In the aftermath following the Asian financial crisis, the World Bank prescribed regulatory reforms as a remedy for weak financial fundamentals. These reforms reflect the claims of the strong form legal origins hypothesis that countries with common law legal traditions have stronger investor protection laws and better financial outcomes than countries of civil law origin. This paper seeks to test the legal origins hypothesis through an examination of the evolution of Malaysian shareholder protection from 1965 to 2010. Comparison with six other countries in the time series studies indicates that Malaysia had the highest growth in formal shareholder protection. Persistent borrowing from the regulations of other common law countries suggests that inherited legal tradition has, to an extent, influenced the evolution of Malaysian shareholder protection. The influence of other common law countries' regulations is explained by institutional complementarities, supporting the claims of the weak form legal origins hypothesis.


The purpose of the present study was to synthesize and characterize novel thiolated polymers mediated by carbodiimide. Cysteine was covalently linked to sodium carboxymethyl starch (CMS) and carboxymethyl guar gum (CMG). Depending on the weight-ratio polymer to cysteine during the coupling reaction, the resulting CMGCysteine conjugates displayed 80% ± 2.6 thiol groups per gm of polymer were as CMS-Cysteine conjugates displayed 78% ± 2.1. (mean ± S.D.; n=3).In aqueous solution above pH 6.0 polymers were capable of forming interand/ or intra-molecular disulfide bonds. Mucoadhesion studies carried out on freshly excised sheep intestinal mucosa. The CMS-Cysteine displayed less mucoadhesion where as CMG-Cysteine conjugate were displayed increased mucoadhesion. The swelling behaviour of the CMS-Cysteine conjugate was influenced by the covalent attachment of the sulfhydryl compound. In contrast the swelling behaviour of CMG-Cysteine was not influenced by the immobilisation of cysteine. Furthermore, in aqueous solutions the cumulative % drug release time of tablet based on the CMG-Cysteine was prolonged 1.5 fold as compared to tablet containing CMS-Cysteine conjugate. Due to a high crosslinking tendency by the formation of disulfide bonds stabilizing drug carrier systems based on thiolated polymers and permeation enhancing effect, CMG-Cysteine conjugates represent promising excipients for the development of novel drug delivery system.


PURPOSE
To evaluate whether wound healing of the corneal epithelium at the flap margin influences development of diffuse lamellar keratitis (DLK) after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK).

METHODS
We examined prospectively 1928 eyes of 994 patients after LASIK. Condition of wound healing at the flap margin 1 day after LASIK was graded as gutter score from 0 to 3, according to the extent of fluorescein staining. Existence of DLK, gutter score, and the location of DLK and gutter were evaluated.

RESULTS
Sixty-eight eyes (3.5%) developed DLK. The average gutter score was significantly higher in patients with DLK compared to those without DLK (P<.001). The location of DLK was identical to the location of gutter in 44 eyes (77.2%).

CONCLUSION
Disruption of integrity of the epithelial barrier function at the flap margin was associcated with diffuse lamellar keratitis after laser in situ keratomileusis.


Using the exact isomorphism between multifluid plasma theory and classical electromagnetism, we apply the theorems and techniques of spacetime algebra to the multifluid equations of a plasma in order to present a new formulation in a compact and elegant way. A set of Maxwell equations for a plasma is combined into a single equation similar to their counterparts in electromagnetism, linear gravitation and fluid mechanics. The presented formulation also proposes a useful method for the generalization of the plasma wave equation.


This article examines the current stage of WTO negotiations on agriculture and discusses the power structure in major players in the negotiations. The difficulty to reach agreement in WTO leads many counties to FTA for further liberalization in trade. But agricultural sector tends to be a stumbling block there also. To discuss agricultural issues in FTA three countries of China, Japan and Korea are selected for an example of a multiple country FTA in Asia. Examined are how agricultural should be treated and possibility of substantially including agricultural sector in China-Japan-Korea FTA. Despite the difficulties, agricultural sector should be included in the list of tariff reductions for the C-J-K FTA. It is a good opportunity for reforming agricultural sector to be viable in international competition toward the total globalization. It is no doubt that the direction of world agricultural trade is toward freer trade. FTA is a good step for that and provides preparation for a global integration of agricultural trade. It may be desirable to establish an international forum, particularly among Asian countries, to discuss important agricultural issues in the region. This forum should consider not only agricultural tariff reductions, but also sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures that might be addressed in working toward a broader FTA in Asia. In organizing such a forum that shall be called "Agricultural Partnership in Asia" for wider cooperation of agricultural policy and agricultural resource management in Asia, China, Japan and Korea should take a strong leadership and make substantial steps toward the domestic agricultural reforms as well. It may lead the region to establishing an Asian type of Common Agricultural Policy in the future.


Repeated exposures to psychological stress can lead to or worsen diseases of slow accumulation such as heart diseases and cancer. The main challenge in addressing the growing epidemic of stress is a lack of robust methods to measure a person's exposure to stress in the natural environment. Periodic self-reports collect only subjective aspects, often miss stress episodes, and impose significant burden on subjects. Physiological sensors provide objective and continuous measures of stress response, but exhibit wide between-person differences and are easily confounded by daily activities (e.g., speaking, physical movements, coffee intake, etc.). In this paper, we propose, train, and test two models for continuous prediction of stress from physiological measurements captured by unobtrusive, wearable sensors. The first model is a physiological classifier that predicts whether changes in physiology represent stress. Since the effect of stress may persist in the mind longer than its acute effect on physiology, we propose a perceived stress model to predict perception of stress. It uses the output of the physiological classifier to model the accumulation and gradual decay of stress in the mind. To account for wide between-person differences, both models self-calibrate to each subject. Both models were trained using data collected from 21 subjects in a lab study, where they were exposed to cognitive, physical, and social stressors representative of that experienced in the natural environment. Our physiological classifier achieves 90% accuracy and our perceived stress model achieves a median correlation of 0.72 with self-reported rating. We also evaluate the perceived stress model on data collected from 17 participants in a two-day field study, and find that the average rating of stress obtained from our model has a correlation of 0.71 with that obtained from periodic self-reports.


In Community-Driven Regulation Dara O'Rourke proposes a new policy model for pollution control, based on detailed case studies from rapidly industrializing Vietnam. He shows that environmental problems can be solved when affected community groups mobilize to pressure both state and industry and argues that this strategy, which he terms "community-driven regulation," used successfully in Vietnam, can achieve similar success in other countries.Vietnam's recent entry into the world economy has brought many benefits to its population--more jobs, higher income levels, more plentiful goods and services. But this very rapid growth of industry has also brought predictable environmental problems. Areas near industrial plants experience declining crop yields and polluted groundwater; residents downwind from factories suffer respiratory ailments. Vietnam thus serves as a model for nations dealing with environmental problems during the transition to an industrialized economy and global integration.O 'Rourke offers six detailed case studies, based on his own fieldwork in Vietnam, that show how strategies adopted by local communities achieved positive results despite a strong state bias toward development and the absence of existing advocacy groups, a free press, or politically vulnerable elected officials. The firms studied are both state-run and multinational; they include a Taiwanese textile factory, a state-owned fertilizer plant, and a Korean factory producing shoes for Nike. The communities affected range from traditional villages to urban neighborhoods. O'Rourke's policy model of community-state synergy challenges traditional notions of state-centric environmental regulation and questions the growing literature that identifies market mechanisms as the best way to solve environmental problems in developing countries.


Paleobiology
Preservation of the tissues of Earth's earliest animals—those that were present before and during the Cambrian explosion—required a lot of luck. According to new isotope data from Conotubus hemiannulatus fossils from Shaanxi Province, China, that luck was a function mostly of microbial activity. Schiffbauer et al. show that decaying carbon-rich animals are preserved typically either by being replaced three-dimensionally by pyrite crystals or compressed as carbonaceous films. Sedimentation rate ultimately controlled whether and for how long animal tissues were exposed to zones of bacterial sulfate reduction or methanogenesis within the sediment and thus their preservational style.

Nat. Commun. 10.1038/ncomms6754 (2014).


BACKGROUND
Recent recommendations urge increased depression screening in pregnant and postpartum women, potentially increasing demand for treatment. Computer-based psychotherapy treatments may address some of perinatal women's unique mental health treatment needs and barriers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We conducted a quantitative survey of pregnant women (≥12 weeks of gestation) on preferences regarding computer-based therapies compared with traditional therapies (psychotherapy and medication). Nonpregnant women and men served as comparison groups. Participants were provided descriptions of three computer-based therapies: video telehealth therapy (VTT), computer-assisted therapy (CAT), and self-guided online therapy (SGO). Participants were asked to select all options that they would consider for treatment as well as first choice preference. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) assessed current depressive symptomatology, and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) assessed psychiatric history.

RESULTS
Participants included pregnant females (n = 111), nonpregnant females (n = 147), and males (n = 54). Among pregnant women, 77.5% (n = 86) indicated that they would consider some form of computer-based therapy for mental health treatment during pregnancy; VTT was the most commonly considered, followed by CAT and SGO. When asked to select their preferred intervention, traditional talk therapy was the first choice among all three groups, controlling for treatment history and PHQ-9 score. About one-third of pregnant women chose some form of computer-based therapy as their top choice.

CONCLUSIONS
While computer-based therapies were acceptable to most pregnant women in this sample, traditional talk therapy was the preferred option. Future research should consider how to tailor computer-based therapies to the unique needs of perinatal women.


Background
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the major pathogens in Iran with a high prevalence and a high level of antibiotic resistance. Ceftaroline is a fifth generation cephalosporin binding and inhibiting penicillin binding protein (PBP2a).

Methods
In the present study, 228 clinical MRSA isolates were collected from four cities of Iran and their susceptibility to ceftaroline was evaluated by E-test and the disk diffusion method.

Results
Our results showed a high susceptibility rate (97.3%) to ceftaroline in MRSA strains from Iran. Six isolates were found to be ceftaroline non-susceptible (CPT-NS) with Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ≥2 µg/mL. All CPT-NS isolates were isolated from blood and tracheal aspirate and belonged to SCCmec type III as well as agr type I and were all susceptible to vancomycin. Out of six isolates, three, two and one belonged to spa type t030, t4864, and t969, respectively. Vancomycin, quinupristin/dalfopristin, linezolid, chloramphenicol, and tigecycline were the most active agents against CPT-NS isolates.

Conclusion
Due to the broad-spectrum activity and low toxicity of ceftaroline as well as the increased rate of vancomycin resistance among MRSA strains in recent years, ceftaroline can be considered as a novel approach to treat MRSA-induced infections.


Of the 23 cases of renal artery embolectomy reported in the literature, the operation was successful in 13, and to this group we have added two cases of our own. The acute onset of flank pain in a patient with heart disease of a type associated with embolism should strongly suggest the diagnosis of renal artery embolism. Laboratory studies are of little aid in diagnosis. Renal arteriography is the most important study, as it both confirms the diagnosis and accurately locates the embolus, allowing the surgeon to decide whether operation is indicated. Arteriography should be done as soon as intravenous pyelography has confirmed renal dysfunction. Early diagnosis and prompt operation will undoubtedly result in salvage of kidneys which are now being lost.


This paper reports a dual-mode film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) device combined with Au/Cr layer to construct a liquid sensor. In order to obtain a liquid sensor with high sensitivity, the dual-mode FBAR with piezoelectric layer of ZnO thin film has been investigated. The dual-mode characteristics of FBAR appeared by off-axis deposition of ZnO thin film with the RF magnetron sputtering. The top and bottom electrodes consisted of a titanium (Ti) and a platinum (Pt) layers were deposited by dual-gun DC sputtering system. Owing to the chemical stability, the Pt layer is not only a perfect bottom electrode but also an etching stop layer. The gold layer (Au) is adopted for the formation of sensory area. In order to improve the adhesion between the Au layer and the Pt layer, a chromium (Cr) layer was deposited onto the backside cavity of the FBAR device before the Au layer was deposited by a DC sputter. The Au/Cr layer is used as the binding layer with analytes of DI water because of its hydrophile. The frequency response is measured using an HP8720 network analyzer and a CASCADE probe station. The resonant frequencies of longitude and shear modes in air appear at 2262.5 MHz and 1012.5MHz, whereas the resonant frequencies of longitude and shear modes in DI water are 2062.5 MHz and 955MHz, respectively.


The shape memory composite (SMC) with shape memory alloy (SMA) and shape memory polymer (SMP) was fabricated, and the two-way bending deformation and recovery force were investigated. The results obtained can be summarized as follows. (1) Two kinds of SMA tapes which show the shape memory effect and superelasticity were heat-treated to memorize the round shape, respectively. The shape-memorized round SMA tapes were sandwiched between the SMP sheets, and the SMC belt was fabricated. (2) The two-way bending deformation with an angle of 56 degrees is observed during heating and cooling. (3) If the SMC belt is heated and cooled by keeping the form, recovery force increases during heating and decreases during cooling.


Our current understanding of guard cell signaling pathways is derived from studies in a small number of model species. The ability to study stomatal responses in isolated epidermis has been an important factor in elucidating the mechanisms by which the stomata of these species respond to environmental stresses. However, such approaches have rarely been applied to study guard cell signaling in the stomata of graminaceous species (including many of the world's major crops), in which the guard cells have a markedly different morphology to those in other plants. Our understanding of guard cell signaling in these important species is therefore much more limited. Here, we describe a procedure for the isolation of abaxial epidermal peels from barley, wheat and Brachypodium distachyon. We show that isolated epidermis from these species contains viable guard cells that exhibit typical responses to abscisic acid (ABA) and CO2, as determined by measurements of stomatal apertures. We use the epidermal peel assay technique to investigate in more detail interactions between different environmental factors in barley guard cells, and demonstrate that stomatal closure in response to external CO2 is inhibited at higher temperatures, whilst sensitivity to ABA is enhanced at 30°C compared to 20 and 40°C.


This thesis looks at the current state of digital reproductions for contemporary photographic artworks—how they are made, the purposes they serve, and how they are disseminated by cultural institutions. Using four selected photographic installation artworks by Canadian artist Michael Snow, this research examines how museums pursue reproductions of artworks that are installative by design and possess elements that are not easily reproducible like sound or the use of time. The reproduction process and terminology used at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada (two institutions with significant collections of Snow's artworks) are both examined, as well as how digital reproduction is currently discussed and theorized by museum professionals and digital specialists. Reproductions are used for outreach, research, advertising, and conservation, but between texts and institutions alike there lacks consistent terminologies and purposes for reproductions due to the dearth of research into this type of imagery.


Accurately quantifying water inundation dynamics in terms of both spatial distributions and temporal variability is essential for water resources management. Currently, the water map is usually derived from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data with the support of auxiliary datasets, using thresholding methods and followed by morphological operations to further refine the results. However, auxiliary datasets may lose efficacy on large plain areas, whilst the parameters of morphological operations are hard to be decided in different situations. Here, a heuristic and automatic water extraction (HAWE) method is proposed to extract the water map from Sentinel-1 SAR data. In the HAWE, we integrate tile-based thresholding and the active contour model, in which the former provides a convincing initial water map used as a heuristic input, and the latter refines the initial map by using image gradient information. The proposed approach was tested on the Dongting Lake plain (China) by comparing the extracted water map with the reference data derived from the Sentinel-2 dataset. For the two selected test sites, the overall accuracy of water classification is between 94.90% and 97.21% whilst the Kappa coefficient is within the range of 0.89 and 0.94. For the entire study area, the overall accuracy is between 94.32% and 96.7% and the Kappa coefficient ranges from 0.80 to 0.90. The results show that the proposed method is capable of extracting water inundations with satisfying accuracy.


Oral disintegrating tablet (ODT) is the highly accepted oral drug delivery system due to its patient compliance. Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience usually treated with an analgesic. As the rapid onset of action is desirable with analgesic drugs, the present research work was attempted to develop individual and combination ODTs of lornoxicam (LX) and paracetamol (PCM). Bitterness of PCM was masked by co-grinding with Eudragit EPO whereas the taste of LX was masked either by forming inclusion complex with betacyclodextrin induced circular dichroism or by solid dispersion with Eudragit E100. ODTs were prepared by direct compression method using croscarmellose sodium, crospovidone and low substituted hydroxy propyl cellulose as disintegrants. In vitro drug release studies of ODTs were performed in simulated salivary fluid, 0.1 N HCl and modified dissolution media. Selected formulations were assessed for in vivo disintegration time and taste masking in healthy human volunteers. The optimized formulation was characterized by differential scanning calorimetry and by powder X-ray diffraction. As indicated by the above findings, the goal of the present study of developing a patient friendly, taste-masked, rapid pain relieving formulations amenable to large scale manufacture has been successfully achieved.


Ontology-based knowledge driven Activity Recognition (AR) models play a vital role in realm of Internet of Things (IoTs). However, these models suffer the shortcomings of static nature, inability of self-evolution and lack of adaptivity. Also, AR models cannot be made comprehensive enough to cater all the activities and smart home inhabitants may not be restricted to only those activities contained in AR model. So, AR models may not rightly recognize or infer new activities. In this paper, a framework has been proposed for dynamically capturing the new knowledge from activity patterns to evolve behavioural changes in AR model (i.e. ontology based model). This ontology based framework adapts by learning the specialized and extended activities from existing user-performed activity patterns. Moreover, it can identify new activity patterns previously unknown in AR model, adapt the new properties in existing activity models and enrich ontology model by capturing change representation to enrich ontology model. The proposed framework has been evaluated comprehensively over the metrics of accuracy, statistical heuristics and Kappa Coefficient. A well-known dataset named DAMSH has been used for having an empirical insight to the effectiveness of proposed framework that shows a significant level of accuracy for AR models

This paper is a postprint of a paper submitted to and accepted for publication in IET Wireless Sensor Systems and is subject to Institution of Engineering and Technology Copyright. The copy of record is available at the IET Digital Library


Background and Purpose This study aimed was to measure the quality of life, fatigue, stress, and depression in a consecutive sample of caregivers of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Methods We included data from 131 consecutive caregivers of MS patients [age=51.2±12.8 years (mean±SD), males=53.4%, duration of caregiving=10.0±6.3 years]. We assessed the quality of life, fatigue, stress, and depression of the caregivers using the 36-item Short Form Health Survey, Krupp Fatigue Severity Scale, Kingston Caregiver Stress Scale, and Hamilton Scale for Depression, respectively. The disability status of the patients was assessed using the Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale. We used linear regression models to identify possible correlations between all of the aforementioned scales, while multivariable logistic regression models were employed to assess the correlations of caregiver fatigue with caregiver characteristics and patient disability. Results The linear regression analyses revealed that caregiver fatigue was positively associated with stress and negatively correlated with both physical health status and mental health status. Caregiver stress was positively associated with depression and negatively correlated with both physical health status and mental health status. Depression was negatively correlated with both caregiver physical health status and mental health status. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, caregiver fatigue was found to be independently associated with education status [odds ratio (OR)=0.61, 95% CI=0.37 to 0.99], history of chronic disease (OR=5.52, 95% CI=1.48 to 20.55), other chronic diseases in the family (OR=7.48, 95% CI=1.49 to 37.47), and the disability status of the patient (OR=1.36, 95% CI=1.03 to 1.80). Conclusions Fatigue, stress, and depression in caregivers of MS patients are negatively correlated with their physical health status and mental health status. Caregiver fatigue is independently associated with education status, history of chronic disease, other chronic disease in the family, and patient disability.


The dimensioning of pressure relief devices (PRD) for cryogenic pressure equipment requires knowledge on the heat input at the maximum credible incident. In helium cryostats, this situation is typically defined by the loss of insulating vacuum (LIV), where the heat load is induced by desublimation and condensation of atmospheric air on the cryogenic surface. This surface is often covered with multi-layer insulation (MLI) in order to reduce the thermal radiation heat load in standard operation. During loss of insulating vacuum, the MLI represents a diffusive barrier for the air to reach the cryogenic surface, reducing the heat flux as well. Experimental reference data for the heat flux in case of LIV exist mainly for blank surfaces; only few data are published for MLI-covered helium surfaces. Therefore, the effect has been investigated in the cryogenic safety test facility PICARD at KIT. This paper presents the results of venting experiments carried out with different numbers of layers and different types of MLI.


: The library of genes was obtained from erythroleukemic AKR cells (C-1), that were maintained as suspension culture. Thirty four clones that had homology with 60-70S RNA of Rauscher Leukemia virus (RLV) were separated from this library. The restriction mapping was carried out with 14 clones, that contained most extensive proviral sequences. One clone (107) contains proviral sequences that are derived from one of the components of the RLV complex. The other 13 clones contain sequences of endogenous xenotropic viruses. The endogenous retroviral sequences obtained differ in restrictive maps from proviruses of ecotropic and xenotropic infectious endogenous MuLV and, apparently, might be attributed as non-inducible infectious xenotropic MuLV of class III. Some of the cloned retroviral sequences had symmetrical structure, that is typical for integrated proviruses, i. e. these sequences were separated from flanking cellular ones by long terminal repeats. All investigated retroviral sequences are deletion mutants of MuLV proviruses. It was shown that the inner regions of proviruses diverged more than the long terminal repeats. The expression of the main inner MuLV polypeptide (p30) was detected in NIH 3T3 cells, transfected with DNA of some clones.


This paper investigates the problem of sharing the secret document containing a secret data between leader and participant(s) depending on specific conditions and rules. The participant(s) can retrieve part of the secret document but will not be able to retrieve any secret data without the leader. At the same time, the leader may have a little information about the secret document but cannot retrieve the secret data and the secret document without cooperating with participant(s). To evaluate the proposed model and the system efficiency, four tests are suggested, which are concatenation and sharing data test, leader visual test, information entropy analysis, and correlation analysis. Results show that the proposed model is efficient in sharing the data between the leader and participant(s) and the model can achieve our concept of the data sharing between leader and participant(s). However, by analyzing the proposed model using numerical tests and visual tests, the results show that the visual tests will not give attackers useful information about the original data, while the numerical tests show that the entropy attacks are not possible and the correlation between the adjacent pixels will not give useful information. Finally, the results show that the proposed model is strong against different types of attacks.


An expanded steel pipe pile increases the cross-sectional area of conventional micropile by expanding the steel pipe to exhibit a higher bearing capacity owing to increased frictional resistance. However, construction cases of the expanded steel pipe pile are insufficient due to the absence of equipment for expanding steel pipes inside the ground. In this study, hydraulic expansion equipment was developed to verify the reinforcing impact on the bearing capacity and field applicability of the expanded steel pipe pile. A series of laboratory and test bed experiments was conducted to measure the expansion time and deformation of carbon steel pipes by using the developed equipment. The results of these experiments demonstrated that the developed equipment has sufficient ability and constructability to be used in the field for constructing expanded steel pipe piles. Then, field load tests were performed by constructing expanded and conventional steel pipe piles to confirm the improved bearing capacity of the expanded steel pipe pile compared to that of the conventional micropile. As a result, the expanded steel pipe pile exhibited a 20.88% increase in bearing capacity compared to that of the conventional steel pipe pile.


Feston, James C. M.S, Purdue University, December 2015. The effects of ozone gas on the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.). Major Professors: Linda Mason and Ameya D. Gondhalekar. Ozone gas is a strong oxidizing agent that is a naturally occurring component of the stratosphere. It can be easily synthesized and is used for a variety purposes including odor and microbial remediation. This study explores the effects of ozone on the common bed bug Cimex lectularius L. Ozone gas has previously been employed for control of insects in stored grain situations. Its potential as a management option for bed bug infestations has been proposed anecdotally on-line. However, reports on the efficacy of ozone are not present. The primary advantage of ozone as an insect treatment is the ability to be produced on-site and applied as a gas with no residual concerns and/or chemical disposal issues. However, the concentrations and exposure time required for mortality in bed bugs, as well as the effects of sub-lethal ozone exposure in insects in general, are poorly understood. This research explored the use and sub-lethal impacts of ozone in several ways by: (i) determining the ozone concentration and exposure time in the form of a concentration-time equation (CT expressed in ppm-min) required to achieve >95% mortality in bed bugs held in a bench-top chamber (ii) determining antioxidant enzyme activities by assay for the specific activity of 4 known antioxidant enzymes: Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Glutathione transferase (GST), Glutathione peroxidase (GPx), Catalase (CAT) (iii) determining the baseline electrical activity of the central nervous system using electrophysiological recording equipment. The results of each of these sections showed that: (i) the CT99 for adult bed bugs was 418,301ppm-min while the CT99 for nymphs was calculated at 294,212ppm-min. Eggs were least susceptible with a CT99 of 2,323,093 ppm-min


We have identified a variety of proteins in species of the Legionella, Aeromonas, Pseudomonas, Vibrio, Nitrosomonas, Nitrosospira, Variovorax, Halomonas, and Rhizobia genera, which feature repetitive modules of different length and composition, invariably ending at the COOH side with Asp-Asp-x-Pro (DDxP) motifs. DDxP proteins range in size from 900 to 6200 aa (amino acids), and contain 1 to 5 different module types, present in one or multiple copies. We hypothesize that DDxP proteins were modeled by the action of specific endonucleases inserting DNA segments into genes encoding DDxP motifs. Target site duplications (TSDs) formed upon repair of staggered ends generated by endonuclease cleavage would explain the DDxP motifs at repeat ends. TSDs acted eventually as targets for the insertion of more modules of the same or different types. Repeat clusters plausibly resulted from amplification of both repeat and flanking TSDs. The proposed growth shown by the insertion model is supported by the identification of homologous proteins lacking repeats in Pseudomonas and Rhizobium. The 85 DDxP repeats identified in this work vary in length, and can be sorted into short (136-215 aa) and long (243-304 aa) types. Conserved Asp-Gly-Asp-Gly-Asp motifs are located 11-19 aa from the terminal DDxP motifs in all repeats, and far upstream in most long repeats.


Some types of air pollutants from motor vehicle exhaust gases are carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx), hydrocarbons (HC), and others. The increase in the number of motorized vehicles will have a direct impact on the increasing concentration of CO exhaust emissions in the air. This study aims to determine the level of CO gas in the air on the road in Ambon City. The type of research used is descriptive. The sampling location was on the road of Jenderal Sudirman which is one of the main roads in Ambon City which often experiences congestion due to the dense flow of motorized vehicles, especially during the daytime. Measuring CO was done at one point with measurements twice with the duration of sampling for one hour. The results of the examination of CO levels in the air showed that CO levels were low in the morning at 5750 µg / Nm3. While CO levels during the day increased to 8900 µg / Nm3. Based on the results of measurements of CO levels on Jalan Jenderal Sudirman, Sirimau District, Ambon City, it was stated that they met the requirements based on Government Regulation No. 41 of 1999 CO levels in the air with a duration of measurement for 1 hour, amounting <30,000 µg / Nm3. From the results of the research conducted suggested that one of them is the Department of Hygiene and Parks can carry out reforestation in the area of the road body to maintain CO levels that do not pass through the predetermined of  Maximum Allowable Concentration (MAC).

Keywords: CO levels, air quality, air quality in Ambon City


In drinking water supplies, arsenic exists mostly as two inorganic forms, arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] which are toxic to living organisms . According to WHO recommendations, the drinking water standard was reduced from 50 to 10 µg/L and many regulatory agencies have recently accepted this new standard. Most of the existing treatment processes are effective only on arsenic anionic forms [As(V)] and not on neutral and mobile arsenic complexes. To overcome this lack of efficiency, a first oxidation step of As(III) form is necessary and is usually performed using strong oxidant or binding materials that are costly for small drinking water treatment units. An alternative to theses physico-chemical treatments is the biological treatment using As(III)-oxidising bacteria. Numerous autotrophic bacteria are able to oxidise arsenic. Among them, Thiomonas arsenivorans [4-6] is able to oxidise As(III) up to 100 mg As(III)/L and appears to be a good candidate for its known capacity to use As(III) as an energy source and carbon dioxide or carbonates as carbon source. An As(III)-oxidizing biological treatment pilot unit coupled to trapping units for As(V) removal at the outflow of the biological bioreactor was performed on site in order to study the strength of the biological process in real operating conditions. The bioreactor was previously inoculated with the autotrophic As(III)-oxidizing Thiomonas arsenivorans. Then, it has been intermittently fed with contaminated water from the drinking water well, at site temperature (15-17°C) and under downstream mode. As(III)-oxidizing biofilm development has been followed during the pilot functioning using CE-SSCP-16S (targeting the global community) and PCR-DGGE-aoxB (targeting As(III) oxidizers) fingerprinting techniques. Results showed a complete colonization of the mineral support (i.e. pozzolana) by indigenous bacteria of the groundwater to be treated. Moreover, the oxidation yield of the biological step was in the range of 54 to 100 % depending on the residence time (from 30 to 7 minutes) and the residual As concentration at the end of the complete treatment process (biological oxidation and trapping) was below 2 µg As/L. These results are thus very encouraging for an industrial application in regard to the strength and its absence of nutrients supply, except for the low amount of oxygen needed if it is not in sufficient concentration in the site water. .


This study investigated the effect of additional moisture and/or alkalinity on the rate of anaerobic digestion in samples of material obtained from pit latrines. In modified serum bottle tests it was shown that poor gas production rates were observed from all experiments with material collected at the lower part of one pit. Using material from the top layer of a second pit it was shown that experimental bottles produced significant amounts of gas with both the addition of water and the addition of alkalinity. The results supports the motivating hypotheses that moisture content and pH buffering capacity obtained in VIP material are low and may be limiting factors in the rate of stabilisation that may occur in these pits. This implies that increasing the moisture content and alkalinity in the pit has the potential to increase stabilisation rate in the pit when the material is not already well-stabilised.


Objective: The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of probiotics on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective, interventional single-blind, randomized study; a total of 80 T2DM patients were randomized as single blinded into two groups: interventional group consuming pre and probiotic capsules and control group consuming placebo capsules capsules; the study was conducted for a duration of 3 months, and the readings were recorded at 0, 6, and 12 weeks from all participants for the analysis of HRQOL. Results: Seventy-five participants out of 80 completed the study. Glucose markers such as fasting blood sugar (P = 0.42), postprandial blood sugar (P = 0.60), homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (P = 0.20), and serum insulin (P = 0.22) had shown beneficial effect on HRQOL of the T2DM patients. The influence of gender on HRQOL was not noteworthy (P = 0.68), whereas age had shown significant influence on HRQOL of the patients (P = 0.02) with the use of probiotics. Conclusion: The results of study had shown important improvement in HRQOL of the T2DM patients with the use of probiotics in the interventional group compared to the control group.


With today's world torn by violence and conflict, Richard B. Miller's study of the ethics of war could not be more timely. Miller brings together the opposed traditions of pacifism and just-war theory and puts them into a much-needed dialogue on the ethics of war. Beginning with the duty of nonviolence as a point of convergence between the two rival traditions, Miller provides an opportunity for pacifists and just-war theorists to refine their views in a dialectical exchange over a set of ethical and social questions. From the interface of these two long- standing and seemingly incompatible traditions emerges a surprisingly fruitful discussion over a common set of values, problems, and interests: the presumption against harm, the relation of justice and order, the ethics of civil disobedience, the problem of self-righteousness in moral discourse about war, the ethics of nuclear deterrence, and the need for practical reasoning about the morality of war. Miller pays critical attention to thinkers such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, as well as to modern thinkers like H. Richard Niebuhr, Paul Ramsey, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Douglass, the Berrigans, William O'Brien, Michael Walzer, and James Childress. He demonstrates how pacifism and just-war tenets can be joined around both theoretical and practical issues. Interpretations of Conflict is a work of massive scholarship and careful reasoning that should interest philosophers, theologians, and religious ethicists alike. It enhances our moral literacy about injury, suffering, and killing, and offers a compelling dialectical approach to ethics in a pluralistic society. Richard B. Miller is assistant professor of religious studies at Indiana University.


Peer grading, allowing students/peers to evaluate others' assignments, offers a promising solution for scaling evaluation and learning to large-scale educational systems. A key challenge in peer grading is motivating peers to grade diligently. While existing spot-checking (SC) mechanisms can prevent peer collusion where peers coordinate to report the uninformative grade, they unrealistically assume that peers have the same grading reliability and cost. This paper studies the general Optimal Spot-Checking (OptSC) problem of determining the probability each assignment needs to be checked to maximize assignments' evaluation accuracy aggregated from peers, and takes into consideration 1) peers' heterogeneous characteristics, and 2) peers' strategic grading behaviors to maximize their own utility. We prove that the bilevel OptSC is NP-hard to solve. By exploiting peers' grading behaviors, we first formulate a single level relaxation to approximate OptSC. By further exploiting structural properties of the relaxed problem, we propose an efficient algorithm to that relaxation, which also gives a good approximation of the original OptSC. Extensive experiments on both synthetic and real datasets show significant advantages of the proposed algorithm over existing approaches.


Dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) is a well-known low power design technique that reduces the processor energy by slowing down the DVS processor and stretching the task execution time. But in a DVS system consisting of a DVS processor and multiple devices, slowing down the processor increases the device energy consumption and thereby the system-level energy consumption. In this paper, we present dynamic task scheduling algorithms for periodic tasks that minimize the system-level energy (CPU energy + device standby energy). The algorithms use a combination of (i) optimal speed setting, which is the speed that minimizes the system energy for a specific task, and (ii) limited preemption which reduces the numbers of possible preemptions. For the case when the CPU power and device power are comparable, these algorithms achieve up to 43% energy savings, but only up to 12% over the non-DVS scheduling. If the device power is large compared to the CPU power, we show that DVS should not be employed.


The paper is a critical review of non-stochastic (referred here as deterministic) methods of calculation
of effective elastic constants of single phase statistically homogeneous polycrystals. The methods are
briefly described. They are compared and grouped according to their basic assumptions. Their degree
of generality is discussed. The analysis of their compliance with formal requirements is provided.
Moreover, the possible but unknown completions and generalizations of some methods are considered.
For most methods, example calculations are carried out for a special case of quasi-isotropic aggregate
with cubic crystal symmetry. To make the paper self-contained, well-known essentials of the problem
of effective constants are included.


The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) forms a continuous network throughout morphologically differentiated Sertoli cells. It is an integral component of intercellular adhesion junctions in this cell type, as well as forming membrane contact sites with the plasma membrane and intracellular organelles. One of the major functions of the ER in cells generally is maintaining calcium homeostasis and generating calcium signals. In this review, we discuss what is currently known about the overall pattern of distribution of the ER in Sertoli cells and the location of calcium regulatory machinery in the various subdomains of the organelle. Current data are consistent with the hypothesis that calcium signaling by the ER of Sertoli cells may play a significant role in events related to junction remodeling that occur in the seminiferous epithelium during spermatogenesis.


Corporate law is about norm management. Corporate statutes, the federal securities laws and judicial decisions erect standards for corporations, their officers and directors, and those that control the corporation must comply. Shareholder suits are is, theoretically at least, an important component in the management of corporate norms. Their success in achieving this goal, however, is dependent upon the expressive value of derivative suits and stockholder class actions. The initiation, prosecution and settlement of shareholder suit is more likely to reinforce the norms that are the subject of the suit?s allegations if shareholder suits enjoy a favorable reputation. This article examines the social meaning of shareholder suits; more particularly, the article evaluates the impact of certain procedural and substantive rules that govern shareholder suits. This examination is undertaken from the perspective of how its expressive value is impacted by the ambiguation of its objective, the tying of its mission to compensation instead of deterrence, the various procedural and substantive inhibitions that accompany shareholder suits, and rituals that attend the suits prosecution and settlement. The points developed in the article were delivered by Professor Cox at the Eighth Annual Abraham L. Pomerantz Lecture at the Brooklyn Law School in April, 1999.


Knowledgeable agents always choose what they like best, thus revealing their preferences. But naive agents only choose what they believe they like best, and may end up disliking their choice. As such, sensitivity to an agent's prior experience is critical for interpreting their behavior. Here we show that fourand five-year-olds expect knowledgeable agents, as compared to naive agents, to have stable choices that lead to higher rewards (Experiments 1 and 2). Additionally, we show that fourand five-year-olds can infer which of two agents is naive given information about the rewards they obtained and the stability of their choices (Experiments 3 and 4). These results show that young children understand that beliefs and desires are interconnected and that, in addition to having uncertainty about the world, agents can also be uncertain about their own desires.


The treatise examines national and Union citizenship, and the role of European citizenship within the legal concept of citizenship in general. The main purpose of the study is to analyse the legal effects and importance of citizenship for the individual in international law, European law and Swedish law. The study includes an analysis of the legal character of national and Union citizenship, as well as the rights granted under each, respectively. In certain areas, Swedish citizenship has lost much of its importance during the past decades. This weakened function within Swedish national law is examined critically. Union citizenship was introduced in the Maastricht Treaty with the intention of creating a European identity. The European Court of Justice has embarked on an interesting development and expansion of Union citizens' rights but, in practice, Union citizenship does not provide much so far in addition to citizens' rights as expressed in national and international law and particular Union legal instruments. Normally, Union citizenship only functions as a selection criterion connected to such EU legislation. Thus, Union citizenship hardly fulfils its objectives.The author examines critically the formation of the Union citizenship concept, in particular the appropriateness of the present requirement of national citizenship of a Member State as a prerequisite for Union citizenship. Starting from the particular functions of Union citizenship, the possible framing of an independent concept of Union citizenship is analysed. The author concludes it would be preferable to create a new basis of selection, e.g. long time domicile in the EU. The most important advantage would be that "domicile", as defined under EU law, would create a uniform and equal basis for Union citizenship. That would also provide a satisfactory solution to the present problem of exclusion of persons being permanent residents in EU Member States but third country nationals.


The telephone provides an easy-to-use, reliable and cheap computer interface. We review computer telephony applications for patient care, clinical research and medical education. We describe uses at our academic health sciences centre and discuss strengths and weaknesses of this technology. Until more sophisticated interfaces, for example personal digital assistants with wireless Internet access, are commonplace, we believe computer telephony can play a useful role in electronic healthcare.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the cost effectiveness of eptifibatide, a new glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor inhibitor, for the treatment of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in Canada.

DESIGN
A model was created to analyze the cost effectiveness of eptifibatide using outcomes and resource utilization data from the Platelet Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa in Unstable Angina: Receptor Suppression Using Integrilin Therapy (PURSUIT) trial, an international, placebo controlled, randomized clinical study evaluating the efficacy of eptifibatide in treating ACS. Cost data were derived from Canadian sources. Clinical outcomes were derived from published survival analyses based on North American PURSUIT data.

SETTING
The present analysis is representative of the Canadian health care setting. Data for resource use reflected actual resources used by patients in the Canadian arm of the PURSUIT study.

PATIENTS
Patients included in the PURSUIT study were hospitalized for non-ST segment elevation ACS between November 1995 and January 1997.

INTERVENTIONS
Eptifibatide or placebo treatment was randomly assigned in addition to standard treatment with acetylsalicylic acid and heparin.

MAIN RESULTS
Per patient costs for hospitalization, medical procedures and medications associated with standard treatment plus placebo were 10,265 dollars compared with 10,691 dollars with eptifibatide, in 1995 Canadian dollars. Eptifibatide patients had lower rehospitalization rates in the six months following treatment. Discounting future health outcomes by 3%, the cost effectiveness of treating ACS patients with eptifibatide in Canada was estimated as 5,165 dollars per year of life gained.

CONCLUSIONS
Considering both the cost of eptifibatide therapy over standard treatment and the health benefits associated with it, eptifibatide is a cost effective, economically attractive pharmacological option for the treatment of ACS patients in Canada.


Understanding how speech recognition problems affect the interaction with the user is a topic of great interest for the spoken dialogue community. In this paper, we examine the dependencies between speech recognition problems in adjacent turns. We also examine the dependencies between speech recognition problems and student emotions within a turn and in adjacent turns. We apply Chi Square (�$ 2 ) analysis to a corpus of speech-based computer tutoring dialogues to discover these dependencies. We find that rejections are followed by more rejections than expected if there was no dependency between rejections, and that misrecognitions are followed by more misrecognitions than expected. We also find a strong dependency between recognition problems in the previous turn and user emotion in the current turn: after a system rejection there are more emotional user turns than expected. Surprisingly, in our data, we find no relationship between user emotions and recognition problems within a turn nor between previous turn user emotions and current turn recognition problems.


MRD is proud to announce a broadening of its geographic and thematic expertise, achieved through a change in governance introduced earlier this year and supported unanimously by the institutional members of the International Mountain Society (IMS)—MRD's publisher. This change in governance has enabled MRD to enlarge chief editorship from one to several distinguished experts who have a track record in mountain research and development and represent a renowned mountain organization.MRD welcomes Dr DavidMolden, Director General of the International Centre for IntegratedMountain Development (ICIMOD), as its second Editor-in-Chief. Immediately after agreeing to serve in this important strategic position, David Molden worked with Hans Hurni on a call for papers on ''Water Governance in Mountains''(MRD 33.3) and supported the focus of the present issue's MountainNotes section on reviews of climate change research in the Hindu Kush– Himalaya. This kind of strategic guidance will further strengthenMRD's mission. Chief editorship is planned to be shared by 3–4 renowned mountain experts who promoteMRD's long-term vision and define the journal's strategic orientation, under the overall guidance of the IMS.


We describe the phenomena of catch-up and catch-down growth. These are normal physiological responses in both endocrine and non-endocrine diseases of childhood. Evidence suggests that catch-up growth is controlled by a centre in the central nervous system and that it is not dependent on increased growth hormone secretion.


This review describes new perspectives offered by the synthesis of non-natural nucleosides to overcome current limitations and extend the triplex-mediated DNA recognition scheme to any sequence. Alternate strand purine binding, direct pyrimidine recognition, and binding to the whole base-pair are described. The review highlights structural requirements to the design of modified nucleosides, as well as perturbing events such as tautomeric ambiguity and intercalation for the extended heterocyclic bases.


Tumor cells employ various methods of immune suppression to overcome anti-tumor immunity. One such method is that of the integral membrane protein programmed death ligand-1 (PDL1), which triggers apoptotic death or anergy upon binding programmed death-1 (PD1) on T cells. Treatment of PDL1+ tumor cells with a soluble form of the costimulatory molecule CD80 (CD80-Fc) prevented PDL1-mediated immune suppression by binding PDL1 and blocking interaction with PD1, thus restoring T cell activation. Additionally, CD80-Fc maintained activation of T cells in vitro more effectively than either PD1 or PDL1 antagonist monoclonal antibodies. Because CTLA-4 is also a receptor for CD80 and CD80-Fc has the potential to bind and deliver inhibitory signals into T cells via CTLA-4, it is important to assess CD80-Fc and CTLA-4 interactions. Healthy donor human PBMC stimulated with PHA for three days express CD28, PDL1, and CTLA-4 at the cell surface. To determine which of these receptors CD80-Fc binds to, we have blocked subsets of the receptors using very high concentrations of specific antibodies, and monitored CD80-Fc binding by flow cytometry. CD80-Fc binds to activated T cells blocked for CD28 and PDL1, PDL1 and CTLA-4, or CTLA-4 and CD28, and did not bind when all three receptors were blocked. These findings indicate that CD80-Fc binds to CTLA-4. However, inclusion of CTLA-4 antagonist antibodies L3D10 or Ipilimumab in co-cultures of human PBMC and PDL1+ C8161 human melanoma cells did not increase T cell production of IFNγ, suggesting that CD80-Fc is not suppressing through CTLA-4. Historically, CTLA-4 has been considered as a negative regulator of T cell function through its ability to deliver suppressive signals to T cells. Recent re-evaluations of CD80-CTLA-4 interactions suggest that CTLA-4 inhibits T cell function not by delivering intracellular signals, but by serving as a decoy receptor for CD80. Our results support this alternative functional mechanism and are consistent with the concept that CD80-Fc maintains T cell activation by saturating CTLA-4 receptors while simultaneously blocking PDL1 suppression and providing CD28 costimulation. Citation Format: Lucas Horn, Virginia Clements, Suzanne Ostrand-Rosenberg. A soluble form of CD80 enhances anti-tumor immunity by inhibiting PDL1 immune suppression and does not suppress via CTLA-4. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR Inaugural International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; September 16-19, 2015; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2016;4(1 Suppl):Abstract nr B013.


In this paper we present a novel message forwarding algorithm, the reachability matrix algorithm, for V2V communication in a platooning scenario. The algorithm uses a communication quality estimate to determine appropriate forwarding candidates. We show that the algorithm achieve a higher reliability in the communication compared to only using broadcast but still keeping the message intensity at a low level. The reachability matrix algorithm can decrease the ratio of missing a data age limit of 0.2 seconds from 18% to 11%, a decrease of 40%, while increasing the message intensity by only 21% compared to only using broadcast. The evaluation has been performed through simulation using input from real-life V2V measurements on heavy duty trucks in a platooning scenario.


On the Mid-Pacific and Capricorn expeditions seismic-refraction observations were made at 42 stations scattered widely within an area of the Central Equatorial Pacific Ocean extending from latitudes 22° S. to 28° N. and longitudes 162° E. to 112° W. At 29 of these stations velocities of about 8 km/sec, or more were reached at the depth of greatest penetration of the refracted waves. The mean of these velocities was 8.24 km/sec.

The crustal thickness, defined as the depth below the sea floor at which the 8 km/sec, velocity is reached, ranges from 4.8 km to 13.0 km. The distribution of thicknesses is bimodal with seven anomalous stations giving values between 10 and 13 km. The group of 22 stations believed to be typical of the deep Pacific Basin has an average thickness of 6.31 km with a standard deviation of 1.01km.


Au/TiO2 and Au/TiO2-CeO2 catalysts were prepared by the sol-gel method and carbon monoxide, hydrogen chemisorption and TEM spectroscopy have been exploited to determine the size of gold particles. The gold nanoparticles (8.1 to 2.1 nm) were deposited by using the deposition-precipitation method. The XRD characterization shows the presence of anatase as the TiO2 crystalline phase; while by XPS spectroscopy, the presence of Au°, Au2O3, Ce3+ and Ce4+ species co-existing in the Au/TiO2-CeO2 catalysts is shown. The characterizations by TPD-CO as well as by TPD-H2 (temperature programmed desorption) showed that on catalysts containing cerium, the gold particle size can be determined with great accuracy by using these chemisorption methods. The gold particle size calculated from either the CO or H2 thermodesorption values is in good agreement with that obtained by High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) and Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) analyses. It was proposed that the TPD-CO and/or TPD-H2 techniques could be helpful for the characterization of the gold particles by TEM; especially when the high contrast in the pictures of the supports containing CeO2 prevents the particle size from being determined.


Religious persecution is a worldwide phenomenon. Acts of intolerance, discrimination, and persecution based on religion or belief have become part of our daily life, Believers of every faith, including Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews and Hindus in many parts of the world, face serious discrimination, restrictions and sometimes severe persecution for practising their faith. This study focuses on internal persecution among Muslims. Internal persecution within the Islamic tradition means the persecution of Muslims by other Muslims, what might be characterised as "intra-religious" as opposed tot "inter-religious" persecution. This type exposes the political and sociological nature of religious persecution, since the persecuted group is of the same religion as the persecuting majority. This study also helps to challenge the alleged religious rationale of such persecution in that every religious majority was in the past, and may become in future, a minority. Thus, protection of freedom of religion and belief is essential for the validity and authenticity of all religious beliefs and practices, whether of a majority or a minority. For the purpose of understanding the phenomenon, three case studies (the Ahmadiyya in Pakistan, the Shi'is in Saudi Arabia and the Republican Brothers in the Sudan) are analysed. From the conclusions of these cases, a contextual framework for understanding and combating intra-religious persecution is outlined.


The construction industry uses cold-formed steel (CFS) sheets in the form of galvanised thin-walled profiles and corrugated sheets. In the past decade, CFS profiles have been competing with their hot-rolled counterparts as primary structural members of industrial halls, office buildings and residential housing of up to 3-4 storeys. The spans and column heights achieved with CFS profiles are ever larger. Due to the large slenderness of these members, adequate strength and stability are necessary, as well as reliability in design. Thin-walled members go through buckling during all stages of their working life. Local buckling appears at loads sometimes much lower than the design load. Distortional buckling seriously reduces the member resistance. It interacts with warping and lateral-torsional buckling, being significant for these asymmetric open sections. To restrict these effects, builders employ double sections - usually two standard cold-formed shapes bolted together to form a built-up section. These sections have the advantages of symmetry, higher stability and strength. The design of built-up members involves many uncertainties - although the European standard includes guidelines on the prediction of local, distortional and global buckling, the partial integrity and interaction between the parts of the composed members is still not studied. To study the actual behaviour, built-up members are tested in bending. An optical device for 3D motion analysis measures the displacement of points of interest on the specimen. Two interacting cameras use parallax to obtain the position of an arbitrary number of reflective markers glued to the specimen. The device tracks the movement of the markers in a 3D coordinate system without any contact with the specimen. Standard displacement transducers measure vertical displacements to validate the results. The paper gives an appraisal of the applicability of the method, a summary of the difficulties faced and the outcome of the test campaign.


This article presents the results of a systematic review and analysis of the way that "the future" is addressed in intellectual property literature. Iterative methodical searches in key databases of published materials and targeted reviews of grey literature revealed a limited number of relevant works pertaining to the future. These works were analysed and classified according to our original taxonomy, considering for example: whether the future was conceived as predictable or uncertain; whether the analysis was issue-specific, IP-categorical, or systemic; and whether the work considered legal, economic, technological, social, environmental, or ethical factors driving change. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the literature demonstrates very few works that consider multiple factors driving systemic changes in an uncertain future. The article describes and recommends the use of distinct research tools, specifically foresight and scenarios methods, capable of addressing this gap in our present thinking about the future of intellectual property.


Simulations of tunnel excavations have to take into account the natural occurrence of joints and faults in the surrounding rock mass, which dominantly control its mechanical response. In this paper, we present work in progress toward 3D finite element analysis of excavation using equivalent rock-mass properties derived from stochastically generated discrete fracture networks (DFNs). The equivalent stiffness is determined by volume averaging. Presently, we solve the problem linearly for an incremental change of the stress state. The fracture's stiffness is assumed to depend on the initial normal stress acting in direction normal to it. However, within the solved incremental step, we assume the fracture's stiffness to be constant. This assumption is acceptable for small stress changes. Since the fractures represented in the DFN model have preferred directions, the equivalent stiffness is anisotropic.


Survival of the sorghum ergot fungus, Claviceps africana, based on pathogenicity of recovered macroconidia used to inoculate sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), was measured in 2000 over the course of the year at five locations in Texas representing three climates. The experiment was repeated in 2001. Sphacelia associated with infected sorghum panicles were placed in nylon mesh bags and either buried at a 10-cm depth, placed on the soil surface, or suspended 61 cm above the ground. Samples were recovered after 4, 8, and 12 months and assessed for pathogenicity of surviving macroconidia by macerating tissue in water and spraying it onto panicles of flowering male-sterile sorghum in the greenhouse. Survival of ergot macroconidia in recovered panicles declined at all locations after the first 4 months that panicles were left in the field. The decline in viability during this period was greater in 2001 than in 2000. In 2000, survival after 4 months was greatest at Lubbock and Bushland, which have a continental steppe climate, than at the other three Texas locations, Weslaco and Corpus Christi, which have a subtropical subhumid climate, and College Station, which has a subtropical humid climate. However, this difference in survival was not as pronounced in 2001. Additionally, after 8 months, survival levels at all locations were similar. At the end of 12 months, infective macroconidia were found only at Lubbock in 2000, and only at Lubbock and College Station in 2001. Ergot macroconidia can survive in all major sorghum production areas of Texas; thus, conidia would not need to move long distances in order to initiate an epiphytotic.


The main objective of this thesis is the development of a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) model to study preferential flow dynamics in partially saturated porous-fractured media at core- and micro scale. The research is focused on the numerical investigation of preferential flow in the vadose zone, including the estimation of geometrical and hydraulic properties of the subsurface, such as wettability, surface roughness, hydraulic conductivity, and infiltration rate, which are influencing the infiltration dynamics under saturated, unsaturated and partially saturated conditions. In the first part of the thesis the simulation results of sessile and transient droplets on hydrophobic and hydrophilic structured rough surfaces
are presented. The results show that the effective static contact angles of Cassie and Wenzel droplets on a rough surface are greater than the corresponding micro scale static contact angles. As a result, micro scale hydrophobic rough surfaces can also exhibit effective hydrophobic behavior. This study considers, as well, the impact of the roughness orientation (i.e., an anisotropic roughness) and surface inclination on droplet flow velocities. The results show that droplet flow velocities are lower if the surface roughness is oriented perpendicular to the flow direction. The second part deals with the investigation of infiltration instabilities in smooth and rough fractures, focusing on the influence of roughness and injection rate on fluid flow modes and flow velocity. Both the rough and smooth fractures exhibit flow instabilities, fingering, and intermittent flow regimes for low infiltration rates. A flat fluid front is achieved when the flux supplied to a fracture is larger than the gravitationally driven saturated flux. An increase in roughness decreases the flow velocity and increases the standard deviation of velocity. This is caused by a higher likelihood of flow discontinuities in the form of fingering and/or snapping rivulets. The scaling of specific discharge with normalized finger velocity and the relationship between fingertip length and scaled finger velocity are in a good agreement with experimental results. The final part is devoted to a newly developed fully-coupled multi-scale SPH model, which considers flow through a porous matrix governed
by the volume-effective Richards equation, and discrete free-surface flows governed
by the Navier-Stokes equation. Inflow dynamics from the fracture into the porous matrix are realized by an efficient particle removal algorithm and a virtual water redistribution formulation in order to enforce mass and momentum conservation. The model validation is carried out via comparison to a FEM model (COMSOL) for the Richards based flow dynamics and laboratory experiments to cover more complex cases of free-surface flow dynamics and matrix infiltration. The developed model is employed to investigate preferential flow dynamics at a fracture-matrix interface. Simulation results show that preferential flow occurs in most cases simultaneously with the diffuse flow. Depending on the infiltration rate, the ponding effect can be dominant until the matrix saturation is high enough to activate fracture flow. For extremely high infiltration rates, fracture flow is dominant and ponding occurs when the fracture space is fully saturated. Next, the model is employed to simulate infiltration dynamics in rough fractures embedded in impermeable and permeable porous walls for different infiltration rates. The simulation results indicate a delay in arrival times for fractures with permeable walls in comparison to impermeable fractures, especially for small infiltration rates. Here, for higher infiltration rates, water flows rapidly to the bottom of the fracture without any significant delay in arrival time.


The early history of heterodontid sharks is documented mainly by isolated teeth. So far, three different heterodontid genera have been recorded from the Jurassic: Proheterodontus from theMiddle Jurassic of England (and probably Upper Jurassic of France), Paracestracion from the Early to Late Jurassic of England, Belgium and S. Germany, and Heterodontus from the Upper Jurassic of South Germany. Paracestracion is known by isolated teeth in the Early and Middle Jurassic and by articulated skeletons in the Late Jurassic. Recently discovered skeletal remains from the upper Kimmeridgian locality of Schamhaupten, S. Germany, represent a new, hitherto unknown extinct species of Paracestracion , P. viohli sp. nov., which documents further taxonomic diversity of early heterodontids. This new taxon is represented by a subadult individual as indicated by the absence of molariform lateral teeth; it shares with other species of Paracestracion the characteristic holaulacorize cuspidate teeth. It differs from all other species in having ornamented lingual crown faces. Teeth of Proheterodontus differ in a different tooth root vascularisation. Proheterodontus and Paracestracion vanished before or at the Jurassic/ Cretaceous boundary with Heterodontus becoming progressively more diverse in the Cretaceous and Cenozoic.


The structure and properties of a nascent pectin-xyloglucan complex in etiolated pea epicotyls were investigated. Membrane pellets were prepared and incubated with UDP-[14C] galactose, and were extracted with six different reagents: Tris-HC1 buffer (pH 7.4); 50mM EDTA/50mM PO4 (pH6.8) at 100°C; 50mM EDTA/59mM PO4 (pH6.8) at 25°C; phospholipase C with 100 ml of 0.1M Tris-HC1 pH7.4 at 25°C; trypsin at 25°C and 0.1% Triton X-100 at 25°C. The best extractant used to solubilise the pectin-complex from the pellets was 50nM EDTA/50mM PO4 pH 6.8 at 100°C. Aqueous solutions of pectic polyuronides tend to associate covalently into multichain aggregates. Because of the tendency of pectins to aggregate in solution, the effect of a number of eluents on the behaviour of the complex on gel filtration was studied. 10mM EDTA/10nM PO4/1M NaC1 (pH6.8) was chosen as the best eluent to minimise this aggregate formation. On gel filtration using Sepharose CL-2B with this eluent, the complex eluted with a Kav of around 0.8, corresponding to a molecular size approximately 200 kDa, as judged by dextran standards. In other solvents tested, aggregation appeared to occur. On Sepharose CL-4B and CL-6B columns using the same EDTA/Pi/NaC1 solvent, the apparent molecular size was significantly reduced by a xyloglucan-specific endoglucanase, confirming the presence of a xyloglucan rather that a glucan in the complex. Polygalacturonase caused a greater decrease in apparent molecular size, to 10-20 kDa while endo-1 4-b-galactanase converted the radioactivity to [14C] galactobiose and [14C] galactose. When the [14C] galactose-labelled complex was incubated in solution with 3MM paper, the radioactivity was almost completely absorbed onto the paper over a period of about 6 hours. This confirmed the presence of xyloglucan attached to pectin. A new model for the structure of the nascent pectin-xyloglucan complex is proposed.


Meetings are often seen solely as a site of collective work. However, as McGrath has noted, groups are concerned with much more than collective work. In this study we examine how individuals experience meetings, and ask what they do, why they do it, and how they feel about it. Our study focuses on recurring meetings, both because recurring meetings are an ordinary aspect of organization life, and because their routine nature lends them a casual character that distinguishes them from one-time, issue-focused meetings. This paper analyzes accounts of 19 meetings and examines how various peripheral activities -- side-talk, side-tracking, multi-tasking, pre- and post-meeting talk -- have positive effects, as well as negative ones. We argue that viewing recurring meetings as a confluence of individual and collective aims suggests new approaches for designing technology that supports both meetings and participants.


: We describe two children with congenital sternal cleft. One child had a complete sternal cleft that was not operated upon, and at the age of 11 years the boy was still free of any symptoms. The other child had a superior partial sternal cleft that needed operative closure in the neonatal period. X-ray, CT scan of the chest and echocardiography are recommended for primary evaluation. Indications for surgical intervention are protection of the mediastinal structures, improvement of respiratory dynamics and cosmetic considerations.


Author(s): Lewis, James | Advisor(s): Wang, Yun | Abstract: Two-phase flow in a microscale channel with a characteristic pressure drop, flow pattern, and liquid saturation occurs in a variety of applications. Understanding the behavior of two-phase flows and predicting the two-phase pressure drop can aid in the development and assessment of engineering designs; PEM fuel cells serve as a test case for this work. The experimental investigation of this work consists of measuring the two-phase pressure drop in a high aspect-ratio microchannel of dimensions 3.23mm wide by 0.304mm high combined with visualization of the two-phase flow. The tested superficial velocities represent common fuel cell operating conditions. In the first case, the microchannel consists of hydrophilic surfaces and the flow forms a stratified pattern. The two-phase pressure measurements led to the determination of a new relative permeability exponent (Wang, 2009) for stratified flow equal to 1.159, which predicts the two-phase pressure with a mean absolute percent error of 3.25%. The X-model and the correlations proposed by Lee a Lee (2001) and Kim a Mudawar (2012) well predict the experimental data with mean absolute percent errors of 3.32%, 4.1%, and 4.2%, respectively. Measurements of the water film thickness extracted from images of the flow follow the analytical result of Steinbrenner (2011). The new relative permeability exponent reasonably predicts the liquid saturation (dimensionless water film thickness).In the second case, the base of the channel becomes hydrophobic while the other walls remain hydrophilic. This configuration forms a mixed-wettability microchannel, similar to the gas-supply channels found in PEM fuel cells. The change of the base wettability results in primarily rivulet flow along the hydrophobic surface and an increase in the two-phase pressure drop compared to the hydrophilic case. Researchers have presented inconsistent trends of the two-phase pressure drop with changing contact angle. This work proposes a critical liquid Capillary number in the range of 1.38×10 −4 to 9.63×10 −4 to clarify the trend for adiabatic flow in a single mixed-wettability microchannel. Furthermore, the work demonstrates the variability of the flow in the mixed-wettability channel. This suggests an instability of the rivulet flow, which prevents existing two-phase pressure models from collapsing the data. Optimizing the relative permeability exponent in the two-fluid model for rivulet flow led to a value of 1.747, which predicts the two-phase pressure measurements with a mean absolute percent error of 14.9%. The existing correlations of English a Kandlikar (2006) and Sun a Mishima (2009) predict the entire experimental data set with mean absolute percent errors of 22.7% and 23.7%, respectively.


Little is known about the response of ectotherms to ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) restoration treatments. The ambient body temperature of an ectotherm affects its physiology, development, and behavior. Microhabitat availability and heterogeneity are critical factors in determining which thermoregulation choices are available to a terrestrial ectotherm (Stevenson 1985). Forest restoration treatments (for example, thinning and burning) will alter herpetofauna microhabitats by decreasing tree canopy cover and allowing more sunlight penetration to the forest floor. This change could, depending on the species, have positive or negative effects on the populations of the area. We sampled microhabitat use by Sceloporus graciosus (sagebrush lizards) in northern Arizona at Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument using standard pitfall-array sampling methodology. Univariate analyses were used to relate lizard abundance to ponderosa pine tree density, percent soil cover, percent rock cover, litter depth, and insect density. In a multivariate analysis, ponderosa pine density (negatively correlated) and bare soil cover (positively correlated) were the best predictors of lizard abundance. Restoration treatments will increase small-scale heterogeneity within S. graciosus territories by increasing accessibility into and out of sunlight. Based on the thermoregulatory demands of this species, these changes should benefit S. graciosus. However, other possible indirect effects of restoration treatments such as increases in predation on lizards (due to greater visibility), as well as changes in food availability, could negatively impact lizard populations. Future research should focus on pre- and postrestoration treatment monitoring of herpetofauna, and on the direct effects of fire on herpetofauna populations within restoration sites.


Dr Phillip Nutman was a microbiologist and plant physiologist, distinguished for his research into the infection of roots of legumes by root nodule bacteria of the genus Rhizobium. This is a subject that is truly symbiotic, involving both leguminous host plants and free–living soil bacteria, which join in a complex, often specific interaction to produce symbiotic, nodulated, nitrogen–fixing plants. His research pre–dated the molecular genetics now available to modern researchers and used the techniques of plant physiology and Mendelian genetics to explore the mechanisms of infection, subsequent nodule development and the symbiotic fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. The research took place in the laboratories and fields of Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, where the study of nitrogen fixation by nodulated legumes first developed in the UK (Russell 1966). There were components of related research in Australia, 1953–57 (Bergersen 2001), and also in other countries during the International Biological Programme of 1966–73, in which Nutman was an active participant. He was a well–respected leader in active research during a period in which the subject underwent rapid development. In many ways his work became the basis on which more recent research has developed. He was a modest, self–effacing, scrupulously honest man who became increasingly impatient with the methods of research management that were emerging within the Agriculture and Food Research Council towards the end of his career at Rothamsted. After his retirement, in his Personal Record, he wrote critically about these matters.


The primary–secondary transition presents both opportunities and challenges for children. For some, it may represent a 'critical period' which impacts their future mental health and well-being. This article focuses on identifying the affordances and constraints of a group-work approach to support children with social, emotional and behavioural needs (SEBN) across the transition with a specific focus on the socio-emotional aspects of transition. This evaluative, mixed-methods case study took place in six clusters of primary/secondary schools in Scotland involving 63 pupils who participated within support groups for around twenty 1-hour sessions. It focuses on the accounts of Support group Leaders, drawing from focus group discussions held within each cluster and a Likert-type scale questionnaire. A wide range of facilitators and barriers to implementation and to pupil progress were identified. Facilitators related principally to the quality of relationships and pedagogy which the support group afforded and the quality of support for the project. Barriers related principally to organisational and resource constraints and more general concerns around how behaviour support is perceived. The article argues that supporting the transition for pupils with SEBN is complex and there is no 'magic bullet'. Building a supportive infrastructure from the outset is key to success.


The hydrodynamic interaction between two vessels operating in close proximity can affect their safety and handling, especially if the vessels are significantly different in size, for example when a tug is assisting a large ship. During such operations, the drift-angle of the tug and lateral distance between the vessels are frequently varied to ensure accurate course keeping and safety. This can result in unsteady hydrodynamic interaction effects induced on the vessels, which in turn can adversely affect their ability to maintain course and safety, especially for the smaller tug. Hence, knowledge of the hydrodynamic loads acting on the tug under these conditions is of significant practical value to the tug operator in order to avoid collision, capsizing or being run over. However, there are limited comprehensive studies to date characterising the interaction behaviour on a tug manoeuvring in close proximity to a large ship.
This project investigates the hydrodynamic interaction behaviour acting on a tug during ship-assist manoeuvres in order to establish safe operational envelopes using full scale validated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The investigation included quantifying the interaction effects on the tug due to changes in the vessel speeds, the longitudinal and lateral location relative to the ship, the drift-angle of the tug, and the relative size between the vessels.
The CFD model was validated at model-scale using experiments performed in the model test basin at the Australian Maritime College (AMC), which were then extended to represent full-scale operations. Thus, the scaling effects and non-dimensionalisation approach used to characterise the hydrodynamic behaviour for vessels of different sizes, ratios, and separations were investigated and verified. Different numerical approaches (CFD and potential flow solvers), and simulation conditions and settings within the respective approaches were also examined. The findings were used to identify guiding principles to achieve accurate numerical simulation results for hydrodynamic interaction effects during tug-ship operations.
The operational implications on a tug during ship-assist manoeuvres are discussed based on the hydrodynamic interaction data obtained through the CFD simulations. The hydrodynamic interaction data is consolidated into Hydrodynamic Interaction Region Plots (HIRP), which are nondimensionalised based on the size and speed of the vessels and can thus be used by tug operators to determine the actual interaction forces and moments on a tug for different drift angles and locations relative to the ship for a given forward speed. This enables tug operators to determine the safe operational envelopes specific to the vessels in question and their prevailing conditions.
In future studies, the results of this project can be integrated into ship/tug handling simulators by replacing their existing interaction modules using new algorithm developed through non-linear regression analysis of the data consolidated within the HIRPs developed in this work.


This paper examines the general patterns of recent global stock market returns and the volatility of such returns using 40 global stock indexes of countries classified into developed and emerging markets as barometers for the period 1997-2004. This classification is based on the classification suggested by Standard and Poor's Credit Ratings Report by Hessel (2006). The paper, additionally, investigates the presence of the day-of-the-week return in these countries and the correlation of the returns of these global stock indexes to the US market. A set of parametric and non-parametric tests is used to test the significance of the standard deviations and further determine the correlation of the returns of these global stock indexes to the US market. Evidence suggests general high returns in emerging stock markets. Contrary to existing evidence, they were also very high returns in some developed stock markets. This evidence suggests that volatility of stock returns is a global phenomenon and not predominantly an emerging market issue as earlier findings indicate. The returns from the US markets are highly correlated to those of many countries in the sample. There is evidence of negative and low correlation of returns between the US stock markets and many global stock markets. These findings present interesting opportunities and dynamics for enhanced return through diversification in global portfolio investments.


AIMS
Oxidative stress accompanies inflammatory and vascular diseases. The objective of this study was to explore whether reactive oxygen species can activate shedding of platelet receptors and thus suppress platelet function.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Hydrogen peroxide and glucose oxidase were chosen to model oxidative stress in vitro. We demonstrate that oxidative damage activated tumour necrosis factor-alpha-converting enzyme (TACE) and induced shedding of its targets, glycoprotein (GP) Ibalpha and GPV, in murine and human platelets. Also, 12-HpETE, a peroxide synthesized in the platelet lipoxygenase pathway, induced TACE-mediated receptor cleavage. The TACE activation was independent of platelet activation, as alpha-granule secretion, activation of alphaIIbbeta3, or phosphatidylserine expression was not observed. TACE activation induced by hydrogen peroxide was dependent on p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase signalling, whereas protein kinase C, phosphoinositide 3-kinase, and caspases were not involved. Inhibition of p38 cytoplasmic targets, phospholipase A(2) and heat shock protein 27, did not prevent shedding, whereas blocking 12-lipoxygenase or Src kinase slightly inhibited TACE activation. The loss of the GPIbalpha receptor induced by oxidative stress rendered platelets unable to incorporate into a growing thrombus in vivo.

CONCLUSION
Oxidative stress can render platelets functionally less active by shedding key adhesion receptors via the activation of p38. This suggests that oxidative injury of platelets may attenuate their function.


Spot welding of magnesium alloy was a complex processes of thermal, electrical, mechanical and metallurgical mutual coupling, meanwhile its' low melting point, high thermal conductivity, and high linear expansion coefficient increased the welding quality control difficultly. Basing on SYSWELD, a numerical simulation of effects of welding current, welding time, thickness of plate, electrode pressure gauge and size on the nugget shape and welding quality of ZA31B was demonstrated. The relationship between the size of the nugget dimensions and the welding parameters was established by a large number of simulation and experimental study. The experimental results showed that the analogue result was consistent with the test results, and it could be used to guide the actual production.


We illustrate, through a series of prototypical examples, that linear parity-time () symmetric lattices with spatially extended gain/loss are generically unstable, for any non-zero value of the gain/loss coefficient. Our examples include a parabolic real potential with a linear imaginary part and the cases of no real and piecewise constant or linear imaginary potentials. On the other hand, this instability can be avoided and the spectrum can be real for localized or compact -symmetric potentials. The linear lattices are analyzed through discrete Fourier transform techniques complemented by numerical computations.


Driven by increased global demand for vegetable oil in the food and biofuel sectors, oil palm plantations based on monoculture technology have expanded into lowland tropical forests. Interest in diversified, mixed oil palm systems is increasing as these might increase efficiency of the use of land and other resources, reduce farmer risk, and decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit product. Land Equivalent Ratio for provisioning services (LERP) values above 1.0 show that at least some diversified systems use land more efficiently than monocultures and are thus "land sparing," where monoculture LERP cannot exceed 1.0. Diversification also modifies climate and water regulating functions ("land sharing") relative to a forest reference, as indicated in the LERR index. A "multifunctional" LERM indicator combines both; land sparing plus land sharing effects jointly determine expected regulating services. Empirical assessment of multiple ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes is assisted by models that synthesise process-based knowledge, especially for perennial systems where well-designed experiments require a full production cycle, and are costly and scarce. Agroforestry models explore spacing, intercropping and soil management options, predicting harvestable yields, impacts on water flows, nutrient leaching, and greenhouse gas emissions. We used the process-based Water, Nutrient and Light Capture in Agroforestry System (WaNuLCAS) model to explore mixed oil palm + cocoa and oil palm + pepper intercrop systems with modified ("double row") planting patterns for Indonesian contexts and estimated consequences for the carbon footprint. The oil palm + cocoa intercrop provided a high LERP (1.4), while also replenishing more ground water and having a lower C footprint. This combination also has a return to labour equal to that in oil palm monocultures and a higher benefit cost ratio than the oil palm + pepper combination that maximizes Net Present Value. Oil palm + cocoa systems are also less sensitive to price uncertainty for oil palm, and buffer for oil palm and cocoa production risks, assumed to be independent of each other. Considerable economic and environmental system improvements appear to be feasible through mixed oil palm systems and diversification as a pathway to intensification deserves full attention of research and policy development.


Current relaxations in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) often show a broad spread of relaxation times. These are commonly linked to the ionization energies of the traps in different regions of the devices and the relaxations are assumed to be exponential. To explain the observed spread of parameters, the presence of multiple centers is assumed. However, in actual spectra, only a few main peaks in the lifetimes distributions are observed, with considerable broadening of the peaks. In this paper, the authors examine the possible origin of the relaxation time broadening, including the presence of disorder giving rise to extended exponential decays and to physical broadening of discrete levels into bands. The latter is modeled by Gaussian broadening of the logarithm of relaxation time. The authors demonstrate the analysis of the peak positions and widths of the first derivative of the current transient by the logarithm in time, which is quite useful in deriving the relevant broadening para...


Soils are important sources of sediment and phosphorus in rural catchments, necessitating the development of mathematical models for impact assessment. In this paper, multiple empirical models are tested on an event basis at four nested locations in an intensively managed grassland headwater catchment while accounting for parameter and data uncertainties using extended Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE). The study provides the first template of model comparison under data uncertainty in soil erosion and phosphorus transfer modelling as well as hypotheses of soil and water processes in the study catchment. A fodder field, yielding large sediment and phosphorus concentrations in runoff, is characterized by inter‐event variation in sediment‐discharge relationship, mild intra‐event hysteretic behaviour and seemingly random erosion incidents. Sediment‐discharge variation is partly formalized by parameter variation as a function of antecedent soil moisture, indicative of a gradual shift from transport‐ to source‐limited behaviour, decreasing soil erodibility and/or decreasing initial flow erosivity and transport capacity with increasing antecedent wetness. The catchment outlet appears to be source‐limited while converging flows with different sediment concentrations, variable erosion processes and/or sporadic entrainment of near‐ or in‐stream sediments gain importance. Phosphorus dynamics are strongly linked to those of sediment. Non‐linearities can be explained by preferential transfer of phosphorus‐rich organic matter at small flows while there is no significant evidence of preferential transfer of phosphorus‐rich mineral fines. Iterating between collecting data, constraining uncertainties and rejecting and improving models is suggested as a consistent framework for understanding soil erosion and phosphorus movement.


This paper is based upon research conducted in preparation for a Home Office funded evaluation of the Leeds Distraction Burglary Project. Although statistically a relatively rare occurrence, distraction burglary has created considerable public concern during recent years because of the predatory way in which older people are specifically targeted as victims and its potentially devastating impact. The premeditated manner by which offenders engage directly with victims in order to deceive them and gain entry to their dwellings distinguishes distraction burglary from more conventional forms of burglary in which offenders typically seek to avoid victim contact by entering dwellings unnoticed. The formalisation of distraction burglary allows for the easier monitoring of reporting levels. However not only does `distraction burglary' frequently overlap with other non-distraction forms of burglary, but it also comprises a range of variations within the broader modus operandi. Because of this, it is argued here that distraction burglary should be understood as a family of offences which incorporates a diverse range of strategies and rationales, each requiring different preventive strategies. This paper deconstructs distraction burglary in order to illustrate its many complexities and distinguishing features. Part one discusses what is known about the prevalence of distraction burglary, and explores what is currently known about offenders and their tactics of deceit. Part two identifies the victims and outlines their profiles. The third part situates distraction burglary within a broader debate about age, risk and crime prevention, while questioning some of the implicit assumptions made in discourses surrounding old age and victimisation. We conclude by raising questions about the reification of older people as a coherent unit for the delivery of criminal justice policy.


Formalism has become an insult. Defined by its critics as the mechanical (even disingenuous) application of rules, or unthinkingly equated with textualism or originalism, the various forms of formalism supposedly promise legal certainty. Having been found unable to provide that certainty, formalism been consigned by its critics to the role of foil for other, more promising, approaches. Yet most critics of formalism inaccurately conflate modern formalism, which emphasizes form, with the deterministic formalism of the Langdellian legal order. Far from the unrealistically deterministic, conceptualist understanding of law attacked by the Realists, modern formalism is best understood as a commitment to form in legal interpretation and legal thinking. Once we free formalism from the role it has been given by its detractors, its merits become more apparent. Formalism allows us to focus not just on legal outcomes, but on the form of the rules that generate those outcomes. Formalism is a recognition that law must appear in some form and that law is an act not only of social control but of social communication. By acknowledging the view of the law that formalism represents we can uncover previously unidentified meaning in law, lawmaking, and adjudication.