Justin Fox, a former Time magazine business journalist and current Editorial Editor for the Harvard Business Review Group, started The Myth well before the current financial crisis erupted, but its release in 2009 could hardly have been better timed. The book is a masterfully documented and engaging history of the rise and the fall of the efficient market hypothesis (EMH). The history spans from the early 20 Century insights of mathematician Louis Bachelier and economist Irving Fisher to the recent sparring among economists – notably the University of Chicago's Eugene Fama and Dick Thaler. The book explains the evolution of EMH from the early attempts to clarify the apparently random movements in the stock market, to Fama's EMH formulation in the 1960s (the price of a financial asset reflects all publicly‐available information that is relevant to its value) to Michael Jensen's bold 1978 declaration that 'there is no other proposition in economics which has more solid empirical evidence supporting it than the Efficient Market Hypothesis' (p. 107). From its earliest characterisation, the powerful and mathematically eloquent theory of EMH has developed into a broader set of conclusions. Fox describes how EMH progressed from the observation that stock price movements were random, to the claim that it was impossible to predict stock prices and, finally, to the conviction that 'stock prices were in some fundamental sense right' (p. xiv). The author also keeps an eye on the skeptics, from Herbert Simon in the 1950s and psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in the 1960s, to present‐day behavioral economists such as Richard Thaler. The final chapter, 'The Anatomy of a Financial Crisis', provides an interesting account of the genesis of the crisis, concluding with Alan Greenspan's admission in Congressional testimony that he used to think that he was not smarter than the market, but then 'the whole intellectual edifice [of rational market theory] collapsed' (p. xii). While EMH may have spawned overconfidence in markets and paved the way for deregulation and laissez‐ faire policy, the recession of 2007–09 will probably inspire a pendulum swing in the other direction. Economists as well as professional investors will find the Myth of the Rational Market an enjoyable, stimulating and worthwhile read. Undergraduate or graduate students, particularly business and economics majors enrolled in a History of Economic Thought or Personal Finance course, will take pleasure in reading this fascinating and very thoroughly documented story (particularly after the first half, which could be a little slow for the uninitiated). The beauty of the book is that Fox has integrated a great deal of economic and finance theory into a summary of the contributions by many of the key contributors of the past century. He not only discusses their academic contributions, he cleverly infuses interesting personal anecdotes along the way. For example, he begins the book with the story of Irving Fisher, who had already overcome many personal tragedies, suffering the theft of the only copy of his International Review of Economics Education 131 manuscript of The Nature of Capital and Income (stolen in 1905 while he was talking in a phone booth). Thankfully, Fisher was not one to quit, and he entirely rewrote 'one of the principal building blocks of all present‐day economic theory' (p. 4). Another story is of Alan Greenspan's classic trademark phrase 'irrational exuberance', which Greenspan thought of while taking a bath. Readers will discover that prominent economists are people, too! In addition to the enjoyable narrative, The Myth provides some worthwhile insights for students of economics. Beyond learning about the historical chronology and interconnections that form the basis of our current economic and financial theories, readers will discover an important message about the methodology of the discipline. While mathematics provides a very useful tool, it is no more powerful than the assumptions that form the basis for its application. In classroom instruction, economists use assumptions not because they are always accurate representations of reality, but because they help students grasp the underlying logic of a situation. However, in the real world of financial markets, invalid assumptions sometimes generate dramatic failures. The author's discussion of the 1998 Long Term Capital Management (LCTM) debacle is not only captivating, but will serve as an eye opener for students. As Robert Merton, LCTM partner and 1997 Nobel Prize winning economist, so aptly acknowledged: 'The mathematics of financial models can be applied precisely, but the models are not at all precise in their application to the complicated real world' (p. 236). From the first chapter to the last, readers will learn about how theories evolve – a continuous battle of ideas between academic leaders at the forefront of the discipline. The author discusses Thomas Kuhn's introduction of paradigm shifts in his classic, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Without realising it, students will be immersed in a story that generates an appreciation and better understanding of the scientific method – another reason to adopt this book in a college economics or finance course. Mr. Fox goes beyond merely discussing the basic logic of the models by addressing the personal attachment that many of those involved (understandably) acquire toward the theories they were instrumental in developing. It is hard to change one's position once a reputation and career have been built upon it. As John Maynard Keynes so appropriately stated: 'The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones' (Keynes, viii). One such example Fox cites is how University of Chicago Merton Miller began his finance class one day in the early 1960s: 'He drew a vertical line on the blackboard, wrote "M&M" [for Modigliani‐Miller] as a heading to the left of the line and "T" to the right. A student raised his hand and asked what the T stood for. "Them", Miller responded' (p. 95–6). Throughout the book Fox provides interesting anecdotes that help elucidate how fervently the players in the efficient markets evolution fought for their ideas. (By the way, for those who have an aversion to mathematics, the book has no graphs or equations.) Fox ends his story with a prognosis from Robert Shiller, the Yale University economist well known for predicting both the stock market crash in 2000 and the recent housing bubble. Replying to Fox's question about the future of finance, Shiller replies: 'I think we're less than halfway through the development of financial markets. Maybe there's no end to it' (p. 321). It may be entirely coincidental that until the University of Chicago Booth School of Business moved to a new building in 2004, Fama occupied the office directly above Thaler's. A quick directory search shows that their offices are now both on the 4 floor of the new building. Is this a portent of the future of economics and finance theory? Could it be that future models will balance Eugene Fama's views of the rational and efficient market with the behaviouralist theories of Dick Thaler? Now that Fama and Thaler are on equal footing – as it were – will economics continue its movement from homo economicus to homo sapiens? The Myth of the Rational Market does not explore these questions, but instead focuses on Edmund Burke's sage advice: 'Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.' The Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street


On the basis of the modernization theory of aging, this paper argues that the causal factors for the diminishing status of the elderly and consequent aging problems are basically societal rather than individual or familial. It then examines the present state of problems of elderly Koreans, analyzes existing social welfare provisions for the elderly and some problems in current policies. From these diagnoses, it emphasizes the role and the shared responsibility of the state to initiate an efficient and encompassing solution for the elderly problem, which will pave the desirable way for the Korean welfare state.


Influence of physical spray characteristics (carrier volume, herbicide
dosage and surfactant) and presence of glyphosate on the performance of
metsulfuron-methyl against woody borreria (Diodia ocimifolia) was studied
in the glass house. The activity of metsulfuron-methyl on Diodia ocimifolia
was influenced by herbicide dosage, carrier volume, surfactant and the
interaction of these factors. The performance of metsulfuron-methyl
increased as herbicide dosage increased irrespective of carrier volume.
The results indicated that 30 g/ha metsulfuron-methyl was required for
effective control of Diodia. A significant decrease in performance of
metsulfuron-methyl was observed as the carrier volume increased from
200 to 600 L ha-1. The presence of surfactant increased the activity of metsulfuron-methyl against Diodia at carrier volu mes of 400 and 600 L
ha-1 • However, the results did not indicate loss in herbicide performance
for carrier volume less than 200 L ha-1 in the absence and presence of
surfactant. These observed responses were further illustrated using
models obtained by linear regression analysis. Metsulfuron-methyl applied
to D. ocimifolia at both growth stages caused seedling mortal ity and
reduced seed production. Diodia ocimifolia was more susceptibie at the
vegetative stage compared to the flowering stage. Shoot tip growth was
arrested at low dosage of 3.75 g/ha. However, metsulfuron-methyl dosage
required for complete kill of Diodia seedlings was 15 g/ha at the vegetative
stage and 30 g/ha at the flowering stage. Metsulfuron-methyl applied at
the flowering stage caused flower abscission but did not inhibit germination
of seeds collected from treated plants. Metsulfuron-methyl and glyphosate
mixtures at all ratios were more effective than the herbicides used alone.
At low rates of metsulfuron-methyl (3.75 and 15 g/ha), the response in the
presence of glyphosate (135 and 540 g/ha) with and without surfactant
(1:36 mixtures) was synergistic or additive. However, in the 1:72 mixture
the interaction response became additive. The same response was
obtained with the 1:18 mixture. The results indicate that the appropriate
combination for optimum performance is the 1:36 mixture both in the
presence and absence of surfactant.


Migration has been associated with increased risk of hypertension(HTN) through stressors associated with cultural change and health behavior. Like other immigrants, women arriving in good health have experienced health declines with increased time in the U.S. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of migration to, and residence in, the U.S. on the development and perceptions of HTN and dietary behavior (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH Diet)) using the Self-Regulation Model (SRM) of Leventhal et al. . This cross-sectional correlation research used two survey instruments (Women's & Men's hypertension Experiences & Emerging Lifestyle Survey (WHEELS) and Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS)) with a convenience sample of 91 Nigerian immigrant women (NIW) and a secondary data analysis of 38 African American women (AAW) from the WHEELS Study of 2008/2009 for comparison. Descriptive analysis was done on salient demographic variables for NIW and AAW. A t-test and ANOVA compared NIW and AAW and duration of residency in the U.S. with dependent variables (cognitive representations, blood pressure, and BMI). An important finding was that 63.7% (58 of 91) of NIW had BMI > 30 and 61.5% (56 of 91) had pre-HTN (SBP 120 to 139mmHg). Knowledge of HTN (HTNKNOW) and Cognitive Representation of Hypertension (CRHTN) were significantly increased in NIW by years of residency (p= .001 and .027 respectively). AAW had significantly higher HTNKNOW than NIW (p= .021). No significant differences were found for the CRHTN or Cognitive Representation of DASH Diet (CRDD) between AAW and NIW. However a significant difference was found in the CRDD dimension of perception representing knowledge ( p= .002). No differences were found in CRDD or its dimensions by years in the U.S. for NIW. An association exists between HTNKNOW and CRHTN and years of residence in the U.S., with none found with CRDD. Knowledge of the DASH diet was present in the NIW but there was no reflection of this in their BMI. There is a need to educate new immigrants of risk factors associated with HTN/CVD. A longitudinal study initiated on immigrants' arrival in the U.S. is recommended to understand the trajectory of chronic illnesses such as hypertension.


It is important to keep outright falsehoods out of journalism and the scientific literature. Creationism and fear-mongering about vaccine safety do not deserve equal time with biological and medical science. But in matters of regulatory science, where there is not a clear consensus on methods and where it is impossible to strictly separate factual judgments from political ones, the literature on science in policy offers strong support for keeping discourse open and free, even though it may become heated. But it also calls on individual scientists to consider how the results of their research and their public statements about it are likely to be used.


IN recent years several advancement has been made in research and development of Oral Drug Delivery System. Concept of Novel Drug Delivery System arose to overcome the certain aspect related to physicochemical properties of drug molecule and the related formulations. Purpose of this review is to compile the recent literature with special focus on various gastro retentive approaches that have recently become leading methodologies in the field of site-specific orally administered controlled release drug delivery. Technological attempts have been made in the research and development of ratecontrolled oral drug delivery systems to overcome physiological adversities, such as short gastric residence times (GRT) and unpredictable gastric emptying times (GET). Therefore, gastro retentive drug delivery systems (GRDDS) have been developed, which prolong the gastric emptying time. Several techniques such as floating drug delivery system, low density systems, raft systems, mucoadhesive systems, high density systems, super porous hydro gels and magnetic systems, have been employed. This review on GRDDS attempts to compile the available information with all the possible mechanism used to achieve gastric retention.


This paper discusses the significant percentage increase of environmental impact generated in the manufacturing phase as a result of changes in the key material selection during the product design process. The findings in this paper are important for product designers. They need to pay extra attention when choosing plastics or metals when assessing design alternatives that can reduce the environmental impact. Four products were analysed in this case study namely water pump, hot pot, plastic kettle and stainless steel kettle. The environmental impacts of these four products are assessed by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the CML approach from Institute of Environmental Sciences is adopted as the Life Cycle Impact Assessment method.


LETTERS Intravenous atropine treatment in infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis of infancy is a disorder of early infancy with typical clinical features and well-established radiological appearance of the pyloric canal. Many studies with surgical and medical treatment have been reported over the past fifty years. Pylorotomy has tended to become the favoured method of treatment as with expert paediatric, surgical, anaesthetic, and nursing services and specialised accommodation for infants, the outcome is good with low mortality, short stay in hospital and few complications. However, a variety of studies of medical treatment with anticholinergic drugs and successful outcomes in some large series of cases have also been reported from Sweden, United States of America and the United Kingdom. Since 1996 this group of workers from Osaka, Japan, has revived an interest in medical treatment with reports of a new regime using methyl atropine nitrate intravenously. To achieve satisfactory short term outcomes considerable variation in drug dosage and modified feeding regimes were necessary which involved much medical supervision and careful monitoring for toxic effects of the drug, which were minimal. The treatment was successful in the relatively small number of infants in the trial (19) with two infants being referred for pylorotomy, no mortality and no serious complications. An interesting part of this paper is the long term clinical follow up of the successfully treated infants over two years and ultrasonography of the pyloric canal which demonstrated the changes in muscle thickness and length of the canal. The disadvantages of the treatment mentioned by the authors are length of stay in hospital and the necessity to continue atropine medication orally after discharge home. Comparing the use of this anticholinergic drug intravenously with oral treatment using methyl scopolamine nitrate and similar restricted feeding regime, oral methyl scopolamine nitrate suppressed vomiting more quickly and reliably, was also available for subcutaneous injection if vomiting recurred as size of feeds was increased, and no toxic effects were seen in any dosage used. It would be interesting if these workers would be prepared to try the use of methyl scopo-lamine nitrate intravenously as pharmalogi-cally this compound was reported to have a spasmolytic effect on gut two to three times greater than methyl atropine nitrate 1 with lesser central nervous effects. This paper serves to emphasise once more that these infants should always be treated in paediatric centres where there is a high level of experienced …


Abstract Hendersonida parvirostrissp. nov. is described from Papua New Guinea. The new species can be distinguished from the only other species of the genus, H. granulata (Henderson, 1885), by the fewer spines on the dorsal carapace surface, the shape of the rostrum and supraocular spines, the antennal peduncles, and the length of the walking legs. Pairwise genetic distances estimated using the 16S rRNA and COI DNA gene fragments indicated high levels of sequence divergence between the new species and H. granulata. Phylogenetic analyses, however, recovered both species as sister species, supporting monophyly of the genus.


The altitude of a moving vehicle as reported by GPS suffers from intermittent errors caused by temporary obstruction of the satellites by buildings, mountains, etc. Additionally, it is affected by systematic errors caused by multipath effects, ionospheric and tropospheric effects, and other hardware design limitations and natural factors. Atmospheric pressure, measured by a portable barometric sensor, could also be used to determine altitude, is not susceptible to problems caused by obstruction of satellites, and can provide reliable measurements outdoors even in urban and mountainous regions. In this paper, we propose an algorithm which improves accuracy and provides tighter confidence bounds of altitude measurements from a mobile phone (or any device equipped with GPS and barometric sensors) by means of sensor fusion techniques without the need for calibration. Our experiments have shown that the proposed algorithm provides more accurate measurements with tighter confidence bounds compared to using either of the two sensors, barometric or GPS, alone.


The paper documents econometrically the trend toward financial and monetary integration among the countries of the EMS. The first half of the paper examines return differentials among European countries. Short-term nominal interest differentials have fallen. What is the role of county factors (e.g., capital controls) versus currency factors (e.g., exchange risk premia)? To find out, we look directly at covered interest differentials, measured with the aid of forward rate data, and exchange risk premia, measured with the aid of survey data on exchange rate expectations. The second half of the paper examines the credibility of the EMS, essentially updating the results and condensing the presentation in "The European Monetary System: Credible at Last?" We find evidence that the danger of realignment perceived by investors was lower in 1990-91 than previously. The overall conclusion is that all components of the interest differential fell during the course of the 1980s.


This paper presents the first complete estimate of the phylogenetic relationships among all 197 species of extant and recently extinct ruminants combining morphological, ethological and molecular information. The composite tree is derived by applying matrix representation using parsimony analysis to 164 previous partial estimates, and is remarkably well resolved, containing 159 nodes (>80% of the potential nodes in the completely resolved phylogeny). Bremer decay index has been used to indicate the degree of certainty associated with each clade. The ages of over 80 % of the clades in the tree have been estimated from information in the literature. The supertree for Ruminantia illustrates which areas of ruminant phylogeny are still only roughly known because of taxa with controversial relationships (e.g. Odocoileini, Antilopinae) or not studied in great detail (e.g. Muntiacus). It supports the monophyly of the ruminant families and Pecora. According to this analysis Antilocapridae and Giraffidae constitute the superfamily Giraffoidea, which is the sister group of a clade clustering Bovoidea and Cervoidea. The position of several taxa whose systematic positions have remained controversial in the past (Saiga, Pelea, Aepycerus, Pantholops, Ammotragus, Pseudois) is unambiguously established. Nevertheless, the position of Neotragus and Oreotragus within the original radiation of the non‐bovine bovids remains unresolved in the present analysis. It also shows that six successive rapid cladogenesis events occurred within the infraorder Pecora during the Oligocene to middle Pliocene, which coincided with periods of global climatic change. Finally, the presented supertree will be a useful framework for comparative and evolutionary biologists interested in studies involving the ruminants.


: Three-dimensional aggregates are formed in the suspension culture by myoblasts of the chick embryo femoral muscle. Cells present in these aggregates undergo mitotic divisions just as in a monolayer; thereafter they fuse with the formation of myosimplasts. Further stages of myogenesis are impaired under the conditions of the suspension culture. This was manifested in the formation of atypical, massive spherical or vesicle-like thick-walled myosimplasts with dozens or hundreds of randomly clustered nuclei. After the replating and attachment to a glass surface myosimplasts undergo gladual elongation and differentiate into muscle fibers. Thus the attachment to the artificial solid support is a necessary prerequisite for the completion of morphogenesis in vitro.


This present work deals with the synthesis, characterization and biological screening of some novel Schiff bases of thiazole derivatives 1,2,4 . Ethyl-2(2-amino thiazole-4 yl) glyoxylate (I) react with 2, 5-dimethyl tetrahydro furan gave N-pyrol derivatives (II). Equal mole of (II) and hydrazine hydrate were heated for 10 minutes. It gave mono hydrazine derivatives (III) and when 1 mole of (II) and 2 mole of hydrazine hydrate were refluxed for 3 hours, it gave dihydrazine derivatives (IV). Equal mole of mono hydrazine derivatives (III) and aromatic aldehyde (one mole of dihydrazine derivatives (IV) and one mole of aromatic aldehyde) are refluxed for 10 minutes, it gave pale yellow mono and tri Schiff base derivatives. When (I) was directly reacted with hydrazine hydrate it gave (V). Compound (V) contains both 2-thiazole amine and hydrazine active sites for Schiff base formation. But when (V) was treated with aromatic aldehyde, hydrazine active site form solid Schiff base very fast, because in low temperature 2-thiazole amine get stable by amine emine tautomerism. This is conformed by HNMR (Ar-NH2 proton peak is single let only). The chemical structures of synthesized compounds were conformed by MASS, IR and H-NMR spectral studies. The synthesized compounds were (25, 50 and 100 µg/mL) screened for antimicrobial activity by paper disc diffusion method.


Sporopollenin, which is a naturally occurring and highly resilient organic polymer constituting the external shell of spores and pollen grains, has been converted into a primary amine form with a loading of 0.58 ±0.04 mmol.g−1 by reductive amination with ammonia and lithium aluminium hydride successively. The presence of the amine and precursor amide groups were established by combustion elemental analysis, ICP-OES, FTIR, solid-state NMR and reactivity of the primary amine group to salt formation and nucleophilic addition and substitution with phenyl isothiocyanate and benzene sulfonyl chloride, respectively. This relatively simple conversion has served to provide further information regarding the presence and reactivity of carboxylic acid functions on this relatively uncharted polymer and offers aminosporopollenin as a new material for potential solid-phase applications.


The previous literature documents that female-owned businesses are less profitable than male-owned businesses, including microenterprises that make up the majority of firms in developing countries. In this paper, we uncover an overlooked gendered constraint for these businesses: childcare. We collect field data through unannounced visits to a sample of microentrepreneurs in select areas of Uganda, combining surveys of business owners and real customers, as well as purchases by confederate buyers (i.e., mystery shoppers). We document that childcare duties in businesses are highly gendered: 37% of female owners bring small children to work, compared with 0% of men. Childcare duties are correlated with a "baby-profit gap," as businesses where children are present earn 48% lower profits than even other female-owned businesses where a child is not present. Using our rich data, we analyze potential reasons why childcare obligations may affect profits. We find that prices, product quality, and other explanations are not robustly correlated with the presence of a baby. However, we find that women with children in the store are more likely to run out of stock than both men and women who do not have children in the store. Although we caution that our analysis is not causal, we consistently find that childcare duties are associated with profitability and may relate to the wider gender gap in business performance. This paper was accepted by Lamar Pierce, organizations.


Abstract Objective. Continuous exposure to cold leads to an activation of adaptive thermogenesis in the brown adipose tissue and induction of brown/beige cell phenotype in the white adipose tissue. Thermogenic response is associated with alternatively activated macrophages producing catecholamines, which subsequently activate the uncoupling protein 1 (UCP-1). The aim of this work was to elucidate the effect of cold exposure on catecholamine and immune responses associated with adipocyte browning in the mesenteric adipose tissue (mWAT) of rat. Methods. The rats were exposed to continuous cold (4 °C) for 1 or 7 days. Catecholamines production and gene expressions of inflammatory and other factors, related to adipocyte "browning", were analyzed in the homogenized mWAT samples using 2-CAT ELISA kits. Results. Cold exposure induced a sympathetic response in the mWAT, evidenced by the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) protein level rise. Induction of non-sympathetical catecholamine production was observed 7 days after cold exposure by elevated TH and phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase (PNMT) expression, leading to an increased epinephrine levels. Cold exposure for 7 days stimulated the infiltration of macrophages, evaluated by F4/80 and CD68 expressions, and expression of anti-inflammatory mediators, while pro-inflammatory cytokines were inhibited. Anti- inflammatory response, accompanied by de novo catecholamine production and up-regulation of β3-adrenergic receptors, led to the stimulation of UCP-1 and PGC1α expression, suggesting a cold-induced "browning" of the mWAT, mediated by alternatively activated macrophages. Conclusions. The present data indicate that prolonged cold exposure may induce anti-inflammatory response in mWAT associated with induction of UCP-1 expression. Although functional thermogenesis in the mWAT is most likely redundant, a highly efficient dissipation of energy by UCP1 may affect the energy homeostasis in this visceral fat.


The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) is a remarkable statutory success story, properly lauded for protecting American historic properties since its passage in 1966. But there is another, more intricate story to the NHPA. Congress added a unique extraterritoriality provision to the NHPA in 1980, implementing U.S. obligations under the World Heritage Convention (WHC), a treaty that protects properties of cultural and natural heritage worldwide. This provision requires federal agencies to take into account the effect of any undertaking outside the United States on the applicable nation's equivalent National Register. Its proper scope and jurisdiction were unclear - until recently. A federal district court ruled against the Department of Defense (DoD) in Dugong v. Gates, a case involving the relocation of a U.S. military base in Okinawa - and in which the court broadly interpreted the NHPA to protect a wild animal in the sovereign territory of Japan. The decision downplayed foreign policy considerations that have historically constrained U.S. courts from adjudicating cases in other sovereign nations. It stands in sharp contrast to the traditional role of the judiciary exercising caution in cases affecting foreign relations when looking to apply U.S. laws overseas, most recently reaffirmed in the Supreme Court's ruling in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Company. After Dugong, the NHPA may no longer be considered as a mere domestic statute protecting historic physical properties within the confines of the United States. Instead, the NHPA stands alone as a statute protecting the human environment held to apply in another sovereign nation's territory. Dugong, a district court opinion, has little precedential force in its own right - but its broad application of the NHPA could have significant consequences for the U.S. military if more widely adopted. And it is of increased importance as a plausible vehicle to litigate extraterritorial environmental claims in light of the limited jurisdiction of other U.S. environmental statutes and the Court's ruling in Kiobel limiting the Alien Tort Statute's extraterritorial application. Further, the U.S. military has a growing footprint in Asia, including to countries whose historic registers, like Japan's, provide broad protections to wildlife and cultural resources. The article surveys American historic preservation law and explains how the NHPA evolved organically from - and should be viewed in the context of - that broader preservation tradition. As the NHPA's scope and jurisdiction are effectively unfastened from its initial beginnings, this article concludes by arguing that Congress should re-anchor the NHPA and clarify its proper scope and jurisdiction, thereby mitigating any broader foreign relations impacts.


The anatomical and chemical characteristics of reaction wood (RW) were investigated in Liriodendron tulipifera Linn. Stems of seedlings were artificially inclined at angles of 30 (RW-30), 50 (RW-50) and 70° (RW-70) from the vertical, and compared with normal wood (NW) from a vertical seedling stem. The smallest values for the wood fibre length and vessel number were observed in RW-50. The pit aperture angle was less than 10° in RW-30 and RW-50, in which reduced lignin content was observed in the S2 layer of the wood fibres. An increase in the glucose content and a decrease in the lignin and xylose content was observed in RW-50. The stem inclination angle affected the degree of RW development with regard to anatomical and chemical characteristics: the severest RW was observed in RW-50, followed by RW-30. RW-70 was similar in anatomical and chemical characteristics to NW, apparently because the inclination was too strong to enable recovery of its original position. In this case a vertical sprouting stem was formed to replace the inclined stem.


With advances in sensor-based computing and mobile communication, people have started to explore ubiquitous or pervasive computing systems that aim to have computing devices literally available everywhere, making them disappear into the physical environment. Novel ubiquitous computing applications such as intelligent vehicles, smart buildings, and traffic management have special properties that traditional computing applications do not possess, such as context-awareness, massive decentralisation, autonomous behaviour, adaptivity, proactivity, and innate collaboration. In this paper we argue that these require a new computational model and middleware that can reflect the autonomy and spontaneity of cooperative entities. The EU funded CORTEX project proposes the sentient object model to support the construction of such large-scale applications. We report on a flexible, run-time reconfigurable component based middleware that we have used to engineer the sentient object programming paradigm. We demonstrate the appropriateness of the novel computational model and validity of the middleware by constructing a proof of concept demonstrator based on the notion of autonomous cooperating vehicles.


Gliotoxin is an epipolythiodioxopiperazine (ETP) produced by the opportunistic fungal
pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. It contains an intact disulphide bridge, which mediates
its toxic effects via redox cycling. Like many other ETPs, a bisthiomethylated form is
also produced. In the case of gliotoxin, bis(methyl)gliotoxin is formed for unknown
reasons by a cryptic enzyme. The work presented uncovered the S-adenosylmethionine
dependent gliotoxin bis-thiomethyltransferase (GtmA), which converts dithiol gliotoxin
to bis(methyl)gliotoxin. Disruption of this non-gli cluster encoded methyltransferase
completely abrogated organismal ability to biosynthesize and secrete
bis(methyl)gliotoxin, while gliotoxin production and secretion were increased
(p=0.0056). Label-free quantitative (LFQ) proteomics of A. fumigatus wild-type, ΔgtmA,
and gtmAC strains cultured in Czapek-Dox media revealed an elevated abundance of gli
cluster encoded enzymes in the ΔgtmA mutant strain. Phylogenetic analysis of this
enzyme revealed that there are 124 GtmA homologs within the Ascomycota phylum.
Furthermore, through the characterisation of changes in SAM homoeostasis within A.
fumigatus, this work also illuminates a direct link between gliotoxin biosynthesis and
primary metabolic processes. Recombinant GtmA was shown to bismethylate dithiol GT
using S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) as a methyl donor. Additionally, the crystal structure
of GtmA was solved by multiple-wavelength anomalous diffraction to 2.3 A resolution.
This information was used to identify GtmA structural homologs, to uncover residues in
involved in GtmA substrate binding and to facilitate targeted engineering of this enzyme.
We now propose that the purpose of GtmA mediated bis(methyl)gliotoxin formation
primarily serves to attenuate gliotoxin biosynthesis. This appears to be the first example
of postbiosynthetic regulation of nonribosomal peptide synthesis in any organism.


Mergers and acquisitions play a key role in industries facing disruptive change and the need to restructure effectively to meet future needs; transactions provide potential opportunities for substantial benefits. Significant realignment of the U.S. healthcare delivery system is underway, driven by economic, policy, and demographic factors, with many hospitals, particularly stand-alone hospitals, financially challenged. The effects of these trends are most visible in smaller metro areas, which often have greater hospital capacity than required to meet demand. Over 500 hospital transactions have occurred in recent years; about half involved stand-alone hospitals, many in smaller communities. An anticipated increase in hospital transactions in the near term suggests the importance of clear agency guidance on the factors that will distinguish transactions that are likely to be challenged.Agency guidance about future enforcement on hospital mergers contrasts with actual enforcement practice. Guidance emphasizes concentration and Merger Guidelines thresholds, even though the vast majority of past hospital mergers, including most of those that exceeded Guidelines thresholds, went unchallenged. Academic price-concentration studies play a uniquely prominent role in statements of enforcement intentions in the healthcare industry, even though those studies are largely dated and mixed in their findings. Limited clarity exists on factors that mattered to competitive effects analysis in concentrated markets with closely reviewed yet unchallenged mergers. Moreover, the modeling used in hospital merger review may not account for current and evolving market realities of healthcare delivery and purchasing. This paper reviews healthcare delivery trends in the context of recommendations for competitive effects analyses and guidance in industries characterized by dynamic change, differentiated products, large numbers of mergers, and low incidence of actual challenges. It shows that, where concentration thresholds are poor predictors of competitive effects, greater clarity is required of the specific factors other than structure that yielded assessments that mergers in highly concentrated markets were unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition. The many changes in healthcare markets necessitate closer scrutiny of economic models to assure they are robust and reflect market realities, including the responsiveness of rivals and payors. Given the substantial reliance on academic studies for guidance, we review the oft-cited concentration-price literature and find that it does not support the claimed systematic quantitative relationship. We undertook independently to address these issues empirically by updating a major study using a comprehensive and current commercial claims database covering 380 metropolitan areas. We found no systematic quantifiable relationship; instead myriad market and firm specific factors account for price variation. Finally, we present some suggestions for review of future transactions.


Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, and Accra are the major recipients of agricultural commodities or productions in Ghana, primarily due to their population and ready markets. To ensure food security, meet food demands, and mitigate the threats posed by pests and diseases, pesticides are used when cultivating vegetables and fruits in Ghana. The present study has been conducted to assess the concentration of various pesticide residues in tomatoes, obtained from three market centers (namely Bantama, Central, and Ayigya Markets) in Kumasi, dealing with potential health risks for the consumers. Analyzed samples have revealed high percentage of organophosphorous pesticide residues (45%) in Ayigya market with Bantama market recording high percentage of organochlorines and pyrethroid. Laboratory analysis of tomato samples for various pesticides residues has indicated that all the pesticide residues pose no threat to human's health with all estimated hazard indices being below 1; however, heptachlor (HI=0.85) and dieldrin (HI=0.74) have shown the highest risk levels in children. The study reveals that there is some need for strict monitoring of heptachlor and dieldrin in tomato, especially in case of children.


State forestry officials responsible for forestry incentive programs in each of the 13 southern states were surveyed concerning their opinions on financial incentive programs available to nonindustrial private forest owners. The forestry officials were asked to name and describe the public and private programs available in their state, to assess forest owners' awareness of each program, its appeal among the owners aware of it, its effectiveness in encouraging sustainable forestry and enabling owners to meet their objectives, and the percent of program practices that remain in place and enrolled acres that remain in forest over time. They also were asked to suggest ways to improve the programs. The Forest Stewardship, Forest Land Enhancement, and Forest Legacy Programs were among the top rated federal programs. Programs sponsored by states and private organizations tended to be more narrowly targeted than federal programs and scored well for specific attributes. The forestry officials' suggestions for program improvement centered largely on improving program visibility and availability, increasing and ensuring long-term consistency in program funding, and simplifying the application and approval process.


The release of growth hormone (GH) and cAMP was studied in superfused rat pituitary cells by infusing growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) at different doses or a combination of GHRH and somatostatin 14 (SS-14). Three-minute pulses of GHRH caused a dose-dependent GH and cAMP release (effective concentration of 50% of the maximal biological effect is 0.21 nM and 52.5 nM, respectively). The lowest effective doses of GHRH in the superfusion system were 0.03 nM for GH release and 0.3 nM for cAMP discharge when 3-min pulses were applied. The amount of cAMP liberated from the cells was not proportional to GH release: cAMP responses to low doses of GHRH were disproportionally small, and the gradual increase in the release of cAMP after high doses of GHRH was not followed by a parallel rise in GH release. The desensitization induced by repeated pulses or prolonged infusion of GHRH resulted in a greater reduction in GH release than in cAMP liberation. A simultaneous infusion of SS-14 completely blocked GH release stimulated by GHRH but did not inhibit the immediate release of cAMP caused by GHRH. An abrupt decrease in GHRH-stimulated GH release induced by SS-14 was followed by only a minimal reduction in cAMP liberation 9 min later. Our findings indicate that a discharge of cAMP is stimulated after a GHRH pulse, but this effect alone cannot maintain the release of GH. Other steps of the signal transduction mechanisms that are independent of the cAMP route may participate in the process of GH release. The nature of the mechanisms involved in the mediation of GH release may vary with the doses of GHRH used.


The circadian clock (the endogenous mechanism that anticipates diurnal cycles) acts as a central coordinator of plant activity. At the molecular and organism level, it regulates key traits for plant fitness, including seed germination, gas exchange, growth and flowering, among others. In this article, we explore current evidence on the effect of the clock for the scales of interest to ecologists. We begin by synthesizing available knowledge on the effect of the clock on biosphere-atmosphere interactions and observe that, at least in the systems where it has been tested, the clock regulates gas exchange from the leaf to the ecosystem level, and we discuss its implications for estimates of the carbon balance. Then, we analyse whether incorporating the action of the clock may help in elucidating the effects of climate change on plant distributions. Circadian rhythms are involved in regulating the range of temperatures a species can survive and affects plant interactions. Finally, we review the involvement of the clock in key phenological events, such as flowering time and seed germination. Because the clock may act as a common mechanism affecting many of the diverse branches of ecology, our ultimate goal is to stimulate further research into this pressing, yet unexplored, topic.


Contagious equine metritis is a bacterial infectious disease of horses caused by Taylorella equigenitalis, a Gram-negative eubacterium. The disease has been described in several continents, including Europe, North America and Asia. A novel molecular method was developed to detect clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs), which were separated by non-repetitive unique spacer regions (NRUSRs) of similar length, in the Taylorella equigenitalis EQ59 strain using a primer pair, f-/r-TeCRISPR-ladder, by PCR amplification. In total, 31 Taylorella isolates (17 T. equigenitalis and 14 Taylorella asinigenitalis) were examined. The T. equigenitalis isolates came from thoroughbred and cold-blooded horses from nine countries during 1980-1996, whilst the T. asinigenitalis isolates all originated from donkey jacks in France and the USA during 1997-2006. PAGE fractionated all of the 13 CRISPRs separated by 12 NRUSRs in T. equigenitalis EQ59. Permutation examples of CRISPRs, which were separated by NRUSRs for small-sized ladders, consisting of two doublet bands were shown. Putative CRISPRs separated by NRUSRs were amplified with 14/17 (82.4 %) geographically disparate T. equigenitalis isolates using the newly designed primer pair. Approximately 82.4 % of the T. equigenitalis isolates had CRISPRs separated by NRUSRs. The CRISPR locus was also found in the French T. asinigenitalis strain MCE3. Putative CRISPRs separated by NRUSRs were detected similarly in 4/14 (28.6 %) T. asinigenitalis isolates. Overall, a more detailed understanding of the molecular biology of CRISPRs within Taylorella organisms may help elucidate the pathogenic virulence and transmission mechanisms associated with this important equine pathogen.


cancer were fewer thn those of Professor Cooper and his colleagues but we included only selected cases. Patients with bacterial infection, confinned by the nitroblue tetrazolium test,8 were excluded. That raised serum muramidase levels may in some cases of untreated cancer be due to local bacterial infection cannot be ruled out, partioularly in colorectal canoer, which often infiltrates the superficial layer of the mucous membrane. This may explain why only some patients bave raised serum muranidase levels. The observation that bacterial infection is associated with raised serum muramidase levels prompted us to measure these in 40 patients, of whom 28 had a local and 12 a systemic infection. Some of the patients had cancer and others did not. The serum muraxnidase level was raised in all of the patients with systemic infections but in only five of the 28 with local infections. All of these five had cancer and their local infection was in tissue surrounding the neoplasm. The nitroblue tetrazolium test was positive in four out of the five. Our findings lead us to believe that a raised serum muramidase level in some cancer patients is only a secondary phenomenon and is of no diagnostic or prognostic value.-We are, etc.,


It is well-known that Vth (threshold voltage) Pelgrom plot [1][2] of halo-implanted transistors show non-monotonous behavior in long channel region where analog circuits are usually designed [3]-[7]. However, none of the preceding works have presented physically based predictable model for this phenomenon. In this paper, a compact model which can predict the non-monotonous behavior of the Vth-Pelgrom plot of long channel halo-implanted transistors with respect to the change of their impurity profiles and/or device structures has been presented for the first time. The model is derived by combining the expressions of Hueting's GCH model [8] and Pang's analytical surface potential model [9] together with proper approximation. The model can accurately reproduce measurement results and also can predict how Vth variation behaves with respect to halo and channel profile change. It is also shown that there is a high sensitivity band of Vth variation in halo versus channel doping concentration space.


The Castle of Otranto has been considered a turning point in eighteenth- century literature and in fiction in general. This study intends to high -light some aspects that are not generally taken into consideration, such as the historical context, the architectural descriptions and the use of landscape, which will become essential in subsequent romances and nov els that belong to the Gothic genre. This article also underscores nar rative techniques that marked a change in the history of prose-writing.  Finally, it focuses on important works, contemporary of Horace Walpole's masterpiece that played an important role in the long eighteenth-century.


Plagiocirrus loboides n. sp. (Digenea: Opecoelidae) is described from Fundulus nottii, F. dispar blairae, F. chrysotus, and Notemigonus crysoleucas from the Pascagoula River in Mississippi. Plagiocirrus loboides differs from P. primus Van Cleave and Mueller, 1932, by having a longer postcecal space (14–25% of body length vs. about 7%); a more anterior vitellarium (extending at least to the middle of the ventral sucker vs. to its posterior margin); and larger eggs (51–71 μm long by 23–34 μm wide vs. 40–55 μm long by 30–35 μm wide). Plagiocirrus loboides differs from P. testeus Fritts, 1959, by having a long postcecal space (vs. <5% of body length); irregular, oblique, contiguous testes (vs. strongly lobed, well separated, tandem testes); and a more extensive vitellarium. Plagiocirrus loboides differs from both congeners by having an ovary comprised of 3 or 4 distinct lobes rather than having an entire ovary. Plagiocirrus wuyienensis Wang, 1981, from Hemimyzon zebroidus in Fujian Province, China, is herein considered a species inquirenda because it has a Y-shaped excretory bladder. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of 28S rDNA gene fragments from P. loboides and 17 digenean species demonstrates that Plagiocirrus belongs in Opecoelidae.


Background:
 Transvenous embolization (TVE) for cavernous sinus dural arteriovenous fistula (CSdAVF) is commonly performed via inferior petrosal sinus (IPS). However, TVE via IPS is sometimes difficult and we have to use adjunctive techniques or choose other approach routes.

 Method:
 44 patients with CSdAVFs were treated by TVE between January 2005 and June 2012. We retrospectively analyzed their techniques and approach routes.

 Result:
 The approach via IPS was possible in 37 patients (84%). 5 patients of them were treated via contralateral IPS of the lesions and 17 patients of them were treated via occluded IPS. As the adjunctive technique, we used triple catheter technique (TCT) in 11 patients, and the reopening technique using 0.035-inch guidewire, which opened a path for a subsequently inserted microcatheter in 6 patients. 7 patients (16%) were treated via the other approach routes. In 4 patients, we approached via facial vein. In 2 patients, we approached via middle temporal vein. In 1 patient, we approached via superior petrosal sinus and IPS at the same time using double catheter technique. As the adjunctive technique, we used TCT in 5 patients, direct puncture of internal jugular vein in 1 patient, compression of facial-angular vein in 1 patient. All of 43 patients were treated with coils and 2 patients were treated with N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate (NBCA) which was injected to the inside of the sinus as additional treatment. Finally, complete occlusion was achieved in all of 43 patients.

 Conclusion:
 Adjunctive techniques enable us to access cavernous sinus via IPS in most of our patients. If it is impossible to access cavernous sinus via IPS, we must analyze vascular anatomies and choose appropriate approach routes.


PURPOSE
This study examines the absolute and relative effects of 3 different treatment programs for school-age bilingual children with primary or specific language impairment (PLI). It serves to expand the evidence base on which service providers can base treatment decisions. It also explores hypothesized relations between languages and cognition in bilinguals with PLI.

METHOD
Fifty-nine school-age Spanish–English bilingual children with PLI were assigned to receive nonlinguistic cognitive processing, English, bilingual (Spanish–English), or deferred treatment. Participants in each of the 3 active treatments received treatment administered by nationally certified speech-language pathologists. Pre- and posttreatment assessments measured change in nonlinguistic cognitive processing, English, and Spanish skills, and analyses examined change within and across both treatment groups and skill domains.

RESULTS
All active treatment groups made significant pre- to post-treatment improvement on multiple outcome measures. There were fewer significant changes in Spanish than in English across groups. Between-group comparisons indicate that the active treatment groups generally outperformed the deferred treatment control, reaching statistical significance for 2 tasks.

CONCLUSION
Results provide insight into cross-language transfer in bilingual children and advance understanding of the general PLI profile with respect to relationships between basic cognitive processing and higher level language skills.


When executing time-sensitive distributed applications, a middleware that provides dependability and timeliness is faced with the important problem of preventing timing failures both under normal conditions and when the quality of service is degraded due to replica failures and transient overload on the server. To address this problem, we have designed a probabilistic model-based replica selection algorithm that allows a middleware to choose a set of replicas to service a client based on their ability to meet a client's timeliness requirements. This selection is done based on the prediction made by a probabilistic model that uses the performance history of replicas as inputs. In this paper, we describe the experiments we have conducted to evaluate the ability of this dynamic selection algorithm to meet a client's timing requirements, and compare it with that of a static and round-robin selection scheme under different scenarios.


An electron spin resonance (ESR) technique is employed to determine the free radical distribution in the articulating surfaces of retrieved acetabular cups and knee-joint plateaus (retrieved after more than 6 years of implantation). Similar measurements made on samples prepared from cyclically stressed and unstressed cups, and on samples following oxidations in nitric acid and intralipid solutions provided sufficient data to gain more knowledge about the combined chemical and mechanical effects on PE free radicals during implantation. In UHMWPE free radicals are primarily initiated by gamma-ray sterilization; however, during implantation, peroxy (scission type) free radicals are formed and reach a maximum concentration level (equilibrium state) due to oxidation by chemical (hemoglobin and/or synovial fluids) environment of the joints. Subsequently, due to frictional heating and stress in the loading zones, free radical reaction is accelerated and their number is reduced only in those areas. This is consistent with the observations of a temperature rise in acetabular cups during in vitro frictional wear stress tests and in vivo telemetry observations, as reported by others. Compared with the previously reported SEM micrographs the low-free-radical regions are correlated with high-wear areas and the high-free-radical regions with the low-wear areas.


Recent studies have documented declined global cognitive function and abnormal task‐related brain activation in chronic cigarette smokers. However, the effects of long‐term heavy smoking on task‐independent baseline brain activity are still unknown. Here, we used a regional homogeneity (ReHo) method combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate spontaneous neural activity in the resting state in heavy smokers. Compared with controls, heavy smokers exhibited decreased ReHo in prefrontal regions, as well as increased ReHo in insula and posterior cingulate cortex. Our study may better our understanding of the neurobiological consequences of smoking.


We investigate the motivations and value implications of corporate philanthropy by exploiting a global sample of publicly listed firms from 45 countries that provide disaster-relief grants to affected communities. We argue that, while in general corporate philanthropy entails agency concerns, the saliency of large, attention-grabbing natural disasters amplifies the strategic benefits of donating.

We find that the returns from donating increase with disaster severity and become positive for firms that rely more on reputation and social image. Returns are also higher for countries with low government relief support, for medium-sized donations, and for in-kind donations. Overall, our results highlight the strategic role of corporate philanthropy, which can lead to net increases in firm value and societal welfare if the strategic benefits of donating are sufficiently large.


Spinal cord hematomas are remarkably uncommon. Even more rare are spontaneous spinal subdural hematomas without underlying pathological changes. In some patients, compression of the spinal cord by spinal subdural hematoma has led to acute paraplegia. Spontaneous spinal subdural hematomas occur most often in the thoracic spine and are manifested by sudden back pain that radiates to the upper or lower extremities or to the trunk and variable degrees of motor, sensory, and autonomic disturbances. Clinicians should consider spontaneous spinal subdural hematoma when patients who are taking anticoagulants report back or radicular pain and the development of paraparesis, because early diagnosis is essential for preventing irreversible paralysis. Diagnosis of spontaneous spinal subdural hematoma requires prompt radiological assessment; magnetic resonance imaging is the preferred method. Treatment includes emergent decompressive laminectomy and evacuation of the hematoma to prevent or minimize permanent neurological damage caused by spinal cord compression, ischemia, and spinal cord injury.


OBJECTIVES: To describe the preliminary results of the application of this new technique in the diagnostic protocol in the management of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). MATERIAL AND METHODS: 131I Whole body scan (WBS) was made under rhTSH stimulation in a group of 102 patients with DTC in follow-up, all treated by means of total thyroidectomy. The administration guideline was a dose of 0.9 mg of rhTSH (intramuscular) for two consecutive days, followed by oral activity of 185 MBq of 131I 24 hours after the last rhTSH injection, and later scintigraphic scan after 48 hours of the administration of 131I. Serum samples for TSH, thyroglobulin and antithyroglobulin antibodies determination were collected at 24 and 72 hours of the last administration of the rhTSH. Measures were made by means of immunometric assays. RESULTS: TSH values at 24 hours after exogenous stimulation were 147.54 +/- 46.46 mIU/l. In 62 patients values of negative Tg were obtained (< 1 ng/ml), 50 of which presented negative WBS and 12 positive. 37 patients had positive Tg, 17 of whom presented negative WBS (confirming presence of disease in 7 patient by means of other imaging techniques) and 20 positive. CONCLUSIONS: In every case, administration of rhTSH produced a significant increase of the TSH, making it possible to perform the usual controls of patient management (determination of serum Tg and WBS), similarly to the hormone withdrawal situation. There is no evidence of significant side effects, and its use makes it possible to avoid disadvantages derived from the hormonal withdrawal, maintaining a good quality of life in patients.


This article is in five sections, each of which deals with a problem basic to the theory of musical meter. The first sets up a conceptual framework in which meter, group structure, and accent are related to one another. The second explores the practical and aesthetic functions of metric perception. In the next section, grouping and accent, as the determinants of meter, are thoroughly investigated. A penultimate section discusses several operations of metric distortion, and the final section considers the bases for, and significance of, deeper levels of meter. In a general sense, the article attempts to make sense out of the tangle of conflicting views that constitutes the recent literature on this subject. Each of its sections departs from a survey of prevalent views and proceeds to mediate among these by integrating them in a general framework in which they are more or less easily accommodated without mutual contradiction.


Sorption experiments of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on hydroxyapatite (HAp) ceramic granules, prepared at three temperatures 900°C, 1000°C and 1150°C were performed at room temperature 18,6 °C and phosphate buffer, pH 5,83; 6.38 and 7,39. Thermal treatment contributed to the decrease of bovine serum albumin immobilization indicating that sorption process depended on HAp ceramics specific surface area and pH values of phosphate buffer solution. However, it was confirmed that granule size was also an important parameter for bovine serum albumin adsorption. As a result of these experiments, the most appropriate adsorption conditions and phosphate buffer pH values influence on to BSA sorption were analyzed.


Author(s): Ambrose, Hanjiro; Kendall, Alissa | Abstract: California's freight transportation system is a vital part of the state's economy but is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and generates an even higher portion of regional and local air pollution. The state's primary strategy for reducing emissions from the on-road freight sector relies on deploying new vehicle and fuel technologies, such as electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. The market for electric truck technologies is developing rapidly.The goal of this research is to quantify the life cycle environmental impacts and life cycle costs for on-road goods movement in California to estimate the abatement potential and economic costs and benefits of electrifying California's freight truck sector. The study compares the emissions and costs of urban conventional gasoline and diesel Class 3–8 vehicles with electric heavy-duty vehicles (i.e., electric trucks) for a range of freight and commercial vocations. A model of freight vehicle operations is developed based on representative vehicle location data, and linked with life cycle emissions inventory, technology cost, and pollution health damage cost data. The model is then used to assess energy and capacity requirements for electric trucks and battery systems and explore the impacts of a range of charging strategies and vehicle duty cycles (i.e., vocations) on energy, costs, and emissions between 2020 and 2040.Where emissions occur, and how emissions of different pollutants are affected by factors including vocation, duty cycle, powertrain configuration, and fuel pathway, will influence the effectiveness and economic costs of emissions reduction strategies. On a per mile basis, replacing a conventional gasoline or diesel truck can reduce CO2-equivalent (CO2e) emissions by 50%–75% compared to conventional gas and diesel vehicles. Statewide, 100% electrification of in-state Class 8 vehicles by 2040 could reduce annual CO2e emissions by nearly than 30% (50 million metric tonnes per year), and electrification of Class 3 trucks statewide would likely half current PM2.5 emissions from transportation. The costs of emissions abatement from truck electrification ranged from $0.25 to $182 per metric tonne of CO2e for trucks deployed in 2020, but these costs are likely to fall dramatically by 2040. Full electrification of the in-state registered Class 3–8 vehicle fleet by 2040 would significantly reduce criteria pollutants and aerosols emissions; this in turn could reduce pollution related damages in the state by $507 million per year by 2025, and by some $1.6 billion by 2040.View the NCST Project Webpage


This collection of thoroughly researched and well-written case studies of the governance of companies in nine countries demonstrates how far away we are from convergence in corporate governance systems. Differences in ownership structures, board composition, financial markets, accounting standards, takeover defences, legal systems, societal and corporate cultures, and even political involvement, are highlighted in this splendid collection. The book demonstrates the importance of the few core concepts that are emerging in the field, such as greater transparency, independence in non-executive directors, and the need for more effective governance. The consideration of case studies is presently the best way to understand the reality of corporate governance around the world. This book offers valuable insights to students, teachers and practitioners of the subject.


BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of using autologous platelet rich plasma (PRP) in patients having massive hemoptysis within a period of one week.

METHODS
This is a prospective cohort study involving 20 consecutive patients admitted who met the criteria for massive hemoptysis from July to October 2011. After stabilizing the patient, fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB) was performed for localization of bleeding within 6 hours from diagnosis. A 50mL of blood was extracted from the patient whom was to be used for autologous PRP concentrate. After identifying the anatomic site of bleeding, autologous PRP concentrate was instilled on the affected bronchus and was allowed to stay for 5 minutes after instillation. Patients were then monitored from the time the bleeding stopped in the first 24 hours, 2 days and 7 days respectively.

RESULTS
Mean age of the study population with massive hemoptysis was 47 years old (SD 17.3). Majority of cases were male 18 out of 20 (90%) and smokers 14 (70%) with a normal BMI (75%). Identification of bleeding site was more commonly seen on the right upper lobe 9 out of 20 (45%). Overall, 14 out of 20 patients (70%) were reported to have stopped bleeding immediately. Subsequent hospital days showed that 8 out of 20 patients (40%) had no hemoptysis. However, one [1] post-tuberculosis (TB) bronchiectatic patient had recurrence of massive hemoptysis, approximately 250 mL per expectorate, expired within the 7 days observation and one patient had lobectomy on the 2nd day. The rest had non-massive hemoptysis wherein their expectorations were only streaks of blood. Moreover, there was one [1] patient who had recurrence of massive hemoptysis 1 week after autologous PRP infusion and was eventually intubated. Majority of the subjects, eleven [11] were diagnosed to have post-TB bronchiectasis. The rest of the patients were worked-up prior to operation.

CONCLUSIONS
Overall, it was observed that the use of autologous PRP was able to stop bleeding in 40% of the study population for 7 days. It is simple and easy to reproduce as it was directly extracted from the patient.


In 2009 a sex offender public disclosure scheme was piloted in England and Scotland based upon political and policy assumptions about the public's likely take-up of such a scheme. However, the pilots found lower than anticipated public use of the scheme. By drawing on the notions of instrumental and symbolic efficacy this article explores the potential implications of the current rate of take-up. Is the instrumental efficacy of the scheme, that is, its role in providing advice and information to the public about sex offenders mitigated by low take-up? Does the scheme offer symbolic reassurance to the public about sex offender management and how might this be affected by current take-up rates? The public response to disclosure is also examined through the lens of recent risk communication research, in particular Health Promotion models that critique a simplistic 'hypodermic' approach to risk communication. Finally, the symbolic efficacy of public disclosure is examined with specific reference to Jackson and Gray's (2010) 'functional fear'.


This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 187677, "Ten Years of Reservoir Monitoring With Chemical Inflow Tracers—What Have We Learned and Applied Over the Past Decade?" by A.D. Dyrli and E. Leung, SPE, Resman, prepared for the 2017 SPE Kuwait Oil and Gas Show and Conference, 15–18 October. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
 Initial development of inflow tracers was designed to provide qualitative information about the location of water breakthrough in production wells. The proof of concept and application for water detection initiated the development of oil tracers for oil-inflow monitoring. The evolution of inflow-tracer-signal interpretation also has provided valuable insight to inflow characterization. A model-based approach to match the measured signals with proprietary models also has been developed.
 Unique Chemical Tracers for Reservoir Surveillance
 During the past decade, many unique chemical tracers have been designed. The aim of this development has been to obtain many unique signatures with properties as similar as possible. The strategy involved finding families of chemical molecules that had the potential to provide a large number of unique tracers with a small change in the chemical structure. Today, more than 160 unique signatures exist. More than 80 are within one family of oil markers.
 The chemical tracers and the polymer matrix need to be stable and inert at a wide range of well conditions. No applicable accelerated test methods exist for polymer materials, so long-term functionality must be tested in the laboratory with an environment as realistic as possible to estimate inflow-tracer longevities.
 Another important feature of these tracers is the concept of the detection limit. To be able to mark production over decades with a limited amount of material placed in the well, the detection limit must be extremely low. The amount of material is limited because of space, cost, or environmental concern. In 2005, the detection limits were parts per billion, while the detection limit today is below parts per trillion and is expected to move toward parts per quadrillion.
 Inflow-Tracer-System Design
 Years of laboratory work and field experience have proved that designing systems from experience is crucial. The effect of nontarget fluids and treatment chemicals on different materials is tested over specific time periods according to time of exposure under actual conditions. The qualification tests include treatment chemicals, including solvents and strong acids or bases that may affect the tracer or polymer matrix in which the tracers are embedded. Temperature is one of the major parameters affecting release, and stability and functionality tests for the design will be performed at various temperatures. The use of permanent installed tracers to optimize oil production and reduce water production will reduce the need for water treatment and interventions, thereby reducing the overall environmental impact.


Ceramics of morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 have been processed from powders synthesized by mechanochemical activation of oxides. Their properties have been characterised and are compared with those of a MPB Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 ceramic material by the columbite route. Current experiments on texturing by templated grain growth from the powders synthesised by mechanochemical activation are briefly described. MPB Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 has also been mechanosynthesised, though perovskite is not stable under heating and ceramics cannot be processed. Pb(Fe1/2Nb1/2)O3 is being investigated as a means of stabilising the perovskite, and MPB ceramic materials of the ternary system have been successfully prepared.


During the period 2010–2017 we monitored 17 346 183 laying hens, 887 994 167 broiler chickens and 919 843 turkeys slaughtered at slaughterhouses in the Czech Republic. In cooperation with the State Veterinary Administration, we recorded findings detected in slaughtered birds within the post mortem veterinary inspection. We analysed the total number of patho-anatomical findings (of intravital origin) and the number of findings divided into acute, chronic and traumatic diseases. In hens, the total ratio of the number of patho-anatomical intravital findings to the number of slaughtered birds (index) was found to be 0.378. This index of the incidence of patho-anatomical findings in hens was higher (P < 0.001) than that found in broilers (0.016) and turkeys (0.101). The prevailing findings in hens were chronic changes (26.32%), followed by acute changes (5.29%), but also notable were traumatic changes (3.90%). Compared to the findings in broilers which were divided into chronic (0.34%), acute (0.10%) and traumatic diseases (0.02%) and turkey findings which were broken down into chronic (7.60%), acute (0.16%) and traumatic diseases (0.33%), the findings of acute, chronic and traumatic diseases were higher (P < 0.001) in hens than in broilers and turkeys. These findings show that the health condition and hence the welfare of laying hens as reflected in the patho-anatomical findings during the veterinary inspection of slaughtered birds is significantly worse than the health condition of broilers and turkeys. This demonstrates the need for increased care for laying hens both on farms and in transit to the slaughterhouse.


In 2006, approximately 49% of violent crimes were not reported to police. Being the victim of sexual assault is expensive; each incident imposes an external cost of over $100k on the victim. However, recent estimates of the total social cost are an order of magnitude larger suggesting that from a social welfare standpoint rape is likely to be underreported if the victim's demand for reporting is price elastic. In spite of the centrality of victim reporting in the functioning of the criminal justice system, to date there is very little systematic evidence on what governments can do to encourage victims to report crimes. We estimate the sensitivity of victims to the cost of reporting in an Alaskan city between 1993 and 2006, during which time a chief of police publicly supported a policy of charging victims of sexual assault for medical procedures required to collect evidence against their attackers. Using a triple differences approach that compares trends in reported sexual assaults to other index crimes over time and across Alaskan cities, we estimate that this shift in cost of approximately $1,200 from the city government to victims reduced the number of reported rapes by between 50 and 80%. This large response highlights the importance of public policies which reduce the private cost of reporting crime.


Business model management is possible on the basis of detailing and clarifying methods for calculating forms of increasing returns. High-tech companies, in contrast to traditional ones, have additional rents associated with the dual use of technologies and digitalization. The article develops a set of methods for assessing the cumulative increasing returns of a hightech business model based on the calculation of classic and ecosystem effects. The neoclassical economic theory, the network (relational) approach, the concepts of business models and ecosystems constitute the methodological basis of the study. The authors differentiate between five forms of returns: economies of scale effects, effects of innovation, diversity, direct and indirect network-based (ecosystem) effects. The research method is pioneered by the authors and based on a sequential assessment of the five forms of returns. For each form, an optimal calculation method is proposed, the results of which are unified by the standardization method. The level of increasing returns is empirically calculated using the case study of the civil production of the Semikhatov Scientific and Production Association (SPA) of Automatics – one of the largest high-tech industrial enterprises. The paper highlights the problems in measuring returns, such as the lack of panel data on the enterprise, a uniform method and relevant examples for calculation, as well as objective data on sectoral markets. The research results prove that the key management objective is to enhance the positive difference between increasing and decreasing returns through transformation of the business model. To achieve this objective, we compile a matrix of effects, the level of which allows making appropriate management decisions. Our calculations show that the enterprise experiences decreasing returns from adoption of innovation. The level of increasing returns from the learning effect and the direct network-based effect is quite low, which indicates that the enterprise's business model is traditional, rather than technological. The research results can serve as a basis for the development of a detailed management mechanism for transforming a business model. The method for increasing returns assessment is universal and can be applied to evaluate the effectiveness of any business models.


Habilitation proceedings ending with a conferral of an academic degree were first introduced in the Polish People's Republic by virtue of the Act on higher education of 1958. The academic title of docent, which the Act also provided for, was later endorsed by the Act of 1965 on academic titles and academic degrees. Another academic degree of 'habilitated doctor' (doktor habilitowany) functioned from 1968 and continued through subsequent legislative acts in force until 1990 as well as through the years after later reforms. The changes in higher education implemented in 1965–1990 were not fi nal and continued to be modifi ed in the following areas: (1) the branches and science and disciplines in which the academic degrees of docent or doktor habilitowany could be conferred; (2) the requirements which institutions (establishments of higher education, research units of the Polish Academy of Sciences and other research entities) had to fulfi l before earning the rights to confer the academic degrees referred to above; (3) establishment of the lists of institutions entitled to confer these academic degrees. The solutions then adopted were by no means triggered by the intention to replace the academic degree of docent with a degree of doktor habilitowany. On the contrary, the majority of changes, of which those happening after 1985 were even more politically biased, did not refl ect any legal need but aimed at restricting the autonomy of schools of higher  education in the scope of conferring academic degrees. This tendency extended to the conditions of commencing habilitation proceedings and the very course of the proceedings. As of 1985 one of the requirements of the key factors qualifying successful candidates was an 'impeccable civic attitude.' After 1985, most of the activities which had been till then conducted by committees appointed Faculty councils, were to be taken up by the relevant councils, although the latter were allowed to appoint from time to time committees to perform some of the activities related to habilitation proceedings. The Act of 1965 abandoned the requirement of the candidate's habilitation lecture, re-established in 1985.


Actually modern systems have to ensure higher and higher operating standards, thus including monitoring and control subsystems for their achievement. In safety critical systems control is a crucial task in order to satisfy strict reliability requirements. But it is also necessary that the control system is itself reliable. As a consequence, adequate techniques are necessary in order to perform reliability evaluation of both the controlled and the control systems. Techniques that therefore should avoid over-simplistic assumptions and/or approximations that, for example, are usually introduced when dependencies, interferences and other dynamic reliability aspects are not taken into the right consideration. In this paper, a technique for carefully evaluating the reliability of such systems, also considering dynamic aspects and behaviors, is proposed. Firstly the technique is detailed through the specification of the dynamic reliability block diagrams notation, and therefore in order to demonstrate its effectiveness, it is applied to an example of a computing-based control system taken from literature, thus providing guidelines for the reliability representation and evaluation through DRBD.


Hydrogenation / dehydrogenation properties of a series of ternary face centered cubic (FCC) hydrides "Mg7MHx" (M = Sc, Ti, V, Zr, Nb, Hf and Ta), which were prepared by a high-pressure technique, were investigated. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) measurements under hydrogen atmosphere revealed that these hydrides exhibited reversible hydrogen releasing and re-storing properties at around 600 and 560 K, respectively. These releasing temperatures are lower by 100 ~ 120 K than that of MgH2. Furthermore, pressure-composition isotherm at 523 K shows that these FCC hydrides release 3.8 - 5 wt. % hydrogens.


Abstract. In the last ten years a total of 25 sounding rockets employing ionization gauges have been launched at high latitudes ( ~ 70° N) to measure total atmospheric density and its small scale fluctuations in an altitude range between 70 and 110 km. While the determination of small scale fluctuations is unambiguous, the total density analysis has been complicated in the past by aerodynamical disturbances leading to densities inside the sensor which are enhanced compared to atmospheric values. Here, we present the results of both Monte Carlo simulations and wind tunnel measurements to quantify this aerodynamical effect. The comparison of the resulting 'ram-factor' profiles with empirically determined density ratios of ionization gauge measurements and falling sphere measurements provides excellent agreement. This demonstrates both the need, but also the possibility, to correct aerodynamical influences on measurements from sounding rockets. We have determined a total of 20 density profiles of the mesosphere-lower-thermosphere (MLT) region. Grouping these profiles according to season, a listing of mean density profiles is included in the paper. A comparison with density profiles taken from the reference atmospheres CIRA86 and MSIS90 results in differences of up to 40%. This reflects that current reference atmospheres are a significant potential error source for the determination of mixing ratios of, for example, trace gas constituents in the MLT region. Key words. Middle atmosphere (composition and chemistry; pressure, density, and temperature; instruments and techniques)


This investigation has been motivated by a recent increased interest in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) CDMA systems for broadband wireless services. One of the major problems in OFDM systems is nonlinear distortion caused by high-power amplifiers. In this paper, the effect of non-perfect power amplification on OFDM-CDMA systems is examined. Simulation results show that, with an ideally linearized amplifier, the performance of OFDM-CDMA systems can be improved over an AWGN channel. In general, OFDM-CDMA systems perform better than OFDM systems with non-ideal power amplification, by using a simple code word assignment scheme.


Massively parallel DNA sequencing of clinical samples holds great promise for the gene-based diagnosis of human inherited diseases because it allows rapid detection of putatively causative mutations at genome-wide level. Without additional evidence complementing their initial bioinformatics evaluation, however, the clinical relevance of such candidate genetic variants often remains unclear. In consequence, dedicated 'matching' services have been established in recent years that aim at the discovery of other, comparable case reports to facilitate individual diagnoses. However, legal concerns have been raised about the global sharing of genetic data, particularly in Europe where the recently enacted General Data Protection Regulation EU-2016/679 classifies genetic data as highly sensitive. Hence, unrestricted sharing of genetic data from clinical cases on platforms outside the national jurisdiction increasingly may be perceived as problematic. To allow collaborative data producers, particularly large consortia of diagnostic laboratories, to acknowledge these concerns while still practicing efficient case matching internally, novel tools are required. To this end, we developed VarWatch, an easy-to-deploy and highly scalable case matching software that provides users with comprehensive programmatic tools and a user-friendly interface to fulfil said purpose.


A network model for the determination of tumor metabolic fluxes from 13C NMR kinetic isotopomer data has been developed and validated with perfused human DB-1 melanoma cells carrying the BRAF V600E mutation, which promotes oxidative metabolism. The model generated in the bonded cumomer formalism describes key pathways of tumor intermediary metabolism and yields dynamic curves for positional isotopic enrichment and spin-spin multiplets. Cells attached to microcarrier beads were perfused with 26 mm [1,6-13C2]glucose under normoxic conditions at 37 °C and monitored by 13C NMR spectroscopy. Excellent agreement between model-predicted and experimentally measured values of the rates of oxygen and glucose consumption, lactate production, and glutamate pool size validated the model. ATP production by glycolytic and oxidative metabolism were compared under hyperglycemic normoxic conditions; 51% of the energy came from oxidative phosphorylation and 49% came from glycolysis. Even though the rate of glutamine uptake was ∼50% of the tricarboxylic acid cycle flux, the rate of ATP production from glutamine was essentially zero (no glutaminolysis). De novo fatty acid production was ∼6% of the tricarboxylic acid cycle flux. The oxidative pentose phosphate pathway flux was 3.6% of glycolysis, and three non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway exchange fluxes were calculated. Mass spectrometry was then used to compare fluxes through various pathways under hyperglycemic (26 mm) and euglycemic (5 mm) conditions. Under euglycemic conditions glutamine uptake doubled, but ATP production from glutamine did not significantly change. A new parameter measuring the Warburg effect (the ratio of lactate production flux to pyruvate influx through the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier) was calculated to be 21, close to upper limit of oxidative metabolism.


Delays in payment adversely affect the contract seed production program for other field crops (OFC) conducted by the Department of Agriculture (DOA) Sri Lanka. This study focuses on assessing the financial viability of advancing payments for contract farmers who produces groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) seeds. The average price payable to contract growers for the Seed and Planting Material Development Centre(SPMDC), to be break even between the current practices of paying after the processing is over and advancing payment, was estimated using an Expected Value Model (EVM). Proportions of grade I and grade II seed and the price payable for each seed lot were estimated incorporating parameter estimates of "A" reports in a regression model. The average price payable was estimated as Rs. 119.16/kg using EVM. The percentage of ungerminated seeds, and seeds with insect and mechanical damage were significantly related (p<0.05) with grade I and grade II seed percentages. A 1% increase in the ungerminated seeds increased the payable price by Rs 0.23/kg whereas, the same level of increase of insect and mechanical damages to the seed reduced the price by Rs 2.39/kg. The results revealed that either EVM or regression model could be used in decision making on early payments for the contract growers. The estimated premium for insurance per hectare estimated with the EVM ( Rs 11,726/ha), decreased to Rs 4,920/ha in regression model.


Premised upon the observation that MOOC and crowdsourcing phenomena share several important characteristics, including IT mediation, large-scale human participation, and varying levels of openness to participants, this work systematizes a comparison of MOOC and crowdsourcing phenomena along these salient dimensions. In doing so, we learn that both domains share further common traits, including similarities in IT structures, knowledge generating capabilities, presence of intermediary service providers, and techniques designed to attract and maintain participant activity. Stemming directly from this analysis, we discuss new directions for future research in both fields and draw out actionable implications for practitioners and researchers in both domains.


A semi-physical model for the simulation of oil, gas and biomass space heating boilers has been parameterized based on measurements on nine different boiler units and simulation results have been compared to results obtained from measurements in steady state and transient operation. Although the agreement between simulated and measured boiler efficiencies was within the range of measurement uncertainties in most cases, model improvements are expected to be possible concerning the heat capacitance modelling in cycling on/off operation as well as influences of start and stop behaviour on the overall efficiency. It is found that electricity consumption during cycling on/off operation of small pellets or oil space heating boilers may have a significant influence on the overall energy balance of these units. This influence increases strongly with decreasing heat load and increasing number of on/off cycles.


Recently, image representation built upon Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) has been shown to provide effective descriptors for image search, outperforming pre-CNN features as short-vector representations. Yet such models are not compatible with geometry-aware re-ranking methods and still outperformed, on some particular object retrieval benchmarks, by traditional image search systems relying on precise descriptor matching, geometric re-ranking, or query expansion. This work revisits both retrieval stages, namely initial search and re-ranking, by employing the same primitive information derived from the CNN. We build compact feature vectors that encode several image regions without the need to feed multiple inputs to the network. Furthermore, we extend integral images to handle max-pooling on convolutional layer activations, allowing us to efficiently localize matching objects. The resulting bounding box is finally used for image re-ranking. As a result, this paper significantly improves existing CNN-based recognition pipeline: We report for the first time results competing with traditional methods on the challenging Oxford5k and Paris6k datasets.


Eight hours following tympanoplasty performed under general anaesthesia (sodium pentothal and trichloroethylene), a 30 year old male complained of muscular weakness and dark coloured urine. Urinalysis revealed myoglobin pigment. A rise in BUN (47mg%), serum creatinine (5.7mg%), creatinine phosphokinase (15,500 U/L) and CPK-MB fraction (4690 U/L) was noticed 36 hrs later. The patient developed acute renal failure, and recovered after haemodialysis. From a history of use of succinylcholine as a muscle relaxant during operation, myoglobinuria appears to be secondary to muscle damage caused by succinylcholine.


Background: Wound complications are one of the major sources of morbidity after orthopaedic procedures and can prolong the inpatient stay or lead to re-admission. The most commonly used methods for skin closure after orthopaedic surgery are metal staples or nylon sutures Both methods act to hold the skin edges together while healing occurs. Metal staples are said to be superior as they are regarded as quicker as and easier than sutures. Objective: To compare outcome of use of staples and nylon sutures for wound closure in elective orthopedic surgery in term of infection rate , cosmetic appearance(Scar) , time taken for skin closure. Methods: It is randomised controlled trial done on patients undergoing elective orthopaedic surgery at department of Orthopaedics at BPKIHS were included in the study. During procedure patients were evaluated for time taken for suture application or any complications. Results: A total of 60 patients (38 male and 22 female) were included in the study. Twenty two patients were between 41-55 years age group followed by fifteen patients between 25-40 yrs, twelve patients less than 25 age group and eleven patients more than 55 years. The average blood loss is 5 ml in K-wire group and 145 ml in plate group. The procedure time is 33 mins as comprared to 53 mins in plate group. Conclusion: Metal staples are superior as they are regarded as quicker and easier than nylon sutures. But use of metal staples or clips has a greater risk of wound infection and less acceptable cosmetically than sutures. Metal staples are more expensive. Health Renaissance 2015;13 (3): 137-143


The lottery ticket hypothesis (LTH) has shown that dense models contain highly sparse subnetworks (i.e., winning tickets) that can be trained in isolation to match full accuracy. Despite many exciting efforts being made, there is one"commonsense"rarely challenged: a winning ticket is found by iterative magnitude pruning (IMP) and hence the resultant pruned subnetworks have only unstructured sparsity. That gap limits the appeal of winning tickets in practice, since the highly irregular sparse patterns are challenging to accelerate on hardware. Meanwhile, directly substituting structured pruning for unstructured pruning in IMP damages performance more severely and is usually unable to locate winning tickets. In this paper, we demonstrate the first positive result that a structurally sparse winning ticket can be effectively found in general. The core idea is to append"post-processing techniques"after each round of (unstructured) IMP, to enforce the formation of structural sparsity. Specifically, we first"re-fill"pruned elements back in some channels deemed to be important, and then"re-group"non-zero elements to create flexible group-wise structural patterns. Both our identified channel- and group-wise structural subnetworks win the lottery, with substantial inference speedups readily supported by existing hardware. Extensive experiments, conducted on diverse datasets across multiple network backbones, consistently validate our proposal, showing that the hardware acceleration roadblock of LTH is now removed. Specifically, the structural winning tickets obtain up to {64.93%, 64.84%, 60.23%} running time savings at {36%~80%, 74%, 58%} sparsity on {CIFAR, Tiny-ImageNet, ImageNet}, while maintaining comparable accuracy. Code is at https://github.com/VITA-Group/Structure-LTH.


New Media Dramaturgy is a collaborative work by three of Australia's leading scholars in theatre and performance studies, Peter Eckersall, Helena Grehan, and Edward Scheer. This book presents their vision of a new paradigm for theatre and performance scholarship. The authors examine notable contemporary artists working in performance, installation, theatre, and sound art that utilise video, projection, advanced sound systems, and robotics in order to articulate the coordinates and concerns of the important shifts of the last three decades. They position theatre maker and visual artist Kris Verdonck and his A Two Dogs Company and Japanese artist collective dumb type at the centre of their proposed notion of "new media dramaturgy" (NMD). In their works, and those of others they discuss in this groundbreaking text, technical and technological elements that are not merely scenographic, but central dramaturgical components, synergise with new approaches to dramaturgy to create new forms of bodies, movement, and spaces. The authors assert the value of the concept of NMD, contrasting it with the notion of the postmedial, which suggests that mediation has already infiltrated every aspect of aesthetic experience. For the authors, who propose an alternative model for understanding contemporary media culture, the NMD works they examine are not reducible to the postmedial state, as their elements refuse an absorption into spectacle.


Experience-based continuous learning is essential for improving products, processes, and technologies in emerging as well as in established areas of business and engineering science. It can be facilitated by case-based organizational learning, meaning that relevant experience is captured in the form of cases for reuse in a corporate experience repository (case base; experience base; EB). For obvious reasons, learning from experience needs to be a permanent endeavor. Thus, an organization has to handle a "continuous stream of experience". For this purpose, a learning organization, called "Experience Factory" (EF; Basili et al. 1994, Althoff et al. 2000), was established at Fraunhofer IESE with the Corporate Information Network (CoIN) initiative (Althoff et al. 2001). On one side, CoIN grants access to intranet-based information like organizational processes and news and, on the other side, case-based access to project management experiences. The objective of the next development step of CoIN is to provide users with valuable information/knowledge at the right time, in an adequate representation, and within the actual context ("just-intime"). In this article, we describe ongoing and planned work to enhance our existing experience management system. We introduce new strategies to capture, process, disseminate, and exchange knowledge. Case-based reasoning (CBR) is used for both knowledge modeling/retrieval/adaptation as well as for a "learning from example" based approach to user modeling. A brief outlook concludes this article.