Portia: "I had rather be married to a death's-head with a bone in his mouth" (1.2.49-50). Critics in recent years, from James Shapiro in Shakespeare and the Jews and Janet Adelman in Blood Relations to Stephen Greenblatt in the popular biography Will in the World, have continued to focus, and with provocative results, on the centrality of Shylock and the suffering that he bears as a Jew, a usurer, a scapegoat, an outsider and an alien forced by the bad faith of his persecutors to convert and to proclaim himself content. (1) Even prior to the Holocaust, especially on the stage, Shylock dominated critical and popular discourse, whether portrayed as devil or victim. Harold Bloom's popular book on Shakespeare and the invention of the human has encouraged us to return to the criticism of literary characters and to imagine them as prescriptive paradigms of real human behavior. (2) But I will have little to say about Shylock as a character--whether he is a villain or a figure of pathos. The purpose of this essay is to ground itself in the impersonal, the non-characterological, by exploring a pattern of imagery in the play, especially the dominant motif of gold. Gold coin, ducats, is the currency that moves not only the economy of Venice but also motivates the three suitors' pursuit of the fabulously wealthy Portia. But there is more to gold than its use or exchange value, for it is steeped as well in a literary and moralizing tradition, a tradition of interpretation and allusion, which entails a proverbial rhetoric along the lines of "All that glisters is not gold" (2.7.65). (3) This allegorical mode seeks openly to dismiss gold while secretly cherishing and hoarding it as the value of all values. Gold holds forth the lure of fortunate prospects, prospects ultimately betrayed by death, castration, the severing of the futurity of love. Shakespeare's play contradicts itself so often in its attitude towards gold as to challenge the possibility of coherent interpretation. (4) Anticipating the first casket scene, Portia speaks the lines that I take as my epigraph, indicating that eating dead flesh would be preferable to marrying either the Neapolitan prince or the County Palatine--a sentiment relevant for elucidating, even as it complicates, the relationship between gold and death. Portia cannot know at this early stage in the drama that the gold casket will indeed contain a skull of "carrion Death" and that her father's will will accord with hers in rejecting Morocco and the gold casket containing the skull. Portia's father wills her not to marry any suitor greedy for gold since such desire is implicated in necrophilia: the suitor wants his wife dead so that he can appropriate her ducats. The suspicion that love is linked to an undercurrent of avarice and necrophilia will arise with respect to all of the suitors, including Bassanio. The symbolic association of gold with death is not Shakespeare's innovation but lies in his ancient source story of the three caskets in the Gesta Romanorum, in which the gold casket, full of "dead mens bones," is "engraven with this posey, Who so chooseth mee shall finde that he deserueth," while the silver casket is "fylled with earth and wormes" and given the moralizing superscription, "Who so chooseth me shall finde that his nature desireth." (5) Death is what man deserves and what he desires, it seems, the latent consequences of his pursuit of wealth, perhaps even his latent motive as well--he deserves death, he desires death. The connection between gold and death is so deeply rooted in the depths of time and of literary history as to qualify as primal--in other words, untraceable, not available to the conscious mind. Does gold carry the valence of death because too often people kill others and then are themselves killed in their obsessive-demonic pursuit of it, as in a tale by Kipling or The Treasure of the Sierra Madre? The goal of boundless wealth may be as much an exercise in futility as the dreams of alchemists, or so Thomas More implies in Utopia. …


Because of the strong coupling of classes and the proliferation of unneeded class members induced by inheritance, the suggestion to use composition and delegation instead has become common place. The presentation of a corresponding refactoring in the literature may lead one to believe that such a transformation is a straightforward undertaking. However, closer analysis reveals that this refactoring is neither always possible, nor does it necessarily achieve its desired effect. We have therefore identified the necessary preconditions and realizable postconditions of the refactoring, and built a tool that can perform it completely automatically. By applying this tool to all subclasses of several open-source projects, we have collected evidence of the applicability of the refactoring and of its capability to deliver on its promises. The refactoring builds on constraint graphs originally developed for type inference to check the preconditions and to compute the necessary delegation as well as the subtype relationships that must be maintained.


Functionally graded materials (FGM) possess a gradual transition in the composition or microstructure within a component inducing gradual changes in the functions and properties of the material with varying location. The present investigation is to form functionally graded aluminum composites with varying microstructural features and properties gradation using centrifugal casting by varying the material and process parameters. The ex-situ Al-SiC FGM has shown graded distribution of SiC towards the outer periphery and Al-SiC-Graphite has shown both particle gradations of SiC and Graphite towards inner periphery due to hindered settling phenomena. In in-situ Al-Si and Al-Si-Mg2Si system the particles are distributed towards the inner periphery of the casting. The paper also emphasizes on selected engineering components and tailoring their graded structures and properties by utilization of suitable reinforcement combinations and process parameters are discussed.


This paper presents a modeling language and a quantitative evaluation approach for the security of power information systems. We firstly design a security architecture design trace language to universally describe system structures, services, security policies, attack behaviors and countermeasures. Next an automated risk analysis algorithm is proposed to get attack traces of power information systems. Then, based on the concept of relative security degree, security architecture can be quantitatively evaluated. Finally, with a case study in a real power information system, the effectiveness of the presented approach is demonstrated. In practice, the approach can be employed for assessing various kinds of countermeasures, such as increasing a new security function, adjusting system self structure, and changing customer operation requirements. And it can greatly decrease the subjectivity of counter-measure selection.


PURPOSE
Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which recognize microbial products, have an important role in the host innate immune response. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether activation of these receptors leads to development of keratitis and to assess the role of the common adaptor molecule myeloid differentiation factor-88 (MyD88).

METHODS
Corneal epithelium of C57BL/6, TLR2(-/-), TLR9(-/-), and MyD88(-/-) mice was abraded and treated with Pam(3)Cys, LPS, or CpG DNA, which bind TLR2, -4, and -9, respectively, and neutrophil recruitment to the corneal stroma, development of corneal haze, and chemokine production were measured.

RESULTS
Activation of TLR2 and -9 stimulated neutrophil recruitment to the corneal stroma of C57BL/6 mice, but not TLR2(-/-) or -9(-/-) mice, respectively. In marked contrast, neutrophil migration to the corneal stroma of MyD88(-/-) mice challenged with Pam(3)Cys, LPS, or CpG DNA was completely ablated. Activation of TLR2, -4, and -9 also caused a significant increase in corneal thickness and haze, indicative of disruption of corneal clarity; however, this response was ablated in MyD88(-/-) mice, which were not significantly different from untreated corneas. Production of CXC chemokines MIP-2 and KC, which mediate neutrophil recruitment to the corneal stroma, was elevated in the corneal epithelium and stroma of control, but not MyD88(-/-) mice.

CONCLUSIONS
Together, these findings demonstrate that the corneal epithelium has functional TLR2 and -9, and that TLR2, -4, and -9 signal through MyD88. This pathway is therefore likely to have an important role in the early events leading to microbial keratitis.


Abstract The present paper is the result of a workshop on the translation of Chinese literature that was held between March 2012 and May 2013 at the Confucius Institute at the University of Geneva. It aimed to identify major obstacles in rendering literary Chinese into English, French, Italian, German, and Russian, and to explore the differences and similarities of the problems encountered. Nine works of Chinese literature were selected for studying and examining a number of difficulties in translation: Terms with culturally specific connotations, transposition of certain grammatical structures, treatment of idioms and metaphors, translation of titles. We have found a great similarity of approaches chosen for the various target languages, Russian being an exception. Due to cultural and political influences, this language displays certain similarities to Chinese, especially in vocabulary; but there are additional aspects in which the Russian case differs from the other four languages.


Background: Malnutrition is a leading cause of childhood deaths in low- and middle-income countries and has permanent consequences for cognitive, physical and metabolic development. Globally, it is estimated that 26% and 8% children under-five years of age are stunted and wasted respectively. Approximately 90% of the world's malnourished children live in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Food insecurity, which is a major driver of malnutrition, has been shown to be linked to inter-annual variability in rainfall in most of the part of sub-Saharan Africa. In general, a seasonal rainfall higher than 500 mm in sub-Saharan Africa is required to sustain healthy agriculture, with frequent droughts and periods of flooding highlighting the tenuous nature of agropastoral livelihoods in many parts of Africa. Despite the high burden of malnutrition there is limited formal investigation of its spatial epidemiology globally, especially in the most affected countries. Most of the published research has focused on the demographic, socio-economic and individual factors associated with childhood malnutrition. Little is known, however, about its geographical and contextual determinants and how policies can be formulated using the subnational distribution of these factors.

Aim: The main aim of my work was to describe the space-time distribution of wasting and stunting in Somalia from 2007-2010 and determine their ecological comorbidity with Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) and diarrhoea among children aged 6-59 months in Somalia.

Methods: Data from household nutritional surveys in Somalia from 2007 to 2010 form a total of 1,066 settlements covering 73,778 children were used for the analysis throughout this thesis. Advanced Bayesian geostatistical models using stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE) in integrated nested Laplace approximations (INLA) were used for the space-time analysis. This modelling technique permits for simultaneous modelling of related issues such as risk assessment, spatial dependence, predictions and quantification of uncertainty. In the first set of analysis, the marginal effects of predictors were computed to determine their inherent spatial variability across the country (Study I). Using a novel approach, the seasonal and inter-annual variation of wasting was computed by first carrying out year-season prediction in the four main seasons in the country from 2007-2010. To then compute the effect size of each season, the survey year was used to define the temporal effect while the seasons were used separately to define the seasonality effects of wasting for the survey year (Study II). In both approaches, time-varying covariates were incorporated in the models to inform the temporal trends. The prevalence and spatial distribution of stunting between 2007 and 2010 was estimated and the role of environmental covariates in forecasting the risk of stunting was explored (Study III). Finally, a joint modelling was undertaken of wasting, stunting and underweight; and stunting, acute respiratory infection (ARI) and diarrhoea (Study IV); to concurrently determine their correlation and shared components (Study V).

Results: In the period 2007-2010, the prevalence of childhood malnutrition remained very high throughout Somalia with all administrative regions reporting above acceptable levels of wasting, as defined by the WHO as above 5% prevalence. The average prevalence of wasting, stunting and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) <125 mm in Somalia from 2007 to 2010 was 21%, 31% and 36%, respectively, values which meet the thresholds classified as 'critical' by the WHO. In addition, there was evidence of significant geographical and secular variations in the burden of malnutrition in Somalia, with South having higher levels as compared to the North in the country and clear seasonal variation was observed with a relative rise during the dry seasons and reduction during the rainy seasons. Environmental factors like rainfall and vegetation were major drivers of these variations. This study also demonstrated that wasting, stunting and underweight in children 6-59 months in Somalia shared common risk factors with evidence of correlation in space. Finally, the study showed clearly that the spatial shared component between ARI, diarrhoea and stunting was higher in the southern part of the country.

Conclusion: Understanding the seasonal and annual fluctuations of different forms of malnutrition and their drivers in different regions can be used to target interventions in communities at high risk during emergency humanitarian interventions. Integrated programming and interventions focused on the common risk factors of the three indicators and specifically in regions where the co-distribution is highly prevalent may be a more effective way of reducing the burden of malnutrition in Somalia.


The 24th annual conference of the Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN, formerly the HMO Research Network), held April 11-13, 2018, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, attracted 357 attendees. The HCSRN is a consortium of 18 community-based research organizations embedded in or affiliated with large health care delivery systems. Its annual research conference, held since 1994, is a unique venue that brings diverse stakeholders (eg, research teams, clinicians, patients, funders) together to explore a range of health research topics and scientific findings, with a unifying goal of connecting applied research to real-world care delivery for the betterment of individual and community health. The 2018 conference was hosted by Minneapolis-based HealthPartners Institute and organized around 3 tracks: Research & Results, Practical Application, and Data Science & Informatics. Themes of the 4 plenary, 7 panel, 36 oral abstract, and 111 poster presentations included the learning health system, the opioid epidemic, health disparities, high costs of care, informing population health policy with evidence, and how to use storytelling to present data to inspire change, among others.


This paper provides an examination of the popular practices of contemporary Buddhism and the major Buddhist pilgrimage sites, in particular. These pilgrimage sites are old, sacred places of worship where Buddha's relics were enshrined or are famed for miraculous stories of Bodhisattvas or Arhats. Contemporary sacred places are differentiated from traditional ones by the number of people who flock to them. Traditional places were important mostly to local people and to Buddhist monks. Economic growth since the mid-1980s, however, has caused hundreds of thousands of people to visit these places year-round, and, to accommodate these visitors, temples have built modern facilities, including paved roads, lodging, and parking spaces. With the influx of visitors, these sites have accumulated wealth but are also faced with the many challenges that come with dealing with huge numbers of visitors. Some sites simply offer a convenient place for worship and to receive the blessings of Buddhist deities; others have developed diverse programs of lectures and meditation for their visitors. Since 1994, the Chogye-jong central administration has taken control of some of these sites and has used the wealth for the education of the sangha. Some local factions, however, have fought against such administrative control.


The Mobile WiMAX simulation model is implemented by using MATLAB code. The simulation model consists of different phases which will help us to model the transmitter and receiver section. In the next phase, the data is being modulated by using the modulation methods QPSK and QAM followed by OFDM transmitter. These phases can be used to show the performance of these modulation methods under varying condition. The Multipath Rician fading model is implemented to introduce the fading in the transmitter data. Receiver section is used to receive data from channel will be fed into the OFDM demodulation. In the next phase, Fast Fourier Transform is used to disassemble OFDM frame. After that convolution encoding is applied to data and interleaving is carried on by using MATLAB function. BPSK method is used to change the data in the form of bit information to be symbols.


Biotic mechanisms associated with species diversity are expected to stabilize communities in theoretical and experimental studies but may be difficult to detect in natural communities exposed to large environmental variation. We investigated biotic stability mechanisms in a multi-site study across Inner Mongolian grassland characterized by large spatial variations in species richness and composition and temporal fluctuations in precipitation. We used a new additive-partitioning method to separate species synchrony and population dynamics within communities into different species-abundance groups. Community stability was independent of species richness but was regulated by species synchrony and population dynamics, especially of abundant species. Precipitation fluctuations synchronized population dynamics within communities, reducing their stability. Our results indicate generality of biotic stability mechanisms in natural ecosystems and suggest that for accurate predictions of community stability in changing environments uneven species composition should be considered by partitioning stabilizing mechanisms into different species-abundance groups.


Whether we recognize it or not, the Internet is rife with exciting and original institutional forms that are transforming social organization on and offline. Issues of governance in these Internet platforms and other digital institutions have posed a challenge for software engineers, many of whom have little exposure to the relevant history or theory of institutional design. Here, we offer one useful framework with an aim to stimulate dialogue between computer scientists and political scientists. The dominant guiding practices for the design of digital institutions to date in human-computer interaction, computer-supported cooperative work, and the tech industry at large have been an incentive-focused behavioral engineering paradigm, a collection of atheoretical approaches such as A/B-testing, and incremental issue-driven software engineering. One institutional analysis framework that has been useful in the design of traditional institutions is the body of resource governance literature known as the "Ostrom Workshop". A key finding of this literature that has yet to be broadly incorporated in the design of many digital institutions is the importance of including participatory change process mechanisms in what is called a "constitutional layer" of institutional design---in other words, defining rules that allow and facilitate diverse stakeholder participation in the ongoing process of institutional design change. We explore to what extent this consideration is met or could be better met in three varied cases of digital institutions: cryptocurrencies, cannabis informatics, and amateur Minecraft server governance. Examining such highly varied cases allows us to demonstrate the broad relevance of constitutional layers in many different types of digital institutions.


Storage subsystems reside at the bottom-most layer of a contemporary data-center information technology (IT) stack. As with all other production software, the storage layer's embedded software (or firmware
) must be constantly maintained in terms of upgrading it when new versions are released by hardware vendors. We study the problem of maintaining the currency of the storage software layer. We survey the typical processes that are used to keep storage firmware at recommended versions within a data center, and present an automated solution for this tedious and labor-intensive task. We present an approach to quantify the risk for continuing operations posed by stale firmware, a context-based approach for recommending target levels for devices with stale firmware, and an Upgrade Planner for rectifying the firmware of such devices. Our system has been deployed in the field using two approaches: as an operational tool used by hundreds of storage administrators within an outsourced IT context, and as an automated analytics component of an appliance-based approach within a maintenance services organization. We study the growth of the monitored infrastructure over two years. Finally, we show how our system drastically shrinks the time for an enterprise IT firmware upgrade cycle from days to minutes, and changes the nature of the complex task from a reactive to a proactive paradigm.


Paper-based nucleic acid diagnostics have the potential to translate laboratory assays to simple-to-use, point-of-care devices, but many prototypes of these systems still lack the ability to process realistic samples due to the inability of genomic-sized DNA to move through membranes with small pores. For applications involving pathogen or human gene identification, the ability to fragment and transport DNA would provide more options for device design and broaden the range of applications. To address this challenge, we have developed and characterized a method that combines cell lysis with DNA fragmentation to allow for lateral transport of genomic DNA through commonly-used porous membranes. Additionally, we demonstrate that varying heating time and temperatures allows for control of both lysis and fragmentation based on genome size. These data align with previously published models that describe both DNA denaturation and thermal scission. This level of control allows semi-selective transport of pathogenic DNA, which can reduce the amount of interference from non-target human DNA in downstream applications. This method can be easily automated and is rapid, occurring in less than 10 minutes with one user step.


In the wake of Obergefell, the United States now has a large class of married, same-sex couples whose relationships began at a time when marriage was unavailable to them. The law must therefore wrestle with the question whether any portion of a pre-Obergefell relationship should count toward the length of the ensuing marriage — an important question given the number of marital benefits tied directly to this calculation. As courts and legislators alike wrestle with this difficult question, they will need to examine how these couples ordered their relationships during a time when "nonmarriage" was the only option. This Essay argues that such an examination provides a unique opportunity for the law to not only move toward true marriage equality, but also reconsider its overall approach to nonmarriage in general. Specifically, this Essay identifies three lessons that can be gleaned from same-sex couples whose relationships spanned both sides of the marriage equality movement. It argues that each of these lessons can help us craft greater protections for nonmarital relationships.


Physician surpluses and escalating medical care costs have fostered an alliance among government, corporate America, and health insurers that has inspired medicine's industrialization. These same forces will transform psychiatry into an industry where prospective payment, automation, salaried employment, and central control of clinical activities threaten to become the dominant form of medical practice. Emerging trends suggest that both patients and health professionals will gravitate to various forms of alternative provider organizations in an effort to shield themselves from the economic uncertainties of seeking and providing care. The chronically mentally ill and others requiring extensive treatment risk exclusion from this new system, where cost consciousness may supplant compassion.


OBJECTIVE
To document age-related macular degeneration (AMD) progression after cataract surgery.

METHODS
Surgeons prospectively enrolled patients with nonneovascular AMD who were awaiting cataract surgery. Fluorescein angiography was performed preoperatively and at the postoperative week 1, month 3, and month 12 visits. Incidence of neovascular AMD development within 12 months after operation was the primary outcome measure.

RESULTS
A total of 108 subjects were enrolled. Of 86 eyes with preoperatively photographically confirmed nonneovascular AMD, 71 had gradable images by month 12. Neovascular AMD was observed in 9 of 71 eyes (12.7%; 95% confidence interval, 6.0%-22.7%). The progression rate between week 1 and month 12 decreased to 3 of 65 eyes (4.6%; 95% confidence interval, 1.0%-12.9%) after excluding 5 neovascular events identified on the postoperative week 1 visit and 1 case with missing photographs at this visit.

CONCLUSION
The low incidence rate of neovascular AMD development between 1 week and 1 year after cataract surgery did not support the hypothesis that cataract surgery increases the risk of AMD progression. Several eyes appeared to have disease progression on postsurgery week 1 fluorescein angiograms, suggesting that many cases of presumed progression to neovascular AMD following cataract surgery may have been present prior to cataract surgery, but not recognized owing to lens opacity.


IntroductionElectronic health records (EHR) contain individual-level clinical information not found in traditional administrative databases. As part of the CANHEART-Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR) initiative, we created a linked EHR-administrative data cohort that enables us to measure the Framingham and ACC/AHA Pooled Cohort cardiovascular risk prediction scores in Ontario, Canada.
Objectives and ApproachAn EHR primary care cohort was created using the Electronic Medical Record Administrative data Linked Database (EMRALD) database, which contains the blood pressure and lipid values, weight and height measures, prescriptions and smoking status of up to 350,000 patients in Ontario, Canada. We enriched the lipid information through linkage to the Ontario Laboratory Information System, which is a repository of 90%+ of all lipid tests in Ontario. Individual-level information on co-morbidities, hospitalizations and mortality attributed to cardiovascular causes (e.g. myocardial infarction, stroke, cardiovascular mortality) were obtained through linkage to provincial health administrative and vital statistics databases using CANHEART methodology (www.canheart.ca).
ResultsPatients were entered into the cohort between 2008 and 2014 if they had measurements for blood pressure and lipids (total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein) taken within a year of each other during this accrual window. The earliest such group of values was chosen and determined the individual's index date. Age, sex, smoking, diabetes and anti-hypertensive treatment status were extracted from EHR or administrative data to calculate the two scores. Patients were excluded if not aged 40-75 on the index date or if they had a history of cardiovascular disease. A cohort of 84,628 Ontario residents (mean age 55.0 years) had the elements required to calculate both scores. Follow-up for outcome events were done through record linkage to the end of 2014, with a mean follow-up of 3.62 years.
Conclusion/ImplicationsThe creation of this cohort will allow for the validation of the Framingham and AHA/ACC Pooled Cohort equations in the diverse Ontario population. It would also enable the possible development of a new 'made-in-Canada' cardiovascular risk prediction model.


The requirement to transmit video data over unreliable wireless networks is anticipated in the foreseeable future. Significant compression ratio and error resilience are both needed for applications including tele-operated robotics, vehicle-mounted cameras, sensor network, etc. Block-matching based inter-frame coding techniques, such as MPEG-x and H.26x, do not perform well in these scenarios due to error propagation between frames. Intra-only coding technologies, such as Motion-JPEG, exhibit better recovery from network data loss at the price of higher data rates. In order to address these issues, an intra-only coding scheme of H.264/AVC (iAVC) is proposed. In this approach, each frame is coded independently as an I-frame. In order to speed up the coding procedure, we propose a neural network based intra-only prediction mode decision approach, which has the potential to significantly reduce coding complexity. Frame copy is applied to compensate for packet loss. The proposed approach is a good balance between compression performance, memory usage, and error resilience. It achieves compression performance comparable to Motion-JPEG2000, with lower complexity. Low computational complexity and memory usage are very crucial to mobile stations and devices in wireless networks.


Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF beta), a polypeptide that controls growth and differentiation in many cell types and has recently been found in abundant amounts in bone, was examined for its effects on cells with the osteoblast phenotype using the clonal osteoblastic osteosarcoma cell line ROS 17/2.8. TGF beta increased alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity and the rate of collagen synthesis per cell. Cell proliferation was inhibited, and the morphological appearance of the cells was markedly changed. All effects were observed at concentrations as low as 0.1 ng/ml TGF beta. Increases in AP activity were detectable after 24 h and increased progressively with time. TGF beta increased AP activity under serum-free conditions and during thymidine-induced inhibition of DNA synthesis. The increase in AP activity mediated by TGF beta could be completely inhibited with actinomycin D and cycloheximide. 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 at 10(-7) M slightly increased AP activity in ROS 17/2.8 cells, but strongly inhibited AP activity when the cells were pretreated with TGF beta. The data suggest that TGF beta stimulates expression of the osteoblastic phenotype in ROS 17/2.8 cells and that TGF beta may be an important regulator of local bone remodeling.


[1] We investigated the ambient plasma and magnetic field conditions at high latitudes, as well as the macroparameters of the magnetopause. For this purpose we used Cluster spacecraft plasma and magnetic field data when all the interspacecraft distances were less than 300 km. We analyzed 154 magnetosheath-magnetosphere transitions which allow to distinguish different boundaries between the magnetosphere and the magnetosheath. First, we found transitions similar to the low-latitude boundary layer, the plasma mantle, and cusp-associated transitions. Second, we estimated the length of these transitions. Third, we found with high statistical evidence sub-Alfvenic magnetosheath plasma flows just above the plasma mantle. These flows are supposed to stabilize magnetopause reconnection. Fourth, we carried out an analysis of the magnetopause pressure balance. We found a group of 24 transitions during which both the thermal and the magnetic magnetosheath pressure exceeded the magnetospheric pressure, providing conditions for unusual magnetopause formation. Fifth, for 52 magnetopause crossings we obtained the orientation as well as distributions of velocity, thickness, and current density of the magnetopause. It was found that the magnetopause with an attached plasma mantle moves slower, is thinner, and reaches higher current densities than the one with an adjacent low-latitude-like boundary layer. A comparison with the magnetopause at low latitudes revealed that the high-latitude magnetopause is about two times thicker.


The central coast of Vietnam is frequently and heavily suffered from typhoon and monsoon flooding. In order to diminish the human and economic damages under limited inputs, community-based efforts are expected to play an important role. Paying respects to the residents' own initiatives, effectual activities for disaster prevention and recovery should be designed and implemented in cooperation with scientific analysis and technical supports. A research project toward the formation of "disaster resilient communities" was launched this year under a cooperation between Kyoto University and Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry. The study team consists of experts from various fields, e.g. disaster and environmental management, architecture, agriculture and forestry. Expected products of the project include hazard mapping and resource assessment at village scale, community learning resources for disaster prevention and environmental management, and further measures toward the enhancement of social and economic capabilities through proper use of local resources. Remote sensing and GIS applications are expected to make great contributions in i) providing basic information of the study area and compiling findings from field studies into maps and databases, ii) analyzing spatial characteristics of physical and social resources and their interrelations, and iii) making visual presentation of problems, analysis and solutions to be shared by community members. Setting focus on a study site located in mountainous area in Thua Thien Hue province, the team is currently working on detailed activity design and data collection.


High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is an emerging therapeutic solution that enables non-invasive treatment of several pathologies, mainly in oncology. On the other hand, accurate targeting of moving abdominal organs (e.g. liver, kidney, pancreas) is still an open challenge. This paper proposes a novel method to compensate the physiological respiratory motion of organs during HIFU procedures, by exploiting a robotic platform for ultrasound-guided HIFU surgery provided with a therapeutic annular phased array transducer. The proposed method enables us to keep the same contact point between the transducer and the patient's skin during the whole procedure, thus minimizing the modification of the acoustic window during the breathing phases. The motion of the target point is compensated through the rotation of the transducer around a virtual pivot point, while the focal depth is continuously adjusted thanks to the axial electronically steering capabilities of the HIFU transducer. The feasibility of the angular motion compensation strategy has been demonstrated in a simulated respiratory-induced organ motion environment. Based on the experimental results, the proposed method appears to be significantly accurate (i.e. the maximum compensation error is always under 1 mm), thus paving the way for the potential use of this technique for in vivo treatment of moving organs, and therefore enabling a wide use of HIFU in clinics.


The aim of this paper is to present research shedding some light on innovation factors identification and measurement in the University of Belgrade's library system by means of innovation questionnaire, since one of the main innovation management elements is to recognize and measure innovation factors of influence. In that sense, the key innovation factors important for this domain have been identified, based on selected research in the broader area of innovation management. Survey results give one of the rare insights in innovativeness level and characteristics in this important part of the nonprofit sector of a transition economy. In this specific case, that should be the prior investigation with the intention of helping managers to improve organization propensity to innovate and to define/reexamine innovation strategy. Research findings revealed that innovation factors measurement should be considered very important for ICT innovation management in the library system, and that further research would be necessary.


Background: Proclined teeth has been one of the main reasons for compromised esthetics. In a patient with proclined anteriors, retraction is done after 1st premolar extraction. Absolute/maximum anchorage is required to achieve the best esthetics. Objective: We conducted this study with the aim of retracting the proclined maxillary anterior teeth and to check for efficient retraction, type of tooth movement during retraction, and amount of anchorage loss. Methods: Patients with proclined anterior teeth where therapeutic extraction of first premolars is required were included in the study, where anchorage was taken with mini-implants in one group, and in the second group, conventional anchorage method of 1st and 2nd molar banding with TPA was chosen. Each group consisted of 8 subjects. Lateral cephalogram was taken both preretraction and 4 months after starting retraction to compare anchor loss, rate of retraction, and type of tooth movement of retracted anteriors, in both groups. Results: The retraction in the implant group was more than in the conventional group and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Anchorage loss was seen to be greater in conventional group than in the implant group and was also significant statistically. The type of tooth movement of the anterior teeth on retraction was also compared, with the implant group showing predominantly controlled tipping and the conventional group showing uncontrolled tipping movement.


Translated by Lane Dunlop and J. Martin HolmanWinner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, Yasunari Kawabata is perhaps best known in the United States for his deeply incisive, marvelously lyrical novel "Snow Country," But according to Kawabata himself, the essence of his art was to be found in a series of short stories-which he called "Palm-of-the-Hand Stories"-written over the entire span of his career. He began experimenting with the form in 1923 and returned to it often. In fact, his final work was a "palm-sized" reduction of "Snow Country," written not long before his suicide in 1972. Dreamlike, intensely atmospheric, at times autobiographical and at others fantastical, these stories reflect Kawabata's abiding interest in the miniature, the wisp of plot reduced to the essential. In them we find loneliness, love, the passage of time, and death. "Palm-of-the-Hand Stories" captures the astonishing range and complexity of one of the century's greatest literary talents.


Collective action problems arise in a variety of situations. The economic theory of public good provision raises a number of important questions. Who contributes to the public good, and who free rides? How might a social planner exploit the interdependence of decision-making to encourage contributions? Under what conditions will such actions result in public good provision? Using a simple game theoretic framework and recent results from the study of equilibrium selection, this paper attempts to answer some of these questions. Under reasonable assumptions of asymmetry and less than complete information, the more efficient agent will contribute. Contributions can be elicited by `integrating` the production process when agents are sufficiently emph{optimistic} about the success of the project. When this is not the case, the social planner may be better off `separating` the project so that individual contributions are independent of each other.


The relationship between substance abuse and female criminal offending has been understudied. To aid in clarification of this relation, substance use histories of female offender subtypes were compared. Participants were 152 female prison inmates subgrouped on the basis of offense category: violent (n = 79), property (n = 39), and drug (n = 34). As hypothesized, substance use histories differed across offender subgroups. Violent offenders were most clearly distinguished from other offender subgroups. The data provide evidence linking alcohol, combined cocaine and alcohol, and marijuana misuse with serious violent offending among women and show that violent offenders, compared with other offender subgroups, perceive less association between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related negative consequences.


We study reaction-diffusion systems beyond the Markovian approximation to take into account the effect of memory on the formation of spatio-temporal patterns. Using a non-Markovian Brusselator model as a paradigmatic example, we show how to use reductive perturbation to investigate the formation and stability of patterns. Focusing in detail on the Hopf instability and short-term memory, we derive the corresponding complex Ginzburg-Landau equation that governs the amplitude of the critical mode and we establish the explicit dependence of its parameters on the memory properties. Numerical solution of this memory dependent complex Ginzburg-Landau equation as well as direct numerical simulation of the non-Markovian Brusselator model illustrate that memory changes the properties of the spatio-temporal patterns. Our results indicate that going beyond the Markovian approximation might be necessary to study the formation of spatio-temporal patterns even in systems with short-term memory. At the same time, our work opens up a new window into the control of these patterns using memory.


Australian Export: A Guide to Law and Practice remains an ideal introduction and guide to the legal requirements and processes that affect international transactions, and their commercial implications. As global trade and overseas markets become increasingly important for Australian business, the need for a concise and accessible overview of relevant laws and procedures has never been greater. Australian Export meets this need with an emphasis on real-world considerations and practical solutions, underpinned by expert commentary on the law. This new edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect recent legal developments in Australia and internationally, and the coverage of many topics has been expanded. New examples and case studies have been added, and each chapter now includes key concepts and further reading to reinforce learning.


Direct collapse black holes (DCBHs) formed from the collapse of atomically-cooled primordial gas in the early Universe are strong candidates for the seeds of supermassive BHs. DCBHs are thought to form in atomic cooling haloes in the presence of a strong molecule-dissociating, Lyman-Werner (LW) radiation field. Given that star forming galaxies are likely to be the source of the LW radiation in this scenario, ionizing radiation from these galaxies may accompany the LW radiation. We present cosmological simulations resolving the collapse of primordial gas into an atomic cooling halo, including the effects of both LW and ionizing radiation. We find that in cases where the gas is not self-shielded from the ionizing radiation, the collapse can be delayed by � 25 Myr. When the ionized gas does collapse, the free electrons that are present catalyze H2 formation. In turn, H2 cooling becomes efficient in the center of the halo, and DCBH formation is prevented. We emphasize, however, that in many cases the gas collapsing into atomic cooling haloes at high redshift is self-shielding to ionizing radiation. Therefore, it is only in a fraction of such haloes in which DCBH formation is prevented due to reionization.


In the aftermath of two destructive urban earthquakes in 1999 in Turkey, empirical models of strong motion attenuation relationships that have been previously developed for North American and European earthquakes have been utilized in a number of national seismic hazard studies. However, comparison of empirical evidence and estimates present significant differences. For that reason, a data set created from a suite of 100 vertical strong ground motion records from 47 national earthquakes that occurred between 1976 and 2002 has been used to develop attenuation relationships for strong ground motion in Turkey. A consistent set of empirical attenuation relationships was derived for predicting vertical peak and pseudo-absolute vertical acceleration spectral ordinates in terms of magnitude, source-to-site distance, and local geological conditions. The study manifests the strong dependence of vertical to horizontal (V/H) acceleration ratio on spectral periods and relatively weaker dependence on site geology, magnitude, and distance. The V/H ratio is found to be particularly significant at the higher frequency end of the spectrum, reaching values as high as 0.9 at short distances on soil sites. The largest long-period spectral ratios are observed to occur on rock sites where they can reach values in excess of 0.5. These results raise misgivings concerning the practice of assigning the V/H ratio a standard value of two-thirds. Hence, nonconservatism of this value at short periods and its conservatism at long periods underline the need for its revision, at least for practice in Turkey.


Fourier decompositions are made of the B, V, R, and I classical Cepheid observations of Moffett and Barnes. The Fourier diagrams for V agree very well with the corresponding plots of Simon and Lee. The B, R, and I diagrams resemble the plots for V, but with small, systematic shifts in the phases <1>21 and <h. The 2.5-day star, DT Cyg, is confirmed as a likely overtone pulsator by its anomalous position in the Fourier plots. Finally, we study the Fourier phase quantity <1>41> and introduce phase-phase diagrams to look at the Hertzsprung progression. Discontinuities in these diagrams support the idea that the long-period and short-period Cepheids may reach their limit cycles in different ways.


Objective: In this study, we aimed to analyze the demographic features and mortality rates of pediatric patients admitted to the emergency department and diagnosed with intoxication. Material and Methods: Patients admitted to the pediatric emergency department and diagnosed with intoxication between December 01, 2009 and December 31, 2010 were included in the study. Patients were evaluated through the examination of registration forms and hospitalization files. The characteristics, including age, sex, admission type to the emergency department, treatment before admission, time passed before admission, consciousness level at the time of admission, cause of poisoning, toxic agent, treatment administered after admission, outcome, and mortality rates, were recorded. Results: In our study, 1029 cases were included; 66.47% of the patients were female, and the female/male ratio was found to be 1.98/1. Poisoning was most frequently seen in the group of 13-18-year-old patients (56.17%). Patients were admitted mostly in the spring. The most frequent cause of poisoning was administration of drugs (81.8%), among which paracetamol was the most common and antidepressants were the second most common drugs. Suicide rate was 56.07%, and 54 patients (5.2%) had attempted suicide for the second time. Also, 85.71% of the patients were admitted to the emergency room within the first 2 hours. Conclusion: In order to minimize the rate of poisoning cases, preventive measures, education of the family, more secure storage of drugs, more prudent production of drugs in boxes by pharmaceutical companies, and prevention of childhood poisoning by regional epidemiological studies should be promoted.(JAEM 2014; 13: 67-70)


The basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor NeuroD (Neurod1) has been implicated in neuronal fate determination, differentiation and survival. Here we report the expression and functional analysis of cnd-1, a C. elegans NeuroD homolog. cnd-1 expression was first detected in neuroblasts of the AB lineage in 14 cell embryos and maintained in many neuronal descendants of the AB lineage during embryogenesis, diminishing in most terminally differentiated neurons prior to hatching. Specifically, cnd-1 reporter genes were expressed in the precursors of the embryonic ventral cord motor neurons and their progeny. A loss-of-function mutant, cnd-1(ju29), exhibited multiple defects in the ventral cord motor neurons. First, the number of motor neurons was reduced, possibly caused by the premature withdrawal of the precursors from mitotic cycles. Second, the strict correlation between the fate of a motor neuron with respect to its lineage and position in the ventral cord was disrupted, as manifested by the variable expression pattern of motor neuron fate specific markers. Third, motor neurons also exhibited defects in terminal differentiation characteristics including axonal morphology and synaptic connectivity. Finally, the expression patterns of three neuronal type-specific transcription factors, unc-3, unc-4 and unc-30, were altered. Our data suggest that cnd-1 may specify the identity of ventral cord motor neurons both by maintaining the mitotic competence of their precursors and by modulating the expression of neuronal type-specific determination factors. cnd-1 appears to have combined the functions of several vertebrate neurogenic bHLH proteins and may represent an ancestral form of this protein family.


The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of intermittent binocular and monocular vision on the preparation and execution of the transport and grasp phases of prehension, and hence the temporal limit of binocular and monocular integration. Participants in two groups (speed or accuracy) performed prehensile movements of two amplitudes (20 and 40 cm) to either a large or small object (6 x 6 x 2 and 6 x 4x 2 cm) under conditions of binocular and monocular viewing. The interval between visual samples was manipulated with liquid crystal goggles (continuous vision, 20on/60off, and 20on/120off ms). A kinematic analysis indicated that participants modified variables associated with the preparation and execution of prehension in the intermittent vision conditions when instructed to emphasize accuracy. Participants instructed to emphasize speed, modified variables associated with the preparation phase only. The impact of intermittent vision was similar under binocular and monocular viewing. Thus, for prehension, it appears that consecutive binocular or monocular samples need to occur less than 60 ms apart in order to be fully integrated for limb control.


This article describes the activity of an E-glass microfiber (104E) during chronic inhalation and intraperitoneal injection studies in rats. Results are compared with another microfiber of similar dissolution rate (k(dis)), code 100/475, and the more durable amosite asbestos, both of which we had previously used in similar experiments (Davis et al., 1996). Rats were exposed to aerosol concentrations of 1000 fibers (longer than 5 microm)/ml, as measured by optical microscopy, for 7 h/day, 5 days/wk. Subgroups of rats were followed for mean lung burden, early and late signs of fibrosis, and tumor incidence. At the end of 12 mo of exposure, the mean number of 104E fibers of all lengths in the lungs was approximately double that for amosite but two-thirds of that for 100/475. For fibers longer than 15 microm, the mean 104E burden was similar to that for the amosite and more than twice that of the 100/475. After a 12-mo recovery period, the retained lung burdens (of fibers of all lengths) were approximately 30% of those at 12 mo for both microfibers, and somewhat higher (approximately 44%) for amosite. Amosite and 100/475 fibers longer than 15 microm were more persistent in the lungs than 104E fibers. The chemical composition of 104E fibers did not appear to have been significantly altered by up to 24 mo of residence in lung tissue, whereas the composition of 100/475 was substantially altered over the same time period. From the inhalation study, out of the pathology subgroup of 43 animals exposed to 104E microfibers, 10 had lung tumors (7 carcinoma, 3 adenoma) and 2 had mesotheliomas, whereas in 42 rats exposed to amosite asbestos, there were 16 lung tumors (7 carcinoma, 9 adenoma) and 2 mesotheliomas. The 104E- and amosite-treated animals had similar levels of fibrosis. In contrast, 38 animals treated with 100/475 had little fibrosis, 4 lung tumors (adenomas), and no mesotheliomas. The greater pathogenicity of the 104E fibers, compared to 100/475 fibers, might be partly explained by the greater numbers of long fibers retained in the lung after 12 mo of inhalation. However, we speculate that modification of surface properties by extensive selective leaching of some glass components reduces the toxic potential of 100/475. In a parallel intraperitoneal injection study, 104E caused considerably more mesotheliomas (21 rats out of 24) than 100/475 (8 rats out of 24). In addition, 104E appeared to be more active than amosite asbestos, since mesotheliomas appeared much more quickly in the 104E-treated animals. In conclusion, we have shown that two microfiber types, 100/475 and 104E, of similar dissolution rates, had markedly different pathogenicity in rats. We believe that this contrast is only partly due to differences in numbers of long fibers and that differences in surface properties of the fibers, possibly due to proportionately greater leaching of 100/475 fibers, play an important role.


Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are an important component of natural defence of most living organisms against invading pathogens. AMPs are mostly cationic and amphipathic peptides (mol. weight <10 kDa) of variable length, amino acid sequence and structure. In the past two decades several AMPs have been isolated from a wide variety of animals, both vertebrates and invertebrates, and plants as well as from bacteria and fungi. The peptides exhibit a broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against a wide range of microorganisms including Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, protozoa, yeasts, fungi and viruses. A few peptides are also cytotoxic to sperm and tumour cells. AMPs are classified by three-dimensional NMR structure analysis. To date, a number of AMPs have been chemically characterized. Structure-activity studies reveal two main requirements for antimicrobial activity ? a positive charge and an induced amphipathic conformation. AMPs are excellent candidates for novel antimicrobial agents; a few peptides have undergone clinical trials.


The housing stock in Vietnam has boomed in the last few decades, especially in urbanised areas. However, the increasing number of housing units did not go along with housing quality, a healthy living environment or a sustainable building stock. Recent legislation only applies to public buildings but not the private housing sector, which accounts for the majority of the building stock. Therefore, this research aimed to contribute to a more sustainable building stock in Vietnam by improving the energy efficiency in new and renovated urban houses. This research started with examining the energy upgrade potential of the existing houses in Vietnam. Both passive and active refurbishment design measures were investigated for the Vietnamese context. Among the measures, a green facade has a large potential in energy saving. Effect of a green facade on thermal and energy performance was tested by conducting a physical experiment on a real tube house in Hanoi. Next, a stepped design strategy was introduced in a student design workshop in Vietnam. The participants were trained to apply sustainable and energy efficient design measures for Vietnamese tube houses. In addition, the vision for designing future tube houses was discussed on several sustainability aspects: urban densification, energy efficiency, circular economy and social interaction. This research is also expected to contribute to the establishing of a future national technical regulation for private housing in Vietnam.


The therapeutic efficacy of drugs is dependent upon the ability of a drug to reach its target, and drug penetration into tumors is limited by abnormal vasculature and high interstitial pressure. Chemotherapy is the most common systemic treatment for cancer but can cause undesirable adverse effects, including toxicity to the bone marrow and gastrointestinal system. Therefore, nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems have been developed to reduce the adverse effects of traditional chemotherapy by enhancing the penetration and selective drug retention in tumor tissues. A thorough knowledge of the physical properties (e.g., size, surface charge, shape, and mechanical strength) and chemical attributes of nanoparticles is crucial to facilitate the application of nanotechnology to biomedical applications. This review provides a summary of how the attributes of nanoparticles can be exploited to improve therapeutic efficacy. An ideal nanoparticle is proposed at the end of this review in order to guide future development of nanoparticles for improved drug targeting in vivo.


Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) are widely considered one of the most promising third generation photovoltaic devices, especially thanks to their relatively low cost if compared to conventional solar cells. An interesting phenomenon affecting such devices is the so-called light soaking effect, consisting in the increase of cell main electrical parameters after the exposition to solar light. In this work, starting from the experimental characterization carried out on Ruthenium-based DSSCs, we report on a series of numerical analysis performed to better describe the above-mentioned light soaking effect in order to show the relationship between such phenomenon and the main physical parameters involved in photovoltaic generation in DSSCs. Our results show a good agreement between the experimental and the simulated data, hence allowing us to explain the trends followed by the main electrical parameters of DSSCs when exposed to solar light.


We consider the problem of jointly inferring the M-best diverse labelings for a binary (high-order) submodular energy of a graphical model. Recently, it was shown that this problem can be solved to a global optimum, for many practically interesting diversity measures. It was noted that the labelings are, so-called, nested. This nestedness property also holds for labelings of a class of parametric submodular minimization problems, where different values of the global parameter $\gamma$ give rise to different solutions. The popular example of the parametric submodular minimization is the monotonic parametric max-flow problem, which is also widely used for computing multiple labelings. As the main contribution of this work we establish a close relationship between diversity with submodular energies and the parametric submodular minimization. In particular, the joint M-best diverse labelings can be obtained by running a non-parametric submodular minimization (in the special case - max-flow) solver for M different values of $\gamma$ in parallel, for certain diversity measures. Importantly, the values for $\gamma$ can be computed in a closed form in advance, prior to any optimization. These theoretical results suggest two simple yet efficient algorithms for the joint M-best diverse problem, which outperform competitors in terms of runtime and quality of results. In particular, as we show in the paper, the new methods compute the exact M-best diverse labelings faster than a popular method of Batra et al., which in some sense only obtains approximate solutions.


The PI 3‐kinase Vps34 (Pik3c3) synthesizes phosphatidylinositol 3‐phosphate (PI3P), a lipid critical for both endosomal membrane traffic and macroautophagy. Human genetics have implicated PI3P dysregulation, and endosomal trafficking in general, as a recurring cause of demyelinating Charcot‐Marie‐Tooth (CMT) peripheral neuropathy. Here, we investigated the role of Vps34, and PI3P, in mouse Schwann cells by selectively deleting Vps34 in this cell type. Vps34‐Schwann cell knockout (Vps34SCKO) mice show severe hypomyelination in peripheral nerves. Vps34–/– Schwann cells interact abnormally with axons, and there is a delay in radial sorting, a process by which large axons are selected for myelination. Upon reaching the promyelinating stage, Vps34–/– Schwann cells are significantly impaired in the elaboration of myelin. Nerves from Vps34SCKO mice contain elevated levels of the LC3 and p62 proteins, indicating impaired autophagy. However, in the light of recent demonstrations that autophagy is dispensable for myelination, it is unlikely that hypomyelination in Vps34SCKO mice is caused by impaired autophagy. Endosomal trafficking is also disturbed in Vps34–/– Schwann cells. We investigated the activation of the ErbB2/3 receptor tyrosine kinases in Vps34SCKO nerves, as these proteins, which play essential roles in Schwann cell myelination, are known to traffic through endosomes. In Vps34SCKO nerves, ErbB3 was hyperphosphorylated on a tyrosine known to be phosphorylated in response to neuregulin 1 exposure. ErbB2 protein levels were also decreased during myelination. Our findings suggest that the loss of Vps34 alters the trafficking of ErbB2/3 through endosomes. Abnormal ErbB2/3 signaling to downstream targets may contribute to the hypomyelination observed in Vps34SCKO mice.


Sophisticated genetic tools have made possible the identification of the genes responsible for most well-described immunodeficiencies in the past 15 years. Mutations in Btk, components of the pre-B cell and B cell receptor (lambda5, Igalpha, Igbeta), or the scaffold protein BLNK account for approximately 90% of patients with defects in early B cell development. Hyper-IgM syndromes result from mutations in CD40 ligand, CD40, AID, or UNG in 70-80% of affected patients. Rare defects in ICOS or CD19 can result in a clinical picture that is consistent with common variable immunodeficiency, and as many as 10% of patients with this disorder have heterozygous amino acid substitutions in TACI. For all these disorders, there is considerable clinical heterogeneity in patients with the same mutation. Identifying the genetic and environmental factors that influence the clinical phenotype may enhance patient care and our understanding of normal B cell development.


Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of different HIV drug resistance test reports (genotype and virtual phenotype) in patients who were changing their antiretroviral therapy (ART). Design: Randomised, open-label trial with 48-week followup. Setting: The study was conducted in a network of primary healthcare sites in Australia and New Zealand. Participants: Patients failing current ART with plasma HIV RNA > 2000 copies/mL who wished to change their current ART were eligible. Subjects were required to be > 18 years of age, previously treated with ART, have no intercurrent illnesses requiring active therapy, and to have provided written informed consent. Interventions: Eligible subjects were randomly assigned to receive a genotype (group A) or genotype plus virtual phenotype (group B) prior to selection of their new antiretroviral regimen. Outcome Measures: Patient groups were compared for patterns of ART selection and surrogate outcomes (plasma viral load and CD4 counts) on an intention-to-treat basis over a 48-week period. Results: Three hundred and twenty seven patients completing > one month of followup were included in these analyses. Resistance tests were the primary means by which ART regimens were selected (group A: 64%, group B: 62%; p = 0.32). At 48 weeks, there were no significant differences between the groups for mean change from baseline plasma HIV RNA (group A: 0.68 log copies/mL, group B: 0.58 log copies/mL; p = 0.23) and mean change from baseline CD4+ cell count (group A: 37 cells/mm3, group B: 50 cells/mm3; p = 0.28). Conclusions: In the absence of clear demonstrated benefits arising from the use of the virtual phenotype interpretation, this study suggests resistance testing using genotyping linked to a reliable interpretive algorithm is adequate for the management of HIV infection.


PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The method of choice for the treatment of severe ankle arthritis is either arthrodesis or joint arthroplasty. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Arthrodesis is the definitive therapy for severe ankle destruction and instability. Joint arthroplasty has an advantage in maintaining ankle mobility. However, its range of indications and its reliability and durability are more limited. The aim of this study is to present our experience with the AES prosthesis and draw attention to some drawbacks of this surgical treatment.

MATERIAL
From September 2003 till June 2008, 51 AES ankle replacements were carried out in 51 patients (33 women and 18 men). Their average age at the time of surgery was 53.8 years. The youngest patient was 23 and the oldest was 88 years old. The indication for surgery was rheumatoid arthritis in 10, primary arthritis in six and post-traumatic ankle arthritis in 35 patients.

METHODS
The patients were evaluated in 2008. The follow-up ranged from 4 months to 5 years. The patients were examined for ankle joint mobility and pain. Radiographs were assessed for potential signs of component loosening.

RESULTS
The results presented here are short-term ones. The pre-operative AOFAS score of 33.7 increased to 82.3 points post-operatively. The range of motion was on average 20 degrees of plantar flexion and 5 to 10 degrees of dorsiflexion. Thirty- five patients (68.7 %) were free from pain, 11 (21.5 %) experienced slight pain while walking, and five (9.8 %) patients reported more intensive pain in the joint treated. Intra-operative complications included a fracture of the medial malleolus in two (3.9 %) patients subsequently treated with screw osteosynthesis. Post-operatively, seven (13.7 %) patients experienced slow healing of the operative wound. One patient had dislocation of the polyethylene liner at 3 months after surgery. Revision surgery was carried out in seven (13.7 %) patients. Two patients suffering from increasing pain around medial malleolus underwent revision and removal of ossifications. One patient developed necrosis of the talus at 1 year after surgery. She underwent extraction of the prosthesis and ankle arthrodesis with a retrograde locking nail inserted through the heel. A large bony effect arising due to extraction of the necrotic talus was repaired using bone graft. Three (5.8 %) patients developed post-operative instability of the ankle that required revision surgery. The radiographs of another three (5.8 %) patients showed bone cysts and signs of tibial component loosening. Of these, one patient underwent surgical revision with replacement of the polyethylene liner. Cavities were freed from granuloma induced by polyethylene wear debris, and filled with bone graft from the iliac crest.

DISCUSSION
Total ankle replacement is a complicated surgical procedure that may results in various technical difficulties and complications. These are inversely proportional to the surgeon's experience, as also shown by literature data.

CONCLUSIONS
The longevity of a total ankle replacement depends, much more than in other joint replacements, on an accurate implantation technique and correct indication.


Fast release capsules, containing sertraline hydrochloride, pregelatinized maize starch and microcrystalline cellulose were formulated. For this purpose, different technological assays were elaborated being the formulation 2 selected as the better technological variant. Dry powders were filled into hard gelatin capsules. From this formulation were derived capsules with satisfactory technological properties. The quantification of sertraline through HPLC UV detection method was validated for accuracy, precision, linearity and selectivity. The method was linear over the concentration range 0.5 to 0.75 mg/mL and was shown to be highly reproducible. It could be used, without any interference of capsule excipients, for determination of sertraline from solid dosage form. Hard capsules showed an adequate stability during 24 months demonstrating the feasibility from the process of production of this formulation. Parameters, f1 and f2, were used to confirm similarity of dissolution, in deaerated distilled water, of test formulation and capsules of Prosertin as reference product.


As climate change and other anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems accelerate in the 21st century, there is an increasing need for sustained ocean time series. A robust and collaborative network of regional monitoring programs can detect early signs of unanticipated changes, provide a more holistic understanding of ecosystem responses, and prompt faster management actions. Fisheries-related surveys that collect fisheries-independent data (hereafter referred to as "fisheries surveys") are a key pillar of sustainable fisheries management and are ubiquitous in the United States and other countries. From the perspective of ocean observing, fisheries surveys offer three key strengths: (1) they are sustained due to largely consistent funding support from federal and state public sector fisheries agencies, (2) they collect paired physical, chemical, and biological data, and (3) they have large and frequently overlapping spatial footprints that extend into the offshore region. Despite this, information about fisheries survey data collection can remain poorly known to the broader academic and ocean observing communities. During the 2019 CalCOFI Symposium, marking the 70th anniversary of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI), representatives from 21 ocean monitoring programs on the North American West Coast came together to share the status of their monitoring programs and examine opportunities to leverage efforts to support regional ecosystem management needs. To increase awareness about collected ocean observing data, we catalog these ongoing ocean time series programs and detail the activities of the nine major federal or state fisheries surveys on the U.S. West Coast. We then present three case studies showing how fisheries survey data contribute to the understanding of emergent ecosystem management challenges: marine heatwaves, ocean acidification, and contaminant spills. Moving forward, increased cross-survey analyses and cooperation can improve regional capacity to address emerging challenges. Fisheries surveys represent a foundational blueprint for ecosystem monitoring. As the international community moves toward a global strategy for ocean observing needs, fisheries survey programs should be included as data contributors.


BACKGROUND
Long-term tunnelled central venous catheters (TCVCs) are increasingly used when treating oncology patients. Despite international guidelines on sterile insertion, appropriate catheter maintenance and use, infections still a complication of TCVC. These infections are mainly caused by Gram-positive bacteria. Antimicrobial prevention strategies aimed at these micro-organisms could potentially decrease the majority of TCVC infections. The aim of this review was to evaluate the efficacy of antibiotics in the prevention of early TCVC infections.

OBJECTIVES
To determine the efficacy of administering antibiotics prior to insertion of a TCVC with or without vancomycin/heparin flush technique in the first 45 days after insertion of the catheter to prevent Gram-positive catheter-related infections in oncology patients.

SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) to July 2006. MEDLINE (1966 to 2006) and EMBASE (1966 to 2006). Reference lists from relevant articles were scanned and conference proceedings were hand searched. The authors of eligible studies were contacted to obtain additional information.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We selected RCTs which administered prophylactic antibiotics prior to insertion of the TCVC, and RCTs using the combination of an antibiotic and heparin to flush the CVC in oncology patients (both adults and children).

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
The studies identified were assessed and the data extracted independently by the two authors. Authors were contacted for details of randomization, and a quality assessment was carried out. The analysis was carried out using the standard Cochrane software package, RevMan 4.2.

MAIN RESULTS
We included nine trials with a total of 588 patients. Four reported on vancomycin/teicoplanin prior to insertion of the TCVC compared to placebo, and five trials reported on antibiotic flushing combined with heparin, compared to heparin flushing only. The overall effect of administering an antibiotic prior to insertion of the catheter decreases the number of Gram positive TCVC infections (odds ratio [OR] = 0.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.13 to 1.31), this effect is not significant. Flushing the TCVC with antibiotics and heparin proved to be beneficial (OR = 0.43, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.87). For intraluminal colonization the baseline infection rate is 15% which leads to a number needed to treat (NNT) of 13 (95 % CI 5 to 23).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Flushing of the catheter with a vanco/heparin lock solution leads to a positive overall effect. Depending on the baseline TCVC infection rate it is justified to flush the catheter with a combination of an antibiotic and heparin, if the catheter related infection-rate is high.


The objective of this thesis is to conduct an econometric investigation of the relationship between the price of oil and U.K. macroeconomic performance. For this purpose, quarterly seasonally-adjusted time series have been collected which extend from 1972 to 2008. Empirical results are obtained from the estimation of unrestricted and restricted vector autoregressive models. The conclusions which are reached in this study are founded upon both within- and post-sample analyses of the data.

A considerable amount of research has already been devoted to the subject of the relationship between the price of oil and macroeconomic performance. Within the empirical literature, much attention has been paid to whether the macroeconomic consequences of an increase in the price of oil are symmetrical to those of a decrease. However, a largely neglected issue has been whether or not the effects of an oil price shock are subject to variation over time. The fundamental contribution which is made by this thesis is to rectify this situation through applying suitable extensions to two existing vector autoregressive models.

From the empirical analysis which is subsequently undertaken, it is apparent that spurious results can arise from failing to allow for both the change in the status of the U.K. to a significant exporter of crude oil and the reduction in the intensity with which this commodity is utilised in the production process. In particular, without the recommended augmentations, the importance of past movements in the price of oil to macroeconomic performance would be seriously understated.


The first Arden School was completed in 1924. That school gradually deteriorated and, then, burned down on Saturday, March 10, 1945. A new Arden School was opened in 1946. As a result of the consolidation of public education, the Arden School was closed in 1969 and then used as a public kindergarten until 1973. For the next twenty years, the building was rented to the Wilmington Montessori School. In 1993, the Montessori School moved to a new facility. The building had slowly established itself as a community center. The Arden School has been at the center of many of the challenges that the experimental Single Tax in Arden, Delaware, has faced: educational controversies, fiscal crises, and apathy are a few. All seemed to loom as threats to Arden's community life at the time. Against all odds, the community and the Arden School, now the Buzz Ware Village Center, has endured. The history of the school is told using extensive school and town records located in the Arden Archives, the Historical Society of Delaware, the Public Archives of Delaware, and private collections. Oral interviews with former students, parents, and teachers from the old Arden School and the new Arden School are included. The paper incorporates the thinking of architectural historians who see buildings as more than bricks and stucco, but as organic structures that can evolve and breathe life into their communities. Because the village evolved with a history of community decision-making, institutions were in place or could be created to address the ever-changing needs of the community and the needs of the building.


Hybrid plasma spraying is emerging as the next potential technology leap in thermal spraying. The combination of high throughput and deposition rates of coatings sprayed from powders with the tailored functionality of liquid-feedstock sprayed coatings appears highly promising for a wide range of applications. Moreover, possible refined mixtures of different materials come readily with the utilization of multiple feedstocks with varying particle sizes. However, the practical aspects of hybrid coatings production are accompanied with several peculiarities not encountered when using distinct feedstocks. To deepen the understanding of this novel route, this paper presents fundamental hybrid coating formation principles and the effect of selected deposition parameters using multiple case-study material systems, such as Al2O3-YSZ, Al2O3-Cr2O3, and Al2O3-TiO2.


Abstract A new diterpenoid alkaloid, racemulotine (1), was isolated from the whole plants of Aconitum racemulosum Franch var. pengzhouense, and its structure was elucidated by 1D-and 2D-NMR spectra.


Assessment of the localization and function of accessory atrioventricular pathways may be undertaken with noninvasive and invasive examination techniques. Noninvasive methods, however, such as electrocardiography, vectorcardiography, precordial mapping, echocardiography and scintigraphy do not enable exact delineation of the site of the accessory pathway since, in general, their use requires maximal preexcitation; moreover, they are of less value in the presence of septal bundles, multiple accessory pathways or intraventricular conduction disturbances. Accordingly, localization of accessory atrioventricular pathways is based on data obtained from intracardiac electrography such as the interval between stimulus and delta wave during atrial pacing, retrograde atrial sequence, VA conduction time at onset of right or left bundle branch block as well as responses to programmed ventricular stimulation during orthodromic reciprocating tachycardia. The most exact method for determination of the localization of the Kent bundle employs intraoperative endocardial and epicardial mapping with analysis of VA and AV conduction times during reciprocating tachycardia, ventricular stimulation and atrial pacing. The conduction properties of the accessory atrioventricular bundle may be estimated noninvasively based on the persistence of a delta wave as a function of the heart rate, the influence of antiarrhythmic agents on the anterograde conduction via the normal pathway as well as the shortest interval between two consecutive QRS complexes with delta waves during atrial fibrillation. Functional assessment is carried out invasively through recording the anterograde and retrograde refractory periods of the Kent bundle as well as observations during programmed atrial and ventricular stimulation or induced atrial fibrillation.


Summary: A proline-producing strain of Serratia marcescens grew more rapidly than the wild-type strain in a medium of high osmolarity due to high concentrations of NaCl, KCl, Na2SO4, (NH4)2 HPO4, sodium glutamate, glucose or sucrose. Growth inhibition by NaCl was partially reversed by proline in the wild-type strain, and by glutamate and proline in the proline-producing strain. Intracellular proline and glutamate concentrations under conditions of high osmolarity were studied. The wild-type strain accumulated endogenously synthesized glutamate, and concentrated proline taken up from the external medium. In contrast, the proline-producing strain accumulated a large amount of endogenously synthesized proline. This increased proline content contributes to the osmotolerance of the proline-producing strain. The growth inhibition by NaCl was also reversed by glycinebetaine in S. marcescens wild-type and proline-producing strains.


Objective:To develop and then prospectively validate an objective scale to grade multiple organ system dysfunction in a large population of critically ill children. Design:Prospective, observational cohort study. Setting:A pediatric intensive care unit at a tertiary care pediatric teaching hospital. Patients:A total of 6,456 pediatric consecutive admissions (mean age 4.62 yrs) admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. Interventions:a) Identification of variables that could define organ dysfunction in children; b) development of a Pediatric Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score (P-MODS); c) correlation of the score with outcome at pediatric intensive care unit discharge; d) subsequent prospective validation. Measurements and Main Results:A computer system randomly separated patients into two groups: a development set to create the scoring system and a validation set to evaluate score performance and reproducibility. Survivors and nonsurvivors were compared to define variables that were significantly more abnormal in nonsurvivors. Those variables were correlated with pediatric intensive care unit mortality rate. Optimal intervals for each variable were defined on the development set, and their performance was evaluated in the validation set. Descriptors for organ dysfunction were identified in five organ systems: cardiovascular (lactic acid), respiratory (Pao2/Fio2 ratio), hepatic (bilirubin), hematologic (fibrinogen), and renal (blood urea nitrogen). A grading scale for each variable was set from 0 to 4, corresponding to mortality rates of <5% and >50%, respectively. P-MODS was calculated by summing the worst score for all variables. Overall performance of the score was evaluated by generating receiver operating characteristic curves for both study sets. The score correlated strongly and in a graded fashion with pediatric intensive care unit mortality rate. In both sets (development and validation), mortality rate was <5% when the score was 0 and >70% at the highest score. Overall mortality rate was 5.9% (development set) and 5.3% (validation set). The score showed excellent discrimination reflected in areas under the curve: 0.81 (development set) and 0.78 (validation set). Conclusions:P-MODS correlated strongly with pediatric intensive care unit mortality in both study sets and can provide an objective measure for assessing organ dysfunction in the pediatric intensive care unit. With further study and validation across many centers, it is likely that P-MODS could function as a quantitative, clinically relevant surrogate outcome measure for future therapeutic trials.


This article describes the governing equations, computational algorithms, and other components entering into the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system. This system has been designed to approach air quality as a whole by including state-ofthe-science capabilities for modeling multiple air quality issues, including tropospheric ozone, fine particles, acid deposition, and visibility degradation. CMAQ was also designed to have multiscale capabilities so that separate models were not needed for urban and regional scale air quality modeling. By making CMAQ a modeling system that addresses multiple pollutants and different spatial scales, it has a "one-atmosphere" perspective that combines the efforts of the scientific community. To implement multiscale capabilities in CMAQ, several issues (such as scalable atmospheric dynamics and generalized coordinates), which depend on the desired model resolution, are addressed. A set of governing equations for compressible nonhydrostatic atmospheres is available to better resolve atmospheric dynamics at smaller scales. Because CMAQ is designed to handle scale-dependent meteorological formulations and a large amount of flexibility, its governing equations are expressed in a generalized coordinate system. This approach ensures consistency between CMAQ and the meteorological modeling system. The generalized coordinate system determines the necessary grid and coordinate transformations, and it can accommodate various vertical coordinates and map projections. The CMAQ modeling system simulates various chemical and physical processes that are thought to be important for understanding atmospheric trace gas transformations and distributions. The modeling system contains three types of modeling components (Models-3): a meteorological modeling system for the description of atmospheric states and motions, emission models for man-made and natural emissions that are injected into the atmosphere, and a chemistry-transport modeling system for simulation of the chemical transformation and fate. The chemical transport model includes the following process modules: horizontal advection, vertical advection, mass conservation adjustments for advection processes, horizontal diffusion, vertical diffusion, gas-phase chemical reactions and solvers, photolytic rate computation, aqueous-phase reactions and cloud mixing, aerosol dynamics, size distributions and chemistry, plume chemistry effects, and gas and aerosol deposition velocity estimation. This paper describes the Models-3 CMAQ system, its governing equations, important science algorithms, and a few application examples. This review article cites 114 references. DOI: 10.1115/1.2128636


The article sets out to map militant Soviet solidarity with the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War (1936–9). It is based on recently declassified letters that ordinary Soviet citizens addressed to the Comintern, asking its head, Georgi Dimitrov, to send them as volunteers to fight against Fascism in Spain. The articles evaluates the social profiles of these would-be volunteers, their rhetoric of militant solidarity and the social climate in which they formulated their pleas to fight abroad – namely the onset of Stalin's purges in the Soviet Union.


It is amazing how some people can realize a simple gap in our reference tools that should have been generally recognized years ago. Here is a list of words organized in such a way as to provide building blocks for increasing complexity of stimuli that the creative clinician can apply to a variety of special needs. The major flaw is the assumption that syllabification is independent of stress. That is, while the authors list "prattle" and "preschool" as bisyllabic words, their stress patterns set them off into very distinct categories. This fault can be found throughout the book and requires thoughtful clinical selection of stimulus items. It would also have been helpful if the authors had listed a separate section of prefixes and suffixes to aid the busy clinician in quickly lengthening root words into more complex stimuli. This book is also overpriced. At $8.00 soft bound, it is an expensive paper bound book, and the content does not justify such pricing. However, these faults do not negate this volume as a good resource book for ready reference that many will find a useful addition to their book shelves.


IDENTICAL twins afflicted with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita have never before been described in medical literature to our knowledge. In an excellent review article in 1951, James1stated that two cases had never been reported in the same family. A recent report cited two sets of probably authentic identical twins, each of which consisted of one normal and one affected infant.2On the basis of such observations, much speculation as to the etiology has been presented in the past. The knowledge that arthrogryposis multiplex congenita can occur in identical twins is therefore of importance and will be briefly discussed as it relates to etiologic considerations. REPORT OF A CASE Twin girls were born to a multiparous mother on Dec. 29, 1952, terminating an uncomplicated pregnancy. The first infant (R. E. R.) was delivered at 10:25 a. m. after a cephalic presentation. She weighed 2700 gm. and was normal except


Two new sensitive spectrophotometric methods are proposed for the determination of raloxifene hydrochloride (RLX) using bromate-bromide mixture and two dyes, methyl orange and indigocarmine, as reagents. The methods entail the addition of a known excess of bromate-bromide mixture to RLX in hydrochloric acid medium followed by determination of residual bromine by reacting with a fixed amount of either methyl orange and measuring the absorbance at 520 nm (Method A) or indigo carmine and measuring the absorbance at 610 nm (Method B). In both methods, the amount of bromine reacted corresponds to the amount of RLX. The absorbance is found to increase linearly with concentration of RLX. Under the optimum conditions, RLX could be assayed in the concentration range 0.1-2.0 and 0.5-6.0 μg mL-1 by method A and method B, respectively. The apparent molar absorptivities are calculated to be 1.9×105 and 4.5×104 L mol-1cm-1 for method A and method B, respectively, and the corresponding Sandell sensitivity values are 0.003 and 0.011 μg cm-2. The limits of detection and quantification are also reported for both methods. Intra-day and inter-day precision and accuracy of the developed methods were evaluated as per the current ICH guidelines. The methods were successfully applied to the assay of RLX in its tablet formulation and the results were compared with those of a reference method by calculating the Student's t-value and F-value. No interference was observed from common tablet adjuvants. The accuracy and reliability of the methods were further ascertained by recovery experiments via standard-addition procedure.


The discovery that the kidney is the site of production of calcitriol clarifies our understanding of calcium metabolic disorders in chronic renal failure and carries with it clinical implications in the treatment of renal rickets. The author presents data on the action of calcium and reviews the therapeutic effects on uremic osteodystrophy in children of calcitriol and its analogue.


TWO ESSAYS ON SHAREHOLDER BASE, FIRM BEHAVIOR, AND FIRM VALUE Yi Jian Old Dominion University, 2016 Director: Kenneth Yung Most companies spend significant time and attention to managing their shareholder base out of the belief that significant stock market benefits can be reaped if they can identify and attract the right shareholders. Consistent with the opinion of practitioners, many financial economists suggest that the shareholder base is an important determinant of firm value and corporate policies (Lins and Warnock 2004; Brav, Graham, Harvey, and Michaley 2005; Bodnaruk and Ostberg 2013). Despite the importance of the shareholder base, research on the topic has been scant. What's more, previous studies have reported conflicting results regarding the effect of the shareholder base on firm behavior and firm value. Thus, I want to add to the literature by exploring the effects of the shareholder base on firm behavior and firm value in a foreign setting. This dissertation explores the effect of shareholder base on firm behavior and firm value in China. It seeks to answer the following research questions: 1) what is the effect of shareholder base on risk-taking and dividend payout? 2) What is the impact of shareholder base on earnings management? And 3) what is the direct effect of shareholder base on firm value? Essay 1 examines the effects of the shareholder base on firm behavior and firm value. Contrary to popular belief, the results show that a large shareholder base does not benefit firms in China, suggesting that a large shareholder base in China implies elevated agency conflicts between insiders and outsiders. We find that a larger shareholder base is associated with lower levels of capital expenditures, a lower standard deviation of return on assets, a lower standard deviation of return on equity, and higher dividend payouts in China. Researchers have concluded that high dividend payouts in China are expropriations by insiders. Our results therefore imply that insiders increase the expropriation of outsiders by diverting resources for private motives as the conflict between the two parties escalates. Our finding of a negative impact of the shareholder base on firm value in China further suggests that investors are concerned about the motives of insiders as agency conflicts intensify. Consistent with the view of Rozeff (1982), our results imply that the shareholder base in China serves as a proxy for the agency conflict between insiders and outsiders of firms. Essay 2 focuses on the effect of shareholder base on earnings management. Consistent with popular belief, we find that a larger shareholder base provides a monitoring effect on earnings management in China. However, investors in China are still relatively inexperienced and fail to see the link between earnings management and tunneling. Specifically, we find a negative relation between discretionary accruals and the shareholder base. In addition, we find some weak evidence that the shareholder base provides a controlling effect on real activities manipulation. Our results also show a positive relation between the shareholder base and tunneling activities in China. The rapid rise of the shareholder base in China provides insiders with more opportunities to extract private benefits at the expense of the minority shareholders. Both essays suggest that improvements to the legal system and corporate governance are important before an expanding shareholder base can have positive effects on firm behavior and firm value for countries that have a poor record of investor protection and where firms are heavily controlled by the state. This dissertation adds to the scant literature on the shareholder base by examining the effects of the shareholder base on firm behavior and firm value in China. Given that China is in the process of developing its capital markets, the findings on the shareholder base of firms in China may have significant policy implications.


The abutment site at the Coyote Lake Dam recorded an unusually large peak acceleration of 1.29g during the 1984 Morgan Hill earthquake. Following this earthquake another strong-motion station was installed about 700 m downstream from the abutment station. We study all events (seven) recorded on these stations, using ratios of peak accelerations, spectral ratios, and particle motion polarization (using holograms) to investigate the relative ground motion at the two sites. We find that in all but one case the motion at the abutment site is larger than the downstream site over a broad frequency band. The polarizations are similar for the two sites for a given event, but can vary from one event to another. This suggests that the dam itself is not strongly influencing the records. Although we can be sure that the relative motion is usually larger at the abutment site, we cannot conclude that there is anom- alous site amplification at the abutment site. The downstream site could have lower- than-usual near-surface amplifications. On the other hand, the geology near the abut- ment site is extremely complex and includes fault slivers, with rapid lateral changes in materials and presumably seismic velocities. For this reason alone, the abutment site should not be considered a normal free-field site.


Permanently frozen ground in the Arctic is being destabilized by continuing permafrost degradation, an indicator of climate change in the northern high latitudes. Accelerated coastal erosion due to sea ice reduction and an increased intensity of ground settlement through ground ice melt caused by rising summer air temperatures result in widespread geomorphological activity. The objective of our study is to analyze time series of repeat terrestrial laser scanning (rLiDAR) for quantification of extensive land surface lowering through thaw subsidence, which is the main unknown in terms of recent landscape development in the vast but neglected coastal lowlands of
the East Siberian Arctic. These in-situ data provide the basis for calibration and validation of large scale surface change assessments using very high resolution space-borne elevation data with high precision. Complementing our surveys, we conducted botanical mapping. This allows us to relate elevation differences to specific surface conditions and enhances our capabilities to extrapolate our local observations to larger areas through land-cover classifications of multispectral remote sensing data such as Sentinel-2. Additionally, highly detailed digital elevation models (DEMs) with sub-metre accuracy have been photogrammetrically derived from
satellite stereo data. These DEMs contain valuable terrain height information for 3D change detection, in case of DEMs representing the state of a study area at different points in time. The results show that elevation differences are almost always negative. When calculated as rates over time, land surface lowering in the ground-ice-rich Siberian coastal lowlands permafrost amounts to 3-10 cm per year.