/value
Most earlier studies of stereotypes concerning female managers are based on studies of samples drawn from the general population or consisting of students. This study makes use of a large sample of managerial employees from all levels of the corporate hierarchy in different types of firms.


In order to model transmission scanning near-field optical microscopy (T-SNOM) experiments, we study the interaction between a nanosized atomic-force-microscopy-type probe and the optical field in a microcavity (MC) at or near resonance. Using a 2-D cross-sectional model of an experimentally studied photonic crystal MC, we have simulated the T-SNOM method by scanning a probe over the surface while monitoring the transmitted and reflected power. The simulations were performed for two probe materials: silicon and silicon nitride. From the probe-induced change in the transmission and reflection spectra, a wavelength shift was extracted. A shift almost proportional to the local field intensity was found if the resonator was excited just below a resonance wavelength. However, at the spots of highest interaction, we observed that besides the desired resonance wavelength shift, there was an increase in scattering. Furthermore, by moving the probe at such a spot in the vertical direction to a height of approximately 0.5, a 5% increase in transmission can be established because the antiresonant condition is satisfied. Finally, a 2-D top view simulation is presented of the experimentally studied T-SNOM method, which shows a remarkably good correspondence in intensity profile, except for the exact location of the high-interaction spots.


The most common mode of the gear failure is tooth breakage, which is usually produced by bending fatigue failure. It is important to manufacture the gears which can withstand the applied stresses in view of safety and economic requirements. In this study, fatigue test and analysis were performed to evaluate the bending fatigue strength of an automotive bevel gear. Test fixtures of the double tooth concept were considered to obtain reliable fatigue test results. Fatigue life of automotive bevel gear was evaluated by Weibull analysis. To compare the test results and to verify the fatigue analysis procedures, fatigue analyses were carried out. The results of fatigue analysis show that fatigue life and crack initiation sites were well agreed with test results. The random loading of bevel gear under the real driving conditions was defined here, and then the fatigue analysis under random loading was also performed.


Physical Geography of the District.—The Peninsula of Coromandel stretches for about fifty miles in a general direction of N. 30° W. and S. 30° E., and is the northern extremity of a high range which extends from a mountainous centre near the Taupe Lake and Boiling Springs in the interior of the Northern Island of New Zealand. The peninsula forms the eastern shore of the Frith of the Thames, on the western coast of which, about forty miles distant, the Settlement of Auckland is situated. The peninsula varies in breadth from four to twenty-two miles, and is mountainous in its whole extent ; a main range, but very little deflected from a northerly and southerly direction, and of an average height of 1500 feet (the highest summits being about 3000 feet above the sea), runs along its centre, throwing off spurs of inferior heights to the eastward and westward. Detached hills occasionally take the place of the spurs, and the direction of these is in one instance prolonged by a chain of islands extending in a line parallel with the main range. In several places the continuity of the main range ceases, and detached hills of an equal height flank the gap. A second range, however, rises after the interval of a mile or more, and is prolonged in the general direction of the first. In several places the continuity of the main range ceases, and detached hills of an equal height flank the gap. A second range, however, rises


This guide provides information about the South Dakota Law Review Symposium held March 27, 2015, as well as additional research resources related to the Symposium topic.


From the dark shadow of civil war to the pastel-painted tourist towns of today, ""Making Ireland Irish"" provides a sweeping account of the evolution of the Irish tourist industry over the twentieth century. Drawing on an extensive array of previously untapped or underused sources, Eric G. E. Zuelow examines how a small group of tourism advocates, inspired by tourist development movements in countries such as France and Spain, worked tirelessly to convince their Irish compatriots that tourism was the secret to Ireland's success. Over time, tourism went from being a national joke to a national interest. Men and women from across Irish society joined in, eager to help shape their country and culture for visitors' eyes. The result was Ireland as it is depicted today, a land of blue skies, smiling faces, pastel towns, natural beauty, ancient history, and timeless traditions. With lucid prose and vivid detail, Zuelow explains how careful planning transformed Irish towns and villages from grey and unattractive to bright and inviting, sanitized Irish history to avoid offending Ireland's largest tourist market, the English, and supplanted traditional rural fairs revolving around muddy animals and featuring sexually suggestive ceremonies with new family-friendly festivals and events filling the tourist calendar today. By challenging existing notions that the Irish tourist product is either timeless or the consequence of colonialism, Zuelow demonstrates that the development of tourist imagery and Irish national identity was not the result of a handful of elites or a postcolonial legacy, but rather the product of an extended discussion that ultimately involved a broad cross-section of society, both inside and outside Ireland. Tourism, he argues, played a vital role in 'making Ireland Irish.'


The thesis of my paper is that art participatory practices in public space have a paradoxical potential to avoid a paradigm of visibility. What I call the paradigm of visibility is a formula of social presence of art which is based on a necessity of occupying a certain physical or symbolical space and an effort to sustain it. This kind of public presence of art is traditionally considered to be a guarantee of its value in terms of both artistic and social legitimisation. A question arises if this formula has an alternative. It seems that participatory art practices in public space – focused on production of objects and searching for social impact and social efficacy – can formulate a different model of presence of art (of its production and distribution) than object-based art.


Colon cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in the United States. However, most colon cancers can be prevented if precursor colonic polyps are detected and removed. An advanced computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) scheme was developed for the automated detection of polyps at computed tomographic (CT) colonography. A region encompassing the colonic wall is extracted from an isotropic volume data set obtained by interpolating CT colonographic scans along the axial direction. Polyp candidates are detected with computation of three-dimensional (3D) geometric features that characterize polyps, followed by extraction of polyps with hysteresis thresholding and fuzzy clustering using these geometric features. The number of false-positive findings is reduced by extracting 3D texture features from polyp candidates and applying quadratic discriminant analysis to the candidates. This CAD scheme was applied in 71 patients who underwent CT colonography, 14 of whom had colonoscopically confirmed polyps (n = 21). At by-patient analysis, sensitivity was 100%, with an average false-positive rate of 2.0 per patient. At by-polyp analysis, the scheme detected 90% of the polyps at the same false-positive rate. This CAD scheme permits accurate detection of suspicious lesions and thus has the potential to reduce radiologists' interpretation time and improve their diagnostic accuracy in the detection of polyps at CT colonography.


Capturing concerns that crosscut the boundaries of multiple components in software architecture descriptions is problematic. Standard description languages, such as UML, do not provide adequate means to understand and modularize such concerns, but aspect-oriented programming techniques do. This paper explores and analyzes the suitability of UML for aspect-oriented architectural modeling. It takes a bottom-up approach, starting from the code level to the level of software architecture description, via aspect-oriented design, using standard UML.


This thesis explores information-flow tracking technologies and their applicability on industrial-scale dynamic programming languages. We aim to narrow the gap between the need for flexibility in current dynamic languages and the solid well-studied mechanisms from academia. Instead of translating perfect sound theoretical results into a practical implementation, this thesis focuses on practical problems found in dynamic languages and, from them on, looks for the academic support to tackle them.

We investigate the compromise between security and flexibility for protecting confidentiality and integrity. Furthermore, using purely dynamic techniques, we implement our ideas to demonstrate their practicability.

On the integrity protection side, a taint mode for Python has been implemented. Thanks to the flexibility of this language, the implementation is shipped as a library, allowing it to be used in Cloud Computing environments.

On the confidentiality side, two works are presented which differ in their security property. On one hand, a dynamic dependency analysis is suggested as an alternative to flow-sensitive monitors. By relaxing the ambition of blocking every possible leak, we improve permissiveness, even for programming languages that support dynamic evaluation (such as the eval construct). On the other hand, a full JavaScript monitor was developed to enforce non-interference in the complex scenario of the web. This implementation allows us to explore the scalability boundaries of dynamic information-flow enforcements.


Building a robust predictive model requires an array of steps such as data imputation, feature transformations, estimator selection, hyper-parameter search, ensemble construction, amongst others. Due to this vast, complex and heterogeneous space of operations, off-the-shelf optimization methods offer infeasible solutions for realistic response time requirements. In practice, much of the predictive modeling process is conducted by experienced data scientists, who selectively make use of available tools. Over time, they develop an understanding of the behavior of operators, and perform serial decision making under uncertainty, colloquially referred to as educated guesswork. With an unprecedented demand for application of supervised machine learning, there is a call for solutions that automatically search for a suitable combination of operators across these tasks while minimize the modeling error. We introduce a novel system called APRL (Autonomous Predictive modeler via Reinforcement Learning), that uses past experience through reinforcement learning to optimize sequential decision making from within a set of diverse actions under a budget constraint. Our experiments demonstrate the superiority of the proposed approach over known AutoML systems that utilize Bayesian optimization or genetic algorithms.


In 1991, the Philippines launched a series of foreign exchange reforms which partially opened the capital account. These set of reforms, if completed, will result in the financial integration of the economy with the global financial markets, thus, would complete the sequence of economic liberalization and integration. This study examines the degree of financial integration of the Philippnes with the international economy. In particular, two questions are to be answered. First, how financially integrated is the Philippines with the rest of the world? And, second, how has foreign exchange liberalization contributed to Philippine financial openness? Philippine financial openness is examined using the gross capital flows ratio, the Feldstein-Horioka regressions and variations of test based on uncovered interest parity. While the results confirm the substantial increase in gross capital flows, evidence using investment-saving correlation and arbitrage tests suggest that the degree of financial openness is still low. The empirical evidence also suggests that capital account liberalization has not contributed much to financial integration.


A comprehensive analysis of the network of coupled motions correlated to hydride transfer in dihydrofolate reductase is presented. Hybrid quantum/classical molecular dynamics simulations are combined with a rank correlation analysis method to extract thermally averaged properties that vary along the collective reaction coordinate according to a prescribed target model. Coupled motions correlated to hydride transfer are identified throughout the enzyme. Calculations for wild-type dihydrofolate reductase and a triple mutant, along with the associated single and double mutants, indicate that each enzyme system samples a unique distribution of coupled motions correlated to hydride transfer. These coupled motions provide an explanation for the experimentally measured nonadditivity effects in the hydride transfer rates for these mutants. This analysis illustrates that mutations distal to the active site can introduce nonlocal structural perturbations and significantly impact the catalytic rate by altering the conformational motions of the entire enzyme and the probability of sampling conformations conducive to the catalyzed reaction.


Aging is associated with reduced slow wave (SW) density (number SW/min in non-rapid-eye-movement sleep) and amplitude. It has been proposed that an age-related decrease in SW density may be due to a reduction in EEG amplitude instead of a decline in the capacity to generate SW. Here, we propose a data-driven approach to adapt SW amplitude criteria to age and sex. We predicted that the adapted criteria would reduce age and sex differences in SW density and SW characteristics but would not abolish them. A total of 284 healthy younger and older adults participated in one night of sleep EEG recording. We defined age- and sex-adapted SW criteria in a first cohort of younger (n=97) and older (n=110) individuals using a signal-to-noise ratio approach. We then used these age- and sex-specific criteria in an independent second cohort (n=77, 38 younger and 39 older adults) to evaluate age and sex differences on SW density and SW characteristics. After adapting SW amplitude criteria, we showed maintenance of an age-related difference for SW density whereas the sex-related difference vanished. Indeed, older adults produced less SW compared to younger adults. Specifically, the adapted SW amplitude criteria increased the probability of occurrence of low amplitude SW (<80µV) for older men especially. Our results thereby confirm an age-related decline in SW generation rather than an artefact in the detection amplitude criteria. As for the SW characteristics, the age- and sex-adapted criteria display reproducible effects across the two independent cohorts suggesting a more reliable inventory of the SW.


Efficient and faithful parallel simulation of large asynchronous systems is a challenging computational problem. It requires using the concept of local simulated times and a synchronization scheme. We study the scalability of massively parallel algorithms for discrete-event simulations which employ conservative synchronization to enforce causality. We do this by looking at the simulated time horizon as a complex evolving system, and we identify its universal characteristics. We find that the time horizon for the conservative parallel discrete-event simulation scheme exhibits Kardar-Parisi-Zhang-like kinetic roughening. This implies that the algorithm is asymptotically scalable in the sense that the average progress rate of the simulation approaches a non-zero constant. It also implies, however, that there are diverging memory requirements associated with such schemes.


A method for the radioimmunoassay of serum testosterone that does not require extraction or chromatography is described. Utilization of a highly specific antiserum, tritium-labeled ligand, and double antibody precipitation makes the direct radioimmunoassay feasible. The direct radioimmunoassay is valid based on the criteria of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and precision. Because extraction, chromatography, and transfer are eliminated in this procedure, recovery of serum testosterone is always 100%. Interference by serum binding components is lacking, and values obtained for ram, bull, dog, rat, and man by direct radioimmunoassay are in agreement with those obtained by a conventional extraction assay.

Direct testosterone radioimmunoassay has been applied to the study of hypothalamic control of testosterone secretion in bull, ram, and rat. The intravenous injection of synthetic luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) increases blood testosterone and can be administered to mimic the pulsatile nature of testosterone secretion characteristic of intact males. On the other hand, immunoneutralization of LHRH by active or passive immunization results in substantially reduced serum testosterone and failure of testosterone secretion in response to exogenous LHRH. These investigations lead us to conclude that testosterone secretion by the mammalian testis is regulated largely by inputs from the hypothalamus and that synthetic LHRH and LHRH antisera provide useful tools for studying the hypothalamopituitary-gonadal axis. The direct radioimmunoassay provides a convenient and inexpensive method to study testosterone secretion by the testis.


Networks of neonatal cortical neurons, cultured on multi electrode arrays (MEAs) exhibit spontaneous action potential firings. The electrodes embedded in the glass surface of a MEA can be used to record and stimulate activity at 60 sites in a network of ~50.000 neurons. Such in-vitro networks enable studies of neuron-neuron interactions within the non-trivial setting of a surrounding, active network.
Cultured networks exhibit spontaneous firing patterns in which many or all neurons fire action potentials in a short timespan (~100 ms) interleaved with quiescent periods spanning from seconds to minutes. The neuron-specific firing rate during such bursts is statistically stable on a timescale comparable to ongoing network growth. This is also confirmed using other methods of analysis, such as conditional firing probabilities which reveal functional connections between neurons.
Although changes in bursting patterns have been observed by many researchers, the experimental induction of such changes by means of electrical stimuli is still subject of some controversy. Evidence is mounting that (spontaneous) bursts interfere with experimentally induced changes, obscuring the results and necessitating many repetitions of a stimulus.
Tetani (trains of stimuli) are more effective when bursts are suppressed using frequent 'background' stimuli (~10 /s). We will describe how slow (4Hz) rhythmic background stimuli, delivered randomly to 10 or more electrodes, have a profound effect on changes occurring in network firing patterns. We applied tetani made out of 4 pulses at 5 ms intervals, phase-locked to either the peak or trough of oscillatory RBS. When delivered at the peak, tetani result in changes in burst patterns and facilitate the response to probe stimuli. When delivered to the through, no statistically significant differences were found in either bursts or probe responses. We will discuss the implications and possibilities of this new stimulation method.


The article contains results of study that covers 343 males exposed to occupational vibration in Kemerovo region. The authors studied features of dermatoglyphic signs distribution in vibration disease patients and in reference group, calculated parameters of relative risk for the disease, etiologic fraction and preventive fraction. Dermatoglyphic signs were proved to be informative markers for vibration disease risks.


An experimental study of an evacuated-tube, integral-collector-storage water heater was conducted in an indoor solar simulator. Useful collected energy, radiation-induced stratification and draw-induced mixing are characterized in eight trials in which test duration, initial tank water temperature, flow rate during withdrawal of heated water from the collector, withdrawal pattern and reflectance of the backplane were varied. All tests were performed at nominal irradiance of 900 W/m{sup 2}, normal incidence, and collector slope of 45 degrees. The capability of the TRNSYS integral collector storage model to predict performance for operating conditions for which data are assumed to be unavailable was assessed. Using data from one experimental trial, optical efficiency ({tau}{alpha}) of the collector was determined by matching predicted useful energy gain to measured gain. Effectiveness of the calibrated model was based on a comparison of predicted gains to measured values obtained in the remaining seven trials. For five of seven trials, predicted performance is within 9% of measured performance and less than experimental error. For the other two trials, predicted performance is within 15% of measured performance. The higher discrepancies may be partially due to experimental conditions not modeled such as heating of the piping connecting the collector to the testmore » facility and inadequate characterization of back-plane reflectivity. The model does not predict radiation-induced stratification. Although the effect of mixing during draws can be approximated by specifying the number of fully mixed volume segments in the tanks, selection of number of nodes requires knowledge of the behavior of the system. The number of nodes selected has minimal impact on total energy gain, but does affect the temperature of water delivered to the load.« less


1. The closer and opener muscles in the third walking legs of the three crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus, Procambarus clarkii and Astacus leptodactylus are composed of fibres which differ in histochemistry, electrophysiology and morphology. Three major groups of fibres (A, B and C) were distinguished. 2. Group A fibres react weakly to histochemical stains for myofibrillar ATPase (mATPase) activity characteristic of fibres with slow shortening speeds. In the opener muscle, they are innervated by the opener excitor (OE) and the specific opener inhibitor (OI). In the closer muscle, group A fibres are innervated by the common inhibitory neurone (CI) in addition to single (slow closer excitor, SCE) or double excitatory (SCE and fast closer excitor, FCE) innervation. Group A fibres have the largest excitatory junction potentials (EJPs), the longest membrane time constants (tau) and the longest sarcomeres. They are located at the very distal and proximal ends of both muscles. 3. Group B fibres show higher mATPase activity than group A fibres. In the opener muscle, they are innervated by OE and OI; in the closer muscle, they receive double excitatory (SCE and FCE) and CI innervation. Single SCE and OE EJPs are small; those caused by FCE are larger. tau is shorter than in the other two fibre groups. Sarcomere lengths lie between those of group A and C fibres. Group B fibres are found along the entire lengths of both muscles. 4. Group C fibres exhibit the highest mATPase activity (characteristic of fibres with fast shortening velocity) which, in contrast to the ATPase of group B fibres, is not resistant to alkaline preincubation at pH 10.05. In the closer, these fibres lack innervation by CI, otherwise the innervation pattern is identical to that of group B fibres. EJP size is similar to that of group B fibres; tau ranges between values for group A and B fibres. Sarcomere lengths are the shortest of all the fibre types. Group C fibres constitute the majority of the fibres in the two muscles and mainly occupy the central regions.


In 2014, the Eurozone, with its huge current account surplus, was a major source of global economic imbalances. This phenomenon could last for a long time. Monetary expansion, which leads to currency depreciation, is the only macroeconomic tool available to the European Central Bank (ECB) to boost the competitiveness of struggling southern economies vis-a-vis countries outside the Eurozone. With the current economic imbalances within the Eurozone, the elimination the Eurozone's current account surplus through appreciation of the euro would aggravate economic conditions in struggling member countries and could be politically explosive. Some observers hope that the Eurozone's internal imbalances can be reduced by more expansionary policies in Germany or, in the future, by wealth transfers to be enabled when the fiscal and political union materializes. Both hopes are unjustified. A huge Eurozone current account surplus is likely to persist, and this will lead to tensions with the US and other trade partners. It could especially undermine the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). This contradicts a popular view that the European Union needs a single currency to operate successfully in the world economy among big players like the US, China and India. In fact, if the Eurozone countries had (or returned to) their national currencies, linked through adjustable currency bands as proposed in Kawalec and Pytlarczyk (2013 a, 2013 b), trade and current account deficits in countries in crisis could be eliminated through balancing imbalances among present Eurozone members, without the necessity to generate a huge surplus by the Eurozone as a whole. However, a single currency forces the Eurozone to try to desperately generate trade and current account surpluses, which is likely to spark currency wars with its main economic partners. This would impede international trade and diminish the benefits that Europe could achieve from international cooperation.


Verbena bonnariensis is concerned in sustaining the gastric mucosal integrity in gastric ulcer disease. However, the role of V. bonnariensis is not clear in this activity. The present study was designed to explore the effects of V. bonnariensis on gastric mucosal damage following gastric ulcer disease In this study, the gastroprotective mechanismof V. bonnariensis was investigated. The extract and fractions of this plant were evaluated against cold restraint (CRU), aspirin (AS), alcohol (AL) and pyloric ligation (PL) induced gastric ulcermodels in rats. Potential anti-ulcer activity of V. bonnariensis was observed against CRU (50.00%),AS (37.50%),AL (69.50%), and PL (50.00%) induced ulcer models. The standard drug omeprazole (10mg/kg, p.o.) showed 77.34%protection againstCRU, 58.50% against AS and 69.42% against PL induced ulcer model. Sucralfate, another standard drug (500 mg/kg, p.o.) showed 62.50% protection in AL induced ulcer model. It significantly reduced free acidity (23.15%), total acidity (10.59%) and upregulated mucin secretion by 40.86%respectively. Conclusively, V. bonnariensis was found to posses anti-ulcerogenic activity which might be due to its anti-secretory activity and subsequent strengthening of the defensive mechanism. This study is the first of its kind to show significant anti-ulcer effect of V. bonnariensis. Therefore it could act as a potent therapeutic agent against peptic ulcer disease.


Gas hydrates are clathrate hydrates, which are solid, ice-like compounds. Gas hydrates exist where there is an ample supply of gas and water combined with high pressure and/or low temperature conditions. In nature these are found in sediments where permafrost is present, and in deep-marine sediments. The morphology of gas hydrate within a sediment has a large impact on the strength and stiffness properties of hydrate bearing sediments. Gas hydrates are metastable and they dissociate if the temperature and/or pressure conditions are sufficiently altered. The dissociation of gas hydrate and its potential as a submarine geohazard have become of increasing importance as oil and gas exploration activities extend into significant water depths on continental margins and seas where gas hydrates are known to exist. Such activities may lead to dissociation of hydrate, possibly increasing pore pressure, and altering the stiffness and strength of the sediment. Due to difficulty in performing field testing and obtaining undisturbed in-situ samples for testing, at present, hydrate dissociation in the natural environment and its effects are hypothesised on the basis of remote observations. Therefore, a series of well-controlled laboratory tests were conducted on laboratory-prepared methane hydrate bearing sand sediments. The tests were undertaken with hydrate saturation ranging from 7% to 27% in the Gas Hydrate Resonant Column Apparatus (GHRC). Factors such as effective stress were also assessed with regard to specimen stiffness. Resonant column testing during hydrate formation and dissociation processes carried out for the first time, such that not only final change in specimen properties to be determined as a function of total hydrate saturation but also the change in specimen properties as function of the percentage of hydrate formation and dissociation. Test results showed that a rapid reduction in stiffness occurred for a minor change in hydrate saturation of sand specimens where dissociation was induced by temperature increase, but for specimens that were dissociated using the pressure reduction method a slower reduction occurred. In contrast, during hydrate formation stiffness increased more gradually. In addition, test results showed that the hydrate formation using the excess gas method led to higher increases in the shear stiffness compared to the flexural stiffness of specimens, and the linear stiffness threshold limit of hydrate bearing specimens were lower than the non-hydrate bearing sands. In addition to laboratory tests, an analytical model was built to predict the increase in pore pressure under undrained conditions within hydrate bearing sediment during dissociation. The results obtained from the laboratory tests were used to compare the predicted results from the model. Analytical model showed that the rise in pore pressure within a sediment was dependent on a number of factors: major factors were initial pore pressure, amount of hydrate dissociation, cage occupancy of gas within hydrate, stiffness of the sediment, and degree of water saturation; Minor factors were methane gas solubility in water, and methane hydrate density.


Alginate is synthesized by the gram-negative bacteria Azotobacter vinelandii. Alginate appears as an important component in both active vegetative cells and in cysts, which is one of the bacteriums life cycle forms.Transketolase is an essential enzyme in the non-oxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway. Transketolase is responsible for the conversion of D-erythrose 4-phosphate to Dfructose 6-phosphate which is the starting precursor in alginate biosynthesis. Mutant and wild-type transketolase have been widely studied in Escherichia coli, this work focused on studying three transketolase genes from A. vinelandii.In this study, three transketolase genes (tktA1, tktA2 and tktA3) from A. vinelandii were mutated by in frame deletions of about 1200 bp and each were cloned into a suicide vector containing the spectinomycin resistance gene and the sacB gene of Bacillus subtilis as selective markers.The tktA1 and tktA2 genes were also individually cloned into a transposon vector under control of the Pm-promoter. A previous master student had constructed a transposon containing tktA3.The three chromosomal copies of genes were to be inactivated by homologous gene replacement in A. vinelandii ATCC12518. These deletion mutants should then be complemented by the transposon encoded genes. However, even after several experiments no deletion mutants were obtained.The second part of this work focused on studying the three wild-type transketolase genes (tktA1, tktA2 and tktA3) of A. vinelandii by cloning, identification, purification and activity analyses in E. coli. The open reading frames of the three transketolase genes tktA1, tktA2 and tktA3 were cloned and overexpressed from the Pm-promoter in an RK2 based expression vector E. coli S17.1 λ pir were used as host since transformants of RV308 containing these plasmids could not be obtained.Thus, the three proteins were produced in E. coli S17.1 λ pir. No protein activity was found from any of three expression strains. The SDS-PAGE of sonicated cells showed bands of 74.6 kDa and 73.8 kDa corresponding tktA2 and tktA3. The three transketolase proteins were purified from sonicated cells using FPLC and the obtained fraction were analysed by SDSPAGE. Protein bands with the expected molecular weight for Tkt2 and Tkt3 were obtained. When these extracts were purified by FPLC, this protein band was only found in the void fraction. The TktA1 protein band was not observed neither using the sonicated cells nor in the fractions obtained from the FPLC.


In each iteration of a simulated evolution (SE) algorithm for VLSI placement, poorly placed cells are selected probabilistically, based on a measure known as 'goodness'. To compensate for the error in the goodness calculation (and to maintain the number of selected cells within some limit), a parameter known as 'bias' is used, which has major impact on the algorithm's run-time and on the quality of the solution subspace searched. However, it is difficult to select the appropriate value of this selection bias because it varies for each problem instance. In this paper, a biasless selection scheme for the SE algorithm is proposed. This scheme eliminates the human interaction needed in the selection of the bias value for each problem instance. Due to the imprecise nature of the design information at the placement stage, fuzzy logic is used in all stages of the SE algorithm. The proposed scheme was compared with an adaptive bias scheme and was always able to achieve better solutions.


Microwave processing of semiconductors offers distinct advantages over conventional RTP systems in some applications. The energy contained in the microwave field can be dissipated directly into the semiconductor substrate, without the convection and conduction associated with conventional processing. In this work we describe the preliminary results of microwave annealing of heavily doped silicon layers. Contrary to previously reported application of microwave annealing which basically emulate the RTP processing conditions with fast ramping of the temperature to the high temperature, we use temperatures in the range of 400-500 degC. Although the annealing mechanism in this range of temperatures requires further investigation, we demonstrated the level of activation comparable with high temperature processing.


Bacterial meningitis is a serious and life threatening disease caused by infection of the meningeal tissue surrounding the brain. Bacterial infection leads to a sustained pro-inflammatory response and the corresponding infiltration of the by dendritic cells can damage the tissue. Before bacteria can penetrate into the central nervous system they must first persist in the blood long enough to interact and cross with the blood-brain-barrier (BBB). To study the complex interactions between host and microbe that occur during bacterial meningitis we utilize the model organism Group B Streptococcus (GBS). GBS is the causative organism of neonatal meningitis. During pregnancy neonates can become infected with GBS through vertical transmission either in utero or during the process of birth. Current treatment of GBS disease relies on prophylactic antibiotics as there is no vaccine available. Little is known about the underlying mechanisms that lead to GBS disease progression and meningitis. For this dissertation I worked to adapt larval zebrafish into an in vivo model of GBS infection to better understand host-pathogen factors that contribute to disease. I helped to identify a novel mechanism by which GBS activation of a specific transcription factor leads to BBB dysfunction, further I sought to identify which bacterial proteins contribute to this mechanism and in doing so I have identified a candidate series of proteins. Lastly I investigated and characterized new commercially available immortalized human cell line for its usage to model GBS disease in vitro. Overall my dissertation research has increased our understanding of the mechanisms underlying BBB disruption during GBS infection, potential GBS proteins implicated in this phenomenon, and new models to study streptococcal disease.


: There is a two-fold purpose of this paper. First, the author attempts to test whether the Type III of the neoclassical realism model developed by Ripsman et al. (2016) has better explanatory power on China's grand strategy adjustment after the Cold War era than other models. Second, the author examines how international events have impacted Chinese grand strategy adjustment in the everchanging systematic dynamics. The author argues that Type III of the neoclassical realism model provides a suitable model to explain a state's grand strategy adjustment, as this model can explain medium to longer-term dependent variables. According to the model, unit-level factors, such as leader images and strategic culture, have impacted the grand strategy decision-making and its foreign policy implementation, which resulted in the grand strategy adjustment over a long period. In terms of the case study, the author succinctly traces and examines how international events have impacted China's grand strategy, such as the dissolution of Soviet Union (1989), 9/11 terrorist attacks (2001), and the Global financial crisis (2008). This paper contributes to the study of Chinese grand strategy.


While teachers' initial education is key to ensuring that new teachers are prepared for their work, it is only one piece in the continuum of teachers' professional growth. Continuing professional learning is vital for teachers to broaden and deepen their knowledge, keep up with new research, tools and practices and respond to their students' changing needs. It also plays a key role in building collaborative school cultures and supporting the collective improvement of the teaching profession. While the importance of continuing teacher learning is widely recognised, building efficient, equitable and sustainable professional learning systems is far from trivial. The OECD Teachers' Professional Learning (TPL) study seeks to support the development of effective TPL policies and practices in schools and school systems. This paper proposes a theoretical and analytical framework for the study, systematically maps available OECD indicators to this framework and identifies information gaps and areas for future comparative work.


The arenas and detailed mechanisms for transfer of antibiotic resistance genes between environmental bacteria and pathogens are largely unclear. Selection pressures from antibiotics in situations where environmental bacteria and human pathogens meet are expected to increase the risks for such gene transfer events. We hypothesize that waste-water treatment plants (WWTPs) serving antibiotic manufacturing industries may provide such spawning grounds, given the high bacterial densities present there together with exceptionally strong and persistent selection pressures from the antibiotic-contaminated waste. Previous analyses of effluent from an Indian industrial WWTP that processes waste from bulk drug production revealed the presence of a range of drugs, including broad spectrum antibiotics at extremely high concentrations (mg/L range). In this study, we have characterized the antibiotic resistance profiles of 93 bacterial strains sampled at different stages of the treatment process from the WWTP against 39 antibiotics belonging to 12 different classes. A large majority (86%) of the strains were resistant to 20 or more antibiotics. Although there were no classically-recognized human pathogens among the 93 isolated strains, opportunistic pathogens such as Ochrobactrum intermedium, Providencia rettgeri, vancomycin resistant Enterococci (VRE), Aerococcus sp. and Citrobacter freundii were found to be highly resistant. One of the O. intermedium strains (ER1) was resistant to 36 antibiotics, while P. rettgeri (OSR3) was resistant to 35 antibiotics. Class 1 and 2 integrons were detected in 74/93 (80%) strains each, and 88/93 (95%) strains harbored at least one type of integron. The qPCR analysis of community DNA also showed an unprecedented high prevalence of integrons, suggesting that the bacteria living under such high selective pressure have an appreciable potential for genetic exchange of resistance genes via mobile gene cassettes. The present study provides insight into the mechanisms behind and the extent of multi-drug resistance among bacteria living under an extreme antibiotic selection pressure.


In this paper, we aim to synthesize cell microscopy images under different molecular interventions, motivated by practical applications to drug development. Building on the recent success of graph neural networks for learning molecular embeddings and flow-based models for image generation, we propose Mol2Image: a flow-based generative model for molecule to cell image synthesis. To generate cell features at different resolutions and scale to high-resolution images, we develop a novel multi-scale flow architecture based on a Haar wavelet image pyramid. To maximize the mutual information between the generated images and the molecular interventions, we devise a training strategy based on contrastive learning. To evaluate our model, we propose a new set of metrics for biological image generation that are robust, interpretable, and relevant to practitioners. We show quantitatively that our method learns a meaningful embedding of the molecular intervention, which is translated into an image representation reflecting the biological effects of the intervention.


Click on the documents below to access the protocosl. Standard operating protocol for the DRIT from the CDC CDC DRIT SOP GARC DRIT training Manual (4th edition, 2017) GARC DRIT Manual 4th edition


This thesis is a research biography which reports a study of mathematics teaching. It involves research into the classroom teaching of mathematics of six teachers, and into their associated beliefs and motivations. The teachers were selected because they gave evidence of employing an investigative approach to mathematics teaching, according to the researcher's perspective. A research aim was to characterise such an approach through the practice of these teachers.

An investigative approach was seen to be embedded in a radical constructivist philosophy of knowledge and learning. Observations and analysis were undertaken from a constructivist perspective and interpretations made were related to this perspective.

Research methodology was ethnographic in form, using techniques of participant-observation and informal interviewing for data collection, and triangulation and respondent validation for verification of analysis. Analysis was qualitative, leading to emergent theory requiring reconciliation with a constructivist theoretical base. Rigour was sought by research being undertaken from a researcher-as-instrwnent position, with the production of a reflexive account in which interpretations were accounted for in terms of their context and the perceptions of the various participants including those of the researcher.

Research showed that those teachers who could be seen to operate from a constructivist philosophy regularly made high level cognitive demands which resulted in the incidence of high level mathematical processes and thinldng skills in their pupils.

Levels of interpretation within the study led to the identification of investigative teaching both as a style of mathematics teaching and as a form of reflective practice in the teaching of mathematics. These forms were synthesised as a constructivist pedagogy and as an epistemology for practice which may be seen to forge links between the theory of mathematics teaching and its practice.

The research is seen to have implications for the teaching of mathematics, and for the development of mathematics teaching itself through professional development of mathematics teachers.


While the elderly constitute a significant proportion of urban population, they are often not included in the decision-making processes concerning their health requirements. These exclusionary practices could be viewed as reflecting deficits in urban citizenship as well as a denial of what the French sociologist Henri Lefebvre defined in 1968 as the 'right to the city' (Lefebvre, 1968). This article is concerned with promoting the social inclusion of the elderly in urban spaces. It focuses on the potential of eHealth to facilitate their independent living in their own homes, an expressed priority of the elderly. It discusses a pilot project pioneered by the Municipality of The Hague where attention and space was given for the elderly to express their physical and emotional needs in different fora with relevant stakeholders, and reflect on ways in which eHealth could be of help to them. These ideas were important in creating the iZi Experience Home project, which also served as an important tool for creating awareness, enthusiasm and information about the possibilities of technology. The article examines the different processes involved in the development of eHealth applications, including the nature of the deliberations, the devices evolved and tried out in the homes of the elderly. Such methods also raised understanding regarding the challenges of using eHealth, such as the barriers faced by service providers, the costs associated with the gadgets and the resistance of caregivers to these techniques. The project demonstrated that traditional eHealth applications were indeed important in supporting the elderly through increased mobility, security and ability to remain in their homes. But these need to be complemented by community generation, spaces for sharing experiences and physical face-to-face interactions to bring about more comprehensive well-being and happiness. There is therefore the need to broaden the concept of eHealth to move beyond technical solutions only but to include the ideas of the patients, in this case the elderly, in policies, discussions with stakeholders, innovations and practices. In these ways, the elderly are supported to claim their rights to the city. The discussion contributes to understanding the challenges of exercising urban enacted citizenship amongst the elderly, and the need to include inclusion and democratic participation as rights and norms of 'age-friendly' cities.


Our expanding knowledge of immunotherapy for solid tumors has led to an explosion of clinical trials aimed at urothelial carcinoma. The primary strategy is centered on unleashing the immune system by releasing the inhibitory signals propagated by programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and its ligand programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1). Many antibody constructs have been developed to block these interactions and are used in clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration has already approved a number of checkpoint inhibitors such as anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA4) monoclonal antibodies including ipilimumab; anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibodies including nivolumab and pembrolizumab; anti-PD-L1 antibodies including atezolizumab, avelumab, and durvalumab. One of the latest inhibitors is durvalumab, which is a high-affinity human immunoglobulin G1 kappa monoclonal antibody and blocks the interaction of PD-L1 with PD-1 and CD80. Currently, there are a number of ongoing trials in advanced urothelial carcinoma both using durvalumab monotherapy and in combination with other targeted therapies. In addition, durvalumab is being investigated in the non-muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma, which is centered around intravenous formulations. These exciting developments have added a significant number of therapies in a previously limited treatment landscape.


Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a disabling neurodevelopmental disorder that has major adverse consequences for individuals and their families. Although ADHD is recognized to be a familial and heritable disorder, little is understood about the relationship between parental psychopathology and variation in the clinical and cognitive presentations of children with ADHD.
The first aim of this thesis, which is based on a clinical sample of 570 children with ADHD, was to investigate the association between parental ADHD (based on diagnostic symptom criteria) and offspring clinical features. Results suggest parental ADHD indexes higher risk for a more severe clinical presentation of ADHD in children and higher levels of family conflict. The second aim was to investigate the influence of maternal ADHD and depression on children's clinical presentation outcome, on average two and half years after initial assessment. Maternal depression, but not maternal ADHD, was found to predict an increase in child conduct symptoms, but neither maternal depression nor maternal ADHD contributed to ADHD symptom levels, after adjusting for conduct symptom severity at baseline. Finally the third aim was to assess the role of parental psychopathology (ADHD or depression) in contributing to cognitive variation in children with ADHD. Parent ADHD but not parent depression was found to be associated with lower scores on tasks assessing working memory and set shifting abilities.
Overall, these findings extend the understanding of the association between parental psychopathology and phenotype variation in children with ADHD. It indicates that children with more severe clinical presentations and greater pre-frontal cognitive impairments are more likely to have a parent with mental health difficulties. This highlights the importance of considering parent mental health during clinical assessment which can have important implications when considering families' engagement with services, treatment and intervention strategies as well as planning the intensity of child follow-up.


Recent research with adults indicates that curiosity induced by uncertainty enhances learning and memory outcomes and that the resolution of curiosity has a special role in curiosity-driven learning. However, the role of curiosity-based learning in early development is unclear. Here we presented 8-month-old infants with a novel looking time procedure to explore (a) whether uncertainty-induced curiosity enhances learning of incidental information and (b) whether uncertainty-induced curiosity leads infants to seek uncertainty resolution over novelty. In Experiment 1, infants saw blurred images to induce curiosity (Curiosity sequence) or a clear image (Non-curiosity sequence) followed by presentation of incidental objects. Despite looking equally to the incidental objects in both sequences, in a subsequent object recognition phase infants looked longer to incidental objects presented in the Non-curiosity condition compared with the Curiosity condition, indicating that curiosity induced by blurred pictures enhanced the processing of the incidental object, leading to a novelty preference for the incidental object shown in the Non-Curiosity condition. In Experiment 2, a blurred picture of a novel toy was first presented, followed by its corresponding clear picture paired with a clear picture of a new novel toy side by side. Infants showed no preference for either image, providing no evidence for a drive to resolve uncertainty. Overall, the current experiments suggest that curiosity has a broad attention-enhancing effect in infancy. Taking into account existing studies with older children and adults, we propose a developmental change in the function of curiosity, from this attentional enhancement to more goal-directed information seeking in older children and adults.


The Central and South Pacific have significant wave energy resources distributed through the region that are currently not being explored. Even though the wave energy resource in the Pacific has been studied, there is limited knowledge on the potential obstacles when inserting this new energy source into a unique and unexplored environment. Pacific Island countries (PICs) have distinctive characteristics that can become barriers to this technology, especially considering that local coastal and marine systems are fundamental for subsistence and local development. Thus, the success of a project relies on local acceptance. The current study developed an integrative conceptual framework for the PICs (ICFPICs) that derived from the integration of the elements of a political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal (PESTEL) structured approach and further combined with a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) approach to create a matrix that included relevant internal and external factors influencing a project. Four islands were analyzed through the ICFPICs to demonstrate the varying characteristics and challenges in the Pacific environment; the islands were Tubuai (French Polynesia), Viti Levu (Fiji), Rarotonga (Cook Islands), and 'Eua (Tonga). Applying the ICFPICs to each island shows that Tubuai has significant technological issues, Rarotonga has mostly economic issues, Viti Levu is the most developed island but also has several potential issues in the social sphere, while 'Eua has the fewest issues and is a viable candidate for further analysis. The ICFPICs can be used by decision makers, project developers, and stakeholders to recognize probable barriers when bringing wave energy technologies to the PICs and make informed decisions during the pre-feasibility stage.


Distributed storage systems store some redundant data to keep the degree of availability of the stored data constant and also to increase the system's resistance against failures. This type of systems usually use pure replication or methods based on RAID systems as redundancy schemes. In this paper, we study the communication cost of a distributed data storage system using Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) erasure codes. Our focus is reduction of the cost of one-to-many communication used in data reconstruction/repair initialization and update operations. We propose the use of two different communication approaches on the area of distributed storage systems for the above operations; Steiner tree approach and multi-shortest path approach. We also analyse these two communication approaches empirically and theoretically. Our theoretical results indicate that Steiner tree approach has lower message usage, whereas, multi-shortest path approach has lower time usage for data reconstruction/repair initialization operations. On the other hand, Steiner tree approach has better message and time metrics for the data update process. Furthermore, our experimental results support these theoretical results. Thus, users can choose between the two approaches depending on their needs and priorities.


BACKGROUND
 Indigenous leaders continue to be concerned about high rates of HIV and barriers to HIV treatment among young Indigenous people involved in substance use. Growing evidence suggests that using mobile phones for health (mHealth) may be a powerful way to support connection with health services, including HIV prevention and treatment.

 OBJECTIVE
 This study examined the patterns of mobile phone ownership and use among young Indigenous people who have used drugs living with or vulnerable to HIV and explored the acceptability of mHealth to support access to health care in this population.

 METHODS
 The Cedar Project is a cohort study involving young Indigenous people who have used drugs in Vancouver and Prince George, British Columbia. This mixed methods exploratory study involved 131 Cedar Project participants enrolled in our WelTel mHealth program. At enrollment, participants completed a questionnaire related to mobile phone use and interest in mHealth. Data were linked to Cedar Project questionnaires and serodata. We present comparative statistics (quantitative) and results of a rapid thematic analysis (qualitative) related to mobile phone patterns and interest in receiving mHealth.

 RESULTS
 Less than half of the participants (59/130; 45.4%) reported owning a phone. Among those with a phone, the majority owned a smartphone (46/59; 78%). Most participants with a phone reported having an unlimited texting plan (39/55; 71%), using the internet on their phone (44/59; 75%), and texting daily (44/55; 80%). A majority reported that using a mobile phone for health would be invaluable (120/130; 92.3%). There were no differences in mHealth acceptance between participants who owned a phone and those who did not (P>.99). All but one participant living with HIV felt using a mobile phone would be helpful for their health, while a small proportion of HIV-negative participants remained unsure (1.9% vs 11.7%; P=.047). In response to open-ended questions asking why using a mobile phone may be helpful for health, participants identified a diverse set of anticipated benefits: (1) connection for emotional, mental, and spiritual support, (2) connection to family, (3) staying in touch and/or being reachable, (4) overcoming current barriers to phone use, (5) convenience, privacy, and safety, and (6) access to health care and emergency services.

 CONCLUSIONS
 We observed high acceptance and interest in using mobile phone technology for health despite low rates of personal mobile phone connectivity among young Indigenous people who have used drugs living with and vulnerable to HIV in British Columbia, Canada. Mobile phones were viewed as a way to support connections and relationships that are seen as critical to health and well-being among young Indigenous people in this study. Findings may be useful for health care providers preparing to scale up mHealth programs to support HIV prevention and treatment in this population.


Different control charts in combination with the process capability indices, Cp, Cpm and Cpk, as part of the control strategy, were evaluated, since both are key elements in determining whether the method or process is reliable for its purpose. All these aspects were analyzed using real data from unitary processes and analytical methods. The traditional x-chart and moving range chart confirmed both analytical method and process are in control and stable and therefore, the process capability indices can be computed. We applied different criteria to establish the specification limits (i.e., analyst/customer requirements) for fixed method or process performance (i.e., process or method requirements). The unitary process does not satisfy the minimum capability requirements for Cp and Cpk indices when the specification limit and control limits are equal in breath. Therefore, the process needs to be revised; especially, a greater control in the process variation is necessary. For the analytical method, the Cpm and Cpk indices were computed. The obtained results were similar in both cases. For example, if the specification limits are set at ±3% of the target value, the method is considered "satisfactory" (1.22


Hereditary hypercoagulability has been identified as risk factor in approximately 30% of cerebral venous thrombosis cases. We report three females with this association. A 38 years old female with a history of deep venous thrombosis of the lower limb, presented with headache, vomiting and a generalized seizure. Magnetic resonance angiography showed a partial thrombosis of the left lateral and superior longitudinal venous sinuses. Coagulation study showed a resistance to activated C protein and factor V Leyden. A 42 years old woman with a history of deep venous thrombosis, presented a right hemiplegia during a hospitalization. Magnetic resonance showed a left lateral hemorrhagic infarction. Magnetic resonance angiography showed an absence of signal in three venous sinuses. Coagulation study showed a protein C deficiency. A 17 years old woman presented a right hemiparesis in the sixth day of puerperium. CAT scan showed a left frontoparietal subcortical venous infarction. Coagulation study showed an antithrombin III deficiency (Rev Med Chile 2002; 130: 79-85)


We assessed predominantly pediatric patients in Vietnam with dengue and other febrile illness 3 months after acute illness. Among dengue patients, 47% reported >1 postacute symptom. Most resolved by 3 months, but alopecia and vision problems often persisted. Our findings provide additional evidence on postacute dengue burden and confirm children are affected.


Throughout the 1990s public demand for a fundamental shift in the relationship between government and its citizens has intensified. In response, a "new governance" model has emerged, emphasizing decreased federal control in favor of intergovernmental collaboration and increased involvement of state, local, and private agencies. One of the best examples of new governance can be found in the National and State Rural Development Councils (NRDC and SRDC), created in 1990 as the result of President Bush's Rural Development Initiative and called the Rural Development Partnership in the Clinton administration. In this first detailed analysis of the NRDCs and SRDCs, the authors examine the successes and failures of the original eight councils in Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington, as well as eight other councils subsequently created in Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Vermont, New York, North Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.


ABSTRACT A target volatility strategy (TVS) is a risky asset-riskless bond dynamic portfolio allocation which makes use of the risky asset historical volatility as an allocation rule with the aim of maintaining the instantaneous volatility of the investment constant at a target level. In a market with stochastic volatility, we consider a diffusion model for the value of a target volatility fund (TVF) which employs a system of stochastic delayed differential equations (SDDEs) involving the asset realized variance. First we prove that under some technical assumptions, contingent claim valuation on a TVF is approximately of Black-Scholes type, which is consistent with and supports the standing market practice. In second place, we develop a computational framework using recent results on Markovian approximations of SDDEs systems, which we then implement in the Heston variance model using an ad hoc Euler scheme. Our framework allows for efficient numerical valuation of derivatives on TVFs, whose typical purpose is the assessment of the guarantee costs of such funds for insurers.


A machine shop is housed in the same building as two large motor generators. Because of the need for overhead crane access to both facilities they are separated only by a partial‐height wall. The resulting work environment is noisy and unpleasant although below the OSHA requirements for hearing protection. This paper describes two feasible methods of acoustical separation, one of which was aceptable to the owner but which has not yet been executed.


A unique resource population was produced to facilitate detection of microsatellite markers associated with quantitative trait loci controlling antibody (Ab) response in broiler chickens. Three F1 males were produced by mating two lines divergently selected on Ab response to Escherichia coli vaccination. Each F1 male was mated with females from four genetic backgrounds: F1, high-Ab line (HH), low-Ab line and commercial line, producing three resource families, each with four progeny types. About 1700 chicks were immunized with E. coli and Salmonella enteritidis vaccines. Selective genotyping was conducted on the individuals with highest or lowest average Ab to E. coli and S. enteritidis within each progeny type in each sire family. Twelve markers were significantly associated with Ab to E. coli and six of them were also associated with Ab to S. enteritidis, mostly exhibiting a similar low effect (approximately 0.35 phenotypic SD) in all progeny types. Four markers exhibited a highly significant and much larger effect (approximately 1.7 SD), but only in progeny of females from the HH, suggesting that a backcross to the high parental line should be preferred over the commonly used F2 population. Results from two markers suggested a quantitative trait locus on chromosome 2 around 400 cM. The marker MCW0083, significant in two sire families, is closely linked to the bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) gene, known to be associated with the control of T-cell transformation in humans.


Atherosclerosis is a condition of the hardening of a blood vessel via the development of plaques around the artery wall which causes the artery to narrow, leading to severe complications. Toxoplasmosis is an opportunistic parasitic infection that causes pathological complications in immunocompromised patients, which lead to increase the burden on the immune system in these patients. This study aims to assess the incidence rate of toxoplasmosis in atherosclerosis patients and its potential to change C - reactive protein (C-RP) and vitamin D3 levels. Serum samples (150) were tested for the positivity of anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies by means of Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In addition, C-RP was assessed in all serum samples by means of Latex Fixation Test, while VtD3 was estimated by MiniVidas device. The results revealed that the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in atherosclerotic patients was comparatively higher as compared to that in the control group, with significant differences in C-RP and VtD3 levels. These results suggest that the decreased levels of VD3 lead to increase the incidence of T. gondii infection in atherosclerosis patients.


Purpose
The aim of producing Bah Luj Production, four folk tales books accompanied by a compact disc of its narration, dialogs and music is to revitalize the folk tales, music and cultural heritage of the indigenous Semai by condensing them into an innovative resource package, tailored to appeal to the current generation's consumer interests and lifestyles. The targeted audiences for the product are Malaysians, in particular the Semai community, as well as other local and international consumers. The purpose of this paper is to examine a practice-led approach toward considering the empowerment of selected culture bearers assisted by the intervention of researchers from the academia in facilitating the sustainability of indigenous cultural traditions in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach
This approach is practice-led – Bah Luj Production was developed based on action, reflection, review and revision. This paper provides visibility to the research process, enabling readers to understand the issues, challenges and decision-making processes. The practice-led approach that was used for this project provides a realistic practical guide, bridging the gap between theory and practice. In the conclusion, the authors also bring forth ideas for improvement through reflection, on suggested approaches in ways this research did not manage to pursue.

Findings
This paper proposes three approaches in advocating for cultural sustainability through innovation: collaboration between selected culture bearers and researchers in the academia; indigeneity of cultural expressions and illustrations; and adaptability and relevance to current interests of indigenous people and consumers of indigenous music and literature. This paper argues that it is important for the researcher to navigate research with relevance to the context and situation.

Research limitations/implications
While many articles focus on presenting the outcomes of a research project, this paper guides the reader toward understanding the limitations, constraints and negotiations made by the research team during the research and production stages. Transparency in the process of decision making will enlighten readers on realistic, practical approaches as opposed to idealistic theoretical methods.

Practical implications
This paper argues for sustainability through innovation and posits that cultural heritage practices that continue to be performed are those that are adaptable, flexible to change and open to innovation – therefore maintaining relevance to time, context and consumers. This paper posits that researchers should be flexible and practical in their research actions and avoid generalizations that come out of recent and popular critical theories as the most, or only suitable, approaches for diverse communities.

Originality/value
The development of an alternate approach, theory/concept and guidelines toward sustainability through innovation make this study the first of its kind. This approach integrates tradition with creation.


Haem oxygenase is a heat-shock protein in several rat tissues, as well as in certain human cells such as Hep3B hepatoma cells. In common with other heat-shock-protein genes, both the human and the rat haem oxygenase genes contain a heat-shock element (HSE) in their promoter regions. In the present study we have identified a factor in nuclear extracts of human Hep3B cells which binds specifically to the HSE of the human haem oxygenase gene. The factor in Hep3B cells was significantly induced within 1 h after heat-shock treatment, and the induction was blocked by treatment of cells with actinomycin D or cycloheximide. The factor was not detected in human HepG2 hepatoma cells, which exhibit the heat-mediated induction of heat-shock protein 70 mRNA, but not that of haem oxygenase mRNA. These findings suggest that the heat-inducible nuclear factor is increased at the level of transcription and that it may activate the human haem oxygenase gene via the HSE after heat treatment.


Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) allows for fast, non-destructive, and efficient sediment characterization and geotechnical process monitoring in the field as well as in laboratory applications. Besides the spatial distribution of resistivity, specimen geometry and electrode configuration determine the electrical potential distribution and the ensuing spatial resolution in the tomogram. We examine potential and current density distribution in various ERT system configurations using both experimental and numerical methods and explore optimal electrode configurations for cylindrical cells. Results show that optimal ERT configurations must take into consideration the required spatial resolution, sensitivity to anomalies, signal strength, and shunting effects along the cell perimeter. The system characteristics are defined in terms of electrode width Welec and length Lelec, cell diameter Dcell, and the distance from the electrode plane to conductive end-plates δ. The following dimensionless ratios emerge as guidelines for system pre-design: Welec/Dcell≈π/2n, Lelec /D cell ≈0.4, δ/D cell≥1, where n is the number of electrodes around the perimeter.


Herbal medicines provide their versatile complex influence on the course of the pathological process in the kidneys due to biologically active compounds. Specifically, they cause the direct impact on the concrements formation. The search of drugs which would contain high biological compounds of plant origin is an actual issue of modern pharmacology. The aim of investigation was to study the anti-inflammatory activity of the new combined drug of urolytolytic action, which includes the total plant extract and succinate buffer complex. Materials and methods: aseptic exudative inflammation was caused by subplantar introduction of 0,1 ml of 1% solution of λ-karahenin in the right hind paw of rats, the investigated drug was administered at doses 1, 2 and 4 ml/kg. The influence of the studied drug was evaluated in terms of swelling limbs volume. It is shown that the severity of antiexudative action of flarosukcine had dose-dependent nature, increasing from dose of 1,0 ml/kg to 2,0 ml/kg (by 5,5%). Further dose increase to 4,0 ml/kg, was not defined by significant increase of activity. Anti-inflammatory activity of the drug ranged from 25 to 33%, which can be regarded as quite distinct, since in pharmacological study of anti-inflammatory drugs pharmacological activity level of at least 20% is significant.


Peripheral blood leukocytic migratory activity (LMA) was studied in patients with primary or recurrent erysipelas. A screening cell migration test (SCMT) was used in vitro and it established the prognostic value of MAL parameters at week 1 after the onset of erysipelas. It has been shown that a rapid transition of LMA from the phase of acceleration to that of inhibition characterizes the formation of an adequate immune response, corresponds to the good course of the disease, and has a low likelihood of recurrences. The probability of a recurrence is much higher than that when LMA tends to transit from suppression to acceleration and when LMA parameters are constant in the phase of suppression or acceleration. No transition of LMA to the phase of suppression in early convalescence suggests that the formation of an immune response to streptococcus is delayed.


We analyzed the percentage of valid coastal altimetry Jason-2 X-TRACK-SLA data by Center for Topographic Studies in Sea and Hydrosphere (CTOH) and the waveforms from the Sensor Geophysical Data Record (SDGR) that are distributed by NOAA National Ocean Data Center around the Indonesian waters. In general, the percentage of valid data after the first point of the shoreline is greater than 90%. The percentage of valid data in steeper waters (86%) is higher than sloping waters (34%). The waveform types formed in coastal waters are peaky and Brown. However, spatially there is a difference where in a steep coast at a distance of > 5 km from the coastline the type of waveform is identified Brown, while on the sloping coast the brown type is found at a distance > 10 km. The SLA time series indicate seasonal variations in which the SLA is negative during the Southeast Monsoon (May-October) and positive during Northwest Monsoon (November-April).


We consider empirical risk minimization of linear predictors with convex loss functions. Such problems can be reformulated as convex-concave saddle point problems, and thus are well suitable for primal-dual first-order algorithms. However, primal-dual algorithms often require explicit strongly convex regularization in order to obtain fast linear convergence, and the required dual proximal mapping may not admit closed-form or efficient solution. In this paper, we develop both batch and randomized primal-dual algorithms that can exploit strong convexity from data adaptively and are capable of achieving linear convergence even without regularization. We also present dual-free variants of the adaptive primal-dual algorithms that do not require computing the dual proximal mapping, which are especially suitable for logistic regression.


This article reviews the problematic surrounding the concept of future generations, which is intertwined with questions concerning intergenerational justice, weak sustainability, non-existence, non-identity, and motivation. It also claims that business ethics should deal with intergenerational issues but cannot ignore the philosophical challenges involved. Based on the distinction between future generations and overlapping generations, we suggest focusing on the latter to avoid the difficulties of the former, and to facilitate the connection with organizational concerns. The distinction between overlapping and future generations relies on the notions of thick and thin morality, and is illustrated through a parallelism with the ethics of memory and the idea of indirect reciprocity. Finally, we inquire how obligations toward overlapping generations can be included in the framework of stakeholder theory.


In Greece, the 1820s is a well-remembered decade. Many things happened which future Greek generations can study and learn. In the beginning of the decade (1821), some Greeks rebelled against the Ottomans, but, parallel with this War of Independence, they, as did so many times in their heroic past, started fighting between themselves (18231825). The Olympians intervened, as in Homer's masterpieces, and "independence" came as a result of a direct foreign (divine) intervention by Britain (Poseidon), France (Athena) and Russia (Hera). This began first in the battlefields in 1827, and then at the negotiation table in 1832. This paper looks at the reasons of all of these three types of events (the Greek War of Independence, its civil wars and the foreign interventions), as well as their results. The reasons are traced by applying the rule: "follow the money." Of course, the obvious result was the official creation of an "independent" Greek state. However, other concurrent events have had long-lasting effects on the Greek political and military developments, which lasted until the end of the third quarter of the 20th century. These developments are only briefly discussed in this paper.


Faculty members of State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) perform research function in addition to instruction, extension and production. This study was conducted to look into the profile of the published research from year of entry up to year 2008 of the regular faculty members of the First Semester of SY 2008-2009 at the College of Business Administration and Accountancy (CBAA) of the University of Northern Philippines (UNP) as affected by some personal and professional factors. It utilized the correlational design of descriptive method of research. Findings showed that the CBAA faculty is characterized by dominance of members of the female sex, of married status, of middle to senior age, with master's degree, with academic rank of associate professor, and with official designations. Almost half of them have received monthly salary ranging from P10, 001 – P20, 000. Very few are members of scientific/research organizations. The CBAA faculty have published research since 2000. From 2000 to 2008, a total of 43 researches have been published. These were done by nearly half (19) of the 39 regular CBAA faculty members. More researches were done with co-authors than researches by single authors. Most of these researches are of college and curricular program levels, and over four-fifths were financed personally by the faculty researchers. All the researches were published in research journals and some of them were also disseminated in lecture fora and research dissemination and utilization seminars. One research was disseminated through poster exhibit. Majority of the regular CBAA faculty members have never participated in any research activity since their year of entry to the University up to year 2008. Educational attainment and membership in scientific/research organizations came out as good indicators of faculty research productivity. Keywords: Research, higher education, research productivity, correlational descriptive method,Philippines


For the complexity of weld, the automatic inspecting for the tubular joints which are in working is difficult. Therefore the scanner which has three degrees of freedom for inspecting of large-diameter tubular joints was studied and manufactured based on the scanning principle of ultrasonic phased array. The following of probe to weld is realized by the simultaneous motion of two degrees of freedom and the pose between probe and weld is adjusted by the other degree of freedom. The control strategy of the scanner was provided. Experiments were made with scanner on reference blocks, the results indicate that the automatic ultrasonic phased array inspection is more excellent than the conventional ultrasonic inspection in reliability and repetition.


We present the synthesis of magnesium-substituted hydroxylapatite starting from locally available dolostone. The apatite was prepared by a reaction between heat pre-treated dolostone powder with phosphoric acid, maintained at the pH of 12.5 using sodium hydroxide. The resultant material was then calcined at 500 °C, 600 °C, 700 °C, 800 °C and 900 °C. The precursor dolostone was characterized by organic elemental analyser (CHNS-O analyser), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), while the synthesized material was characterized by using FTIR. Results indicated that the dominant mineral in the carbonate rock materials was near-stoichiometric dolomite, while the synthesized material was found to be (carbonate, magnesium)-substituted hydroxylapatite. The synthesized material did not exhibit hydroxylapatite diagnostic peaks until after being calcined at 600 °C. The peaks became more distinct with increase in calcination temperature. The prepared material exhibited a low degree of crystallinity and low conversion temperature to beta-tricalcium phosphate, 700–800 °C. These characteristics are typical of a magnesium-substituted hydroxylapatite (Mg-substituted β-tricalcium phosphate). This work has demonstrated the feasibility of synthesizing magnesium-substituted hydroxylapatite (Mg-HA), with potential applications in water purification, using dolostone as a calcium/magnesium source.
Keywords: Dolostone; crystallinity; magnesium-substituted hydroxylapatite; magnesium-substituted beta-tricalcium phosphate;


Few people choose to live in cold damp homes that they cannot afford to heat well enough to protect their health. Yet for millions of British households this is the reality of poor quality housing, inefficient heating systems, and inadequate building insulation standards stretching back over generations. Last month, however, the British government launched a 10 year strategy to end fuel poverty in vulnerable households.1 This encourages doctors and others to "prescribe" a warmer home for patients receiving benefits.

Over four million British households suffer fuel poverty,2 defined as needing to spend over 10% of their income on energy to maintain an adequate standard of warmth. Millions more are close to it. In high cost areas, such as Devon and Cornwall, the problem is aggravated by the further 10% of state pension income required for water and sewerage charges. Comparative studies show that British and Irish housing standards are worse than those in other comparable European countries.3 The only sustainable solution is through massive improvement in housing generally, and heating and insulation in particular.

The government's strategy to end fuel poverty in vulnerable households by 20104 is …


Governments, regardless of their country's stage of economic development, make payments to, and collect payments from individuals and businesses. Financial resources are also transferred between the various government agencies. These flows cover a wide range of economic sectors and activities, and in most cases the overall amount of such flows is significant, for example in terms of the gross domestic product (GDP). Improvements in government payment programs that lead to higher levels of efficiency, safety and transparency can have a significant impact in the economy as a whole. Moreover, due to their scale and nature, government payments programs can also become an effective tool in the pursuit of other public policy objectives, such as the modernization of the national payments system or to promote financial inclusion for certain population segments. Despite the relative importance of government payment programs, there is no systematic set of references to guide governments and other relevant stakeholders in assessing the challenges associated with the effective development and day-to-day operation of these programs. This report aims at filling this gap by presenting a set of comprehensive Guidelines that can assist governments and other stakeholders in developing and operating safe and efficient government payment programs.


Multilingual Word Embeddings (MWEs) represent words from multiple languages in a single distributional vector space. Unsupervised MWE (UMWE) methods acquire multilingual embeddings without cross-lingual supervision, which is a significant advantage over traditional supervised approaches and opens many new possibilities for low-resource languages. Prior art for learning UMWEs, however, merely relies on a number of independently trained Unsupervised Bilingual Word Embeddings (UBWEs) to obtain multilingual embeddings. These methods fail to leverage the interdependencies that exist among many languages. To address this shortcoming, we propose a fully unsupervised framework for learning MWEs that directly exploits the relations between all language pairs. Our model substantially outperforms previous approaches in the experiments on multilingual word translation and cross-lingual word similarity. In addition, our model even beats supervised approaches trained with cross-lingual resources.


Digital design tools such as logic synthesis, semicustom layout and behavioral simulation have drastically changed the digital IC design process, enabling design of complex "systems on a chip". The usefulness of such chips are limited in a world dominated by information that is not represented by 0's and 1's. Overcoming these limitations has led to mixed-signal, and mixed-domain technologies. We focus on design methodologies and tools to aid the design of complex microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) having large numbers of mixed-domain components. We propose a hierarchically structured design approach that is compatible with standard IC design involving a schematic approach to MEMS design, a layout synthesis strategy for cell-level design automation, and a feature-recognition based device extractor for layout verification. We present emerging results on our design methodology and tools.


Introduction: Intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) and abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) are increasingly recognised to be a contrib- uting cause of organ dysfunction and mortality in critically ill patients. The number of publications describing and researching this phenomenon is increasing exponentially but there are still very limited data about treatment and outcome. Methods: This review will focus on the available literature from the last years. A Medline and PubMed search was performed using the search terms "abdominal compartment syndrome" and "treatment". Results: This search yielded 437 references, most of which were not relevant to the subject of this paper. The remaining abstracts were screened and selected on the basis of relevance, methodology and number of cases. Full text articles of the selected abstracts were used to supplement the authors' expert opinion and experience. The abdomino-thoracic transmission of pressure has direct clinical consequences on the cardiovascu- lar, respiratory and central nervous systems in terms of monitoring and management. These interactions are discussed and treatment recommendations are made. IAH-induced renal dysfunction is addressed as a separate issue. Finally, an overview of non-invasive measures to decrease IAP is given. Conclusion: This paper describes current insights on management of IAP induced organ dysfunc- tion and lists the most widely used and published non-invasive techniques to decrease IAP with their limitations and pitfalls.


Inhibition of the proliferation of Daudi cells by exposure to human lymphoblastoid interferons is associated with an early and marked decrease in the incorporation into DNA of exogenous [3H]thymidine when cells are incubated with trace amounts of this precursor. In contrast, incorporation of exogenous deoxyadenosine into DNA is unchanged under the same conditions. Interferon treatment results in a lowering of thymidine kinase activity, an effect which may be largely responsible for the inhibition of incorporation of labelled thymidine into DNA. At higher concentrations of exogenous thymidine, which minimize the contribution of intracellular sources to the dTTP pool, the inhibition of thymidine incorporation is abolished. Under conditions in which exogenous thymidine is rigorously excluded from the medium or, conversely, in which cells are entirely dependent on exogenous thymidine for growth, the magnitude of the inhibition of cell proliferation by interferons is the same as under normal culture conditions. We conclude that, even though cell growth is impaired, the rate of DNA synthesis is not grossly inhibited up to 48 h after commencement of interferon treatment. Furthermore, changes in neither the utilization of exogenous thymidine nor the synthesis of nucleotides de novo are responsible for the effect on cell proliferation.


New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles have long been shaped by immigration. These gateway cities have traditionally been assumed to be the major flashpoints in American debates over immigration policy-but the reality on the ground is proving different. Since the 1980s, new immigrants have increasingly settled in rural and suburban areas, particularly within the South. Couple this demographic change with an increase in unauthorized immigrants, and the rural South, once perhaps the most culturally and racially "settled" part of the country, now offers a window into the changing dynamics of immigration and, more generally, the changing face of America.New Destination Dreaming explores how the rural context impacts the immigrant experience, how rapid Hispanic immigration influences southern race relations, and how institutions like schools and law enforcement agencies deal with unauthorized residents. Though the South is assumed to be an economically depressed region, low-wage food processing jobs are offering Hispanic newcomers the opportunity to carve out a living and join the rural working class, though this is not without its problems. Inattention from politicians to this growing population and rising black-brown tensions are both factors in contemporary rural southern life. Ultimately, Marrow presents a cautiously optimistic view of Hispanic newcomers' opportunities for upward mobility in the rural South, while underscoring the threat of anti-immigrant sentiment and restrictive policymaking that has gripped the region in recent years. Lack of citizenship and legal status still threatens many Hispanic newcomers' opportunities. This book uncovers what more we can do to ensure that America's newest residents become productive and integrated members of rural southern society rather than a newly excluded underclass.


Food production is of symbolic and practical importance in sustainable cities. Vegetable gardening in public spaces and community gardens is better understood than the same activity on private residential property. In suburbanised western cities most vegetable production is likely to be on private blocks. To increase vegetable production in cities, we need to understand private vegetable growing. We used a questionnaire administered in person with a diverse sample of 101 gardeners in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia to determine variation in gardens, gardening practices and gardener motivations, relationships between them, and potential for planning and other interventions to increase domestic vegetable production. Vegetable gardens varied from highly species-rich to species-poor and from staple production to expressions of culinary fashion. Gardening practices varied from integrated, organic and displayed, to strongly constructed and reliant on synthetic inputs. While all respondents were motivated to grow vegetables for pleasure, many were activists who wished to promote social change, while others wished to ensure a ff ordable access to vegetables or to improve health. Activist gardeners used integrated organic or permacultural practices and produced highly complex garden outcomes. With the ex-ceptions of the activists and food fashionistas, garden type, gardening practice and gardener motivation were not strongly interlinked. A large majority of respondents identi fi ed family members as important sources of information and inspiration. Gardeners without family role models were either in fl uenced by new food cultures or were on low-incomes and wanted a ff ordable access to vegetables. This latter group could be expanded through appropriate education and incentives.