Value at Risk is a measure of risk exposure of a portfolio and is defined as the maximum possible loss in a certain time frame, typically 1-20 days, and within a certain confidence, typically 95%. Full valuation of a portfolio under a large number of scenarios is a lengthy process. To speed it up, one can make use of the total delta vector and the total gamma matrix of a portfolio and compute a Gaussian integral over a region bounded by a quadric. We use methods from harmonic analysis to find approximate analytic formulas for the Value at Risk as a function of time and of the confidence level. In this framework, the calculation is reduced to the problem of evaluating linear algebra invariants such as traces of products of matrices, which arise from a Feynmann expansion. The use of Fourier transforms is crucial to resum the expansions and to obtain formulas that smoothly interpolate between low and large confidence levels, as well as between short and long time horizons.


For the past few years, the Republic of Cyprus has been pursuing a major educational reform across all levels of mandatory education, focusing especially on curriculum change, for the implementation of which in-service teachers have undergone a series of professional development seminars. Individual and focus group interviews with in-service elementary teachers, regarding their sense of professionalism within this curriculum change process, revealed that teachers positioned themselves largely onto different points on a continuum. These are conceptualized as positions veering between teachers' sense of minimum and maximum autonomy over their participation in the development and introduction of the new official curriculum. Framed by a traditionally centralized context, these positions were discursively negotiated in contradictory ways which allowed multiple positionings by each teacher. The paper concludes with the implications of these findings for understanding teacher professionalism and positioning, as well as for considering how this might relate to curriculum change and implementation processes.


Aim: To compare the efficacy and safety of an elemental and a polymeric diet as the primary therapy for active Crohn's disease in children. Methods: In a randomized, non‐blind, multicentre, controlled trial in Sweden, 16 children with Crohn's disease received Elemental 028 Extra (E028E) and 17 Nutrison Standard (NuS). Remission rates (Paediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index (PCDAI) < 10 or a PCDAI decrease of 40% or 15 points of initial level) were compared at 6 wk. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in remission rate at 6 wk (intent‐to‐treat analysis): E028E 11/16 (69%) and NuS 14/17 (82%) (p= 0.438). There was no difference in the decrease in PCDAI and CDAI between patients treated with E028E and those treated with NuS from 0 to 6 wk. Patients treated with NuS gained significantly more weight than patients treated with E028E (+2.5 kg; 95% CI 0.9, 4.1; p= 0.004), this difference remained when adjusting for maximum caloric intake per kilogram bodyweight (+2.9 kg; 95% CI 1.4, 4.5; p= 0.001). Concomitant disease, complications and side effects were seen in 5/33 patients (pyelonephritis, pneumonia, intraabdominal abscess, perianal abscess and borborygmi).


This paper highlights and discusses issues associated with transdisciplinary teaching and suggests ways to overcome the challenges posed by different epistemologies, methods, and ethical positions. Our own transdisciplinary teaching experience in public health helped us identify some important questions including (i) what is transdisciplinary research in practice, and does methods triangulation yield more valid results?, (ii) from a teaching perspective, how do biopsychosocial and medical research differ?, (iii) what is the difference between deductive and inductive research, and does each discipline represent a different ethical position?, and (iv) does pure inductive research lack theories, and does it require a hypothesis—a "rule of thumb"—on how to proceed? We also suggest ways to facilitate and enhance transdisciplinary teaching, focusing on what unites us and not on what sets us apart, openly underlining and highlighting our differences. Using diverse methodologies, a newly educated transdisciplinary workforce will likely extend current knowledge and facilitate solutions for complex public health issues.


This study examines libraries' nursing collections using the Interagency Council on Information Resources in Nursing's Essential Nursing Resources' (ENR) 26th edition. An inventory of the online collections of 235 libraries was assembled and compared to free, government, or National Library of Medicine resources and licensed resources from the ENR. The top five resources listed on library websites in descending order were MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar. The availability of specialized resources varied, based on factors such as the level of nursing degree at each institution or the libraries' National Network of Libraries of Medicine membership statuses.


Despite its ubiquitous presence in mediated sports, the influence of in-stadium crowd response on media audiences has escaped inquiry. Considerable evidence from both within and beyond the context of sports suggests that a co-spectator's behavior can generate "intra-audience effects" that enhance perceptions of and response to game events. To test this in the context of broadcast sports, an experiment was conducted whereby participants provided moment-to-moment evaluations of radio broadcasts of soccer where mediated spectator response was systematically altered. Results demonstrate mediated intra-audience effects that yielded both inflated perceptions of the exiting nature of play and increased sense of spatial immersion in the mediated environment. The effect was most pronounced when game events were not intrinsically exciting.


Focusing on deterministic models in discrete time, this concise yet rigorous textbook provides a clear and systematic introduction to the theory and application of dynamic economic models. It guides students through the most popular model structures and solution concepts, from the simplest dynamic economic models through to complex problems of optimal policy design in dynamic general equilibrium frameworks. Chapters feature theorems and practical hints, and seventy-five worked examples highlight the various methods and results that can be applied in dynamic economic models. Notation and formulation is uniform throughout, so students can easily discern the similarities and differences between various model classes. Chapters include more than sixty exercises for students to self-test their analytical skills, and password-protected solutions are available for instructors on the companion website. Assuming no prior knowledge of dynamic economic analysis or dynamic optimization, this textbook is ideal for advanced students in economics.


Antimicrobial resistance is a serious public health threat worldwide. The emergence of multi-drug resistance bacteria challenges the development of novel antibiotics. Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is an Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen that infects burn, wound and cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. P. aeruginosa is intrinsically resistant to many antibiotics, and further acquired resistance limits treatment options. The high level of resistance to antibiotics arises mainly from the tight control of P. aeruginosa over influx and efflux of molecules across its outer membrane. P. aeruginosa outer membrane includes a large number of different types of porins and efflux pumps that enable nutrient acquisition and antibiotic resistance. Among them, P. aeruginosa UCBPP-PA14 encodes 35 TonB-dependent transporters (TBDTs), which are defined as high-affinity active transporters and permit the transport of siderophores, heme, heavy metals and carbohydrates. Several studies showed high levels of TBDTs expression under iron deprivation and their importance for P. aeruginosa growth in vivo, but, except for the high-affinity siderophores and heme transporters, few have determined the contribution of single TBDT in vivo. In a Trojan horse approach, mimetics of essential substrates complexed to drugs, including siderophore-antibiotics conjugates and non-iron metalloporphyrins, are employed to induce the expression of associated TBDT(s) and to increase the antibiotic transport through TBDTs, hijacking the bacterial transport machinery. In spite of promising antibacterial activity in vitro, P. aeruginosa was able to rapidly develop resistance against the Trojan horse conjugates by facile inactivation of the TBDT involved in their transport. To circumvent this resistance mechanism, basic research on the processes associated with P. aeruginosa transport capabilities and substrate specificities in vivo is seriously needed to guide rational development of novel and effective therapeutics. In order to prevent facile inactivation of TBDT, we aim at identifying essential P. aeruginosa TBDTs that contribute to the bacterial fitness in vivo. We addressed this aim (i) by quantifying the abundance of TBDTs in vitro, in preclinical and human patients samples and (ii) by evaluating the relevance of TBDTs in vivo. We thus developed an ultrasensitive targeted proteomic approach to determine absolutely the abundance of TBDTs in vitro and in various hosts. Proteomic analyses revealed a clear disctinction between TBDTs expression in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that there is a urgent need for suitable in vitro medium that more faithfully reflects the in vivo reality. Expression data also highlighted a subset of TBDTs, including endogenous siderophore, heme, non-iron metal and some xenosiderophore transporters, that was highly abundant among the different in vivo conditions. Based on these data, we generated different mutants of the abundant TBDTs and evaluated them in competitive fitness assays in vivo. Overall, these data suggested that P. aeruginosa primarily used its high-affinity siderophore pyoverdine for iron scavenging, whereas uptake capabilities for its other endogenous siderophores, xenosiderophores, heme-associated substrates and possibly copper and zinc uptake were all dispensable for in vivo fitness in an intranasal model. In conclusion, implications of these results in the development of future compounds implementing the Trojan horse approach were discussed.


Abstract Complex humanitarian emergencies lack a mechanism to coordinate, communicate, assess, and evaluate response and outcome for the major participants (United Nations, Intenational Committee of the Red Cross, non-governmental organizations and military forces). Success in these emergencies will depend on the ability to accomplish agreed upon measures of effectiveness (MOEs). A recent civil-military humanitarian exercise demonstrated the ability of participants to develop consensus-driven MOEs. These MOEs combined security measures utilized by the military with humanitarian indicators recognized by relief organizations. Measures of effectiveness have the potential to be a unifying disaster management tool and a partial solution to the communication and coordination problems inherent in these complex emergencies.


Exclusions for unassigned markers were determined by deletion mapping at the following segments: (4)(p15.1 leads to 16.1) - F13A" F13B, TF; (4)(q27 leads to 31) - TF; (9)(p22 leads to pter) - F13B; (12)(p12) - TF; (12)(pter) - TF; (18)(q22) - F13A, K and LU; (19)(p or qter) - TF; (22)(pter leads to q11) - F13B. GC was excluded from (4)(p15.1 leads to 16.1) and (4)(q27 leads to 31). GALT was excluded from (9)(p22 leads to pter).


A simple method for qualitative and quantitative determination of PCB95, 132, 149 and 174 enantiomers in soils and sediments using GC-ECD/MS was proposed. On the promise of good purification efficiency, high recovery and easy operability, H2SO4 washing and a multi-layer column filled with 1 g anhydrous sodium sulfate, 2 g 10% silver nitrate-impregnated silica gel, 4 g 3.3% water-deactivated silica gel and 1.5 g anhydrous sodium sulfate were selected as purification procedures. The chromatographic conditions were optimized to obtain the best enantiomeric separation. Complete baseline separations were achieved for PCB95, 132 and 149, as well as approximate baseline separation was obtained for PCB174. This method was proved to have highly satisfactory accuracy, precision and sensitivity with mean recoveries of target PCB enantiomers in range of 71.42−80.12% and RSD<6%. The detection limits of the method were 11.37−25.36 pg•g−1.


Essentially all new cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in infants and young children occur as a consequence of exposure to HIV either in utero, intrapartum or postpartum during breast feeding. Currently it is estimated that the majority of vertical transmission of HIV occurs at or near the time of birth. Based on what is known about the biology of perinatal HIV transmission, the HIV burden of the mother, effectiveness of her immune response and that of her fetus/infant and the integrity of the placental "barrier" are likely to play important roles in this process. The role of impaired immunologic control of HIV is gaining recognition as a potential key element in the pathophysiology of perinatal HIV transmission. In most studies to date, advanced maternal disease and low CD4 lymphocyte count have been associated with increased risk of vertical HIV transmission. In addition some studies have indicated that low maternal titers of antibodies to certain V3 loop epitopes may have a similar effect on vertical transmission. Cellular immune responses, which are known to play an important role in host defense against HIV, appear to be impaired in infants after exposure to HIV, especially those responses involving the development of cytotoxic lymphocytes. Mounting evidence suggests that enhancement of humoral and/or cellular immune responses in pregnant women and exposed infants is a logical and potentially feasible approach to interruption of perinatal transmission (an approach similar to that utilized for perinatally acquired hepatitis B virus infection). Studies are now in progress to assess HIV hyperimmune globulin and envelope HIV vaccines in pregnant woman and HIV-exposed infants.


The SZZ approach for identifying fix-inducing changes traces backwards from a commit that fixes a defect to those commits that are implicated in the fix. This approach is at the heart of studies of characteristics of fix-inducing changes, as well as the popular Just-in-Time (JIT) variant of defect prediction. However, some types of commits are invisible to the SZZ approach. We refer to these invisible commits as "Ghost Commits." In this paper, we set out to define, quantify, characterize, and mitigate ghost commits that impact the SZZ algorithm during its mapping (i.e., linking defect-fixing commits to those commits that are implicated by the fix) and filtering phases (i.e., removing improbable fix-inducing commits from the set of implicated commits). We mine the version control repositories of 14 open source Apache projects for instances of mapping-phase and filtering-phase ghost commits. We find that (1) 5.66–11.72 percent of defect-fixing commits of defect-fixing commits only add lines, and thus, cannot be mapped back to implicated commits; (2) 1.05–4.60 percent of the studied commits only remove lines, and thus, cannot be implicated in future fixes; and (3) that no implicated commits survive the filtering process of 0.35–14.49 percent defect-fixing commits. Qualitative analysis of ghost commits reveals that 46.5 percent of 142 addition-only defect-fixing commits add checks (e.g., null-ness or emptiness checks), while 39.7 percent of 307 removal-only commits clean up (unused) code. Our results suggest that the next generation of SZZ improvements should be language-aware to connect ghost commits to implicated and defect-fixing commits. Based on our observations, we discuss promising directions for mitigation strategies to address each type of ghost commit. Moreover, we implement mitigation strategies for addition-only commits and evaluate those strategies with respect to a baseline approach. The results indicate that our strategies achieve a precision of 0.753, improving the precision of implicated commits by 39.5 percentage points.


Abstract Objective To assess the relationships between maternal breast-feeding intention, attitudes, self-efficacy and knowledge at 7 months' gestation with exclusive or full breast-feeding at 3months postpartum. Design Prospective cohort study with structured home interviews during pregnancy and 3 months after delivery. Setting Two rural sub-districts of Kishoreganj district, Bangladesh. Subjects Mother–infant dyads. Results Over 80 % of 2178 pregnant women intended to exclusively breast-feed (EBF). Maternal positive attitudes, self-efficacy and knowledge about breast-feeding were positively associated with EBF intention (all P<0·05). All mothers except one reported initiating breast-feeding and 99·6 % of children were still breast-fed at 3 months. According to 24 h dietary recalls, we categorized 985 (45·2 %) infants as EBF at 3 months (47·8 % among mothers with EBF intention; 31·7 % among mothers with no EBF intention; P<0·05) and 551 (25·3 %) infants as predominantly breast-fed at 3 months (24·2 % among mothers with EBF intention; 30·8 % among mothers with no EBF intention; P<0·05). Prenatal EBF intention was associated with EBF (OR=1·48, 95 % CI 1·14, 1·91) and with full breast-feeding (OR=1·34, 95 % CI 1·04, 1·72) at age 3 months. EBF at age 3months was not associated with maternal breast-feeding knowledge, attitudes or self-efficacy. Conclusions Despite widespread expressed maternal EBF intention and universal breast-feeding initiation, prevalence of both exclusive and full breast-feeding at 3months remains lower than WHO recommendations. EBF intention predicts breast-feeding behaviours, suggesting the importance of prenatal counselling to improve infant feeding behaviours.


Money, Markets, and Monarchies: The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Political Economy of the Contemporary Middle East is a seminal work by Adam Hanieh on the political economy of the GCC countries. The book scrutinises mainly how the financial surpluses are transferred to the global and regional economy and how the rulers and elites in the region benefit from these corporations through the substantial framework of the critical approach. In general, the book is categorised into eight chapters focusing on the role of the GCC countries in the re-shaping of the capitalist world market. By doing this, there are two distinct ways: the first main objective is to present the position of the Gulf's political economy in global-Gulf relations as presented in chapters 2-3; the second is to analyse the role of Gulf 's accumulation on wider Middle East region as seen in chapter 4-8. Therefore, it can be said that the study starts by evaluating the Gulf capital primarily from a global point of view, and then closely examines the regional effect and role of the Gulf capital through capitalist partnerships.


This publication has been produced in the context of the RAGE project. The project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 644187. However, this deliverable reflects only the author's view and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.


This thesis identifies a framework of critical occasions documented by engineering
students taking residential modules during the taught element of an MSc. It
develops a categorisation of critical events on which future research could be built
and will be of interest to practitioners, learners and academics. Building on this
nomenclature the effect of important episodes on respondents' cognition and
professional development is examined by applying fuzzy logic.
Using a reflective interview based case study students were questioned about their
background, attitudes and landmark events to investigate the classification. A focus
group provided another perspective and validated early findings. The choice of a
case study and use of interviews are discussed within the methodology.
Previous literature on critical incidents, professional development and cognition was
considered to illuminate the framework. The resulting data was analysed and
patterns identified in the fieldwork chapters to catalogue the critical happenings.
The developing professional identity of respondents is another area examined
providing an insight into how and why such professional development occurs.
Findings include: that milestones volunteered were representative of critical
episodes found in previous writing and that attitudinal changes revealed within the
subsets of Apprentices and Graduates appeared to converge as the course
progressed. Practitioners may facilitate critical incidents and so enhance their own
professional development. Learners will be interested to know that discussions with
respondents highlighted occasions that resulted in increased cognition, improved
confidence and presented opportunities for networking leading to professional
formation.
For academics the research presents ways in which students learn using critical
thinking, highlighting a continuum of critical happenings on which future research
could be encouraged. While offering no strong claim to generalisability the
taxonomy identifies areas for further examination, which could lead to
generalisability in the future.


This chapter analyses the development of a large institutional partnership scheme in order to demonstrate the importance of context and philosophy in shaping such schemes. All such schemes share a belief that students have valuable situated knowledge of the student experience and that they do not require further training or development to be able to offer something of value to educational practice. I argue that students may nevertheless still benefit from training; and that students are well placed to advocate for pedagogically sound practices. I highlight the important role that the institution can play as a partner in shaping projects through education strategy; and discuss the different challenges that face partnerships that are mainly student-led, staff-led or institution-led in my experience. I suggest that supervision forms a model for staff participating in partnership projects and call for further research into this and how we can encourage a contractual supervisory relationship. I also problemise the relationship between partnership work and the neoliberal agenda, suggesting that partnership can operate at macro and micro levels but neither is entirely in opposition to neoliberalism.


Music forms a big part of our identity and as such, people with a shared preference for certain kinds of music may also share similar traits. In this study, we explore differences in the emotional language of fan communities of different music genres. In focusing on Reddit, we analyze the utterances on online community forums of different music genres using lexicon-based sentiment (emotion) analysis. Upon clustering Subreddit forums, we obtained two clusters: forums discussing genres like Rock, RnB, Country, and Jazz were found to have a higher abundance of positively valenced emotions and a lower amount of negatively valenced emotions. Likewise, Subreddits discussing genres like Metal, Punk, and Rap had a lower amount of positively valenced emotions and a higher abundance of negatively valenced emotion. We observed a high correlation between counts in lyrics of a genre and counts in a fan community for the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, and joy. In sum, we found differences in the emotional language of fan utterances by genre, and these could be partially attributed to the emotions contained in the lyrics.


Purpose of review In the present review, recent findings regarding silicone breast implants (SBIs) complicated by rheumatic autoimmune diseases are described. Recent findings Despite changes in the principal constituents of the silicone implants during the past 50 years, silicone remained an adjuvant that may 'bleed' and subsequently may be a chronic stimulus to the immune system resulting in similar clinical manifestations as 50 years ago. Silicones are spread throughout the body and can be detected in tissues and the central nervous system. Autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome by adjuvants (ASIA), allergies, autoimmune diseases, immune deficiencies and lymphomas occur in patients with SBIs. There is a need for adequately adjusted epidemiological studies to ascertain the frequency of these diseases. Explantation of the breast implants, however, should be advised to patients with complaints, as 60–80% of patients show an amelioration of the signs and symptoms after explantation. Summary SBIs are associated in a proportion of patients with complaints such as fatigue, cognitive impairment, arthralgias, myalgias, pyrexia, dry eyes and dry mouth. Silicones can migrate from the implant through the body and can induce a chronic inflammatory process. Explantation of SBI results in the majority of patients in an amelioration of the symptoms.


Daptomycin, a cyclic lipopeptide antibiotic produced by Streptomyces roseosporus, displays potent activity against a variety of gram-positive pathogens. There is a demand for generating high-producing strains for industrial production of this valuable antibiotic. Ribosome engineering is a powerful strategy to enhance the yield of secondary metabolites. In this study, the effect of a diterpenoid antibiotic pleuromutilin resistance mutation on daptomycin production was assessed. Spontaneous pleuromutilin-resistant derivatives of S. roseosporus were isolated. Sequencing of rplC locus (encoding the ribosomal protein L3) showed a point mutation at nt 455, resulting in the substitution of glycine with valine. G152V mutants showed increased production of daptomycin by approximately 30% in comparison with the wild-type strain. Its effect on daptomycin production was due to enhanced gene transcription of the daptomycin biosynthetic genes. In conclusion, pleuromutilin could be used as a novel ribosome engineering agent to improve the production of desired secondary metabolites.


Designing and maintaining websites can be costly for small business, therefore the decision to embark on a Web strategy should not be taken lightly. Critical to the success of a web site is its design. Most small business web sites focus on information provision yet for many it would appear there is a lack of understanding of how to design a web site that delivers information effectively to users. This paper presents research that examined the effectiveness of small business web sites from the perspective of users. Findings indicate that: users found many sites contained too much irrelevant information; users were critical of sites where not enough information was provided; how the text is organised is important; and, the quality and quantity of information provided on the websites and the display and size of the text influenced the ability of users to complete the task and not be frustrated. The paper concludes with recommendations on more effective information design.


The papers of Charles Babbage at the Science Museum were historically catalogued in different ways and remained difficult to consult, but their digitisation in 2011 and  subsequent incremental release online have increased access world-wide. This paper describes how such access has gradually fulfilled expectations of scholars world-wide, while catering for other audiences. It examines the challenges the Science Museum has faced and the role that archivists, historians and digital professionals have had in making digital access to the archives and related objects possible.


With the growing prevalence of chronic diseases (such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, congestive heart failure, or COPD) ageing with one or more chronic diseases is becoming normal. Sustainable solutions are therefore needed to effectuate a transformation in health care delivery and to support the shifts from 1) institutionalized (secondary) care to (primary) home care; 2) acute episodic care to a more continuous chronic care; and 3) the patient as a passive recipient of care to an active patient who is able to self-manage. Technology-based innovations (such as eHealth) are major drivers in this transformation of care delivery. Personal Health Records (PHRs) for example, provide the opportunity for self‐management support and maintaining and/or improving the quality of chronic disease management by engaging patients in their own healthcare. However, despite the potential benefits of PHRs in chronic disease management, recent evidence regarding the effectiveness of PHRs for self‐management remains sparse. Most of the evaluations focus on the effectiveness of PHRs as stand‐alone, patient‐centered technologies in experimental trials. However, the implementation of eHealth is a multi‐level and complex process, and such evaluations do not provide insight into process outcomes or how the use of the different components of the technology has contributed to healthier living, improved wellbeing, or a user's ability to conduct daily tasks. We call this 'the black box of eHealth'. Creating and implementing sustainable eHealth technologies thus requires a holistic development and evaluation approach that takes into account the triad of the technology, its users and the context of implementation. This thesis focuses on the evaluation of the implementation of an electronic personal health record (PHR) for patients chronic diseases in a mixed methods approach. The first part of this thesis consists of two more fundamental chapters describing a systematic review to gain more insight into the concept of adherence, and a protocol for the analysis of real-time data regarding the use (log data) of the PHR. The second part of this thesis contains three chapters to gain insight into the actual implementation of e-Vita, the relation between the user and the technology and the influence of the context.


Implementation of energy conservation measures in buildings can extend our use of finite resources while simultaneously reducing our impact on the environment. This project summarizes efforts to identify economically-viable strategies to reduce HVAC related energy usage and improve the indoor air quality at a facility that houses primates and large cats. The primary focus of energy conservation strategies for the facility centered around air-to-air energy recovery concepts including enthalpy exchangers and runaround loops. Component and system models for transient computer simulations were developed for the existing facility and for several equipment alternatives including enthalpy exchangers and runaround loop heat exchangers. The model of the enthalpy exchanger is based on a new semi-empirical NTU Correction Factor Method. Given only two reference data points, the model is able to predict effectiveness for any balanced and unbalanced flow condition. The runaround loop is modeled as two counterflow liquid-to-air heat exchangers coupled by a heat transfer liquid. The model incorporates liquid flow rate and bypass control. Both models include various options of economizer control and frost control, as well as calculations of parasitic losses. Comparisons of frost control strategies for energy recovery systems were prepared and show that preheating of outdoor air is a favorable solution for enthalpy exchangers. The new simulation models are validated with experimental data. The building model is a detailed model including all internal gains, humidity and solar irradiation and is created in TRNSYS, a software package for transient simulations. The simulations were based on hourly weather data for one year. The simulations allow energy consumption and indoor air quality to be optimized. The findings of the simulations suggest that more than 80% of the heating energy and 45% of the cooling energy can be saved by implementation of air-to-air energy recovery and conservative control settings. The proposal for changes of the HVAC system includes specifications of energy recovery systems and an economic analysis. The environmental impact of the proposed systems regarding CO2 production has been analyzed, showing that up to 73 tons can be saved per year.


Context: Worldwide socio-demographic factors like age, sex, education, occupation, income, life styles etc play a crucial role in etiology, spread and status of tuberculosis. It is a chronic stigmatized social and public health challenge in almost all communities of developing countries. Objective: This study was undertaken to examine some socio-demographic factors of TB patients in an urban area and their relation with current tuberculosis epidemiological situation. Materials and methods: It's an observational, cohort study carried on 210 patients. Data was collected by trained personnel in structured and pretested formats from a Tuberculosis Unit and Directly Observed Treatment centers' records and through direct visits and interviews with the patients. The statistical analysis was done by subjecting data to 'EPI INFO' and WIN PEPI software. Results: Of all 210 patients, 125 were male, 131 had pulmonary TB, 133 in 0-34 year age group, 144 married, 44 illiterate, 96 kaccha house dwellers, 151 experienced overcrowding, 58 smokers (male), 75 had alcohol habit and 51 gave family history of tuberculosis. Conclusions: TB was significantly higher in males, pulmonary type, in 0-34 year age group, smokers and alcoholics and in those who gave family history of tuberculosis. Key words: Tuberculosis, socio-demographic factors, marital status, overcrowding, smoking, family history of TB.


Paulownia Tomentosa was pretreated by steam explosion. The cellulase complex NS 50013 and the β-glucosidase NS 50010 of Novozymes AS were used for the enzymatic conversion of cellulose to glucose. The kinetics of enzyme conversion was studied using the exponential kinetic equation valid for processes taking place at uniformly inhomogeneous surfaces. The kinetic coefficient of inhomogeneity accounts for the energy and entropy inhomogeneity of the system and depends on the temperature. It was established that both the activation energy and the pre-exponential factor increase simultaneously with increasing of conversion degree. A compensation effect between pre-exponential factor and activation energy was observed. The energetic hindrances established cannot be completely compensated by the positive effect of the pre-exponential factor increase. Hence, the activation energy has a determining influence on how quickly the rate of hydrolysis decreases.


Some of the most massive and persistent violations of human rights occur in African nations. In Human Rights Under African Constitutions: Realizing the Promise for Ourselves, scholars from a wide range of fields present a sober, systematic assessment of the prospects for legal protection of human rights in Africa. In a series of detailed and highly contextual studies of Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, and Uganda, experts seek to balance the socioeconomic and political diversity of these nations while using the same theoretical framework of legal analysis for each case study. Standards for human rights protection can be realized only through direct and strong support from a nation's legal and political institutions. The contributors to this volume uniformly conclude that a well-informed and motivated citizenry is the most powerful force for creating the political will necessary to effect change at the national level. In addition to a critical evaluation of the current state of human rights protection in each of these African nations, the contributors outline existing national resources available for protecting human rights and provide recommendations for more effective and practical use of these resources.


Serotonin syndrome is thought to arise from serotonin excess. In many cases, symptoms are mild and self-limiting. But serotonin syndrome can become life threatening, when neuromuscular hyperexcitability spins out of control. Uncontainable neuromuscular hyperexcitability may lead to cardiovascular complications, linked to extreme changes in blood pressure. Currently, there is little guidance on how to control blood pressure in hyperserotonergic states. We report a case with treatment-resistant arterial hypertension, followed by a clinical review (using systematic review principles and techniques) of the available evidence from case reports published between 2004 and 2016 to identify measures to control arterial hypertension associated with serotonin syndrome. We conclude that classic antihypertensives may not be effective for the treatment of severe hypertension associated with serotonin syndrome. Benzodiazepines may lower blood pressure. Patients with severe hypertension not responding to benzodiazepines may benefit from cyproheptadine, propofol or both. In severe cases, higher cyproheptadine doses than currently recommended may be necessary.


The matching of the turbocharging system with a marine engine is an essential undertaking due to the turbocharger effects on the engine performance, emissions and response, whilst the limited data availability during the ship design phase renders it challenging. This study aims at developing a novel methodology for the matching of a single turbocharger and multiple turbochargers connected in parallel with marine engines. This methodology employs a compressor parametric modelling tool and a zero-dimensional engine model, whilst taking into account the engine operational profile and the turbocharger components flow limitations. The compressor parametric tool is used for the generation of a database with compressor families that can be investigated during the matching procedure. The model of one engine cylinder block is used for mapping the engine performance parameters at a wide engine operating envelope by developing response surfaces. The developed methodology is implemented for the case study of the turbocharger matching with the propulsion engine of an Aframax tanker. The annual fuel consumption and the engine load diagram upper limit are employed as the main objectives for the selection the turbocharging system. The derived results demonstrate that the effective turbocharger matching results in reducing the engine brake specific fuel consumption up to 5%. The identified turbochargers led to the reduction of the ship annual fuel consumption in the range 1.3%–5.3% compared to the reference engine, whilst providing a more expanded load diagram. This study overcomes the limitations of the manual engine turbocharger–matching process providing decision support on the effective turbocharger matching to satisfy contradictory objectives.


Integrated pest management with farmer field school approach (IPM/FFS) as an approach of the participatory extension, several years in order to protect the environment and control pests and plant diseases in the country's agricultural sector is ongoing. The main objective was to evaluate for IPM/FFS's programs on the promotion of knowledge, skills and attitude of farmers participating in the program compared with farmers participating in courses traditionally is teacher-centered. In the other study, to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats extension programs IPM/FFS as SWOT analysis were the views of experts and facilitators. The study population consisted of two distinct groups of farmers. The first group of participants in courses FFS and the second group, participant's extension is traditionally teacher-centered that number 97 of the first group and the second group of 98 were randomly selected. Information through questionnaires and interviews with farmers and facilitators of discussions with experts and participating in programs of IPM/FFS, were collected. Face validity, by experts and agronomists, and reliability with Cronbach's Alpha coefficient (0.79-0.91), were approved. The results showed that the indexes the knowledge, skills and attitude of farmers participating in extension programs IPM/FFS were more than teacher-centered extension courses, and its differences in the level of one percent error (P=0.01) is significant. Analysis of SWOT related to the extension programs IPM/FFS showed that the best strategy for the development of these programs, is competitive strategy, that should be applied, all strengths and capabilities IPM/FFS's programs to deal with the possible threats.


Objectives: We developed an electronic health records (EHR) system for regional healthcare in 2000. This EHR stores the health records of more than 6,300 patients in two regions of Japan; however, clinical updates and improved interoperability with other clinical standards, such as HL7 or others are needed. In 2015, this EHR system was upgraded to create a nationwide-scale healthcare data repository to improve the interoperability of clinical data with openEHR technology.
Methods: The clinical data in our EHR system has 16 components constructed with Medical Markup Language (MML) standards and periodic mass screening for employees and students. Therefore, we constructed mindmaps of the clinical MML and surveillance data to analyse the concept models. Based on mindmap analysis, we designed archetypes of the concepts identified using Ocean Archetype Editor. The artefacts were mainly quoted from the openEHR clinical knowledge manager (CKM). As the archetypes on CKM did not include all MML semantics, the archetypes were newly designed to complement the semantics of the MML.
Results: We developed clinical information models by archetypes that semantically equalled the EHR system. Twenty-one MML components/modules and concept models using 99 archetypes were constructed for periodic mass screening services. Most of the archetypes were quoted from CKM; however, 22 archetypes were specialised, and eight archetypes were newly designed. The reasons for specialisation were to adjust the demographics to Japanese and to extend the archetypes to the dental domain.
Conclusion: We constructed concept models with archetypes semantically equivalent to conventional data and developed new archetypes for mass screening by archetype technology. The suggested archetype technology improved the flexibility of the EHR system to cover the existing standards.


In young adults, spatial attention typically manifests in a processing advantage for the left side of space ("pseudoneglect")(Bowers & Heilman, 1980), whereas older adults tend to display no strongly lateralised bias, or a preference towards the right side of space (Benwell, Thut, Grant, & Harvey, 2014; Schmitz & Peigneux, 2011). However in addition, in recent studies, pseudoneglect has also been found to be maintained into old age (Brooks, Darling, Malvaso, & Della Sala, 2016; Brooks, Sala, & Darling, 2014; Friedrich, Hunter, & Elias, 2018). This suggests that the traditional view of an attenuated spatial asymmetry bias with increasing age may be too simplistic and that the spatial biases observed could be sensitive to a range of influences besides age. In addition, the traditionally observed shifts in spatial asymmetry in older adults have been attributed to neuroanatomical changes in the right hemisphere (with age), however as yet, there is limited evidence linking neurophysiological results to such behavioural shifts.
To this end, for older adults, spatial attention research lacks systematic investigation of intra- and inter-task consistency. In the first of the four experiments of this thesis, I built on an earlier study which investigated young adults (Learmonth, Gallagher, Gibson, Thut, & Harvey, 2015, see 2018), and addressed this issue by investigating the magnitude and direction of spatial asymmetry in older adults aged between 60 to 86 years in five commonly used spatial tasks (line bisection, landmark, grey and grating scales and lateralised visual detection). I also compared the obtained spatial biases to a driving task. Results confirmed a stable retest reliability of all spatial tasks across two testing days in older adults. The line bisection and greyscales tasks elicited significant left spatial biases, in accordance with pseudoneglect, while the other tasks showed no significant biases to either side of space. Interestingly, in the driving task a right bias emerged for older adult and was stable across testing sessions. Yet, it failed to correlate with the other spatial measures. In comparison to the young adults' sample from Learmonth et al. (2015, 2018), only the landmark task was age sensitive. However, none of the task showed significant inter task correlations. This replicates the findings of Learmonth et al. (2015, 2018) for an older age group. So in view of my findings of no significant inter-task correlations, as well as the inconsistent directions of the observed spatial biases for the older adults, I present supporting evidence that pseudoneglect is a multi-component phenomenon and highly task sensitive. Each task may reflect a distinct neural mechanism, likely to be impacted differently by age or other non- spatial modulators.
In fact, the influence of other non -spatial modulators on spatial attention was the central topic of the other three experiments presented in Chapters 3 and 4. I employed a dual task paradigm (Chapters 3 and 4) and electroencephalography (EEG) (Chapter 4 only) to investigate behaviourally as well as neurophysiologically if an increase in attentional load has a reducing effect on spatial asymmetry and whether this would be more pronounced with old age. Interestingly, for the last experiment including EEG (Chapter 4) in particular, results showed that although older adults perform similarly well to young adults on a behavioural level, changes are visible on a neuronal level. Specifically, I found that older adults showed an age related reduction in the right hemisphere, for right lateralized targets at the early stages of stimuli processing, indexed by the N1 component, which was absent in young adults. Moreover, the results suggest that older adults used additional neuronal recruitment in the later stages of stimuli processing (P3), to compensate for increased task difficulty and increased resource allocation, likely improving the behavioural results of the older adults so that they were similar to young adults. The work presented in this thesis thus suggest that ageing per se does not result in an attenuated spatial asymmetry (that would be seen as equal to a decline in spatial attention ability). Instead I would argue that, independently of age, a set of underlying non spatial factors (such as load for example) influence the magnitude and direction of spatial asymmetry. In addition, additional neuronal recruitment and intrinsic mechanisms are used in older adults to compensate for possible deficits and this results in maintained performance in this age group.


Ninety elderly (>65 y) patients were studied to assess the influence of patient position during induction of spinal anaesthesia on the incidence of perioperative hypotension and haemodynamic stability. Prior to induction of anaesthesia, Lactated Ringer's solution (8–10 ml/kg) was administered. In the Sitting Group, intrathecal anaesthesia was performed with the patient in the sitting position. In the Lateral Group, patients assumed the lateral decubitus position. In all cases hyperbaric bupivacaine (10 mg) was administered using a 25 gauge Quincke spinal needle. Patients were placed in the supine (and thereafter lithotomy) position immediately after withdrawing the spinal needle. Incremental doses of ephedrine (5 mg, IV) were administered in response to hypotension (>20 % of baseline), nausea, vomiting, sweating, skin pallor or impaired consciousness. The mean arterial blood pressure, heart rate and the number of hypotensive episodes requiring ephedrine administration were unaffected by group affiliation. In the Sitting Group, nine patients received 24 doses of ephedrine 5 mg IV. In the Lateral Group, 21 incremental doses of ephedrine were administered to nine patients. The incidence of nausea, vomiting, sweating and pallor were similar between the groups. Patient comfort was similar. In summary, the incidence of hypotension and hypotension-related adverse effects was similar when intrathecal anaesthesia was induced in the sitting or lateral position. Furthermore, subjective perception of the induction process or anaesthetic experience was not affected by patient position.


This study was undertaken in order to evaluate the implications of substituting a failed jejunoileal bypass with a gastric bypass, another bariatric procedure. During the same operation, the jejunoileal bypass is taken down and a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass created. All 12 patients who underwent the procedure and who form the basis for this study survived. In comparison with patients who underwent gastric bypass alone during the same period, peri- and postoperative morbidity did not increase. Following this operation blood glucose levels and arterial blood pressure decreased as the patients with the failed jejunoileal bypass lost weight. Serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which are known to decrease significantly after jejunoileal bypass, slightly increased but always remained within normal range after substitution by the gastric bypass. All patients who underwent the combined operation showed a dramatic improvement in life quality. We conclude that the simultaneous performance of these two procedures is a preferable alternative to the take-down alone of the original unsuccessful procedure.


Stochastic weather generators simulate synthetic weather data while maintaining statistical properties of the observations. A new semi‐parametric algorithm for multi‐site precipitation has been published recently by Breinl et al. (2013), who used a univariate Markov process to simulate precipitation occurrence at multiple sites for two small rain gauge networks. Precipitation amounts were simulated in a two‐step process by first resampling observations and then sampling and reshuffling of parametric precipitation amounts. In the present study, the precipitation model by Breinl et al. (2013, J. Hydrol. 498: 23–35) is implemented in a weather generation framework for daily precipitation and temperature. It is extended to a considerably larger gauge station network of 19 stations and further improved to reduce the duplication of historical records in the simulation. Autoregressive‐moving‐average models (ARMA) are used to simulate mean daily temperature at three sites. Power transformations reduce the bias of simulated temperature extremes. Precipitation amounts are simulated by means of hybrid distributions consisting of a Weibull distribution for low precipitation amounts and a generalized Pareto distribution (GPD) for moderate and extreme precipitation amounts. The proposed weather generator is particularly suitable for assessing hydrometeorological hazards such as flooding as it reproduces the spatial variability of precipitation very well and can generate unobserved extremes.


Ideally, self-reconfiguration modular robots (SMR) can change their morphology and perform actions related to a specific task in any scene. However, most SMRs only adapt to several specific scenes because their morphology and control policies are designed or trained based on these scenes. Once SMRs meet an unknown scene, especially multiply unknown scenes (called dynamic environment), these policies will be useless.
Although some of these policies import evolutionary algorithms to enhance the ability of SMR to explore unknown scenes, they are very time-consuming. The reason is that individual fitness depends on the interaction between SMR and these scenes. We propose a two-stage reconfiguration algorithm (TSRA) without any prior knowledge to address the time-consuming problem. In the two stages, the reconfiguration methods use the evolutionary algorithm (GA) to simultaneously generate scene-fitted morphology and actions. The first stage method uses the estimation neural network to evaluate the individual fitness to run faster and can recommend better policies to the second stage. The second stage method obtains this fitness from scenes and updates the neural network to approximate these scenes. Through experiments, TSRA can find better morphology and control policies than the other two canonical algorithms --- GA and GEM-RL.


The report studies cross-border labour mobility in the Central Baltic region together with the policies and measures related to that. It provides background information on the current migration flows between Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Sweden as well as information on the national labour markets and current labour demand in each of the countries. This report is the final report of the INTERREG IVA project "CentralBaltic JobFerry". Based on statistical data and stakeholder interviews conducted in the Latvia, Estonia, South West Finland and Ostergotland/Sweden, the report notes that countries in the Central Baltic region are facing labour shortage in the health care, social services, ICT and construction sectors. There is an increased need for specialised and skilled labour force in those sectors. The EU has identified cross-border labour mobility as a way to increase the matching of labour demand and supply. However the actual intra-EU cross-border labour mobility remains low. The report identifies the main obstacles to labour mobility based on stakeholder interviews and policy reviews. Lack of language skills, lack of cooperation between relevant labour market actors and authorities, lack of easily available information as well as problems with the portability of pension rights and social benefits are the main factors that impede the mobility of workers in the Central Baltic region. To tackle these issues, increased cooperation is needed both within countries and regions and across borders. The CentralBaltic JobFerry project has published a separate policy brief presenting several policy recommendations targeted at regional, national and EU level actors. The policy brief can be downloaded at http://cbjobferry.eu/publications/.


ABSTRACT In many arid and semiarid regions worldwide, high levels of soil salinity is a key driver of land degradation, as well as a key impediment to re-establishing plant cover. Combating land degradation and erosion associated with soil salinity requires experimental determination of plant species that can grow in soils with high levels of salinity and can be used to re-establish plant cover. Herein, we evaluated the responses of untested candidate cultivars of two halophytic grass species to high soil salinity: alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides Torr.) and seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum Swartz). We evaluated the growth responses of both species in a greenhouse under control (no-salt) and various levels of NaCl salinity (EC 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, and 48 dSm−1) using Hoagland solution in a hydroponics system in a randomized complete block design trial. At all salinity levels, sacaton grass had a greater shoot height, shorter root length, lower shoot fresh and dry weights, and poorer color and general quality compared to seashore paspalum. The shoot fresh and dry weights of both grasses were greatest at the low to medium levels of salinity, with the greatest response observed at EC 16 dSm−1. At the highest level, salinity significantly reduced shoot fresh and dry weights of both grasses. Because growth of both halophytic species exhibited high tolerance to salinity stress and were stimulated under low to medium levels of salinity, both species could be considered suitable candidates for re-establishing plant cover in drylands to combat desertification and land degradation associated with high levels of soil salinity.


Abstract The former Department of the Environment has commissioned 35 applied geological mapping studies dealing with land-use planning in a range of geological and planning environments. These were carried out in England and Wales between 1983 and 1996. Using geological maps as a base these studies have developed two types of applied geological maps: thematic maps dealing with particular topics and summary maps bringing together many of the earth science factors relevant to planners and developers. The recommendations made by Geomorphological Services Limited (GSL) in 1985 in a previous review of these studies are summarized. The output, type and range of information, and its potential users are compared. Each study is assessed, with respect to the GSL recommendations, in terms of its content and usefulness, based in part on how it has been received by users. The main types of summary and thematic maps are described and guidance given on their content and presentation. The importance of maps in providing the key interface between earth scientists and planners is discussed, in particular the significance of map scale, use of colour and accuracy of the geological lines. Good practise is illustrated by reference to examples.


We study balancing weight estimators, which reweight outcomes from a source population to estimate missing outcomes in a target population. These estimators minimize the worst-case error by making an assumption about the outcome model. In this paper, we show that this outcome assumption has two immediate implications. First, we can replace the minimax optimization problem for balancing weights with a simple convex loss over the assumed outcome function class. Second, we can replace the commonly-made overlap assumption with a more appropriate quantitative measure, the minimum worst-case bias. Finally, we show conditions under which the weights remain robust when our assumptions on the outcomes are wrong.


ConspectusMetal-organic and covalent-organic frameworks (MOFs/COFs) have been extensively studied for fundamental interests and their promising applications, taking advantage of their unique structural properties, i.e., high porosity and large surface-to-volume ratio. However, their electronic and magnetic properties have been somewhat overlooked because of their relatively poor performance as conductive and/or magnetic materials. Recent experimental breakthroughs in synthesizing two-dimensional (2D) π-conjugated MOFs/COFs with high conductivity and robust magnetism through doping have generated renewed and increasing interest in their electronic properties. Meanwhile, comprehensive theoretical studies of the underlying physical principles have led to discovery of many exotic quantum states, such as topological insulating states, which were only observed in inorganic systems. Especially, the diversity and high tunability of MOFs/COFs have provided a playground to explore novel quantum physics and quantum chemistry as well as promising applications.The band theory has empowered us to understand the most fundamental electronic properties of inorganic crystalline materials, which can also be used to better understand MOFs/COFs. The first obvious difference between the two is that instead of atomic orbitals residing at lattice sites of inorganic crystals, molecular orbitals of organic ligands are predominant in MOFs/COFs. The second key difference is that usually all atomic orbitals in an inorganic crystal are subject to one common group of lattice symmetry, while atomic orbitals of metal ion and molecular orbitals of different organic ligands in MOFs/COFs belong to different subgroups of lattice symmetries. Both these differences will impact the band structure of MOFs/COFs, in particular making it more complex. Consequently, which subset of bands are of most importance depends strongly on the location of Fermi level, i.e., electron counting and charge doping. Furthermore, there are usually two types of characteristic electrons coupled in MOFs, i.e., strongly correlated localized d and f electrons and diffusive s and p electrons, which interplay with lattice, orbital, and spin degrees of freedom, leading to more exotic topological and magnetic band structures.In this Account, we present an up-to-date review of recent theoretical developments to better understand the exotic band structures of MOFs/COFs. Starting from three fundamental 2D lattice models, i.e., honeycomb, Kagome, and Lieb lattices, exotic Dirac and flat bands as well as the intriguing topological quantum states they host, e.g., quantum spin Hall and quantum anomalous Hall states, are outlined. In addition to the single-lattice models, we further elaborate on combined lattice model Hamiltonians, which give rise to overlapping bands hosting novel quantum states, such as nodal-line Dirac semimetal and unconventional superconducting states. Also, first-principles predictions of candidate MOFs/COFs that host these exotic bands and hence quantum phases are reviewed, which greatly extends the pool of materials beyond inorganic crystals for hosting exotic band structures.


The response of a plate-column system having five-degree-of-freedom supported by an elastic foundation and subjected to static lateral load, harmonic ground motion and earthquake motion is studied. Two Winkler foundation models are assumed: a conventional model which supports compression and tension and a tensionless model which supports compression only. The governing equations of the problem are obtained, solved numerically and the results are presented in figures to demonstrate the behavior of the system for various values of the system parameters comparatively for the conventional and the tensionless Winkler foundation models.


The concept of lightweight cryptography has gained in popularity recently, also due to various competitions and standardization efforts specifically targeting more efficient algorithms, which are also easier to implement. One of the important properties of lightweight constructions is the area of a hardware implementation, or in other words, the size of the implementation in a particular environment. Reducing the area usually has multiple advantages like decreased production cost or lower power consumption. In this paper, we focus on MAC functions and on ASIC implementations in hardware, and our goal is to minimize the area requirements in this setting. For this purpose, we design a new MAC scheme based on the well-known Pelican MAC function. However, in an effort to reduce the size of the implementation, we make use of smaller internal permutations. While this certainly leads to a higher internal collision probability, effectively reducing the allowed data, we show that the full security is still maintained with respect to other attacks, in particular forgery and key recovery attacks. This is useful in scenarios which do not require large amounts of data. Our detailed estimates, comparisons, and concrete benchmark results show that our new MAC scheme has the lowest area requirements and offers competitive performance. Indeed, we observe an area advantage of up to 30% in our estimated comparisons, and an advantage of around 13% compared to the closest competitor in a concrete implementation.


A new interference-based optical technique called in-plane displacement interferometer (IPDI) is introduced for the detection of in-plane (IP) motion of ultrasonic waves. The IPDI employs a tiny square indentation of about 30 microns in width on the sample surface and a relatively simple optical arrangement for the detection of IP motion of ultrasonics waves. With the IPDI, measurement of IP motions of Lamb waves propagating along a thin brass foil is demonstrated. Dispersion relations for the S0 mode dominated by in-plane motion in the low fd (frequency times thickness) regime is obtained with the IPDI.


A Doppler-based method for using a moving narrow-band source to extract the modes of acoustic propagation in a range-independent shallow ocean waveguide over a partial-water-column spanning vertical line array (VLA) is introduced. Because the modal components propagate at distinct frequencies in the case of uniform radial source motion, the modal depth functions may be isolated and extracted from a frequency decomposition of the field. Because Doppler broadening due to radial source accelerations degrades the effectiveness of the extraction method, the method incorporates a technique to compensate for Doppler broadening. As the basis for the compensation technique, a theory is introduced for describing the VLA field from an accelerating cw source. By connecting the range of the source at the time a signal feature is emitted (the retarded time) to the range of the source at the time the signal feature arrives at the receiver (the contemporary time), the theory incorporates the Doppler effects associated with the finite group velocities of the modal components. The mode extraction method and compensation technique are applied to simulation and ocean data.


Four Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, non-spore-forming isolates of coccoid rods were obtained from fruit powder and investigated in a polyphasic taxonomic study. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis allocated the isolates to the family Enterobacteriaceae. Their phylogenetic position within the family Enterobacteriaceae was confirmed by rpoB sequence analysis and as the highest rpoB sequence similarities were obtained with Enterobacter radicincitans, Enterobacter cowanii and Enterobacter sakazakii, the isolates clearly belong to the genus Enterobacter. Biochemical data revealed that the isolates can be separated into two distinct groups that represent two novel species, as confirmed by DNA-DNA hybridizations. The two novel species can be differentiated from their nearest neighbours by the following characteristics: the utilization of sucrose, D-sorbitol, putrescine and mucate, the hydrolysis of aesculin and a negative result in the Voges-Proskauer reaction. It is therefore proposed that these novel isolates are classified as Enterobacter turicensis sp. nov. (type strain 508/05(T)=LMG 23730(T)=DSM 18397(T)) and Enterobacter helveticus sp. nov. (type strain 513/05(T)=LMG 23732(T)=DSM 18396(T)).


CELL BIOLOGY
The presence of many membrane-bounded compartments in a eukaryotic cell means that proteins must have signal sequences that target them to the appropriate organelle and that organelles must have translocation machinery to import these proteins. Although the signal sequences appear to adopt an α-helical conformation during translocation, Taylor et al. show that the mitochondrial processing peptidase—a thermolysin-like zinc-dependent protease—recognizes an extended or β strand-like conformation of the signal sequence. The peptidase active site utilizes both position-dependent binding sites for arginine and aromatic side chains as well as main chain interactions with the edge of a β sheet in order to accommodate the wide variety of sequences. — GJC

Structure 9 , 615 (2001).


The use of whakapapa by New Zealand Maori is most commonly understood in reference to human descent lines and relationships, where it functions as a family tree or genealogy. But it also refers to an epistemological framework in which perceived patterns and relationships in nature are located. These nonhuman whakapapa contain information concerning an organism's theorized origins from supernatural beings, inferred descent lines, and morphological and ecological relationships. In this context whakapapa appear to function at one level as a "folk taxonomy," in which morphology, utility, and cultural considerations all play an important role. Such whakapapa also function as ecosystem maps of culturally important resources. More information and meaning is provided by accompanying narratives, which contain explanations for why things came to be the way they are, as well as moral guidelines for correct conduct. Renewed interest in the whakapapa of plants and animals has arisen from concerns raised by Maori in regard to genetic modification, particularly the transfer of genes between different species, as this concept is frequently invoked by those who oppose transgenic biotechnology. Informed dialogue on this subject requires an understanding of the structure and function of nonhuman as well as human whakapapa and their underlying rationale, as well as the nature of the relationships among the things included in nonhuman whakapapa. Of additional interest and relevance is the relationship of whakapapa to modern scientific concepts of taxonomy based on phylogeny and the species concept. In this paper we describe and interpret the whakapapa of an important food plant, the sweet potato or kumara, in terms of its apparent functions and underlying rationale. We also discuss how the whakapapa and its associated narratives might contribute to the current debate on genetically modified organisms in New Zealand.


Background: EGFR is frequently overexpressed in NSCLC, and while many advanced NSCLC tumors initially respond to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), development of therapeutic resistance often follows. HER3 is a key dimerization partner of HER family members, including EGFR, and activates oncogenic signaling pathways. HER3 overexpression occurs in many solid tumors and is associated with poor prognosis in lung cancer pts. Data indicate that HER3 expression may play a role in EGFR TKI resistance, suggesting that simultaneous inhibition of HER3 and EGFR may be beneficial. U3-1287 is a fully human anti-HER3 monoclonal antibody with synergistic anticancer activity in combination with anti-EGFR inhibitors in preclinical models. The phase 1b/2 HERALD trial was initiated to investigate the combination of U3-1287 with erlotinib in the treatment of advanced NSCLC pts after failure of at least 1 prior chemotherapy. Results as of August 12, 2011 are reported here. Methods: Eligible pts had stage IIIB/IV NSCLC that progressed on ≥1 prior chemotherapy treatments and were EGFR treatment-naive. In the open-label, phase 1b portion, pts received erlotinib 150 mg/day orally and U3-1287 18 mg/kg intravenously every 3 weeks (Q3W). In the event that 18 mg/kg was not tolerated based on DLT assessment, sequential cohorts were to receive de-escalating doses of U3-1287. As no DLTs were reported, the recommended phase 2 dose is 18 mg/kg Q3W for U3-1287 in combination with 150 mg/day erlotinib. The phase 2 portion of the study is a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study assessing the efficacy and safety of U3-1287 combined with erlotinib relative to erlotinib alone. It is a 3-arm study of 150 mg/day erlotinib with U3-1287 high-dose (18 mg/kg Q3W), U3-1287 low-dose (18 mg/kg loading dose followed by 9 mg/kg Q3W), or placebo. Study end points include adverse event (AE) incidence, pharmacokinetics, human antihuman antibody (HAHA) formation, tumor response, and progression-free survival (PFS). Results: The phase 1b portion of the trial enrolled 7 pts (4 male), with a median age of 68 years (range, 48–78). There were no reported DLTs. Erlotinib-related AEs reported in ≥2 pts were rash (6 pts), diarrhea (4), dry skin (3), decreased appetite (3), stomatitis (3), dehydration, dermatitis acneiform, dysgeusia, mucosal inflammation, nausea, and skin exfoliation (2 each). The only U3-1287–related AE reported in ≥2 pts was decreased appetite (2 pts). AEs grade ≥3 occurred in 2 pts: one grade 3 case each of pain, fatigue, headache, dehydration, diarrhea, and blood creatinine increase; none were related to U3-1287. Three pts had 3 serious AEs: grade 3 pain (unrelated to study treatment), grade 3 dehydration (erlotinib-related), and grade 1 decreased appetite (erlotinib- and U3-1287-related). All seven pts tested negative for HAHA formation after drug administration. As of Aug 12, 3 pts have ended study treatment due to disease progression. Four pts had best responses of stable disease lasting 86, 87, 90, and 117 days. As of Aug 12, in the phase 2 portion, 11 pts (4 male) have been screened; first study treatment was June 21. Pts had a median age of 70 years (range, 49–83). There have been 2 serious AEs in 1 pt, both unrelated to study treatment: grade 2 cardiac disorder requiring hospitalization and death due to multi-organ failure. Treatment-related AEs reported were diarrhea (3 pts), rash (3), cardiac disorder, decreased appetite, nausea, and vomiting (1 each); all were grade 1 or 2. Conclusions: Results across the phase 1b and 2 portions indicate that U3-1287 in combination with erlotinib is generally well tolerated. This abstract is also presented as Poster B38.


The surf clam Donax serra (Roding, 1798) dominates macrobenthic communities of extended and exposed sandy beaches of those southern African biogeographical regions where phytoplankton production is high: the cold Benguela upwelling system and areas of the warm Agulhas current system, which experience occasional upwelling and estuarine input. It feeds on phytoplankton and detritus, serves as food item for marine and terrestrial predators and is exploited by recreational anglers. The overall aim of this study was to investigate the population dynamics and ecology of Namibian D. serra in order to contribute essential knowledge for the understanding of its role in the Benguela upwelling ecosystem as well as for its potential use in aquaculture and exploitation activities. In particular two populations of the central Namibian coast were studied during November 1997 and December 1999.Histological examinations of D. serra gonads and the condition index indicated a seasonal reproductive cycle, coupled to the annual mean sea surface temperature cycle. Spawning started in August/September and lasted until February. Recruits, however, were present for only three months in the intertidal zone. The period when these juveniles are abundant is decoupled from the spawning period and therefore cannot be predicted. Starvation, hydrodynamic processes, chemical parameters and different release times during the spawning period are likely to cause spatial and temporal differ-ences in settlement time and recruitment strength.Individual growth is best described by a Von Bertalanffy growth function with an asymptotic length (L*) of 82 mm and a growth constant (K) of 0.274 y-1 in both intertidal populations. Growth performance of D. serra agrees with values of cold-temperate and upwelling donacids while temperate Donax-species have intermittent and tropical/subtropical congeners show lowest values. The intertidal biomass of the studied populations ranged between 141 g ash free dry mass (AFDM) m-2 and 546 g AFDM m-2, which is much higher that in D. serra populations at warm temperate beaches and distinctly surmounts the range for several non-upwelling Donax-species. In line, annual production exceeds values calculated from populations of habitats without permanent upwelling as well as those of non-upwelling donacids. The present values ranged between 167 g AFDM m-2 y-1 and 637 g AFDM m-2 y-1, resulting in productivity values between 1.167 y-1 and 1.589 y-1. Individual production was maximal at 56.5 mm shell length (0.83 g AFDM ind.-1 y-1).To investigate whether toxic hydrogen sulphide affects survivorship of juvenile D. serra and thus is a potential community structuring factor, the reaction of these clams to low oxygen concentrations and sulphide presence was examined. In vitro exposure experiments were conducted using an innovative gas-tight continuous flow system. Hydrogen sulphide was adjusted to a concentration (0.1 mmol l-1) as regularly found during native "sulphide eruptions", which occur sporadically in the highly productive inshore regions of the central Namibian Benguela. During the first 2 h of hypoxic and hypoxic-sulphidic exposure test clams emerged to the sediment surface, which might support the drift to locations with more favourable conditions. Juvenile clams possess a high sulphide detoxification capacity and are adapted to sulphur events by their ability to oxidise the penetrating hydrogen sulphide to non-toxic thiosulphate. In addition, they are able to switch to anaerobic energy production, indicated by a significant accumulation of succinate and alanine. However, tested clams were not able to withstand long periods of exposure, the median survival time (LT50) under hypoxic sulphide incubation was 80 h. Spatial and temporal extended sulphur events are assumed to be a potential community-structuring factor, owing to their negative impact on recruitment.Shell size measurements confirmed that clams from the cold Benguela were significantly rounder, flatter and less wedge-shaped than clams from the warm Agulhas. A genetic comparison of four D. serra populations inhabiting both regimes aimed to clarify if populations are separate (sub-) species reflected in allelic variation. Genetic analysis of twenty-two protein-coding loci was carried out by starch-gel electrophoresis. Populations studied are conspecific and possess genetic variation in the range of most other marine bivalves, which allows for potential adaptation to environmental changes. Little to moderate genetic divergence among sub-populations relative to the maximal divergence under complete fixation (FST = 0.016 - 0.089), moderate divergence of individuals relative to their sub-population (FIS = 0.265 - 0.452), and comparably high divergence of individuals relative to the compound population (FIT = 0.300 - 0.473) were found. The effective number of individuals exchanged between populations in each generation is high enough (1.44 - 8.65) to counteract genetic drift. Therefore it is proposed that observed morphological differences represent phenotypic plasticity enabling this species to inhabit different biogeographic regions. Gene flow, balanced selective pressure and evolutionary inertia are proposed as explanations for similarities of the geographically most distant populations. The substantial differentiation of the two Namibian populations indicates a potential biotic barrier and requires separate studies of the population dynamics.The results of this investigation, especially the high growth and production rates as well as the ability to inhabit substrates in high abundances are encouraging for future aquacultural use of this species. Work perspectives are identified for further support of culturing activities of D. serra, which will moreover contribute to a broader understanding of sandy beach ecology.


Background A thrombus in the M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) can occlude this main stem only or extend into the M1-M2 bifurcation. The occlusion pattern may affect endovascular treatment (EVT) success, as a bifurcated thrombus may be more prone to fragmentation during retrieval. Objective To investigate whether bifurcated thrombus patterns are associated with EVT procedural and clinical outcomes. Methods Occlusion patterns of MCA thrombi on CT angiography from MR CLEAN Registry patients were classified into three groups: main stem occlusion, bifurcation occlusion extending into one M2 branch, and bifurcation occlusion extending into both M2 branches. Procedural parameters, procedural outcomes (reperfusion grade and embolization to new territory), and clinical outcomes (24-48 hour National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSSFU] score, change in NIHSS scores between 24 and 48 hours and baseline ∆ [NIHSS], and 90-day modified Rankin Scale [mRS] scores) were compared between occlusion patterns. Results We identified 1023 patients with an MCA occlusion of whom 370 (36%) had a main stem occlusion, 151 (15%) a single branch, and 502 (49%) a double branch bifurcation occlusion. There were no statistically significant differences in retrieval method, procedure time, number of retrieval attempts, reperfusion grade, and embolization to new territory between occlusion patterns. Patients with main stem occlusions had lower NIHSSFU scores than patients with single (7 vs 11, p=0.01) or double branch occlusions (7 vs 9, p=0.04). However, there were no statistically significant differences in ∆ NIHSS or in 90-day mRS scores. Conclusions In our population, EVT procedural and long-term clinical outcomes were similar for MCA bifurcation occlusions and MCA main stem occlusions.


Coral-like micro/nano-SiO2 with porous coral-like and coral-like reefs ( consisting of soft coral-like, hard coral-like and branch coral-like) morphologies were synthesized by using the hydrothermal method without any metallic catalysts. The morphologies of coral-like micro/nano-SiO2 are dependent on process parameters so that coral-like micro/nano-SiO2 formed in different process parameters has different morphologies. These morphologies have fractal feature. The possible growth mechanisms are discussed.


We present a method for magneto‐microfluidic three‐dimensional focusing of magnetic microparticles from a dense plug into a single streamline with longitudinal inter‐particle spacing. Plug formation on‐chip is induced by a high‐gradient magnetic field generated at the sidewall of a microchannel by an integrated micromachined magnetic tip that is connected to an external electromagnet. Controlled release of the microparticles is achieved using an exponential damping protocol of the magnetic retention force in the presence of an applied flow.


A technique for quantification of S-adenosylmethionine in microbial cell-free extracts is proposed that involves dilution of S-adenosyl-L-(methyl-3H)methionine with non-labelled S-adenosylmethionine followed by DNA-cytosine-methyltransferase reaction. The content of S-adenosylmethionine and the activity of S-adenosylmethionine synthetase in yeasts and E. coli MRE-600 are in good agreement with the results obtained with labelled L-methionine and consistent with literature data. The sensitivity of the technique is about 0.1 nmol/0.1 ml of the reaction mixture (10(-6) M). The error was about 5% in every series of experiments. However, the combined use of different DNA-methyltransferase preparations resulted in a higher experimental error (up to 15%), which should be taken into consideration.


Knowledge about accuracy, reliability and validity by pre-university students and science teachers (Chapter 2) CoE model 82 coe 47 relevant for evaluation arV in inquiries Conclusion 23 coe items relevant for evaluation arV in inquiry by novices Feasibility of revised instrument as self-evaluation instrument for pre-university students (Chapter 4) Design eQI instrument (ch.4) teaching-learning process (ch.5) Conclusion eQI is feasible (ch.4) teaching-learning process partly fulfilled (ch.5) teaching-learning process to fulfil functions of revised self-evaluation instrument (Chapter 5) effectiveness of using the revised instrument by pre-university students: learning outcomes (Chapter 6) Feasibility of a set of rubrics as self-evaluation instrument for pre-university students (Chapter 3) Design 23 coe items in 19 rubrics Conclusion 21 coe items relevant: 13 coe items in rubrics all items in holistic arV card and checklist (=eQI instrument)


§ 1421.422 Inspections and reviews. The books, documents, papers, and records of the DMA and parent company shall be maintained for six years after the applicable crop year and shall be made available to CCC for inspection and examination at all reasonable times. At any time after an application is received, CCC shall have the right to examine all books, documents, papers, and determine whether the DMA is operating or has operated in accordance with the regulations in this part, any articles of incorporation, articles of association, partnership documents, agreements with producers, the representations made by the DMA in its application for approval, and, where applicable, its agreements with CCC. If the DMA is determined to be not complying with this part or any of its agreements, CCC will take appropriate action as provided in elsewhere in this subpart or other action CCC determines appropriate.


The natural surge and pitch frequencies of semisubmersible offshore wind platforms are typically designed to be below the wave frequencies to avoid direct excitation. However, surge or pitch resonance can be excited by the nonlinear low-frequency loads generated by irregular incident waves. Second-order potential-flow models with added Morison drag have been found to underpredict this low-frequency excitation and response. As part of the OC6 project1, the authors performed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to enable a better understanding of the low-frequency loads and the limitations of lower-fidelity models. The focus of this paper is to set up a computationally cost-effective CFD simulation of a fixed semisubmersible platform to investigate nonlinear difference-frequency loads and establish the corresponding uncertainty in the results. Because of the high computing cost, CFD simulations of irregular waves can be challenging. Instead, simulations were performed with bichromatic waves having a shorter repeat period. A preliminary comparison with quadratic transfer functions from second-order potential-flow theory shows that CFD models consistently predict higher nonlinear wave loads at the difference frequency, likely because of flow separation and viscous drag not accounted for in potential-flow theory.


This study aims at finding out the particular phonetic contexts within which the alternation of [i], [i] & [u] in Hausa takes place in an utterance, and where it does not. It also aims at establishing the underlying forms amongst these vowels as well as identifying the underlying causes for the alternation or non-alternation. The work is divided into ten chapters: Chapter One introduces the work. It discusses the Hausa consonants based on the standard dialect, the vowels as shared by both the standard and non-standard dialects, and their phonological status. Chapter Two is basically divided into two sections, with the first one discussing the 'general' type of vowel alternation (dialectal and non-dialectal), and the second section dealing with the alternation of [i], [i] & [u] 'specific' in the standard dialect. Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 look into the [i/i/u] alternation in the Zaria, Bauchi, Daura, Katsina & Sokoto dialects respectively, all relative to the standard. Chapter Eight is devoted to establishing the underlying forms in the words where a labial and/or coronal precede(s). Chapter Nine examines the -ij- and -uw- sequences in relation to the alternation under consideration. Finally, Chapter Ten sets out the conclusions reached in the study.


Background Our previous studies have shown that OX40-OX40L interaction regulates the expression of nuclear factor of activated T cells c1(NFATc1) in ApoE−/− mice during atherogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate whether OX40-OX40L interaction promotes Th cell activation via NFATc1 in ApoE−/− mice. Methods and Results The lymphocytes isolated from spleen of ApoE−/− mice were cultured with anti-CD3 mAb in the presence or absence of anti-OX40 or anti-OX40L antibodies. The expression of NFATc1 mRNA and protein in isolated lymphocytes were measured by real time PCR (RT-PCR) and flow cytometry (FCM), respectively. The proliferation of lymphocytes was analyzed by MTT method,and the expression of IL-2, IL-4 and IFN-γ in the cultured cells and supernatant were measured by RT-PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assary (ELISA), respectively. After stimulating OX40-OX40L signal pathway, the expression of NFATc1 and the proliferation of leukocytes were significantly increased. Anti-OX40L suppressed the expression of NFATc1 in lymphocytes of ApoE−/− mice. Anti-OX40L or the NFATc1 inhibitor (CsA) markedly suppressed the cell proliferation induced by anti-OX40. Moreover, the expression of IL-2 and IFN-γ was increased in lymphocytes induced by OX40-OX40L interaction. Blocking OX40-OX40L interaction or NFATc1 down-regulated the expression of IL-2 and IFN-γ, but didn't alter the expression of IL-4 in supernatants. Conclusion These results suggest that OX40-OX40L interaction promotes the proliferation and activation of lymphocytes through NFATc1.


The energetics and luminescent property of a guest molecule, 1,4-bis(benzothiazolylvinyl)benzene (BT), interacting with a host molecule, 2,2',2' '-(1,3,5-phenylene)tris[1-phenyl-1H-benzimidazole] (TPBI), in organic light-emitting diodes are studied by performing excited-state calculations using a time-dependent density-functional tight-binding method complemented with dispersion energy. It is found that the overlap between the TPBI emission and the BT absorption spectra shows an efficient energy transfer from the host molecule to the guest molecule when they are excited. The planar BT molecule becomes distorted when it is mixed with TPBI, resulting in a blue luminescence around 475 nm. The separation of the TPBI + BT mixture on a graphite surface is found to be energetically favorable, consistent with experimental observation.


Doctoral students are education in U.S. institutions of higher education to become tomorrow's educators, researchers, leaders, and innovators. Only a little more than 50 percent of all doctoral students will actually complete the degree, however. Understanding the complexity of the doctoral experience may assist in educating these students and ensuring their success. This monograph presents a model of doctoral student development, viewing the experience as three phases of increasing complexity. Using theories developed from psychology, sociology, and education, the monograph provides an overview of doctoral education in the United States and the sources of challenge and support that characterize the doctoral student's experience and development. This is the sixty issue the 34th volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report . Each monograph in the series is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education problem, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.


This research understands the characteristics of the regional and local political economy utilizing an intensive form of rice agricultural technology during the Middle Bronze Age (800-400 BCE), in the central western Korean Peninsula, focusing on how social components (e.g. regional polities, local communities, and individual households), in the context of emergent complexity, were related to each other in shaping a specific sociopolitical organization that utilized improved technology for primary agricultural production.Relevant information has been generated by reconstructing MBA regional settlement patterns through the use of surface survey and excavation data, analyzing the spatial correlation between regional settlement hierarchy and differences in abundance of rice soils, the necessity of cooperative water management, easy accessibility to important junctions of ancient transportation routes, and investigating household wealth/status variability.All of this information is used to place MBA society somewhere in the sociopolitical continuum, two ends of which correspond to the extreme top-down and bottom up systems, respectably. The top-down models assume that suprahousehold-level organization and management of labor-pooling necessary to utilize intensive agricultural technology, while bottom-up ones emphasize the individual householdsi¯ and/or small kin-based groupsi¯ role in initiation and maintenance of the system.I conclude that there was a mixture of the two strategies mentioned above, in MBA rice-agricultural intensification, rather than the consistent compatibility to either strategy. Communities within individual polities were organized differently indicating compatibility with either system, sometimes in substantially different manners. Even when comparing polities located in quite similar environmental settings, there were quite noticeable differences in production and distribution of wet rice.In this light, beyond simple positioning in the continuum on the basis of reconstructing the differing levels of social organization, this study attempts to make such a reconstruction more dynamic by emphasizing the possible strategies pursued by different social actors, especially elites who are likely to get more benefits from the intensive agricultural systems. A possible strategic activity subjected by elites is feasting. The rigorous participation of commoner households in the intensive production of wet rice is observed at certain center and it may have been encouraged and compensated by feasting activities.


The aim of this study was to apply geographic information system (GIS) models to predict risk of oral cellulitis. A risk isolation model using Western Australian real hospitalisation data for oral cellulitis from 1999 to 2009 (10 years), and socio-economic indicators, age and Indigenous status as risk indicators was developed. The fully integrated database was then computer geo-coded to allow the visualization of the data at three levels (core of the capital city Perth, Greater Metropolitan Perth, and State of Western Australia). Correlation coefficient analysis between the number of cases (over 10 years) and the relative risk location indicator was carried out. The GIS maps derived from application of the developed risk location indicator, demonstrate that the risk categorization paralleled the number of cases over the decade. Correlation coefficient analysis demonstrated moderate positive relationship (R2=0.55) between the number of cases (over 10 years) and the risk location indicator in metropolitan Perth.


For African countries to make the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process effective, the findings and recommendations of EIA reports must be communicated horizontally and vertically to the stakeholders. This article proposes that for this communication to be successful, several challenges must be addressed. They include insensitivity to cultural and language barriers, lack of accessibility of EIA reports and overreliance on foreign experts. Use of mass media, increased training of media journalists and reporters as well as other professionals, public inquiries by local leaders, and increased awareness of environmental matters on the part of communities can improve the EIA process.


Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in history and a landmark in the study of constitutional origins, Leonard Levy's now-classic study appears for the first time in paperback. Origins probes the intentions of the framers of the Fifth Amendment and emphasizes their belief that in a society based upon respect for the individual, it is more important that the accused not unwillingly contribute to his conviction than that the guilty be punished. "A work of monumental scholarship-broad in scope, thorough, carefully annotated, accurate, and imaginative."-Political Science Quarterly. "Vastly learned...everywhere critical and reflective...written in a style at once lucid and vigorous. All in all, it is quite clearly one of the important contributions to historical literature."-Henry Steele Commager. "A matchless contribution to our understanding of the historical background underlying the adoption of a major provision of the Bill of Rights."-American Political Science Review. "A masterful job."-Oscar Handlin.


Numbers of feral cats on Dassen Island (33°25'S/18°06'E) increased from 20–25 in May 1979 to 37–50 in June 1980. Kittens were born in eight months of the year with birth peaks in October-November and in January. Mean litter size was 2,7 and 80% of kittens born between August 1979 and January 1980 survived until June 1980. Kittens died from starvation and disease. In June 1980 51–56% of the cats were <1 year old. The number of cats is recovering rapidly from heavy culling. Depredation by cats is a potential threat to sea-bird colonies. The diet and feeding behaviour of the cats were studied in order to assess the importance of this threat. An 'average' cat's annual diet, assessed from scats, included: 134 European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), 37 jackass penguins (Spheniscus demersus), 25 Cape cormorants \Phalacrocorax capensis), 31 other birds and 24 house mice (Mus musculus). Each cat killed 105 rabbits and 13 birds each year, the balance of its diet being made up by carrion. Adverse effects of the pr...


Background: Prototype perception is an important determinant of behaviour. Intervention studies show that prototype information successfully influence behaviour or related constructs. This was found for drinking and unprotected sex. Further, evidence suggests this method to be promising in improving eating behaviour as well. The aim was thus to develop and evaluate a theory- and evidence-based intervention targeting eater prototypes. Methods: An RCT-study was conducted with 108 adolescents. The intervention consisted of specific information on healthy and unhealthy eater prototypes and the initiation of directed social comparison processes. Prototype information was given via Facebook profiles. Social comparison was initiated by asking participants to identify with or contrast from the healthy and unhealthy eater respectively. Results: The intervention was well received and could be carried out as planned. Further, it effectively changed prototype perception and eating behaviour directly and four weeks later. Discussion: The developed intervention proved to be feasible and effective in improving adolescents eating behaviour. It can be provided alone or integrated in larger programmes.


Aimed at resource-restrained project scheduling problem under uncertainty which is a hot research spot, a kind of real-time feedback scheduling method is presented in this paper. Before a project is executed, the scheduling plan of all subtasks is made according to ascertain condition. The running procedure of the project is monitored by a workflow management system. When a situation, in which the finish time of the project will be delayed by changed running condition, is detected, the related information is fed back to a scheduling controller; And the controller calculates the controlling data according to optimal objective and then sends it to object scheduled; And then the old plan is rescheduled The concept model for real-time feedback scheduling of cooperative design project with resource-restrained is setup. When only the finish time of subtask is influenced and it is described as interval number, its corresponding mathematic model is setup and converted to an ascertain one by possibility-level, and solve it by GA(Genetic Algorithm). The structure of this GA is given, and a method of chromosome coding, that is the chromosome is segmented according to resources and gene is sorted in task-series, is presented in this paper. A computational example is studied in this paper, the results reveal that the method presented is valid.