An analysis was performed of renal tumours in 60 patients with kidney cancer and in two patients with oncocytoma. A study was made against morphological investigations on tumour tissue apoptosis and proliferation. The degree of DNA fragmentation in a biopsy specimen proved to be of value as a guide to detection of apoptosis; the activity of proliferation was studied by the MTT method using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide. Apoptosis has been ascertained in 59 out of 62 cases. The degree of apoptosis (the percentage of DNA fragmentation) was between 0 to 56.2%, the apoptotic cell count tending to decrease with the stage of the tumour process. The extent of cell proliferation was 0.8 to 22.6%; in those patients in the T1N0M0 stage it was much lower than in patients in the T2N0M0/T4N x M1. There was no significant difference between the level of apoptosis, proliferation and spreading of metastases. With growing tumour and degree of its differentiation apoptosis comes to be diminished but the activity of proliferation is noted to be on the increase, which event favours spread of the tumour beyond the organ.


Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), used as a popular plasticizer to enhance the flexibility of plastics, is a major pollutant in aquatic environments. DEHP poses severe risks to aquatic organisms since it is an endocrine-disrupting compound. To comprehensively evaluate the toxicity of DEHP on the growth and livers of male X. tropicalis, sexually mature male X. tropicalis were exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of DEHP, 0.2, 0.6, 1.8, 5.4 mg/L, for 49 days. The results showed that DEHP had a severe toxic effect on the livers of male X. tropicalis. Histopathological analysis of livers in all the DEHP-exposed groups showed changes in terms of vacuolization, loose cell cords, and an increasing amount of melanin. Large lipid droplets were markedly formed, and there were changes in the mitochondrial morphology upon DEHP exposure. In addition, oxidative stress was induced through the suppression of biochemical indicators and the downregulation in the mRNA expression of genes (nrf2, cat, sod, gst, and gpx) related to oxidative stress. A reduction in expression of fatty acid metabolism-related genes (pparα) was seen post-DEHP exposure. Thus, our study suggests that the hepatotoxicity induced by DEHP could be attributed to oxidative stress and disordered fatty acid metabolism. In conclusion, long-term exposure to DEHP at environmentally relevant concentrations poses ecological risks to aquatic organisms, which serves as a reminder that the application of DEHP and other plasticizers should be limited.


A detailed laboratory study was carried out to investigate the controls and differences between Klinkenbergcorrected gas and liquid permeability. For this reason outcrop core samples were collected from Kirthar fold belt of lower Indus basin, the plugs were horizontally taken, in cylindrical shape having dimension of 3.5-5.32 cm length and with maximum of 3.2 cm diameter. The sample porosity measurements were performed using calculations from grain volume and bulk volume method. For the purpose of comparison, slippage free gas permeability tests using nitrogen gas was measured and liquid permeability of samples was measured using brine (NaCl) of different compositions. The data obtained showed that liquid permeability was lower by an order of magnitude than the permeability of samples measured with gas. However, the gas permeability corrected for Klinkenberg effects showed difference of half an order of magnitude when compared with liquid permeability. Hence the differences in liquid permeability and gas permeability could be described by other mechanism of particles mobilization and dissolution and pore blocking phenomena. Moreover, the obtained data of gas and liquid permeability was then used to develop permeability estimation correlations. The results suggests that there is scatter in the measured values and predicted values of gas and liquid permeability data, which means that such correlations should not be used where accurate liquid permeability values of tight sandstones are needed. Permeability predicted using the existing correlations developed based on gas permeability data lead to an overestimation of permeability also the flow rates might be over predicted within such low permeability reservoirs.


Vaccine-induced protection against infection by HIV or highly pathogenic and virulent SIV strains has been limited. In a proof-of-concept study, we show that a novel vaccine approach significantly protects rhesus macaques from mucosal infection by the highly pathogenic strain SIVmac251. We vaccinated three cohorts of 12 macaques each with live, irradiated vaccine cells secreting the modified endoplasmic reticulum chaperone gp96-Ig. Cohort 1 was vaccinated with cells secreting gp96SIVIg carrying SIV peptides. In addition, Cohort 2 received recombinant envelope protein SIV-gp120. Cohort 3 was injected with cells secreting gp96-Ig (no SIV Ags) vaccines. Cohort 2 was protected from infection. After seven rectal challenges with highly pathogenic SIVmac251, the hazard ratio was 0.27, corresponding to a highly significant, 73% reduced risk for viral acquisition. The apparent success of the novel vaccine modality recommends further study.


The present study analyzes consumers perceptions of music streaming and how such perceptions might influence customers brand loyalty and purchase intent. The competitive advantages of music streaming, widely known for its cost-saving measures, ease of use, and worldwide accessibility, are carefully reviewed herein. The S-O-R Theory commonly employed in psychology studies is applied in this study to explain the relationship between the product characteristics of streaming music (e.g., price, content quality, functionality, convenience, and design) and consumer behavior as seen by consumption emotions.  This relationship is viewed as either positive or negative in consumer satisfaction and purchase intention. The data were collected through an online web-based survey questionnaire.  One thousand seven (1007) subjects from Indonesia completed the survey. The Structured Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to examine the relationship among product attributes, consumer satisfaction, and purchase intention. Our study findings revealed a strong association between emotion and particular product characteristics, whereby a positive emotion exists across all product characteristics in music streaming services. The design variable is the most popular function of all music streaming services product attributes. Our findings suggest that either positive or negative emotions may predict the functionality constructions in comparison with previous research results. On the other hand, the findings of the present study suggest that only positive emotions can influence the satisfaction level of consumers and, in turn, affect the consumers purchasing intent


Uptake of radiopharmaceutical was markedly abnormal in all phases of the bone scan in the feet of patients with diabetic neuropathy. Bone scans were performed in three groups of patients; diabetics with neuropathic osteoarthropathy (Charcot joints); diabetics with neuropathy but no evidence of osteoarthropathy and non-diabetic controls. Uptake was monitored in three phases; during the first 2 min after injection, then at 4 min and finally at 4 h. Uptake in all three phases was markedly increased in the neuropathic subjects, not only in those with osteoarthropathy but also in those with no radiological abnormalities. Increased uptake at 2 and 4 min indicates increased blood flow which can also result in increased uptake at 4 h. Increased blood flow secondary to peripheral neuropathy may lead to excessive bone resorption, susceptibility to fracture and finally the development of neuropathic osteoarthropathy of the diabetic foot.


Number of minor felons is constantly increasing, especially in countries in transition like Bosnia and Herzegovina. Educational measures which are applied to minor delinquents often do not have enough influence, because measures are not based on needs and issues that delinquent have, but they are derived from administrative routine. Disrupted value system, morals erosion, entropy and wrong ideals in society contribute to minor delinquency expansion. In order to help these young people, during educational work, it is necessary to recognize their attitude, interest, talents and predispositions, to motivate them and to encourage them to face problems by themself. One of education forms in educational-corrective work with underage felons is drama-club in correctional institution in Banja Luka, where stated aspects are main factors in decision of these young people to change their way of life. Theatre show "I wanna go home", where together act young delinquents, their educators and police officers is true story about destiny of young people who want new chance and new beginning in their life. The show raises many questions about society issues, but also states request that society must deal with these issues. Drama-club, as well as show itself, has influence to educational work with minor delinquents, because it shows their positive side, as well as their talents, efforts and willingness to show that they can and want to be better people. Main goal of this paper is to demonstrate new experiences in educational work with underage felons, by involving them in drama-club, as innovative approach that showed great results in their social rehabilitation. Drama-club is educational innovation that combines several forms of treatment, which testify to their importance and role that it has in educational work with underage delinquents.


This paper mainly discussed the operation benefits of fruit dealers in farm market. Taking fruit dealers in Shizishan Street Farm market in Wuhan City as the research object, this paper introduced current operation situation of fruit dealers and made a descriptive statistical analysis on characteristics of operators, operation situation, and cognitive status. Besides, it introduced the concept of net cost-benefit ratio to reflect the operation benefits. From further analysis on the operation benefits of fruit dealers, it found that there is little difference in the cost-benefit ratio between dealers in the farm market. The average net cost-benefit ratio was 11.94%. Specifically, if the total cost is 100 yuan, the dealer can obtain 12 yuan net profit. In order to find out how cost factors affect the operation benefits, it established a regression model for cost factors and net cost-benefit ratio. According to the survey results, when the wholesale cost increases 10000 yuan, the cost-benefit ratio will increase by 1.454 percentage points, thus increasing the wholesale investment is helpful for increasing the net cost-benefit ratio; when the loss cost increases 10000 yuan, the cost-benefit ratio will increase by 7.501 percentage points, thus the dealers can increase the operation benefits through controlling the loss cost and reducing the operation cost. Finally, it came up policy recommendations from the perspective of government and operators.


Synthesis of wild-type levels of turnip crinkle virus (TCV)-associated satC complementary strands by purified, recombinant TCV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) in vitro was previously determined to require 3' end pairing to the large symmetrical internal loop of a phylogenetically conserved hairpin (H5) located upstream from the hairpin core promoter. However, wild-type satC transcripts, which fold into a single detectable conformation in vitro as determined by temperature-gradient gel electrophoresis, do not contain either the phylogenetically inferred H5 structure or the 3' end/H5 interaction. This implies that conformational changes are required to produce the phylogenetically inferred H5 structure for its pairing with the 3' end, which takes place subsequent to the initial conformation assumed by the RNA and prior to transcription initiation. The DR region, located 140 nucleotides upstream from the 3' end and previously determined to be important for transcription in vitro and replication in vivo, is proposed to have a role in the conformational switch, since stabilizing the phylogenetically inferred H5 structure decreases the negative effects of a DR mutation in vivo. In addition, high levels of aberrant transcription correlate with a specific conformational change in the Pr while maintaining the same conformation of the 3' terminus. These results suggest that a series of events that promote conformational changes is needed to expose the 3' terminus to the RdRp for accurate synthesis of wild-type levels of complementary strands in vitro.


The identification of spatial structures is a key step in understanding the ecological processes structuring the distribution of organisms. Spatial patterns in species distributions result from a combination of several processes occuring at different scales: identifying these scales is thus a crucial issue. Recent studies have proposed a new family of spatial predictors (PCNM: principal coordinates of neighbours matrices; MEMs: Moran's eigenvectors maps) that allow for modelling of spatial variation on different scales. To assess the multi-scale spatial patterns in multivariate data, these variables are often used as predictors in constrained ordination methods. However, the selection of the appropriate spatial predictors is still troublesome, and the identification of the main scales of spatial variation remains an open question. This paper presents a new statistical tool to tackle this issue: the multi-scale pattern analysis (MSPA). This ordination method uses MEMs to decompose ecological variability into several spatial scales and then summarizes this decomposition using graphical representations. A canonical form of MSPA can also be used to assess the spatial scales of the species-environment relationships. MSPA is compared to constrained ordination using simulated data, and illustrated using the famous oribatid mites dataset. The method is implemented in the free software R.


The first in a series of three blogs produced by the MAX project team which summarises the preliminary findings from an online survey conducted with local authority staff associated with the Adult Social Care Survey (ASCS) and Personal Social Services Survey of Adult Carers in England (PSS SACE or Carers' Survey.


This paper considers the multiset selection problem with size constraints, which arises in many real-world applications such as budget allocation. Previous studies required the objective function f to be submodular, while we relax this assumption by introducing the notion of the submodularity ratios (denoted by α_f and β_f). We propose an anytime randomized iterative approach POMS, which maximizes the given objective f and minimizes the multiset size simultaneously. We prove that POMS using a reasonable time achieves an approximation guarantee of max{1-1/e^(β_f), (α_f/2)(1-1/e^(α_f))}. Particularly, when f is submdoular, this bound is at least as good as that of the previous greedy-style algorithms. In addition, we give lower bounds on the submodularity ratio for the objectives of budget allocation. Experimental results on budget allocation as well as a more complex application, namely, generalized influence maximization, exhibit the superior performance of the proposed approach.


Ribonuclease P (RNase P) is a ubiquitous trans-acting ribozyme that processes the 5' leader sequence of precursor tRNA (pre-tRNA). The secondary structure of RNase P RNA (PhopRNA) in the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 has several peripheral stem-loops. In order to investigate their functional role, we prepared six mutants, ΔP1, ΔP3, ΔP8, ΔP9, ΔP12 and ΔP15, in which the stem-loops including helices P1, P3, P8, P9, P12/12.1/12.2 and P15/16 in PhopRNA were individually deleted, respectively, and characterized them with respect to pre-tRNA cleavage activity in the presence of five proteins and also to the ability to form a complex with the proteins. The reconstituted particles containing ΔP3, ΔP8 or ΔP9 retained considerable levels of activity (35-65%), while those containing ΔP1, ΔP12 or ΔP15 had markedly reduced activity (13%). It was further found that the reconstituted particles comprising ΔP3 or ΔP15 lacked PhoPop5 and PhoRpp30, whereas those containing ΔP1, ΔP8, ΔP9 or ΔP12 bound to all five proteins. Since it is known that PhoPop5 functions in a complex with PhoRpp30, the present result suggests that the peripheral stem-loops containing P3 or P15/16 are involved in the structural formation of a catalytic site by interacting with the protein complex PhoPop5-PhoRpp30.


Background The shortage and disproportionate distribution of health care workers worldwide is further aggravated by the inadequacy of training programs, difficulties in implementing conventional curricula, deficiencies in learning infrastructure, or a lack of essential equipment. Offline digital education has the potential to improve the quality of health professions education. Objective The primary objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of offline digital education compared with various controls in improving learners' knowledge, skills, attitudes, satisfaction, and patient-related outcomes. The secondary objectives were (1) to assess the cost-effectiveness of the interventions and (2) to assess adverse effects of the interventions on patients and learners. Methods We searched 7 electronic databases and 2 trial registries for randomized controlled trials published between January 1990 and August 2017. We used Cochrane systematic review methods. Results A total of 27 trials involving 4618 individuals were included in this systematic review. Meta-analyses found that compared with no intervention, offline digital education (CD-ROM) may increase knowledge in nurses (standardized mean difference [SMD]=1.88; 95% CI 1.14 to 2.62; participants=300; studies=3; I2=80%; low certainty evidence). A meta-analysis of 2 studies found that compared with no intervention, the effects of offline digital education (computer-assisted training [CAT]) on nurses and physical therapists' knowledge were uncertain (SMD 0.55; 95% CI –0.39 to 1.50; participants=64; I2=71%; very low certainty evidence). A meta-analysis of 2 studies found that compared with traditional learning, a PowerPoint presentation may improve the knowledge of patient care personnel and pharmacists (SMD 0.76; 95% CI 0.29 to 1.23; participants=167; I2=54%; low certainty evidence). A meta-analysis of 4 studies found that compared with traditional training, the effects of computer-assisted training on skills in community (mental health) therapists, nurses, and pharmacists were uncertain (SMD 0.45; 95% CI –0.35 to 1.25; participants=229; I2=88%; very low certainty evidence). A meta-analysis of 4 studies found that compared with traditional training, offline digital education may have little effect or no difference on satisfaction scores in nurses and mental health therapists (SMD –0.07; 95% CI –0.42 to 0.28, participants=232; I2=41%; low certainty evidence). A total of 2 studies found that offline digital education may have little or no effect on patient-centered outcomes when compared with blended learning. For skills and attitudes, the results were mixed and inconclusive. None of the studies reported adverse or unintended effects of the interventions. Only 1 study reported costs of interventions. The risk of bias was predominantly unclear and the certainty of the evidence ranged from low to very low. Conclusions There is some evidence to support the effectiveness of offline digital education in improving learners' knowledge and insufficient quality and quantity evidence for the other outcomes. Future high-quality studies are needed to increase generalizability and inform use of this modality of education.


Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) was the master poet of fourteenth-century France. He established models for much of the vernacular poetry written by subsequent generations, and he was instrumental in institutionalizing the lay reader. In particular, his longest and most important work, the Voir dit, calls attention to the coexistence of public and private reading practices through its intensely hybrid form: sixty-three poems and ten songs invite an oral performance, while forty-six private prose letters as well as elaborate illustration and references to it's own materiality promote a physical encounter with the book. In Controlling Readers, Deborah McGrady uses Machaut's corpus as a case study to explore the impact of lay literacy on the culture of late-medieval Europe. Arguing that Machaut and his bookmakers were responding to contemporary debates surrounding literacy, McGrady first accounts for the formal invention of the lay reader in medieval art and literature, then analyses Machaut and his bookmakers' innovative use of both narrative and bibliographical devices to try to control the responses of his readers and promote intimate and sensual reading practices in place of the more common public performances of court culture. McGrady's erudite and exhaustive study is key to understanding Machaut, his works, and his influence on the history of reading in the fourteenth-century and beyond.


The resolution of 2D imaging systems is frequently described by experimental estimates of the point, line, or edge spread function. It is shown that a response function across the normal to a boundary between two homogeneous volumes can provide a measure of resolution. The set of surface boundary voxels is determined by applying a simple threshold. The normal distance of every voxel to the surface is computed and an accumulator bin is incremented by the voxel's gray level. This results in an aggregate surface response function, which is related to 3D point, line, and plane spread functions. This method can be applied to general boundary interfaces where precise surface normals are known, such as those on a sphere or plane. Results of applying this method to volumetric cone beam X-ray CT data are shown.<<ETX>>


Annual reports are by many considered to be companies primary way to inform their world where the CEO's words are read most carefully by shareholders. The purpose of this paper is to examine the design of the CEO's words in annual reports in light of the financial crisis in 2008. The study seeking explanations for change, similarities and differences in the various texts based on three themes which are results, future and confidence. In this qualitative study five CEO's words are explored by means of a discourse analysis, all from large Swedish industrial companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Some of the results shown is that the CEO tends to talk about the company's results in a self-serving manner and CEO speaks more aboutm the results before than after the crisis. As for the theme of the future is different content in various periods. One clear difference between the years examined, is that the way to talk about confidence changed and that this increased after the crisis.


Argument mining has become a popular research area in NLP. It typically includes the identification of argumentative components, e.g. claims, as the central component of an argument. We perform a qualitative analysis across six different datasets and show that these appear to conceptualize claims quite differently. To learn about the consequences of such different conceptualizations of claim for practical applications, we carried out extensive experiments using state-of-the-art feature-rich and deep learning systems, to identify claims in a cross-domain fashion. While the divergent conceptualization of claims in different datasets is indeed harmful to cross-domain classification, we show that there are shared properties on the lexical level as well as system configurations that can help to overcome these gaps.


Expansion of the wildland–urban interface (WUI) and the increasing size and number of wildfires has policy-makers and wildfire managers seeking ways to reduce wildfire risk in communities located near fire-prone forests. It is widely acknowledged that homeowners can reduce their exposure to wildfire risk by using nonflammable building materials and reducing tree density near the home, among other actions. Although these actions can reduce the vulnerability of homes to wildfire, many homeowners do not take them. We examined the influence of risk factors on homeowners' perceived wildfire risk components using a survey of WUI homeowners in central Oregon (USA) and biophysical data that described wildfire risk as predicted by wildfire simulation models, past wildfire, and vegetation characteristics. Our analysis included homeowners' perceptions of the likelihood of wildfire and resulting damage, and examined how these factors contribute to homeowners' likelihood to conduct mitigation actions. We developed an empirical model of homeowners' risk perceptions and mitigation behavior, which served as input into an agent-based model to examine potential landscape and behavior changes over 50 years. We found homeowners' wildfire risk perceptions to be positively correlated with hazardous conditions predicted by fuel models and weakly predictive of mitigation behavior. Homeowners' perceived chance of wildfire was positively correlated with actual probability of wildfire, while their perceived chance of damage to the home was positively correlated with potential wildfire intensity. Wildfire risk perceptions also were found to be correlated with past wildfire experience. Our results suggest that homeowners may be savvy observers of landscape conditions, which act as "feedbacks" that enhance homeowners' concerns about wildfire hazard and motivate them to take mitigation action. Alternatively, homeowners living in hazardous locations are somehow receiving the message that they need to take protective measures. Mitigation compliance output from the agent-based model suggests that completion of mitigation actions is likely to increase over 50 years under various scenarios.


1 This paper was presented at the Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education Conference in Ft. Worth, November 1993.


1. 1. Five pigeons were trained to fly in a boundary-layer wind-tunnel at a velocity of 10 m s−1 for at least 10 min, and a number of respiratory and cardiovascular variables were recorded. For comparison, heart rate, respiratory frequency and E.M.G. from the pectoralis major muscles were also recorded, using radio-telemetry, from free-flying pigeons.

2. 2. For the flights in the wind tunnel there were immediate increases in respiratory frequency and heart rate upon take-off; these variables continued to increase during the flight, eventually becoming on average 411 breaths min−1 (20 × resting) and 670 beats min−1 (6 × resting) respectively. There was a 1:1 relationship between ventilation and wing beat. Oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide production reached their highest values of 12.5 × and 14.4 × resting respectively within 1 min of take-off and then declined to steady levels of 200 ml kg−1 min S.T.P.D. (10 × resting) and 184 ml kg−1 min S.T.P.D. (10.7 × resting) 4 min after take-off. If allowances are made for the weightand drag of the V OO2 mask and tubes, these stable values are at least 12% higher than would occur in an unloaded bird. Body temperature rose steadily after take-off, reaching a stable value of 43.3°C, which was 2°C above resting, after 6 min of flight. There was a 1.8 × rise in a - v OO2 content difference and little change in cardiac stroke volume during flight, so that the rise in heart rate was the major factor in transporting the extra O2 to the active muscles. Respiratory quotient rose from 0.85 at rest to 0.99, 30 s after take off, and then fell to 0.92 after 7 min of flight. Blood lactate rose to 59.8 mg% (6.5 × its resting value).

3. 3. Comparisons with the free-flying birds indicated that the pattern of flight in the wind tunnel was somewhat abnormal, especially at the beginning of a flight, and this may account for the value of V OO2 being higher at the start of a flight and then declining to a steady value as the flight progressed.

4. 4. Upon landing, heart rate, V· O1 V· CO2 and body temperature began to fall immediately, and within 2 min, heart rate, V· O2 and V· CO2 had returned to the 'tunnel on' resting values. Respiratory frequency increased upon landing and its decline closely matched the fall in body temperature. R.Q. rose above unity immediately upon landing as CO2 was removed in excess of its metabolic production, and then fell below the resting value as CO2 was retained, presumably to maintain acid/base balance during the metabolism of lactic acid.


INTRODUCTION A series of pre-Cambrian metamorphosed sedimentary rocks extends from Rainy Lake, in western Ontario, eastward about 150 miles to the vicinity of Lac des Mille Lacs. The age of this series has been in dispute since the time of the early descriptions by Lawson (1887) and McInnes (1897). During the last decade the contributions of Grout, Bruce, Tanton, Hawley, and Gill have thrown new light on this perplexing problem, although the added facts and interpretations regarding the stratigraphic position of the sedimentary series often appear incongruous. The sediments have been termed Seine and Coutchiching in age, depending upon whether they were believed to be stratigraphically above or below the Keewatin lavas. Inasmuch as the Keewatin is considered by most students of pre-Cambrian geology to represent the base of the pre-Cambrian column in the Lake Superior region, the determination of the stratigraphic position of the sedimentary and the volcanic series . . .


Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) are in the forefront of approaches to funding transportation infrastructure improvements. Highlighted in the highway area by long term leases of the Chicago Skyway and Indiana Toll Road, a variety of states are investigating the use of public private partnerships either as "brownfield" leases like the Chicago and Indiana cases, or "greenfield" Design, Build, Operate, Transfer arrangements. With its pending lease of Midway airport, Chicago has been the first in the United States to lease a major airport. But, these and other PPP projects raise a variety of issues including the length of the lease, toll escalation permitted, use of funds, etc. This paper develops a rationale for PPP's in transportation, evaluates several approaches to PPP's using this rationale, and analyzes some of the difficult issues that can surface.


In this study, the relationship between emotional expression and hopelessness was examined. The sample of the present study included 382 students. Emotional expression and positive expression negatively correlated with hopelessness, expectations and emotions about the future, and hope. Smilarly, loss of motivation negatively correlated with positive expression. Furthermore, expectations and emotions about the future, emotional expression, positive expression, negative expression, and impulse intensity show significant difference when compared according to the gender.


Despite the continually growing value of agricultural trade of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, agricultural trade in the case of all of the countries of the Visegrad group represents only a marginal part of the total merchandise trade. The agricultural trade of the individual analyzed countries is, both in terms of the commodity structure as well as the territorial structure, very distinctly concentrated. The overwhelming majority of agricultural trade – export as well as import – je conducted in relation to EU countries. These countries participate in agricultural trade of individual countries of the V4 group with a share of over 80%. If we focus on the actual objective of the article, which was to identify the comparative advantages of agricultural trade of the V4 countries in the area of commodity structure and territorial structure, both in relation to the global market, as well as in relation to EU27, the following may be stated. The agricultural trade of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary as a whole does not have comparative advantages either on the global market or on the internal market of the EU countries. However, Poland as the only representative of the V4 countries has comparative advantages in the field of agricultural trade, in relation to both the internal market of the EU countries, as well as in relation to the global market (to the market of third countries). If we focus on the territory of the EU27 countries, which represents the main trading partner of all of the analyzed countries, both in terms of exports as well as in terms of imports, it may be stated that despite the fact that the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary do not have comparative advantages in the area of agricultural trade in regard to the EU as a whole, they are able to achieve comparative advantages at the level of bilateral relationships with individual member countries of the EU. This paper is part of a research project carried out within the framework of the grant no. 6046070906, funded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic.


This paper presents an analysis of field reliability and maintenance performance for a heavy engineering vehicle operating in a steel mill. Based on the field repair reports of the vehicle, the statistical characteristics of reliability and maintenance performance are evaluated and the evolution trend of mean time between failures (MTBF) and availability are analyzed. The effect of the preventive maintenance (PM) interval on availability is evaluated and a possibly adequate PM interval is obtained. The analysis method presented in this paper is useful for analyzing and evaluating the reliability of complex repairable systems.


A girl relishes all the attention she receives as the only child in her closely knit apartment-building community (dubbed "The House of Joyful Living" by its inhabitants). The group gathers on the rooftop garden, where the multicultural cast of residents gardens, eats, and listens to classical music. The only fly in the ointment for the protagonist is the imminent arrival of a baby sibling, who, she is sure, will disrupt everything. Though the story is long and the girl's eventual transformation into a welcoming and sharing older sibling is perhaps a shade too sudden, the theme of sharing what you've got is a worthy one. Kids (especially those who expect or possess younger sibs) will certainly relate to the girl's situation, and Schotter writes with warmth and clarity, providing evocative detail about these people and their enviable rooftop paradise. Widener's subtly shaded patches of color and blocky shapes give a comfortably solid, almost sculpted look to his figures and objects. The homely building and the period setting (details suggest the 1940s) are affectionately conveyed, and trim scenes offer dramatic looks at the city beyond as well as the garden itself. This could pair with Ringgold's Tar Beach (BCCB 3/91) for a storytime about the joys of rooftop living, and whether they have a "house of joyful living" or not, kids will respond to the peace and harmony of this community. JH


The as-cast microstructure feature of Al sheet with high forming properties used for pressure can manufacturing pre-treated by different melt-treatment technique was observed and analyzed by SEM, EDAX, TEM and selected area electron diffraction (SAED), etc. It was found that the oxide inclusions in Al sheet were mainly γ-Al2O3, and the Fe-rich impurity phases in the sheet mainly Al3Fe, T1(Al12Fe3Si) or (AlFeSiRE). The crystal structure of (AlFeSiRE) phase was too complicated to be determined. The effect of melt-treatment technique on the as-cast microstructure of the sheet was remarkable. There were a number of oxide inclusions in the Al sheet before or after conventional melt-treatment, which distributed non-uniformly and gathered together in larger block shape with the size of about 10-40μm. The Fe-rich impurity phases in the sheet were mainly Al3Fe and T1, and a few of the meta-stable phase Al6Fe existed in the sheet. These Fe-rich impurity phases appeared in a coarse, long needle/flake or skeletal form, and were easily to gather together with oxide inclusions. When the Al sheet was treated by high-efficient melt-treatment, the amout of oxide inclusions was decreased obviously, and these inclusions distributed more uniformly in the tiny granular form (about or less than 4μm). The Fe-rich impurity phases were mainly (AlFeSiRE), and a small amount of Al3Fe phases also existed in the material. The (AlFeSiRE) phases distributed uniformly along grain boundary in tiny group/sphere or short stick form. No congregation of Fe-rich phases with oxide inclusions was found in the material.


Removing noise from audio signals requires a nondiagonal processing of time-frequency coefficients to avoid producing ldquomusical noise.rdquo State of the art algorithms perform a parameterized filtering of spectrogram coefficients with empirically fixed parameters. A block thresholding estimation procedure is introduced, which adjusts all parameters adaptively to signal property by minimizing a Stein estimation of the risk. Numerical experiments demonstrate the performance and robustness of this procedure through objective and subjective evaluations.


Objectives: To assess the detectability of a low-signal-intensity line within adenomyosis lesions adjacent to the endometrium on apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps, and to establish correlations between these lesions and their possible causes, and more particularly the hormonal changes and magnetic resonance (MR) factors. Materials and methods: MR images were obtained from 110 patients with adenomyosis (age 30–57 y.o.) using 3.0 T or 1.5 T MR units. Recognition of the low-signal-intensity line on ADC map was scored using confidence level. The correlation between recognition of the line and the following factors were examined: magnetic field strength, age group, menstrual cycle phases, history of delivery, and hormonal treatments. Presence of the structure corresponding to the low-signal-intensity line on ADC map was evaluated pathologically in the cases that underwent surgery. Results: The low-signal-intensity line visible on ADC map was recognized in 55/110 patients. The visibility of the line was not significantly related to hormonal status, age, history of delivery, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) magnet strength. There were no corresponding pathological structures. Conclusion: One half of the adenomyosis patients showed discrepant appearances in T2-weighted (T2WI) vs. ADC map, but no significant relationship with hormonal changes was found in this study. This result may suggest that the low-signal-intensity line within the junctional zone may be related to a functional phenomenon.


This guide is intended primarily for faculty and students in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education. This is a selective guide to the major research resources available through the University of Toronto Libraries.


Segregation of lipids and proteins of the plasma membrane into microdomains called lipid rafts is known to be important for many biological processes including signal transduction and pathogen invasion. In his Perspective,
 van Meer
 explains new findings (
 Zacharias
 et al.) that reveal how lipid moieties attached to proteins instruct the proteins to move into different types of lipid rafts.


An empirical study was conducted involving several firms based in a vast and developing economy like India on effective knowledge management strategy. It was observed that firms with higher orientation in system strategy attach the highest emphasis to combination mode and, the lowest emphasis to socialization. For the highly human strategy oriented group, socialization gets the highest focus while the combination gets the lowest. The scenario turns the reverse for the firms with higher orientation in human strategy where emphasis is more on extra firm and intra-firm social information collection, gathering and transfer of tacit knowledge. So far as knowledge creation level is concerned, a significant variation is noted within the firms with higher performance be in highly system strategy oriented group or in highly human strategy oriented group. The study reveals that effective knowledge management involves striking a balance between knowledge management strategy and varying knowledge creation modes such as socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization in view of their industry type.


Experience creation is essential for driving and maintaining urban destination competitiveness. More frequently, innovative experience creation is accomplished in collaboration with others. This study employs exploratory qualitative methods to investigate the interplay between a performing arts venue, local networks and the potential for innovative experience creation. Culture creates a point of difference for cities, and enhances the attractiveness of urban destinations. A new performing arts venue (Auckland Savings Bank Waterfront Theatre) has recently opened in the heart of the Wynyard Quarter, a regenerating urban precinct on Auckland's city waterfront. There are opportunities for the performing arts venue to link with others at the destination to create innovative experiences for both visitor and local; however, this cannot happen without local actors creating linkages and understanding how to collectively construct memorable experiences. There is limited literature on how the arts sector links to tourism, with most research focussed on networking in one sector, for example, the cultural or the tourism sector, rather than between the two different industries, a gap this research seeks to bridge. This thesis investigates the relationships that underpinned the creation of the performing arts venue, and explores whether there is potential for a network to form around innovative experience creation at the destination. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were undertaken with; participants from the performing arts company; stakeholders connected the performing arts venue project; actors at the destination including experience suppliers; governmental actors and others in the cultural sector. The research highlights that diverse relations underpin experience development, and actors must have a positive attitude towards collaboration to take full advantage of these. An opportunity exists for the performing arts venue to work with others at the destination to deliver a holistic experience. This is reflected by strong levels of enthusiasm among participants to link to one another, and a positive attitude towards collaboration. Ideas of how the performing arts venue and others could collectively create experiences include; coordinating activities at the destination, experience bundling, creating moments of positive surprise across visitor touch points and participating in a design thinking workshop centred on experience creation at the destination. This thesis contributes to the literature on network formation by applying a process of translation to understand how and why networks form and develop. There are opportunities for actors to strengthen links in the locality, and build friendly relationships, and the research suggests that the interplay of diverse actors and ideas has potential to create innovation via the mixing of different expertise. The findings indicate that memorable experiences rest on human (rather than technological) interaction and the fulfilment of social needs. The discussion cautions against taking these social needs as 'already achieved' in creating 'transformative' experiences. The research lays the groundwork for future studies of the Wynyard Quarter (as a baseline/control), to note the influence of networks on experience creation over time. The approach and methods can be replicated elsewhere to strengthen the body of knowledge on the interplay between performing arts venues and local networks in experience creation across different contexts.


Ecological footprint (EF) indices estimate the impact of an individual's lifestyle on the planet by converting levels of consumption into the amount of land needed to sustain production levels and lifestyle choices. Several popular organizations (e.g. WWF, Global Footprint Network) now offer personalized EF calculators to help inform consumers of the impacts of their personal consumption habits. In this paper, we evaluate the most popular online EF calculators and find that, even when the most environmentally friendly options are adopted, for the majority of available indices, one still exceeds the planet's biocapacity levels. The absence of options to fully offset one's environmental impacts implicitly suggests that there is no truly sustainable level of consumption at current population levels, even under the most prudent consumer choices. Although all online EF calculators claim to be a tool for education to promote sustainable behaviour, their calculations suggest, to the contrary, that as consumers we may postpone but not necessarily prevent environmental catastrophes.


The differential diagnoses of cardiac tamponade, constrictive pericarditis, restrictive cardiomyopathy, effusive-constrictive pericarditis, and right ventricular infarction are often difficult because of the right ventricular diastolic dysfunction that frequently dominates the clinical picture in these disorders. In cardiac tamponade, key diagnostic signs are pulsus paradoxus, evidence of pericardial fluid by echocardiography or computed tomography (CT), and equalization of diastolic pressures. In constrictive pericarditis, prominent findings include Kussmaul's sign, evidence of pericardial calcification, equalization of diastolic pressures, and the "square-root" sign. Restrictive cardiomyopathy may be distinguished from constrictive pericarditis by the absence of pericardial calcification and, in amyloidosis, by a speckled pattern on two-dimensional echocardiogram and abnormal technetium Tc 99m pyrophosphate uptake during radionuclide examination. With effusive-constrictive pericarditis, hemodynamic signs of tamponade change to constriction with pericardial aspiration. In right ventricular infarction, constrictive-restrictive signs, as well as pulsus paradoxus, may be present. History and/or objective evidence of diaphragmatic left ventricular myocardial infarction


OF THESIS SHIFTING THE ULTIMATUM: POLITICAL ALIENATION AND PARTICIPATION Common knowledge dictates that cynicism and mistrust of politics is rampant among US citizens, wreaking havoc on participation in the American political process. Social Capital theories are commonly used to effectively explain US political behavior, but fail to account for alienation from the political process or the influence of peers. I argue that models of political participation would be improved by the inclusion of political alienation variables, which have fallen into disuse in recent decades. Using data from the US Citizenship, Involvement, and Democracy Survey (2006), this paper relies upon negative binomial regression with nested models to compare the explanatory power of social capital variables with models including political alienation and peer influence variables to assess the value of such concepts. Results indicate that while the parent variables of political alienation (powerlessness, meaninglessness, and mistrust of political institutions) improve model accuracy and influence political participation, the latent variable remains ambiguously useful. Powerlessness and mistrust revealed significant effects, but mistrust failed to fit into the latent concept of political alienation, and meaninglessness did not produce significant results. Peer influence only significantly affected political participation when participants specifically discussed political matters with peers. Implications and concepts for future research follow.


Abstract. Tropospheric deliquesced particles are characterised by concentrated non-ideal solutions (aerosol liquid water or ALW) that can affect the occurring multiphase chemistry. However, such non-ideal solution effects have generally not yet been considered in and investigated by current complex multiphase chemistry models in an adequate way. Therefore, the present study aims at accessing the impact of non-ideality on multiphase chemical processing in concentrated aqueous aerosols. Simulations with the multiphase chemistry model (SPACCIM-SpactMod) are performed in different environmental and microphysical conditions with and without a treatment of non-ideal solutions in order to assess its impact on aqueous-phase chemical processing. The present study shows that activity coefficients of inorganic ions are often below unity under 90 % RH-deliquesced aerosol conditions, and that most uncharged organic compounds exhibit activity coefficient values of around or even above unity. Due to this behaviour, model studies have revealed that the inclusion of non-ideality considerably affects the multiphase chemical processing of transition metal ions (TMIs), oxidants, and related chemical subsystems such as organic chemistry. In detail, both the chemical formation and oxidation fluxes of Fe(II) are substantially lowered by a factor of 2.8 in the non-ideal base case compared to the ideal case. The reduced Fe(II) processing in the non-ideal base case, including lowered chemical fluxes of the Fenton reaction (−70 %), leads to a reduced processing of HOx/HOy. under deliquesced aerosol conditions. Consequently, higher multiphase H2O2 concentrations (larger by a factor of 3.1) and lower aqueous-phase OH concentrations (lower by a factor of ≈ 4) are modelled during non-cloud periods. For H2O2, a comparison of the chemical reaction fluxes reveals that the most important sink, the reaction with HSO3−, contributes with a 40 % higher flux in the non-ideal base case than in the ideal case, leading to more efficient sulfate formation. On the other hand, the chemical fluxes of the OH radical are about 50 % lower in the non-ideal base case than in the ideal case, including lower degradation fluxes of organic aerosol components. Thus, considering non-ideality influences the chemical processing and the concentrations of organic compounds under deliquesced particle conditions in a compound-specific manner. For example, the reduced oxidation budget under deliquesced particle conditions leads to both increased and decreased concentration levels, e.g. of important C2/C3 carboxylic acids. For oxalic acid, the present study demonstrates that the non-ideality treatment enables more realistic predictions of high oxalate concentrations than observed under ambient highly polluted conditions. Furthermore, the simulations implicate that lower humidity conditions, i.e. more concentrated solutions, might promote higher oxalic acid concentration levels in aqueous aerosols due to differently affected formation and degradation processes.


Complementarity between one-particle visibility and two-particle visibility in discrete systems can be extended to bipartite quantum-entangled Gaussian states implemented with continuous-variable quantum optics. The meaning of the two-particle visibility originally defined by Jaeger, Horne, Shimony, and Vaidman with the use of an indirect method that first corrects the two-particle probability distribution by adding and subtracting other distributions with varying degree of entanglement, however, deserves further analysis. Furthermore, the origin of complementarity between one-particle visibility and two-particle visibility is somewhat elusive and it is not entirely clear what is the best way to associate particular two-particle quantum observables with the two-particle visibility. Here, we develop a direct method for quantifying the two-particle visibility based on measurement of a pair of two-particle observables that are compatible with the measured pair of single-particle observables. For each of the two-particle observables from the pair the corresponding visibility is computed, after which the absolute difference of the latter pair of visibilities is considered as a redefinition of the two-particle visibility. Our approach reveals an underlying mathematical symmetry as it treats the two pairs of one-particle or two-particle observables on equal footing by formally identifying all four observable distributions as rotated marginal distributions of the original two-particle probability distribution. The complementarity relation between one-particle visibility and two-particle visibility obtained with the direct method is exact in the limit of infinite Gaussian precision where the entangled Gaussian state approaches an ideal Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen state. The presented results demonstrate the theoretical utility of rotated marginal distributions for elucidating the nature of two-particle visibility and provide tools for the development of quantum applications employing continuous variables.


Cigarette smoke exposure compromises health through damaging multiple physiological systems, including disrupting metabolic function. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of oral gingiva in mediating the deleterious metabolic effects of cigarette smoke exposure on skeletal muscle metabolic function. Using an in vitro conditioned medium cell model, skeletal muscle cells were incubated with medium from gingival cells treated with normal medium or medium containing suspended cigarette smoke extract (CSE). Following incubation of muscle cells with gingival cell conditioned medium, muscle cell mitochondrial respiration and insulin signaling and action were determined as an indication of overall muscle metabolic health. Skeletal muscle cells incubated with conditioned medium of CSE-treated gingival cells had a profound reduction in mitochondrial respiration and respiratory control. Furthermore, skeletal muscle cells had a greatly reduced response in insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation and glycogen synthesis. Altogether, these results provide a novel perspective on the mechanism whereby cigarette smoke affects systemic metabolic function. In conclusion, we found that oral gingival cells treated with CSE create an altered milieu that is sufficient to both disrupted skeletal muscle cell mitochondrial function and insulin sensitivity.


A technique is introduced to select poly-phase codes and optimal filters of a pulse compression system that have specific temporal and frequency characteristics. In the particular problem under study, multiple vehicles are assigned unique codes and receiver filters that have nearly orthogonal signatures. Narrowband users, that act as interference, are also present within the system. A code selection algorithm is used to select codes which have low autocorrelation sidelobes and low cross correlation peaks. Optimal mismatched filters are designed for these codes which minimize the peak values in the autocorrelation and the cross correlation functions. An adjustment to the filter design technique produces filters with nulls in their frequency response, in addition to having low correlation peaks. The method produces good codes and filters for a four-user system with length 34 four-phase codes. There is considerable improvement in cross and autocorrelation sidelobe levels over the matched filter case with only a slight decrease in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the system. The mismatched filter design also allows the design of frequency nulls at any frequency with arbitrary null attenuation, null width, and sidelobe level, at the cost of a slight decrease in processing gain. >


There is a lack of literature in management and cross cultural theories from a Swedish perspective. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine how the Swedish manager is perceived by employees in other cultures. The dissertation describes existing cultural theories such as Hofstede's' and Trompenaars'. It also describes leadership theories which can be connected to the Swedish manager's characteristics.The research data is collected by use of a web based questionnaire which were answered by employees in nine different countries, who have a Swedish manager. The analysis describes an indication of how employees in different countries perceive the Swedish manager. Further, it describes specific characteristics of the Swedish manager. The dissertation is concluded by a connection between our result and a modified version of "The cross cultural model of leadership", which explains the overall perception of the Swedish manager. The employees' perception of the Swedish manager does not differ significantly between the examined cultures. Still, the appreciation of the Swedish manager varies between the examined cultures. Further, we found the Swedish manager's attitude towards the prevalent culture to be more essential for the employees' perception than education and language skills.


ABSTRACT Background: It is well established that vitamin D levels are sub-optimal in the elderly and that adults with fragility fracture are more likely to have serum vitamin D levels either lower than those of control patients of similar age, or below the normal range. Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of vitamin D inadequacy in an elderly population with hip fractures from London (UK) and compare levels with data previously presented from Glasgow (UK). Research design and methods: A retrospective patient audit was carried out over a 17‐month period (September 2003–January 2005). Patient records were searched for hip fracture admissions and cross matched with vitamin D analysis carried out within 3 days of the hip fracture admission. The resulting records were hand searched to exclude patients with a hip fracture resulting from high impact/trauma. Results: There were data for 103 hip fracture patients, 79.6% of the patients were women (n = 82). The mean age at the time of fracture was 73.4 years, 100% were aged 60 years or over and 41% were aged 75 years or over. Around 20% of the patients were receiving supplementation with calcium and/or vitamin D and were not excluded from the analysis. The mean vitamin D level was 32.1 nmol/L (12.9 ng/mL), SD = 19.4 (7.8), however, it is likely that the true mean is lower since in approximately 15% of cases vitamin D levels were reported as < 12.5 nmol/L, but were transcribed at 12.5 nmol/L in order to allow a numerical value to be calculated. Ninety-nine per cent of patients had a vitamin D level < 80 nmol/L, 94.2% < 70 nmol/L and 81.6% < 50 nmol/L. There were no significant differences by patient age or sex, however, there were significant seasonal differences in vitamin D. In the year from September 2003 to August 2004, 82.8% of summer admissions had vitamin D levels < 70 nmol/L compared with 98.0% in winter ( p = 0.04). Mean vitamin D levels in the 30 patients with parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels above the reference range were significantly lower than levels in the 71 patients within the range: mean 19.9 nmol/L, SD = 16.2 versus mean 37.5 nmol/L, SD = 18.5 ( p < 0.0001). Furthermore, 50% of the patients with PTH levels above the reference range had vitamin D levels < 12.5 nmol/L, reflecting extremely low levels of vitamin D. Conclusions: This study confirms almost universal vitamin D inadequacy among 103 patients admitted to hospital with hip fracture in London, although the prevalence of inadequacy is slightly lower than that seen in a similar study carried out in Glasgow.


OBJECTIVE
To review the reported efficacy of various imaging techniques in assessing stability of the neck in blunt trauma patients, and to present the protocol and preliminary results of a modified traction test protocol.

DESIGN
This is a prospective cohort study.

SETTING
A regional trauma unit in Southern Ontario.

PATIENTS
People with blunt-trauma injuries who came to the author's consultant practice with "C-spine not cleared" status, from January 2001 through December 2003.

INTERVENTIONS
A fluoroscopically controlled test of axial traction followed by flexion/extension stressing.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Radiographic confirmation of the absence of pathological motion under load.

RESULTS
In 51 cases studied to date, no instabilities have been found. Four cases of minor ligamentous hypermobility have been detected, with stability confirmed and no surgery required. There have been no failures to depict the neck completely, no missed instabilities and no complications of the procedure.

CONCLUSIONS
Cervical stability can be reliably confirmed with this test without any requirement for advanced imaging technology.


Purpose Big data are indispensable in scientific endeavours ranging from nuclear research to climate studies. However, there is a growing misperception that congeries of data can be easily reconstructed into competitive business insights. Such notions have been encouraged by a plethora of mainstream techno-utopian forecasts.

Design/methodology/approach This paper investigated such claims and related big data developments, including its "systems-first" and oligopolistic orientations. Due to the paucity of current scholarship on an admittedly pessimistic topic, the paper studied contrarian developments in the industry by relying on secondary data. The study of experts and scholars; industrial trends; and discrepancies and critical gaps in the mainstream data narrative were sourced to prognosticate the likely trajectory of many data giants.

Findings A key finding was that the big data industry faces an untenable market bubble worth trillions of dollars. This will have severe consequences for common digital access and social stability worldwide. Evidence presented also suggests that the data industrial complex may undergo a function creep by facilitating a transition from surveillance capitalism to surveillance society.

Research limitations/implications Primary data for a study of this nature may take years to materialize. This is a "first-pass" study that seeks to illuminate latent dangers facing the big data/AI sector. There is a paucity of scholarly study that even remotely touches on this topic. Therefore, supporting arguments was sourced from contemporary reports and expert study (secondary data).

Practical implications As control of data may have geostrategic implications, balkanization of the wired ecosystem may be underway with Russia and China leading the way. Future superpowers may be defined by the way they handle data. The concentration of data in fewer hands may also affect citizen innovation.

Social implications A break-down of the data industrial complex may lead to social mayhem as the monetization of presently free software, blogs and social media platforms may be unfeasible.

Originality/value This topic has hardly been explored due to the novelty of big data, its applications and the daily hype over its potentials. This paper boldly describes dark countercurrents in the industry.


Microbes influence ecological processes, including the dynamics and health of macro-organisms and their interactions with other species. In coral reefs, microbes mediate negative effects of algae on corals when corals are in contact with algae. However, it is unknown whether these effects extend to larger spatial scales, such as at sites with high algal densities. We investigated how local algal contact and site-level macroalgal cover influenced coral microbial communities in a field study at two islands in French Polynesia, Mo'orea and Mangareva. At 5 sites at each island, we sampled prokaryotic microbial communities (microbiomes) associated with corals, macroalgae, turf algae and water, with coral samples taken from individuals that were isolated from or in contact with turf or macroalgae. Algal contact and macroalgal cover had antagonistic effects on coral microbiome alpha and beta diversity. Additionally, coral microbiomes shifted and became more similar to macroalgal microbiomes at sites with high macroalgal cover and with algal contact, although the microbial taxa that changed varied by island. Our results indicate that coral microbiomes can be affected by algae outside of the coral's immediate vicinity, and local- and site-level effects of algae can obscure each other's effects when both scales are not considered.


Is authenticity a characteristic that is truly valued and encouraged by managers and leaders in the workplace? What does it mean to be "authentic" at work today? Do people even want to bring their "whole self" to work? To better understand the concept of authenticity in the workplace, interviews were conducted with managers and non-managers in large organizations whose mission statements and core values overtly encourage employees to express their authentic selves. In particular, eleven semi-structured interviews with employees from organizations in diverse industries (e.g., financial services; pharmaceutical; residential/corporate moving and storage; energy) were conducted, transcribed, and manually coded and analyzed. Preliminary analysis revealed diverse definitions of work authenticity including, "keeping your word if you say you're going to do something"; "being your true self"; "showing emotion intelligently"; "not being filled with guile"; "being/behaving as much of yourself that you are willing to give without being someone else"; "no ambiguity and not willing to do anything outside of your values" among others--revealing a complex conceptual landscape. In addition, results indicated a limited range in which an employee can express authenticity (demarcated by self and other-imposed "thresholds") such that both individual and organizational factors contribute to one's ability and willingness to express authenticity at work. Specifically, organization's culture, relationship with one's manager, and perceptions that authenticity enhances work experience, professional growth and development, appear to affect employee authentic expression at work. This research offers a definition and an initial framework for understanding authenticity in the workplace that can spawn further research on this underexplored area of organizational behavior.


The skeletal muscle is a highly adaptable tissue and orchestrates many responses related to a healthy status. Sarcopenia, the age-related decline in muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical performance, has shown to affect up to 36.5% of adults aged ≥60 years. Currently, muscle strength has been considered as the primary indicator of sarcopenia. In this context, resistance training and its modalities have shown to improve the parameters of sarcopenia with positive impact on reducing the incidence of falls and fractures. The outcomes of resistance training are mediated primarily by an inversely proportional relationship between intensity and volume. Muscle strength gains seem to be more pronounced with higher intensity, whereas volume may be more effective in promoting muscle mass accrual. However, muscle strength improvement must increase physical performance to reflect significant clinical outcomes and adding exercise related to activities of daily living and aerobic training can be important tools in this process. In addition, resistance training associated with nutrition interventions can have additional effect on muscle mass accrual. In conclusion, adherence and safety of exercise training are important to the success of an exercise training program and depends on instruction by qualified professionals such as personal trainers and exercise physiologists.


In our paper, we study data form a telecollaborative project connecting trainee teachers of French as a Foreign Language (hereafter 'tutors') and learners of that language (hereafter 'learners'). In this telecollaborative project, inspired by Le francais en (premiere) ligne project (Develotte et al. 2005), students were in contact through different online environments: a Learning Management System (Moodle), a desktop videoconference environment (Adobe Connect) and a Social Networking Site (Facebook). Following a previous study, we aim at understanding how the same pedagogical regulations (Guichon, 2012) by the tutors are accomplished in different environments, in order to understand how they adapt to the three environments. In other words, our aim is to understand which affordances of CMCL (Lamy & Hampel, 2007) are exploited to structure learning activities. More specifically, we study the techno-semio-pedagogical competence (Guichon, 2012) as it is visible through pedagogical regulations, such as giving instructions or providing positive and negative feedback (Drissi & Guichon, 2008).
In our analysis, we operate a triangulation of sets of data: the pedagogical scenarios implemented in the Moodle course, the multimodal interactions within the three environments, tutors' reflective writings about their pedagogical actions, and semi-structured interviews with the tutors. For the implementation of the Moodle course, we deployed a multimodal discourse analysis (Herring, 2004) in order to understand which modalities were used in which way. For the online interactions, either asynchronous or synchronous, we drew on multimodal conversation analysis (Develotte et al., 2011). Finally, for the reflective writings and semi-structured interviews, we employed content analysis (Bardin, 1977).
A previous study focusing only on two tutors highlighted different results. Among them, we noted that those two tutors adapted their way to provide instructions making the most of the modalities available in the Moodle LMS (structure of the course, variation of format for written texts) or in Adobe Connect (with what we called 'more conversational' instructions). As for negative feedback, analysis showed, among others, that some way of providing feedback were not conscious. The present study deploys the same methodological setup on a wider corpus of analysis in order to find if previous findings are specific to those two tutors or if they have a more general range.


We consider minimal compact complex surfaces S with Betti numbers b 1 = 1 and n = b 2 0. A theorem of Donaldson gives n exceptional line bundles. We prove that if in a deformation, these line bundles have sections, S is a degeneration of blown-up Hopf surfaces. Besides, if there exists an integer m ≥ 1 and a flat line bundle F such that H 0 ( S,-mK ⊗ F ) ≠ 0, then S contains a Global Spherical Shell. We apply this last result to complete classification of bihermitian surfaces.


In this contribution the status of the FAZIA project is presented, with a particular focus on the first experiment (identified as ISO-FAZIA) after the R&D phase. In this experiment four complete FAZIA blocks in a fully operating configuration were used. They were mounted in a planar "belt" geometry, symmetrically positioned with respect to the beam axis, covering the polar angles between 2.5◦ and 17.4◦ degrees. The investigated systems were 84Kr + 48,40Ca at 35 AMeV. The main goal of the experiment was the study of the isospin transport phenomena, extending a previous analysis. This contribution will report on the isotopic identi- fication capability of the FAZIA detector as well as preliminary results concerning the average isospin of the quasi-projectile produced in semiperipheral collisions as a function of the isospin of the target.


OBJECTIVE
This study examined the vocational outcomes of young persons with early psychosis after their participation in an occupational therapy program, and identified clinical or process variables that are linked to the vocational outcomes.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 147 clients, aged between 15 and 25, with early psychosis or schizophrenia participated in this study.

METHODS
A retrospective review of case management plans and outcomes was conducted. A survey form was designed to record demographic and clinical variables, and a follow-up telephone interview was conducted to monitor the vocational status of clients during the first three months after discharge.

RESULTS
Although none of the clients had been engaged in work prior to participation in the programme, 53.7% could maintain a productive role in work (27.2%) or training/education (16.3%) in the three-month follow-up. Better mental condition and insight, stronger motivation for joining treatment, better social support, longer work history, and a shorter period of idleness before joining the programme, were significantly related to more favourable vocational outcomes. Older clients and those with more years of education were more likely to maintain a worker role. Parents were much more conservative about the future work plan than the clients themselves.

CONCLUSIONS
Symptom management, work habit training, enrichment of the work experience, building social support and cultivation of insight into illness were important strategies related to the successful adoption of a productive role.


The fast development of quantum technologies requires a new theoretical effort to characterize their performance in practical scenarios. By studying both discrete and continuous variable systems, we will explore several research lines, such as control theory, quantum metrology and non-Markovianity. The thread connecting these different fields will be an approach that attempts to determine the limits and the potentiality of quantum performance in the presence of noise and scarcity of resources. Indeed, the goal of this thesis is to investigate whether quantum features can enhance the performance of particular instances of quantum protocols, and, if this is the case, how this enhancement is affected when some restrictions on the practical implementation of these protocols are in place.


Terrorism defies democracy. It poses enormous challenges to a democratic state. Not all means available to fight terrorism are necessarily legal or justifiable and decisions taken might be inconsistent with democratic values. Combating terrorism demands the sensitive assessment of issues and striking a balance between the claims of national security on the one hand and the principles of human rights on the other. In October 2000 the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which many hoped was coming to an end, entered a new phase. Suicide bombings in Israel and curfews on the West Bank became routine. The new Intifada1 and Israeli military operations in Palestinian cities posed serious questions regarding the balance between the defense of human rights and the security needs of the state at a time of war. Is the collective punishment of an entire city legitimate? Is it permissible to destroy the homes of suicide bombers? What legal instruments, if any, should the Court use to review the actions of the security forces? Should the legal powers of the Israeli Defense Forces and of other bodies dealing with terrorism be increased? What should the scope of judicial intervention be when dealing with measures used against terrorism? This paper briefly reviews the most important security cases decided by Israel's Supreme Court between 2001 and 2002, as well as new legislation framing the authority and activities of the General Security Service. The aim of this paper is to present the reader with some of the problems Israel faces in its war against terrorism. In most cases, the Court stated that it would not intervene in operational military considerations. The cases presented focus on the potentially conflictual demands of the Court to recognize the state's obligation to protect its citizens on the one hand, while ensuring the constitutionality and legality of war on the other.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a truancy prevention program operated by a rural school district in southwest Virginia in reducing absenteeism and improving academic performance for students. The truancy prevention program consists of an early warning system by which school personnel and other professionals (known as the Truancy, Academic, Assistance, and Response Team or TAART) meet with students with frequent absences, poor academic performance, or behavioral problems. Referral to a truancy officer, who pursues legal action against chronically absent students and/or their parents, is a commonly used intervention, but other supportive measures are also utilized. Analysis using repeated measures t-tests indicated no observable impacts on student attendance or academics after participation in the TAART meetings at one-year follow-up or from last semester when data was available. Correlations using change scores did not yield significant relationships between absences, numerical grades, or number of TAART meetings attended.


Abstract. Regional landslide assessments and mapping have been effectively pursued by research institutions, national and local governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and different stakeholders for some time, and a wide range of methodologies and technologies have consequently been proposed. Land-use mapping and hazard event inventories are mostly created by remote-sensing data, subject to difficulties, such as accessibility and terrain, which need to be overcome. Likewise, landslide data acquisition for the field navigation can magnify the accuracy of databases and analysis. Open-source Web and mobile GIS tools can be used for improved ground-truthing of critical areas to improve the analysis of hazard patterns and triggering factors. This paper reviews the implementation and selected results of a secure mobile-map application called ROOMA (Rapid Offline–Online Mapping Application) for the rapid data collection of landslide hazard and risk. This prototype assists the quick creation of landslide inventory maps (LIMs) by collecting information on the type, feature, volume, date, and patterns of landslides using open-source Web-GIS technologies such as Leaflet maps, Cordova, GeoServer, PostgreSQL as the real DBMS (database management system), and PostGIS as its plug-in for spatial database management. This application comprises Leaflet maps coupled with satellite images as a base layer, drawing tools, geolocation (using GPS and the Internet), photo mapping, and event clustering. All the features and information are recorded into a GeoJSON text file in an offline version (Android) and subsequently uploaded to the online mode (using all browsers) with the availability of Internet. Finally, the events can be accessed and edited after approval by an administrator and then be visualized by the general public.


The paper examines the sociological reflections of individualization processes in Germany and the USA. In this comparison it appears that German sociology identifies a "dialectical individualization" whereas sociology in the US ascertains a "social individualization". It is elaborated that the actual cause for this difference (which is important for, but mostly ignored in the public-political discourse) is on the one hand the relative cultural inheritance, and on the other hand the developments of post World-War II. Thus, the example of individualization shows that sociological theory has to be more sensitive towards cultural idiosyncrasies and towards specific historical steps in development.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the physiologic responses and energy expenditure of active video gaming using Kinect for the Xbox 360.

DESIGN
Comparison study.

SETTING
Kirkby Sports College Centre for Learning, Liverpool, England.

PARTICIPANTS
Eighteen schoolchildren (10 boys and 8 girls) aged 11 to 15 years.

MAIN EXPOSURE
A comparison of a traditional sedentary video game and 2 Kinect activity-promoting video games, Dance Central and Kinect Sports Boxing, each played for 15 minutes. Physiologic responses and energy expenditure were measured using a metabolic analyzer.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Heart rate, oxygen uptake, and energy expenditure.

RESULTS
Heart rate, oxygen uptake, and energy expenditure were considerably higher (P < .05) during activity-promoting video game play compared with rest and sedentary video game play. The mean (SD) corresponding oxygen uptake values for the sedentary, dance, and boxing video games were 6.1 (1.3), 12.8 (3.3), and 17.7 (5.1) mL · min-1 · kg-1, respectively. Energy expenditures were 1.5 (0.3), 3.0 (1.0), and 4.4 (1.6) kcal · min-1, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Dance Central and Kinect Sports Boxing increased energy expenditure by 150% and 263%, respectively, above resting values and were 103% and 194% higher than traditional video gaming. This equates to an increased energy expenditure of up to 172 kcal · h-1 compared with traditional sedentary video game play. Played regularly, active gaming using Kinect for the Xbox 360 could prove to be an effective means for increasing physical activity and energy expenditure in children.


Abstract Standardized methods for collecting smoke and for measuring smoke components in heat not burn tobacco product (HTP) are yet to be established, and there is a lack of consensus as to whether the content of HTP cigarettes can be assayed in the same manner as for conventional cigarettes. Since HTPcigarettes do not generate ash when smoked, we compared the levels of tobacco alkaloids (TAs) and tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) of HTP cigarettes before and after aerosol generation. HTP cigarettes were smoked according to two international standardization methods. The TAs and TSNAs contents of the cigarettes were analyzed by UPLC-Q-TOF and UPLC-MSMS, respectively. Smoking was found to significantly decrease the content of nicotine, nornicotine, anatabine, and anabasine by 53 ∼ 100% in all samples, and the maximum inhalable amounts of these entities were determined to be 4.24 mg/cig, 103.52 μg/cig, 258.72 μg/cig, and 33.03 μg/cig, respectively. By contrast, smoking significantly increased the content of NNK and NAB. we suggested that the reduced nicotine content minus the nicotine content remaining in the filter is an amount that could potentially be inhaled during smoking. The increase of NNK and NAB in HTP cigarette after aerosol generation is expected to be caused by the precursor, but more specific behavioral studies should be performed.


The soil seed bank comprises all viable seeds in the soil. Seed banks have been defined as the collections of seeds that can remain dormant in the surface soil until their germination is triggered by an environmental change. Natural forests in the tropics have been and continue to be subjected to natural and human induced disturbances, which have resulted in their degradation or complete destruction. In places where the sites are left without further interference, the processes of succession that will ultimately lead to re-vegetation of the sites may be initiated. In such cases, soil seed banks serve as one of the major sources of plant re-growth. This study was conducted to document the species composition of soil seed banks in four different landuses and to make a comparison between them. Those are natural forest area in Sinharaja Forest Reserve towards Pitakele, Kekilla fernland, Pine plantations and tea lands in Pitakele village. Three sites from each landuse were randomly selected for the study and ten soil samples were randomly collected from ten different locations in each site and mixed to make a composite. The number of viable seeds in each soil sample was estimated through germination trials. A total of 1,673 seeds germinated from the soil seed banks of the 12 sites. Most of the tree species were observed in soil seed banks in natural forest and Pine plantations while seeds of herbaceous and graminoid species dominated the soil seed banks of the tea lands and Kekilla fernlands. Natural forest supported the lowest species diversity (Shannon index: H"1.37) in soil seed banks compared to other land uses. Pine lands (Shannon index: H"2.22) and Tea lands (Shannon index: H"1.58) had higher species diversity followed by Kekilla fernland (Shannon index: H"1.47). Keywords: Soil seed bank, Landuse pattern, Southwest lowlands


Background: Strengthening primary health care is critical to reducing health inequity between Indigenous and nonIndigenous Australians. The Audit and Best practice for Chronic Disease Extension (ABCDE) project has facilitated the implementation of modern Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) approaches in Indigenous community health care centres across Australia. The project demonstrated improvements in health centre systems, delivery of primary care services and in patient intermediate outcomes. It has also highlighted substantial variation in quality of care. Through a partnership between academic researchers, service providers and policy makers, we are now implementing a study which aims to 1) explore the factors associated with variation in clinical performance; 2) examine specific strategies that have been effective in improving primary care clinical performance; and 3) work with health service staff, management and policy makers to enhance the effective implementation of successful strategies. Methods/Design: The study will be conducted in Indigenous community health centres from at least six States/ Territories (Northern Territory, Western Australia, New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria) over a five year period. A research hub will be established in each region to support collection and reporting of quantitative and qualitative clinical and health centre system performance data, to investigate factors affecting variation in quality of care and to facilitate effective translation of research evidence into policy and practice. The project is supported by a web-based information system, providing automated analysis and reporting of clinical care performance to health centre staff and management. Discussion: By linking researchers directly to users of research (service providers, managers and policy makers), the partnership is well placed to generate new knowledge on effective strategies for improving the quality of primary health care and fostering effective and efficient exchange and use of data and information among service providers and policy makers to achieve evidence-based resource allocation, service planning, system development, and improvements of service delivery and Indigenous health outcomes.


In order to explore the dynamic characteristics of neural coding in the transmission of neural information in the brain, a model of neural network consisting of three neuronal populations is proposed in this paper using the theory of stochastic phase dynamics. Based on the model established, the neural phase synchronization motion and neural coding under spontaneous activity and stimulation are examined, for the case of varying network structure. Our analysis shows that, under the condition of spontaneous activity, the characteristics of phase neural coding are unrelated to the number of neurons participated in neural firing within the neuronal populations. The result of numerical simulation supports the existence of sparse coding within the brain, and verifies the crucial importance of the magnitudes of the coupling coefficients in neural information processing as well as the completely different information processing capability of neural information transmission in both serial and parallel couplings. The result also testifies that under external stimulation, the bigger the number of neurons in a neuronal population, the more the stimulation influences the phase synchronization motion and neural coding evolution in other neuronal populations. We verify numerically the experimental result in neurobiology that the reduction of the coupling coefficient between neuronal populations implies the enhancement of lateral inhibition function in neural networks, with the enhancement equivalent to depressing neuronal excitability threshold. Thus, the neuronal populations tend to have a stronger reaction under the same stimulation, and more neurons get excited, leading to more neurons participating in neural coding and phase synchronization motion.


Introduction: Cognitive decline is not a characteristic feature of multiple system atrophy (MSA), but recent evidence suggests cognitive impairment as an integral part of the disease. We aim to describe the cognitive profile and its progression in a cohort of patients with MSA. Methods: We retrospectively selected patients referred to our department with a clinical diagnosis of MSA who were evaluated at least once a year during the course of the disease and underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Results: At the first evaluation (T0), 37 out of 60 patients (62%) were cognitively impaired, mainly (76%) in attention and executive functioning. Thirteen patients were impaired in one cognitive domain and 24 in more than one cognitive domain. Six out of the 24 had dementia. Twenty patients underwent a follow-up evaluation (T1) after a mean of 16.6 ± 9.3 months from the first evaluation (T0). Eight out of 20 patients were cognitively normal at both T0 and T1. Seven out of 12 patients presented with stable cognitive impairment at T1, while cognitive decline progressed in five patients. Patients with progression in cognitive decline performed significantly worse at T0 than cognitively stable patients. Education was significantly different between patients with and without cognitive impairment. No other differences in demographic and clinical variables and autonomic or sleep disturbances were found. Patients with dementia were older at disease onset and at T0 and had lower education and disease duration at T0 compared to those in other groups. Conclusions: In patients with MSA, we observed three different cognitive profiles: normal cognition, stable selective attention-executive deficits, and progressive cognitive deficits evolving to dementia. The detection of cognitive impairment in patients with suspected MSA suggests the need for comprehensive and longitudinal neuropsychological evaluation.


Background: As part of a consistent effort to examine and provide integrative medical approaches to the therapeutic offering for psychophysical health, this study investigates the utilization of Olfactory Virtual Reality (OVR) in an inpatient psychiatry unit, more specifically in the Shepardson 3 Inpatient Psychiatry Unit at the University of Vermont Medical Center, in Burlington, VT, USA.
Objectives: The purpose of this protocol is to explore the therapeutic value of olfactory virtual reality (OVR) in the above described population, and to collect statistically significant data to determine the feasibility of potential future OVR studies.
Method: Direct subject observation and monitoring in the context of Olfactory Virtual Reality (OVR) sessions and Qualitative data collection via the administration of subject surveys, subdivided in: a) Pre-OVR experience, b) Immediate post-OVR experience, and c) 1-to-3-hour post-OVR experience questionnaires.
Results: The research yielded positive outcomes in all areas investigated, despite challenges related to the utilization of the device itself, issues in individual olfactory threshold, and COVID-19 restrictions and limitations.
 Conclusion: The outcome of this study indicates that the utilization of olfactory virtual reality technologies is a safe and effective integrative approach to target several aspects of psychological and physical health such as anxiety, stress, and pain, in combination with the psychotherapeutic and pharmacological standards of care in inpatient psychiatry.


In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a Leu(290)-to-Phe (L290F) substitution in the large subunit of ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco), which is coded by the chloroplast rbcL gene, was previously found to be suppressed by second-site Ala(222)-to-Thr and Val(262)-to-Leu substitutions. These substitutions complement the photosynthesis deficiency of the L290F mutant by restoring the decreased thermal stability, catalytic efficiency, and CO(2)/O(2) specificity of the mutant enzyme back to wild-type values. Because residues 222, 262, and 290 interact with the loop between beta strands A and B of the Rubisco small subunit, which is coded by RbcS1 and RbcS2 nuclear genes, it seemed possible that substitutions in this loop might also suppress L290F. A mutation in a nuclear gene, Rbc-1, was previously found to suppress the biochemical defects of the L290F enzyme at a posttranslational step, but the nature of this gene and its product remains unknown. In the present study, three nuclear-gene suppressors were found to be linked to each other but not to the Rbc-1 locus. DNA sequencing revealed that the RbcS2 genes of these suppressor strains have mutations that cause either Asn(54)-to-Ser or Ala(57)-to-Val substitutions in the small-subunit betaA/betaB loop. When present in otherwise wild-type cells, with or without the resident RbcS1 gene, the mutant small subunits improve the thermal stability of wild-type Rubisco. These results indicate that the betaA/betaB loop, which is unique to eukaryotic Rubisco, contributes to holoenzyme thermal stability, catalytic efficiency, and CO(2)/O(2) specificity. The small subunit may be a fruitful target for engineering improved Rubisco.


Background: For patients who have experienced adverse events following immunization (AEFI) or who have specific medical conditions, there is limited evidence regarding the best approach to immunization. The Special Immunization Clinics (SICs) Network was established to standardize patient management and assess outcomes after reimmunization. The study objective was to describe the first 2 years of the network's implementation. Methods: Twelve SICs were established across Canada by infectious diseases specialists and allergists. Inclusion criteria were as follows: local reaction ≥ 10 cm, allergic symptoms < 24 hours postimmunization, neurologic symptoms and other AEFI or medical conditions of concern. Eligible patients underwent a standardized evaluation, causality assessment was performed, immunization recommendations were made by expert physicians and patients were followed up to capture AEFI. After individual consent, data were transferred to a central database for analysis. Results: From June 2013 to May 2015, 151 patients were enrolled. Most were referred for prior AEFI (132/151, 87%): 42 (32%) for allergic-like reactions, 31 (23%) for injection-site reactions, 20 (15%) for neurologic symptoms and 39 (30%) for other systemic symptoms. Nineteen patients (13%) were seen for underlying conditions that complicated immunization. Reimmunization was recommended for 109 patients, 60 of whom (55%) were immunized and followed up. Eleven patients (18%) experienced recurrence of their AEFI; none were serious (eg, resulting in hospitalization, permanent disability or death). Conclusions: The most frequent reasons for referral to a SIC were allergic-like events and injection site reactions. Reimmunization was safe in most patients. Larger studies are needed to determine outcomes for specific types of AEFI.


The suction feeding mechanism of the bluegill sunfish, Lepomis macro-chirus, was studied in unrestrained fishes by the simultaneous recording of cranial muscle electromyograms, opercular cavity pressures, and opercular bone strain patterns. The electromyographic profile was similar to that of other advanced teleosts and consisted of preparatory, expansive, and compressive phases. The pectoral girdle remained nearly stationary during the strike. Opercular cavity pressures showed peak negative values of 145 cm H2O followed by a positive afterpressure of up to 50 cm H2O as water flowed out of the opercular chamber. Characteristic 'coughing' patterns showed an initial positive phase, followed by a negative phase, and then a final positive pressure pulse. Bone strain on the operculum was measured with rosette and single element strain gauges. Peak principal compression during the strike was 1800 μ6 and the peak strain rate was −615×103μe/s, more than ten times that previously recorded in vertebrate bone during normal activity. Opercular bone strain results from the rapid reduction of pressure in the opercular cavity which causes the operculum to deform medially and does not result from muscle activity. The observed strain pattern is consistent with a stress regime of bending and twisting moments applied to the operculum during feeding. Two prominent orthogonal bony struts on the medial opercular surface are hypothesized to resist these bending and twisting moments.


After more than a decade of fighting in Afghanistan, the United States and its allies are set to transfer security responsibilities to Afghan forces in 2014. This transition poses many challenges, and much will depend on the future of Afghan politics, governance, corruption, development, security, and economics. How the United States manages the transition is vital for any hopes of creating a secure Afghanistan, as well as preventing the reemergence of the Taliban and other terrorist groups. The Afghan War in 2013 honestly assesses the benefits, costs, and risks involved in transition. It is essential reading for an in-depth understanding of the complex forces and intricacies of the United States' role in Afghanistan and the difficulties involved in creating a stable Afghanistan in 2014 and beyond.


Oases in North Africa have undergone significant change over the past 30 years, contributing to the emergence of new issues and practices. Irrigated farms are increasingly developing outside of historical oases, in lands previously reserved for extensive livestock. This article is a contribution to the knowledge of these issues in the Toudgha Valley in south-eastern Morocco. Its objective is to analyse the heterogeneity of these expanding farms without limiting the issues to a model of land grabbing by large investors. Based on a qualitative survey of 49 farms, our results show that there are three types of farms. The first is a small farms where people move to look for housing and new work opportunities at other farms. The second is a medium farms where farmers seek to reproduce three-layered crop production and have more land than in historical oases. The last type is a large farms where investors settle and intensify their production. This typology, far from being fixed, allows us to reflect on the dynamics of these extensions.