The variable coordination behaviour of the mixed ligand 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3,5-dimethylpyrazole (L) towards Zn(II), Cd(II) and Hg(II) ions has been investigated. Three new complexes, [ZnCl2(L)] (1), [CdCl2(L)]2 (2), and [HgCl2(L)]n (3), with different structures and topologies have been fully characterized by analytical and spectroscopic techniques including heteronuclear 113Cd and 199Hg NMR analyses. Complexes 1–3 were also characterized by single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction techniques. The L ligand exhibits high versatility and provides different environments to the metal centre as a function of its diverse coordination mode. The weak π–π stacking interactions and intermolecular hydrogen bonds resulted in the two-dimensional network structures. All these results point out the structural diversity of the hybrid pyrazole ligand on its coordination. Finally, we determined the fluorescent properties of complexes 1–3. Surprisingly, L displays a high selectivity for Hg(II) ion. The findings indicate that the variable behaviour of the hydroxyl group substituent exerts an important effect on the spectroscopic properties. Moreover, the fluorescence of these complexes has been rationalized through theoretical calculations. The primary results suggest that the use of L is a promising strategy to synthesize novel materials with unique photoluminescent properties and further applications for the detection of heavy metals in real environmental samples.


Has the recent rise in the correlation between domestic and foreign equity returns been accompanied by a reduced difference between their returns? For many divisions of the broad equity asset class, the levels of pairwise correlations say very little about the return differences that investors experienced over recent history. When risk to an investor is the regret that derives from the possibility of holding only the poorer performing of domestic and foreign equity, there is little evidence that increases in correlation reduce the benefits of diversification.


This is a case report of chylous ascites caused by performing para-aortic lymph node dissection for a patient with cervical cancer. Postoperative chylous ascites is a rare condition that usually develops as a result of operative trauma to the thoracic duct, cisterna chyli, or their major tributaries. It has mainly occurred in thoracic operations, and chylous ascites has rarely been reported in gynecologic surgery. It is associated with serious nutritional and immunologic consequences due to the constant loss of protein and lymphocytes. Treatment that comprises conservative and surgical procedures is selected based on disease severity. We experienced massive chylous ascites after para-aortic surgery and successfully managed it conservatively with dietary intervention and parenteral nutrition.


Welfare advice is theorised as able to improve health through, for example, tackling poverty and reducing stress and anxiety. However, little empirical evidence is available in support of these links. Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) interventions are prime examples of complex interventions, with huge variation in individual client circumstances, the forms of advice delivered, the financial and non-financial benefits clients receive, and the health impacts that may be set in chain. Such heterogeneity poses significant challenges for evaluation. In addition, as advice services are delivered in conjunction with other services, the attribution of health outcomes to CAB interventions is difficult. This presentation reports on a realist evaluation to understand how, for whom and in what circumstances CAB interventions improve people's health. It describes the approaches taken to managing intervention complexity. This included using clients as opposed to particular CAB interventions as the locus for the evaluation, and drawing boundaries around the chains of potential outcomes that can realistically be observed within the evaluation timescale, focusing mainly on reductions in stress and anxiety. An illustration is provided of the development and refinement of initial programme theories about how CAB interventions are expected to improve health.


The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of a music therapy procedure (music listening paired with progressive muscle relaxation) on the reduction of anxiety and improvement of sleep patterns in abused women in shelters. Twenty-eight women residing in 2 domestic violence shelters in a Midwestern city met with the researcher on 5 consecutive days for half-hour sessions. A pretest-posttest design with control and experimental groups was used. The dependent variables included: stait anxiety measured by the STAI (Spielberger et al., 1983) before and after each music stimulus, sleep quality as measured by the PSQI (Buysse et al., 1989) on the first and last sessions, and levels of fatigue as measured by the Fatigue Scale (Lee, 1992) at waking time. The independent variable was a 20-minute recording of participant-selected music with a Progressive Muscle Relaxation script. Results indicated that music therapy constituted an effective method for reducing anxiety levels. Results also indicated a significant effect on sleep quality for the experimental group, but not for the control group. No significant relationships were found between anxiety levels and sleep quality, nor fatigue levels and sleep quality. These results seem promising in the light of domestic violence research, which has found that a greater amount of personal resources is a crucial aspect of abused women's recovery process. Reduction of anxiety and improvement of sleep quality can be considered as increased personal resources, and seem feasible through the use of music therapy.


This tutorial provides a gentle introduction to the particle Metropolis-Hastings (PMH) algorithm for parameter inference in nonlinear state-space models together with a software implementation in the statistical programming language R. We employ a step-by-step approach to develop an implementation of the PMH algorithm (and the particle filter within) together with the reader. This final implementation is also available as the package pmhtutorial in the CRAN repository. Throughout the tutorial, we provide some intuition as to how the algorithm operates and discuss some solutions to problems that might occur in practice. To illustrate the use of PMH, we consider parameter inference in a linear Gaussian state-space model with synthetic data and a nonlinear stochastic volatility model with real-world data.


Abstract We present an approach for the description of fluctuations that are due to finite system size induced correlations in the Kuramoto model of coupled oscillators. We construct a hierarchy for the moments of the density of oscillators that is analogous to the BBGKY hierarchy in the kinetic theory of plasmas and gases. To calculate the lowest order system size effect, we truncate this hierarchy at second order and solve the resulting closed equations for the two-oscillator correlation function around the incoherent state. We use this correlation function to compute the fluctuations of the order parameter, including the effect of transients, and compare this computation with numerical simulations.


Fifty-four patients with acute cerebral infarction were included in a double-blind study to evaluate Decadron® as therapy. When comparison of patients with similar levels of consciousness was made, there was no significant difference between those patients receiving Decadron® and those receiving placebo therapy. Three patients developed gastrointestinal tract bleeding in the placebo group, but there were none in the Decadron®-treated group. There was no good correlation between the clinical state of the patient and the CSF pressure, either on admission or during the 14-day course of the study.


Recent years have shown an increase in interest in the study of cleanliness from a historical and sociological perspective. Many of such studies on bathing and washing, on keeping the body and the streets clean, and on filth and the combat of dirt, focus on Europe. In Cleanliness and Culture attention shifts to the tropics, to Indonesia, in colonial times as well as in the present.


The manner in which WTP survey responses are elicited has received much attention in the nonmarket valuation literature because of the potential bias that may be introduced via alternate response formats. One issue of particular concern is that of incentive compatibility. Several studies have concluded that response formats that present a series of valuation questions are not incentive compatible. While the single dichotomous choice elicitation format reduces the amount of information collected, multiple-bounded elicitation formats may yield biased, unreliable results. Understanding this trade-off can help provide better information on response formats that will elicit incentive compatible responses and therefore provide realistic and policy-relevant information. This research investigates the effect of the number of multinomial choices presented to respondents in an attribute-based referendum (ABR) format on incentive compatibility of responses. Data was collected from two versions of a mail survey that used an attribute-based description of a hypothetical forest easement program in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and a referendum-style choice between the status quo and various forest easement program scenarios. The first version of the survey presented four choice scenarios to respondents while the second version presented only one choice scenario. Results suggest that the multiple-bound response format improves statistical efficiency due to the statistical significance of all estimated parameters. However, this efficiency may also overestimate WTP. The single-bounded response format displays lower statistical efficiency but may reflect more accurate preferences from respondents. Results lead to a rejection of the hypothesis that the number of choices presented to respondents has no effect on results and have implications for the reliability of nonmarket valuation information from multiple-bound response formats in attribute-based referenda models.


A rapid and productive vicinal diamination of alkenes takes place in the presence of a hypervalent iodine(III) reagent and bissulfonimides as nitrogen sources. A total of more than 60 examples are presented. The reaction is characterized by its robustness and its wide substrate scope: it proceeds selectively with both terminal and internal alkenes and tolerates a range of functional groups.


Stabilization of nonlinear feedback passive systems is achieved assigning a storage function with a minimum at the desired equilibrium. For physical systems a natural candidate storage function is the difference between the stored and the supplied energies—leading to the so-called Energy-Balancing control, whose underlying stabilization mechanism is particularly appealing. Unfortunately, energy-balancing stabilization is stymied by the existence of pervasive dissipation, that appears in many engineering applications. To overcome the dissipation obstacle the method of Interconnection and Damping Assignment, that endows the closed-loop system with a special—port-controlled Hamiltonian—structure, has been proposed. If, as in most practical examples, the open-loop system already has this structure, and the damping is not pervasive, both methods are equivalent. In this brief note we show that the methods are also equivalent, with an alternative definition of the supplied energy, when the damping is pervasive. Instrumental for our developments is the observation that, swapping the damping terms in the classical dissipation inequality, we can establish passivity of port-controlled Hamiltonian systems with respect to some new external variables—but with the same storage function.


According to the latest issue of the Italian seismic catalogue [Rovida et al. 2011], the area most affected by the May-June 2012 Emilia sequence [for an overview, vide Galli et al. 2012; Tertulliani et al. 2012, this volume] has a centuries-old seismic history of comparatively low magnitude events. These have been on a par with those that have occurred in the nearby Reggiano-Parmense area (where M 4.5 to M 5.5 earthquakes were comparatively frequent in the last century), although less significant than those on record in the portion of the northern Apennines that forms the southern boundary of the Pia-nura Padana (Figure 1), and a lot lower than in the most seismically active zones of the Italian peninsula. Magnitude ca. 5.5 earthquakes are known to have occurred near Ferrara (in 1346, 1561) and in the areas of Finale Emilia-Bondeno (1574, 1908, 1986), Mantua (1901) and Cento (1922). However, this picture might be incomplete, as suggested by the recent discovery of a previously unknown earthquake that occurred in 1639, whose maximum intensity was assessed as 7-8 Mercalli–Cancani–Sieberg (MCS) in Finale Emilia by Camassi et al. [2011a]. [...]


Web single-sign-on protocols-such as Microsoft passport, Oasis's security assertion markup language (SAML), and the Internet2 project Shibboleth, aim to solve security problems by letting individuals log in to many Internet services while authenticating only once, or at least always in the same way. Enterprises hope that single-sign-on protocols will significantly decrease customer-care costs due to forgotten passwords and increase e-commerce transactions by enhancing the user experience. Commercial interest centers on distributed enterprises and on small federations of enterprises with existing business relationships, such as supply chains. We concentrate on the liberty-enabled client and proxy (LECP) profile. The LECP protocol assumes a special protocol-aware client (the enabled client). We also consider the design of security protocols based on XML and Web services.


PRL has been shown to induce a number of genes after the stimulation of quiescent Nb2 T-cells, including c-fos, c-myc, ornithine decarboxylase, interferon regulatory factor-1, and others. One of these genes, LHRH, has not previously been reported to respond in this manner, although we and others have reported its presence in rat and human T- and B-cells. Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that LHRH functions as an immunoregulator in a cytokine-like manner. Using the rat immature T-cell line Nb2, we present data showing for the first time that 1) the LHRH gene is regulated by PRL at various times during the cell cycle; 2) an alternatively spliced LHRH messenger RNA exists in Nb2 cells and may produce a new truncated GnRH-associated peptide (alternatively called PIF for PRL-inhibiting factor); 3) the LHRH receptor is expressed in lymphocytes in a manner similar to the LHRH gene after PRL addition, and its complementary DNA sequence is identical to that of the pituitary receptor; 5) the SH gene, found on the opposite strand of the LHRH gene, is expressed in lymphocytes at the same time and in the same manner as the LHRH gene; 6) the LHRH messenger RNA has a very short half-life in these cells; and 7) the lymphocyte LHRH transcription start site is essentially the same as the hypothalamic site. These data strengthen the relationship between PRL and LHRH expression in the immune system and further support our contention that LHRH is an important immunoregulator, on par with other known cytokines.


This paper deals with the priority problems and their underlying causes of the forest and tree dependent poor - resource-poor farmers, landless, small artisan and urban/peri-urban poor - in Nepal, from their own and support agencies' perspectives. The paper is based on a survey conducted in seven districts of Nepal wherein 79 poor people and 65 staff members of support institutions were interviewed. The authors have identified the priority of the identified problems according to the frequency of their reference by the poor. These issues are discussed in seven categories, ranging from daily food insecurity to entrepreneurship development. The results demonstrate that the forest- dependent poor have diverse and complex livelihood related problems, which are frequently, but may not directly and exclusively, linked to forestry, per se. As such there is a need for a more continuous holistic and political approach encompassing not only economic but also cultural and social aspects for poverty reduction, in contrast with the existing technical, sectoral and linear approaches.


Prior tax compliance research has focused little on gender as a predictor of compliance.In Malaysia, ethnic background
of a taxpayer also could be a major determinant of tax compliance.This study investigates whether gender and ethnicity differences occur in relation to tax compliance attitude and behaviour of Malaysian taxpayers.A personal
interview approach is used to obtain information from taxpayers in urban towns. Univariate test suggests that males and females were found to have similar compliant attitudes. As for ethnicity, a similar result was observed.A regression analysis of the data revealed that ethnic factors, academic qualifications and attitude towards noncompliance were statistically significant in relation to income reporting behaviour. The findings of this study are useful for policy implementation in identifying groups that require additional attention to increase voluntary compliance through tax education.


The tourism industry has been strongly impacted by the consumer use of review sites. Since review travel sites such as TripAdvisor allowed accommodations to create own profiles with information, hotels began incorporating these actions into their engaging customers programming. Despite the benefits that review sites can offer to customers, hotels and accommodations, its implementation is not developed and exploited in all its possibilities, and little is known about hotels use of this review sites. This study explores the topic trough quantitative methodology, conducting multiple correlation analysis of data obtained from a sample of 301 hotel managers. Managers consider they are committed to this type of platforms and are capable of use it accurately. Also it was found evidence of correlation between use of TripAdvisor and hotel characteristics (size, ownership structure, and category). Furthermore, multiple regression analysis shows competence and commitment as the most important predictors of use intensity.


Deformation caused by residual stress has been one of the main reasons influencing the machining accuracy, studies on machining residual stress should be performed. The tool flank wear on the cutting process has great influence on cutting heat which will infulence the distribution of residual stress, therefore,we should do the finite element simulation of cutting tool flank wear on the heat-affected firstly,then simulate and forecast the surface residual stress, studies on the effect of tool flank wear on the distribution of machined surface residual stress Johnson-Cook's coupled thermal-mechanical model is used as workpiece material model, thermal-displacement coupled brick are used to mesh, while friction between tool and work piece uses modified Coulomb's law whose slide friction area is combined with sticking friction. By means of FEA, residual stress on the machined surface and cutting temperature under different tool flank wear conditions are obtained. The results are compared and analyzed, and then we can get the fundamental influencing law on machined surface residual stress of tool flank wear.


N tropical diseases (NTDs) comprise 17 helminthic, protozoan, bacterial, and vectorborne viral diseases that disproportionately affect the world's poor (1). This diverse group of infections and infestations includes hookworms, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, dengue fever, and trachoma. In Blue Marble Health, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and founding editor of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, shifts the focus of global health from a traditional developed versus developing world paradigm toward impoverished populations living amid wealthy countries, who suffer heavily from NTDs. The book's title invokes an iconic image of the earth as seen from space by the Apollo astronauts. On the basis of previous work, Dr. Hotez asserts that nearly every person in poverty is infected with at least 1 NTD, "the most important diseases you've never heard of." Blue Marble Health contains helpful summaries of 11 major NTDs in Chapter Two. The main body of the text is organized according to the book's geographic focus on the G20 countries (the world's major economies) plus Nigeria. These featured countries account for half of the world's NTDs. It might surprise many to learn that 12 million US residents live with a neglected parasitic infection. Despite this widespread burden of disease, only 0.003% of world gross domestic product is spent on NTD research. The book's readability is enhanced by its reasonable length and its organization according to geography. Although the lack of detailed attention to zoonotic transmission issues is surprising, the book addresses broader forces driving NTD emergence, including co-morbidity with noncommunicable diseases, climate change, and regional conflict. Timely content includes discussion of the West Africa Ebola epidemic and the emergence of Zika virus in the context of NTDs. The book contains copious figures and tables, which are just as likely to focus on economic indicators as on direct measures of NTDs. Minor formatting issues detract from the book's readability. For example, magazine-style text inserts crowd the layout at times. Because the field of global health is replete with acronyms and initialisms, a glossary would have been a helpful addition. Although many of the book's references come from the journal the author edits, these are balanced by citations from other sources. Much of the book's focus on interventions to combat NTDs concerns wider use of mass drug administration campaigns. However, as president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, Hotez briefly describes vaccines for hookworm disease and schistosomiasis that are currently in clinical trials. Hotez' enthusiasm for and deep knowledge about NTDs comes through clearly. Drawing on his experience as a US Science Envoy, the author clearly wants his book to be read and acted on by the leaders of G20 countries. His ideas for multinational policy solutions include the need for increased surveillance along with local research and development investment. The intended audience for this book goes well beyond public health and tropical medicine specialists. The policyheavy content and clear advocacy tone make it appropriate for students and teachers of global health, public policy, and foreign affairs. The book should also be of value to persons interested in social determinants of health, health economists, and historians of public health and international development.


This study identifies identify the organizational characteristics of family offices (FOs) in Brazil. This article was developed through a content analysis of 22 interviews conducted with persons involved in 13 different FOs, two family enterprise executives, and one private banker. The study's relevance relates to changes in Brazil's economic structure, which have principally been caused by an increase in companies going public and in merger and acquisition transactions. These changes have contributed to increasing the volume of resources available for investment by families that retain control of the affected organizations. These families have begun to search for mechanisms to preserve their private property within the structure of FOs. This study also revealed that MFOs seek to provide multiple business families with differentiated services within their areas of activity. However, one must question the extent to which these organizations simply take advantage of the FO concept for marketing purposes. In contrast, SFOs are primarily established by Brazilian business families to separate company affairs from family matters, thereby increasing the professionalization of the family business. Moreover, because of the complexity of tax-related issues in Brazil, certain families create SFOs because they wish to optimize their tax statuses. The desires to resolve questions of succession and to implement financial resource management also motivate the creation of FOs in Brazil.


This paper discusses the visual perception for natural communication between a partner robot and a human. The prediction is very important to reduce the computational cost and to extract the perceptual information for the natural communication with a human in the future. Therefore we propose a prediction-based control of visual perception based on spiking neurons. The proposed method is composed of four layers: the input layer, clustering layer, prediction layer, and perceptual module selection layer. Next, we propose a competitive learning method to perform the clustering of human behavior patterns. Furthermore, the robot select perceptual modules used in the next perception according to the predicted perceptual mode. The results of prediction are evaluated based on the Gaussian membership function. Furthermore, we show experimental results of the communication between a partner robot and a human based on our proposal method.


Testing for delay and CMOS stuck-open faults requires two-pattern tests, and typically a large number of two pattern tests are needed. Built-in self-test (BIST) schemes are attractive for comprehensive testing of such faults. BIST test pattern generators (TPGs) for two-pattern testing, should be designed to ensure high transition coverage. In this paper, necessary and sufficient conditions to ensure complete/maximal transition coverage for linear feedback shift register (LFSR) and cellular automata (CA) have been derived. The theory developed here identifies all LFSWCA TPGs that maximize transition coverage under any given TPG size constraint. It is shown that LFSRs with primitive feedback polynomials with large number of terms are better for two-pattern testing. Also, CA are shown to be better TPGs than LFSRs for two pattem testing, independent of their feedback rules. Based on the necessary sufficient conditions, efficient algorithms to design optimal TPGs for two-pattern testing have been developed. Experiments on benchmark circuits indicate that TPGs designed using the procedures outlined in this paper obtain high robust path delay fault coverage in short test lengths.


The extensive use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is likely to result in their significant environmental release, and thus raises important concerns regarding their impact on ecosystems. In soils, bacterial biofilms can be found as mineral coatings, which form a complex interface that exhibits highly specific physico-chemical properties. As a result, this environmental compartment is likely to partially control the fate of AgNPs. However, the interaction modes that nanoparticles undergo at the solution/biofilm/mineral interface are not yet well understood. Thus, herein, the dynamics of the AgNP interactions at the Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 biofilm-corundum (α-Al2O3) interface were investigated via long-period X-ray standing waves fluorescence yield spectroscopy. Three different nanoparticle coatings with various properties (PVP, SiO2 and SiO2–NH2) are investigated, which demonstrate important differences in the partitioning and stability of AgNPs at this complex interface. The behavior of the two AgNPs coated with an organic layer, but with opposite charges (SiO2 and SiO2–NH2), indicates that initially, electrostatic interactions control the AgNPs partitioning at the solution/biofilm/mineral interface. In addition, the comparative study of the organic PVP-coated and the inorganic SiO2-coated AgNPs, which are both negatively charged, highlights the control imposed by the nanoparticle size and hydrophobic properties on their interactions with this complex interface.


A semi-structured information space consists of multiple collections of textual documents containing fielded or tagged sections. The space can be highly heterogeneous, because each collection has its own schema, and there are no enforced keys or formats for data items across collections. Thus, structured methods like SQL cannot be easily employed, and users often must make do with only full-text search. In this paper, we describe an intermediate approach that provides structured querying for particular types of entities, such as companies, people, and skills. Entity-based retrieval is enabled by normalizing entity references in a heuristic, type-dependent manner. To organize and filter search results, entities are categorized as playing particular roles (e.g., company as client, as vendor, etc.) in particular collection types (directories, client engagement records, etc.). The approach can be used to retrieve documents and can also be used to construct entity profiles - summaries of commonly sought information about an entity based on the documents' content. The approach requires only a modest amount of meta-information about the source collections, much of which is derived automatically. On a set of typical user queries in a large corporate information space, the approach produces a dramatic improvement in retrieval quality over knowledge-free methods like full-text search.


In recent years, multi-agent architectures which have been studied in the field of artificial intelligence might attract a great deal of attention to the ability of the cooperative properties for engineering. In this study, we proposed a new approach to find the improved design in the layout design and shape design problems of framed structures by applying the multi-agent architectures. We considered each agent as an element in Finite Element Analysis and proposed modification rules for the layout shape of the structure. Following this approach, each agent proposes modification plans based on his or her evaluate function. The proposed plans are picked up or rejected by communication among agents and the remained plans may improve a design created from an initially simple structure. We developed the simulation system running on the UNIX and considerations have been given to the simple truss structural design and some advantages of the proposed have been shown and confirmed.


ABSTRACT The diatom genus Proschkinia is a common element of biofilms covering diverse substrata in saline inland or shallow coastal environments. It can be distinguished from other naviculoid taxa by its lanceolate valves with a fistula located within the central area and numerous open girdle bands with a U-shaped cross-section and a single row of perforations on the internal side of the fold. Despite this distinct morphology, frustules of Proschkinia are typically weakly silicified and often overlooked when cleaned diatom material is analysed. The current paper describes six new species of Proschkinia: P. browderiana sp. nov., P. lacrimula sp. nov., P. maluszekiana sp. nov., P. sulcata sp. nov., P. torquata sp. nov. and P. vergostriata sp. nov., found in numerous samples of marine organisms, such as sea turtles (including sea turtle museum specimens), sea turtle-associated barnacles and seagrass from across the three oceans. Some of the newly described taxa were found on multiple individuals belonging to different sea turtle species, whereas others were in samples collected from different continents. Molecular phylogenetic analysis indicated that examined Proschkinia strains formed a monophyletic clade, sister to Fistulifera.


In the last two decades, online support groups have become a valuable source of help for individuals in suicidal crisis. Their attractiveness is attributed to features that enhance help-seeking and self-disclosure such as availability, anonymity, and use of written communication. However, online support groups also suffer from limitations and potential risks as agents of suicide prevention. The Israeli Association for Emotional First Aid (ERAN) has developed a practical model that seeks to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of online suicide prevention. The model applies the Action Theory concepts whereby individuals shape their own environment. The present paper presents the model, which is based on an online support group combined with personal chat and a telephonic help line. The online support group is moderated by paraprofessionals who function as both process regulators and support providers. The principles and practice of the model are described, the theoretical rationale is presented, and directions for future research are suggested.


Soon after its publication, Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy was hailed as the favorite to become the 'standard' text for survey courses in ancient philosophy. Nothing on the market touches it for comprehensiveness, accuracy, and readability. * (*APA Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy). Fifteen years on, that prediction has been borne out, and the volume's preeminence as the leading anthology for the teaching of ancient philosophy still stands. The Fourth Edition features a completely revamped and expanded unit on the Presocratics and Sophists that draws on the wealth of new scholarship published on these fascinating thinkers over the past decade or more. At the core of this unit, as ever, are the fragments themselves--but now in thoroughly revised and, in some cases, new translations by Richard McKirahan and Patricia Curd, among them those of the recently published Derveni Papyrus.


Let's stop teaching traditional schoolroom "grammar" entirely, Mr. Schuster suggests. There is no good reason to continue wounding youngsters with something they will never learn and never need. And, while we're at it, let's deal with usage and mechanics in gentle, encouraging, nontechnical, and innovative ways. ON A fine spring morning several years ago, while I was serving as English supervisor for a city school system, I was called to observe a first-grade language arts lesson. The teacher, Ms. Abbott, began by giving three children cards marked respectively Noun, Verb, and Adjective and sending each of them to a separate corner. In the fourth corner, the other students took turns picking word cards out of a pile, after which they were expected to march their word to the correct corner. Amy was third; her word was "wet." I can see her still: a pretty, frail waif with a blonde ponytail, frozen in doubt. Finally, she drifted to the Verb corner. "Amy!" Ms. Abbott thundered. "Think! Isn't 'wet' a picture word?" By this time Amy was shaking and in tears (wetting her face?). I have never forgotten her. And I have never quite forgiven Ms. Abbott. The teaching of this sort of traditional school grammar extends throughout the grades, even into college, and everywhere it is a staggering, Pentagonesque waste -- a waste of time and money, a waste of wounds to students. Until we stop teaching it, there will never be significant reform in the English language arts. What Is 'Grammar'? The first step toward reform is to define terms. While to a layperson "grammar" may refer to practically anything (especially if it involves "errors"), professional educators should be more discriminating. Without belaboring the point, I would like to make a few fundamental distinctions. First, "grammar" should not include spelling, capitalization, and punctuation, which are covered by the general term "mechanics" and which concern the written language only. Second, we should make a basic distinction between grammar as 1) the set of formal patterns -- rules, if you wish -- in which words are arranged to convey meanings and 2) the description and analysis of these formal patterns. What I will call traditional school grammar is one example of grammar in the second sense; another would be transformational generative grammar. Third, we must attempt to discriminate between "grammar" and "usage." Compare your reactions to the following sentences: A. Where's the teacher English? B. Where's the English teacher at? If English is your native language, the first sentence left you baffled, at least momentarily. In contrast, you understood the second perfectly, though it may have provoked a frown or even set your teeth on edge. I suggest that question A violates a grammatical rule (viz., that modifiers precede headwords), while question B violates a rule of (standard) usage. The notion that a grammatical rule is violated by ending a sentence with a preposition is easily disproved. "Where is the teacher?" asks for his or her location in space. If one wishes to know the teacher's origin, the natural question is "Where is the teacher from?" and not "From where is the teacher?" Indeed, it is the second of these sentences, not the first, that verges on ungrammaticality. Of the "rule" that one should not end a sentence with a preposition, the poet John Milton said, "What a fine conformity would it [the rule] starch us all into." "Grammar," then, refers to an internalized set of rules that determine whether words and phrases communicate an intended meaning. If a communication is correctly understood by a native speaker, then that communication is grammatical. Grammar, in this sense, is built into our heads. As Steven Pinker, director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at MIT, points out in The Language Instinct, language is as instinctive for human beings as spinning a web is for a spider, every 3-year-old is a grammatical genius, and the design of our syntax is "coded in our DNA and wired into our brains. …


The thesis addresses the issue of when a bankruptcy estate, under environmental law, is responsible for the debtor's environmentally hazardous activities. A fundamental principle of insolvency law is that the bankruptcy estate is not responsible for the debtor's prior obligations. The environmental legal rules do not distinguish whether an injunction liability is directed against a bankruptcy estate or another operator. Therefor disputes often occur whether the bankruptcy estate is liable in these cases. During the autumn of 2013 two new cases regarding mining operations in bankruptcy shed light on the question concerning bankruptcy estate´s environmental liability. The new cases raised concern that it had been a change in the existing legal situation.


The Times Literary Supplement of November 8, 1917, contained, under the title of Socrates recognitns, a review of Plato's Biography of Socrates, a lecture delivered by Professor A. E. Taylor to the British Academy in the early part of last year. The opening sentence of the review is as follows: 'Next to the problem of the Gospels ranks that of the Platonic dialogues amongst those most vital to the history of the human spirit.' A little further down the reviewer says: 'It is much to the credit of British scholarship—and especially to that of the University of St. Andrews—that it should have attacked these problems with untiring energy, and propounded solutions which, although they run counter to most of the traditional tendencies of historical and philosophical criticism, have not only challenged attention, but are carrying conviction even to unlikely quarters.' And again, at the end of the article, we read this passage: 'It is scarcely to be thought that the ground won by the scholars of St. Andrews will be held without counter-attack; but this is slow to mature, and in the meanwhile such essays as the subject of this notice, with which we may couple the paper recently read to the British Academy by Professor Burnet on the Socratic doctrine of the soul, serve to buttress and consolidate the position.'


The activity and distribution of thymidine phosphorylase (TP) in the nasal mucosa of patients with nasal allergy was examined and compared with those in healthy subjects. TP activity was analyzed by spectrophotometry and expression was examined by immunoblotting and immunohistochemical staining using a monoclonal antibody specific to TP. The expression level of TP detected by immunoblotting showed a correlation with the activity detected by spectrophotometry. In nasal mucosa obtained from patients with nasal allergy, the level of TP was significantly higher than that from normal subjects. Eosinophils, basal cells in mucosal epithelium and fibroblasts in nasal mucosa obtained from patients with nasal allergy were stained with anti-TP monoclonal antibody. Strong staining of eosinophils present in nasal discharge was observed. The present results indicate that an increased number of TP-expressing cells, especially eosinophils in nasal mucosa, might be associated with the pathogenesis of nasal allergy.


Regulation of glucose uptake by 1- and 3-day denervated soleus (slow-twitch) and plantaris (fast-twitch) muscles in vivo was investigated. One day after denervation, soleus and plantaris muscles exhibited 62 and 65% decreases in insulin-stimulated 2-deoxyglucose uptake, respectively, compared with corresponding control muscles. At this interval, denervated muscles showed no alterations in insulin receptor binding and activity, amount and activity of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, and amounts of GLUT-1 and GLUT-4. Three days after denervation, there was no increase in 2-deoxyglucose uptake in response to insulin in soleus muscle, whereas plantaris muscle exhibited a 158% increase in basal and an almost normal absolute increment in insulin-stimulated uptake. Despite these differences, denervated soleus and plantaris muscles exhibited comparable decreases in insulin-stimulated activities of the insulin receptor (approximately 40%) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (approximately 50%) and a pronounced decrease in GLUT-4. An increase in GLUT-1 in plantaris, but not soleus, muscle 3 days after denervation is consistent with augmented basal 2-deoxyglucose uptake in plantaris muscle at this interval. These results demonstrate that, in denervated muscles, there is a clear dissociation between insulin-stimulated 2-deoxyglucose uptake and upstream events involved in insulin-stimulated glucose uptake.


Application-specific safe message handlers (ASHs) are designed to provide applications with hardware-level network performance. ASHs are user-written code fragments that safely and efficiently execute in the kernel in response to message arrival. ASHs can direct message transfers (thereby eliminating copies) and send messages (thereby reducing send-response latency). In addition, the ASH system provides support for dynamic integrated layer processing (thereby eliminating duplicate message traversals) and dynamic protocol composition (thereby supporting modularity). ASHs provide this high degree of flexibility while still providing network performance as good as, or (if they exploit application-specific knowledge) even better than, hard-wired in-kernel implementations. A combination of user-level microbenchmarks and end-to-end system measurements using TCP demonstrate the benefits of the ASH system.


Background: Elder abuse and its effects are a serious public health issue. However, little is known about the relation between psychological abuse, other factors (e.g. social support) and quality of life (QoL) by domain. This study addressed differences in QoL by domain between psychologically abused and non-abused. While considering other factors such as social support.
Methods: The respondents were 4,467 (2,559 women) randomly selected persons aged 60-84 years living in 7 European cities. The mean response across countries was 45.2%. The cross-sectional data were analyzed with bivariate/multivariate methods.
Results: Abused respondents contrasted to non-abused scored lower in QoL (autonomy, 67.42 ± 21.26 vs. 72.39 ± 19.58; intimacy, 55.31 ± 31.15 vs. 67.21 ± 28.55; past/present/future activities, 62.79 ± 19.62 vs. 68.05 ± 18.09; social participation, 65.03 ± 19.84 vs. 68.21 ± 19.77). Regressions showed that abuse was negatively associated with autonomy, intimacy and past/present/future activities, and positively with the social participation. All QoL dimensions were negatively associated with country and depressive/anxiety symptoms, and positively with social support. Further, variables such as age, sex and somatic symptoms were negatively associated with some of the QoL dimensions and others such as family structure, education, health care use and drinking positively. The regression model "explained" 32.8% of the variation in autonomy, 45.6% in intimacy, 44.8% in past/present/future activities and 41.5% in social participation.
Conclusions: Abuse was linked to lower QoL in most domains, but other factors such as depressive symptoms also carried a negative impact. Social support and to some extent family structure had a "protective" effect on QoL. Abuse, health indicators (e.g. depressive symptoms) and social support should be considered in addressing the QoL of older persons. However, QoL was influenced by many factors, which could not be firmly disentangled due to the crosssectional approach, calling for longitudinal research to address causality.


Cyber-physical production systems (CPPS) integrate physical and computational resources due to increasingly available sensors and processing power. This enables the usage of data, to create additional benefit, such as condition monitoring or optimization. These capabilities can lead to cognition, such that the system is able to adapt independently to changing circumstances by learning from additional sensors information. Developing a reference architecture for the design of CPPS and standardization of machines and software interfaces is crucial to enable compatibility of data usage between different machine models and vendors. This paper analysis existing reference architecture regarding their cognitive abilities, based on requirements that are derived from three different use cases. The results from the evaluation of the reference architectures, which include two instances that stem from the field of cognitive science, reveal a gap in the applicability of the architectures regarding the generalizability and the level of abstraction. While reference architectures from the field of automation are suitable to address use case specific requirements, and do not address the general requirements, especially w.r.t. adaptability, the examples from the field of cognitive science are well usable to reach a high level of adaption and cognition. It is desirable to merge advantages of both classes of architectures to address challenges in the field of CPPS in Industrie 4.0.


This article analyses a qualitative transformation of relations between the Balkan states since the dissolution of the SFR Yugoslavia in the 90´s until 2008. It argues that military presence and interventions of external powers were enough to make the belligerents fold weapons and thus spread the negative peace but did not substantially aid the qualitative transformation of their relations. Evolving cooperation, mutual restraint, and resolution of conflicts by non-military means that we have perceived in the Balkans since 2003 are results of liberal strategies. It argues for the usefulness of eclectic explanations.


Chronic pain often haunts the individual with a repetitive motion injury and can be a source of frustration for the health care providers who attempt to alleviate the pain. Richard Rossiter offers a practical, cost effective solution: stretch the connective tissue and control the pain. Many who have this type of injury rely on increasing doses of antiinflammatory and analgesic medications. Often, physical therapy is prescribed in addition to oral medications and surgery may be a final solution. Unfortunately, the individual frequently returns to a similar job, and eventually, the cycle of pain and injury begins again. Rossiter describes a series of stretching techniques to control and reduce the pain. His book is easy to read and understand. Verbal directions, accompanied by clear black and white photos, emphasize the techniques. There are no miracle drugs, nor is there expensive equipment. The essential components are the person in charge (PIC) or the individual who experiences the pain, the coach, a chair, and a floor mat. The book clearly states this is not a medical treatment. Part One discusses the need for controlling the pain. It describes how connective tissue is the key to the Rossiter system. The importance of a partner/coach for carrying out the stretches, the four "constants" of the system, and traditional methods of care are examined in detail. The second part of the book focuses on the stretches. The photos help the reader visualize the techniques. Tips and suggestions throughout the book assist the PIC in achieving a positive outcome.


Older adults use emergency departments (EDs) more than any other age group and are more prone to subsequent adverse events. This article reviews the literature on ED use by older adults within the context of evaluating their need for emergency care and the extent to which access to primary and supportive care services affect use. While a substantial research literature describes general patterns of ED use, there is much less research on ED use as a function of other health service use. Gaps in the research literature result in a limited understanding of the full scope of the issue and opportunities for practice and policy intervention.


Mandatory access control (MAC) mechanisms control which users or processes have access to which resources in a system. MAC policies are increasingly specified to facilitate managing and maintaining access control. However, the correct specification of the policies is a very challenging problem. To formally and precisely capture the security properties that MAC should adhere to, MAC models are usually written to bridge the rather wide gap in abstraction between policies and mechanisms. In this paper, we propose a general approach for property verification for MAC models. The approach defines a standardized structure for MAC models, providing for both property verification and automated generation of test cases. The approach expresses MAC models in the specification language of a model checker and expresses generic access control properties in the property language. Then the approach uses the model checker to verify the integrity, coverage, and confinement of these properties for the MAC models and finally generates test cases via combinatorial covering array for the system implementations of the models.


Background Health service redesign involves several interventions across multiple organisations and stakeholders. It is important to understand the conditions for successful implementation including how outcomes are attained. Realist evaluation explores 'what works for whom in what circumstances and why'. Our aim is to use this approach to evaluate the implementation of the National Clinical Programme for Diabetes (NCPD), a multifaceted change programme led by healthcare professionals (HCP). Methods The evaluation is being conducted in three phases. During phase 1, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of members of the national working group (n = 20). Framework analysis was used to identify the initial programme theory (underlying rationale) and develop hypotheses regarding the conditions (context, mechanisms) that facilitated or impeded implementation (outcome). These hypotheses will be examined in phase 2 using a mixed methods multiple case study design. Interviews will be conducted with local stakeholders in four geographical regions (HCP, management, patients), supplemented with analysis of routine activity data. Data will be integrated during interpretation and synthesised on a thematic basis. During phase 3, the programme theory will be refined and cross-case comparison will examine whether the components for successful implementation differed across regions. Results Preliminary analysis suggests that in the context of service 'black spots' and 'pockets' of good practice, the purpose of the programme was to develop 'a cohesive strategy' for resource allocation to ensure a standardised service across the country. Part of the programme theory was that establishing national clinical leadership would foster buy-in and empower frontline staff. However, implementation has been impeded by 'missed opportunities' to utilise local clinical experience. One participant suggested that the poor uptake of the national retinopathy screening programme was due in part to the lack of a clear 'connexion with the clinicians on the ground'. Two priority areas, the retinopathy screening programme and national foot care model, were 'at least moving in the right direction'. However, there has been little change in the shared management of patients between primary and secondary care. Discussion There is consensus among national stakeholders on the need for and purpose of the programme. However, the lack of progress on integrated care challenges the intended outcome of a standardised diabetes service for all patients. Findings on the more successful contexts and mechanisms for change will inform the future implementation plans for the NCPD as well as other programmes seeking to work with and across disciplines to introduce change.


High power density and high efficiency in dc/dc converters are required in various applications such as the automotive application. Interleaved multiphase circuits with integrated magnetic components can fulfill these requirements because passive components occupying significant space in power converters can be downsized without high-switching frequency driving of power devices. However, dc-biased magnetization is a drawback of integrated magnetic components because of unbalanced inductor average currents. This imbalance arises from the tolerance among the phase components. To overcome this problem, inductor average current control is implemented in interleaved multiphase dc/dc converters. Nevertheless, the imbalance cannot be completely eliminated because the current sensors inserted into each phase have gain errors. The purpose of this paper is to present a magnetic design method to improve the immunity to unbalanced currents. A comprehensive analysis is carried out with two main objectives: to prevent magnetic saturation, which may arise due to the current unbalance and to downsize the magnetic components by selecting the optimal coupling coefficient taking into consideration the maximum permissible percentage of unbalanced currents. Simulation case studies are presented to support the analysis. Finally, a 1-kW prototype of the interleaved boost converter is built to validate the accuracy of the design method.


background: Community participation was necessary for culturinglocal strain of Bacillus thuringiensis H-14 in coconut medium and adoption this bioinsecticide to control Anopheles sundaicus. This study aimed to evaluate community participation for culturing local strain of B. thuringiensis H-14 using coconut media and spreading the results of inoculation against Anopheles sundaicus larvae. Methods: The study design was a quasi-experiment. Reseach was conducted in February-November 2007 in Kampung Laut, Cilacap. Samples were 30 person which were choosed purposively. The sample criterias were at least 15 years of age and have a pond. Community participation was evaluated for 6 times using checklist. results: Results showed that all respondents (> 80%) could have on every element of 9 elements properly. Ninety percent of respondents could prepare coconut independently and made local strains of B. thuringiensis H-14 inoculation in coconuts properly (96. 67%). The density of An. sundaicuslarvae was decreased by 80–100% after 1 day spreading with culture of local strain of B. thuringiensis H-14. conclusion: Communities could participate independently for culturinglocal strain of B. thuringiensis H-14 in coconuts to control An. sundaicus larvae. The inoculation capable todecrease An. sundaicus larvae density 80–100% after 1 day. Further research was recomended to calculate cost benefit and cost effectiveness.


Faced with the problems associated with grinding poverty and a no-win drug war, police departments are adapting and changing. Foot patrol officers again walk the streets and talk to citizens, and neighborhood crime watches are valued as the eyes and ears of enforcers. Most seminal is the "quiet revolution" that has been called problem-oriented policing. This revolution makes police officers pioneering professionals who systematically study and address social problems in their localities. Cops become social scientists who work with other agents in the community to address root causes of crime. Police as Problem Solvers is a lively yet scholarly book written by two pioneers of the approach. The authors conducted the legendary first experiment in which police officers became researchers and "agents of change." Using verbatim transcripts of officers working through problems both in the community and among their own ranks, they recount highlights of the experiment and traces its impact. This revolution has implications not only for social policy and criminal justice but also for work reform because it expands the jobs of frontline workers (police officers), showing that authoritarian management is obsolete. This book is a gem that will be prized by social psychologists, criminologists, organizational consultants, and community activists.


Presents a method to control and guide mobile robots. In this case, to send different commands we have used electrooculography (EOG) techniques, so that, control is made by means of the ocular position (eye displacement into its orbit). A neural network is used to identify the inverse eye model, therefore the saccadic eye movements can be detected and where the user is looking can be determined. This control technique can be useful in multiple applications, but in this work it is used to guide an autonomous robot (wheelchair) as a system to help to people with severe disabilities. The system consists of a standard electric wheelchair with an on-board computer, sensors and graphical user interface running on a computer.


Rehabilitation services are provided by the personnel of numerous health and related agencies. This study attempts to identify the perceived educational and training needs of these service providers. Five particular aspects studied are presented, namely previous exposure to education and training in this field, interest in future courses, desired level of study, preferred type of course and preferred geographic venue. The results indicate that 74.0% of rehabilitation personnel are seeking education and training in rehabilitation in New Zealand and that accessibility is perceived as a priority by 91.2% of intending students. Future education and training in rehabilitation is thus likely to be effective only where there is adequate provision of part-time interdisciplinary courses at conveniently located venues.


The existence of factors that improve employee job satisfaction will support the achievement of good governance. Therefore, study is needed on the analysis of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), transformational leadership style, work ethic, job satisfaction, and good governance with the aim of knowing the effect of OCB, transformational leadership style, and work ethic partially on job satisfaction and good governance; the influence of job satisfaction on good governance. This study uses 200 respondents of sub-district office staff in DKI Jakarta who were selected using multistage sampling techniques. Data processing used SEM, Lisrel Program. The results showed that transformational leadership style had an effect on job satisfaction, but OCB and work ethic had no effect on job satisfaction; OCB, work ethic, and job satisfaction affect good governance, but transformational leadership style does not affect good governance.


High levels of TREM-1 are associated with cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases risks and the most recent studies have showed that TREM-1 deletion or blockade is associated with up to 60% reduction of the development of atherosclerosis. So far, it is unknown whether the levels of TREM-1 protein are genetically regulated. Moreover, TREM family receptors have been suggested to regulate the cellular adhesion process. The goal of this study was to investigate whether polymorphisms within TREM-1 are regulating the variants of serum TREM-1 levels and the expression levels of their mRNA. Furthermore, we aimed to point out associations between polymorphisms on TREM-1 and blood levels of selectins. Among the 10 SNPs studied, the minor allele T of rs2234246, was associated with increased sTREM-1 in the discovery population (p-value = 0.003), explaining 33% of its variance, and with increased levels of mRNA (p-value = 0.007). The same allele was associated with increased soluble L-selectin levels (p-value = 0.011). The higher levels of sTREM-1 and L-selectin were confirmed in the replication population (p-value = 0.0007 and p-value = 0.018 respectively). We demonstrated for the first time one SNP on TREM-1, affecting its expression levels. These novel results, support the hypothesis that TREM-1 affects monocytes extravasation and accumulation processes leading to atherogenesis and atherosclerotic plaque progression, possibly through increased inflammation and subsequent higher expression of sL-selectin.


1. Mitochondria were Isolated from developing endosperm of Ricinus communis and were fractionated into outer membrane and Inner membrane. The relative purity of the two membrane fractions was determined by marker enzymes. The fractions were also exanilned by negative-stain electron microscopy. 2. Membrane fractions were sequentially extracted in the following way. (a) Suspension in 0.5m-potassium phosphate, pH7.1; (b) suspension in 0.1M-EDTA (disodium salt)/0.OSM-potassium phosphate, pH7.1; (c) sonication in 0.05M-potassium phosphate, pH7.1; (d) sonication in aq. Triton X-100 (0.1 %). The membranes were pelleted by centrifugation at lOOOOOg for 15min, between each step. Agglutination activity in the extracts was Investigated by using trypsin-treated rabbit erythrocytes. 3. The addition of lactose to inner mitochondrial membrane resulted in the solubilization of part of the lectin activity, indicating that the protein was attached to the membrane via its carbohydrate-binding site. Pretreatment of the membranes with lactose before the usual extraction procedure showed that lactose could extract lectins that normally required more harsh treatment of the membrane for solubilization. 4. Lectins extracted from inner membranes were purified by affinity chromatography on agarose gel. Polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis of purified samples in sodium dodecyl sulphate indicated that at least part of the lectin present in inner mitochondrial membrane was identical with the R. communis agglutinin of mol.wt. 120000.


Policy efforts to reduce the carbon intensity of domestic energy consumption have, over the last three decades, been dominated by an almost dichotomous reading of the relationship between technology and social change. On the one hand, there is a conception of personal responsibility that constructs domestic energy users as key actors in the adoption and (appropriate) use of low carbon energy technologies; from this perspective, environmental change becomes a matter of mobilising personal capacities such that individuals make better choices. On the other hand, decarbonising homes is conceived to be an outcome of top-down infrastructural interventions, with householders (or end users) positioned as relatively passive agents who will respond to engineered efficiency in linear and predictable ways. In practice, both positions have been found wanting in terms of accounting for how (and why) change happens and in turn delivering on ambitious policy goals. The argument we develop in this article goes beyond critiquing these problematic framings of technology and the locus of agency. Drawing on three contrasting low carbon energy technology projects in the UK, we present an alternative perspective which foregrounds a more experimental, ad hoc and ultimately provisional mode of governing with domestic energy technologies. We reflect on the meaning and political implications of this experimental turn in transforming (and decarbonising) domestic energy practices.


Using highly efficient GPU-based simulations of the tight-binding Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations we solve self-consistently for the pair correlation in rhombohedral (ABC) and Bernal (ABA) multilayer graphene by considering a finite intrinsic s-wave pairing potential. We find that the two different stacking configurations have opposite bulk/surface behavior for the order parameter. Surface superconductivity is robust for ABC stacked multilayer graphene even at very low pairing potentials for which the bulk order parameter vanishes, in agreement with a recent analytical approach. In contrast, for Bernal stacked multilayer graphene, we find that the order parameter is always suppressed at the surface and that there exists a critical value for the pairing potential below which no superconducting order is achieved. We considered different doping scenarios and find that homogeneous doping strongly suppresses surface superconductivity while non-homogeneous field-induced doping has a much weaker effect on the superconducting order parameter. For multilayer structures with hybrid stacking (ABC and ABA) we find that when the thickness of each region is small (few layers), high-temperature surface superconductivity survives throughout the bulk due to the proximity effect between ABC/ABA interfaces where the order parameter is enhanced.


Tractable models such as cutset networks and sum-product networks (SPNs) have become increasingly popular because they have superior predictive performance. Among them, cutset networks, which model the mechanics of Pearl's cutset conditioning algorithm, demonstrate great scalability and prediction accuracy. Existing research on cutset networks has mainly focused on discrete domains, and the best mechanism to extend cutset networks to continuous domains is unclear. We propose one possible alternative to cutset networks that models the full joint distribution as the product of a local, complex distribution over a small subset of variables and a fully tractable conditional distribution whose parameters are controlled using a neural network. This model admits exact inference when all variables in the local distribution are observed, and although the model is not fully tractable in general, we show that "cutset" sampling can be employed to efficiently generate accurate predictions in practice. We show that our model performs comparably or better than existing competitors through a variety of prediction tasks on real datasets.


This paper presents a novel modeling algorithm that is capable of simultaneously recovering correct shape geometry as well as its unknown topology from arbitrarily complicated datasets. Our algorithm starts from a simple seed model (of genus zero) that can be arbitrarily initiated by users within any dataset. The deformable behavior of our model is governed by a locally defined objective function associated with each vertex of the model. Through the numerical computation of function optimization, our algorithm can adaptively subdivide the model geometry, automatically detect self-collision of the model, properly modify its topology (because of the occurrence of self-collision), continuously evolve the model towards the object boundary, and reduce fitting error and improve fitting quality via global subdivision. Commonly used mesh optimization techniques are employed throughout the geometric deformation and topological variation in order to ensure the model both locally smooth and globally well conditioned. We have applied our algorithm to various real/synthetic range data as well as volumetric image data in order to empirically verify and validate its usefulness. Based on our experiments, the new modeling algorithm proves to be very powerful and extremely valuable for shape recovery in computer vision, reverse engineering in computer graphics, and iso-surface extraction in visualization.


Summary Phytophthora cactorum and Colletotrichum acutatum are pathogens which are transported with plant material as latent infections and can also survive in soil and plant debris. Since the beginning of 1990's P. cactorum caused losses in strawberries in Finland and increased culling of silver birch seedlings in forest nurseries because of stem lesions. In this study primers specifi c for the pathogen were designed, and in a simple PCR they gave an amplifi cation product from pure cultures only when P. cactorum was used as a template. No cross reactions were found with other Phytophthoras in group I or other microbes. Inoculated strawberry plants gave also a clear band in PCR-analyses when the template concentration was diluted. However, amplifi cation was not always reproducible with birch seedlings. With soil samples the best result was gained by a combination of baiting and isolation. C. acutatum is a quarantine pathogen on strawberry in the European Union and thus the infected plants are destroyed in Finland to avoid further spread of the pathogen. Th e pathogen has earlier been found to survive over one winter in infected plant debris and soil. In the survival test (2003-2005) done in this study, specifi c amplifi cation products were obtained from test plants inoculated with artifi cially infected plant residues aft er 20 months of storage outdoors on soil surface. More positive results were achieved from bait plants grown in soil collected from the fi eld where infected plants had been destroyed two years before, than from samples collected a year aft er the plant destruction.


This study examined the features of the Lagos-Nigerian Facilities Management (FM) practice and how strategic and value adding it is. This was achieved by comparing its principles, work focus and object amongst others, with that of four other traditional Building Support Service (BSS) practices. The research design was survey, carried out through self-administered questionnaires directed to a sample of 123 BSS providers that work with office buildings in Lagos metropolis. The data were analyzed using frequency counts, means, Chi square test and Wilcoxon sign rank test. The study revealed that the FM title is largely used only as a "catch phrase" by BSS providers, to enhance patronage. It further reveals that BSS providers that are addressed as facilities managers do not adopt FM principles in their practices. Also that the principles of property management was used predominantly amongst the respondents, while the main work focus of the maintenance manager was rated "most important". These findings imply that there is insufficient knowledge of the strategic roles of FM among BSS practitioners and that they are still largely confused about its distinctive features and value adding benefit. This highlights the need for further education on the practice of FM and greater commitment to ensuring that it plays its distinctive strategic roles. Therefore, this paper recommends that relevant professional bodies and FM training institutions must provide training and re-training opportunities nationally and internationally, in order to enhance the knowledge base of the practice, particularly its strategic content. Furthermore, the FM training curriculum should incorporate more contextual issues. This will demonstrate that the difference between FM and other BSS practices is beyond nomenclature. Keywords :Building support services practices, Facilities management, Lagos-Nigeria, Strategic features of facilities management.


This paper investigates the often ambivalent assessment of the landscapes that have been shaped by Swedish modernity and the welfare policy. This ambivalence could be noticed in different medias, I would argue, for instance in art, photography and novels. In Lefebvrian terms I think you could identify an ongoing negotiation between the modern welfare state's conceptualization of space and the lived places of the people in the Nordic countries during the late modern era. Within the former aspect, emphasis has been laid on a spatial planning that has tried to regulate economic and social forces so that the good life of the welfare state should be accessible to everybody; it has been an integrated part of the modern politics in the Nordic countries. (Less)


Assuming that children are goal-oriented, it is suggested that their thoughts are related to two components — agency and pathways. Agency thoughts reflect the perception that children can initiate and sustain action toward a desired goal; pathways thoughts reflect the children's perceived capability to produce routes to those goals. Hope reflects the combination of agentic and pathways thinking toward goals. A six-item dispositional self-report index called the Children's Hope Scale is introduced and validated for use with children ages 8-16. Results suggest that the scale evidences internal consistency, and is relatively stable over retesting. Additionally, the scale exhibits convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity. Limitations and uses of the scale are discussed.


In recent years a northward expansion of Sardinella aurita has been reported in the western Mediterranean. Considering the coexistence of its larvae with those of the dominant species Engraulis encrasicolus, the present study was conducted to compare their vertical distributions in 2 areas off the Catalan coast with different vertical environmental conditions. During summer, the water column was stratified with a deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) beneath the pycnocline. However, the southern area, under the influence of the Ebro River, was characterized by a secondary surface chlorophyll maximum. Vertical distribution of larval food, nauplii and copepodites showed good agreement with the high chlorophyll layers. In the earliest stages of development, larvae of both species remained in the upper levels. From 6 mm standard length on they developed a day/night migratory behaviour to search for food during the day (feeding period). Therefore, in the south, where the abundance of potential food in the upper layers was relatively high, larvae of both species remained in the upper levels during the day. However, in the north, where food was restricted to the DCM, only E. encrasicolus larvae were able to reach these deep levels. The low temperatures (~15°C) detected at the DCM may restrict the vertical migration of S. aurita in accordance with their thermophilic character. This limitation might represent a restriction for the northward expansion of this species in the western Mediterranean.


Carbon fibers (CFs) are increasingly the reinforcement of choice for many highperformance composites, due to their high stiffness and strength, combined with their low density. However, while commercial fibers can approach the modulus of ideal graphite, high-strength fibers achieve no more than 10% of the ideal strength. Strength is limited by the presence of defects in the CF and thus, the development of highstrength fibers requires establishing relationships between processing, microstructure and properties. To contribute to the development of this knowledge base, we developed a molecular model, MD-CF, that uses a combination of kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) and molecular dynamics (MD) to simulate the processes of carbonization and graphitization of PAN-based CFs; importantly, the molecular-level simulation predicts the development of microstructure during processing. The MD-CF method has been used previously to capture the cross-sectional microstructure and stiffness of carbon fibers and was shown to generate structures with experimentally observed features such as hairpins and graphitic sheets. In this paper, we extend this model to three dimensions to capture the fiber microstructure along the fiber axis, a key step towards the prediction of longitudinal modulus and strength. The model starts with ladder-like molecular chains that are broadly accepted to be the result of the stabilization of PAN precursors and uses kMC to describe the chemical reactions leading to the formation of graphitic sheets, and MD to describe the relaxation of the system during the process of cure. We find that the density of simulated structures ranges from 1.55 to 1.70 g/cc and is in excellent agreement with commercial PAN-based fibers. In addition, the predicted longitudinal moduli are in reasonable agreement with recent experiments. However, the transverse compressive moduli are an order of magnitude higher than experimental values, as a result of crosslinking in the transverse direction, preventing sliding between graphitic sheets.


Typical socially responsible investors tilt their portfolios toward stocks of companies with high scores on social responsibility characteristics and shun stocks of companies associated with tobacco, alcohol, gambling, firearms, and military or nuclear operations. Analyzing 1992-2007 returns of stocks rated on social responsibility, this study found that this tilt gave such investors an advantage over conventional investors. The study also found that shunning resulted in a disadvantage for such investors relative to conventional investors. The advantage from tilting toward stocks of companies with high social responsibility scores is largely offset by the disadvantage from the exclusion of stocks of shunned companies. Socially responsible investors can thus do both well and good by adopting the best-in-class method in constructing their portfolios: tilting toward stocks of companies with high scores on social responsibility characteristics but refraining from shunning stocks of any company.


This paper reports on the results of a Monte Carlo study. The latter investigates the performance of various versions of the Conformity test CCT$ for the existence and rank of cointegration, as given in Dhrymes (1996b), the likelihood ratio test LRT as given in Johansen (J) (1988), (1991), and the stochastic trends test (SW), as given in Stock and Watson (1988). The design of the experiments allows for small, medium and large stationary roots, and one, two, and three unit roots. The largest system investigated is a quadrivariate VAR(4). Results based on the underlying normal theory indicate that the performance of the CCT is extremely good when the null hypothesis involves the sum of, or individual, (characteristic) roots, some of which are not zero; it does not perform reliably when the sum of the roots under the null involves, in truth,all zero roots. Results based on non-standard asymptotic theory for estimators of zero roots indicate that the CCT has very good power characteristics in detecting the rank of cointegration, but it exhibits some size distortions that can potentially lead to overestimation of the true cointegrating rank. On the other hand, both versions are robust to non normal and dependent error structures. Such results generally hold for sample sizes 100 and 500. For samples of size 100, the LR test performs quite well, in terms of size, when the error process is Gaussian and when small and medium stationary roots are employed in the experimental design, but performs rather poorly in terms of power. The problem is magnified with large stationary roots, and/or non-normal errors. The results improve, as expected, for sample size 500. The SW test performs rather poorly overall, and cannot be recommended for use in empirical applications.


Sporadic lack of consumer articles, the housing shortage, disturbances of material supply, and shortages of investment goods and of labour may be traced back to a common main cause. Shortage is constantly reproduced by specific features of the economic mechanism. The first part of the article consists of micro-analysis, mainly of the productive enterprise. Efforts to increase production may run up against ceilings of three kinds: constraints on physical resources, constraints on demand, and the budget constraint on enterprises. It is an important feature of a system which of these constraints takes effect. Resource-constrained systems can be distinguished from demand-constrained ones here. In the former, production is limited by production bottlenecks, in the latter by buyer demand. The socialist economy in its classical" form belongs to the former type. It is related to whether the budget constraint on the enterprise is hard" or soft". If hard, enterprise spending is limited by its financial scope, if soft (its losses offset almost automatically) its demand becomes almost insatiable. The second part performs a macro-analysis, showing the mechanism of suction" with the aid of a hydraulic analogy. The enterprise sector pumps away" reserves and surpluses of the system, mainly due to the investment hunger" that appears in the wake of expansionist efforts. Finally the article discusses briefly the interrelations between shortage and inflation.


The apply of harmonic eauation is know to all. Our interesting is to get the regularity os their solution, recently for obstacle problems. Many interesting results have been obtained for the solutions of harmonic equation ande their obstacle problems, however the double obstacle problems about the definition and regularity results for non-homogeneous elliptic equation. In this paper , the basic tool for the Young inequality,Hölder inequality, Minkowski inequality, Poincaré inequality and a basic inequality. The definition of very weak solutions for double obstacle problems associated with non-homogeneous elliptic equation is given, and the local integrability result is obtained by using the technique of Hodge decomposition.


The problem of extracting singing voice from music recordings has received increasing research interest in recent years. Many proposed decomposition techniques are based on one of the following two strategies. The first approach is to directly decompose a given music recording into one component for the singing voice and one for the accompaniment by exploiting knowledge about specific characteristics of singing voice. Procedures following the second approach disassemble the recording into a large set of fine-grained components, which are classified and reassembled afterwards to yield the desired source estimates. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that combines the strengths of both strategies. We first apply different audio decomposition techniques in a cascaded fashion to disassemble the music recording into a set of mid-level components. This decomposition is fine enough to model various characteristics of singing voice, but coarse enough to keep an explicit semantic meaning of the components. These properties allow us to directly reassemble the singing voice and the accompaniment from the components. Our objective and subjective evaluations show that this strategy can compete with state-of-the-art singing voice separation algorithms and yields perceptually appealing results.


Author(s): Lipka, Paula Ann | Advisor(s): Oren, Shmuel S | Abstract: This dissertation aims to improve ISO operations through a better real-time market solution algorithm that directly considers both real and reactive power, finds a feasible Alternating Current Optimal Power Flow solution, and allows for solving transmission switching problems in an AC setting. We show how to enhance the current IEEE data sets by adding appropriate thermal limits and how to convert apparent power limits to current limits, as current limits are closer to the 'actual' physical limit. We introduce a sequential linearized programming (SLP) approximation of the current-voltage formulation of the ACOPF. We show how the SLP approximation yields AC feasible generator dispatch profiles with little error in cost compared to the exact problem and that the SLP computational time is linear in the problem size. Next, we show how the SLP can be used to run a more complete real-time power market. We show how to use the SLP formulation in corrective switching and how it fixes issues with voltage and line flow. We also test out common heuristics for economic switching.Most of the IEEE systems do not contain any thermal limits on lines, and the ones that do are often not binding. Chapter 3 modifies the thermal limits for the IEEE systems to create new, interesting test cases. Algorithms created to better solve the power flow problem often solve the IEEE cases without line limits. However, one of the factors that makes the power flow problem hard is thermal limits on the lines. The transmission networks in practice often have transmission lines that become congested, and it is unrealistic to ignore line limits. Modifying the IEEE test cases makes it possible for other researchers to be able to test their algorithms on a setup that is closer to the actual ISO setup. This thesis also examines how to convert limits given on apparent power - as is in the case in the Polish test systems - to limits on current. The main consideration in setting line limits is temperature, which linearly relates to current. Setting limits on real or apparent power is actually a proxy for using the limits on current. Therefore, Chapter 3 shows how to convert back to the best physical representation of line limits.A sequential linearization of the current-voltage formulation of the Alternating Current Optimal Power Flow (ACOPF) problem is used to find an AC-feasible generator dispatch. In this sequential linearization, there are parameters that are set to the previous optimal solution. Additionally, to improve accuracy of the Taylor series approximations that are used, the movement of the voltage is restricted. The movement of the voltage is allowed to be very large at the first iteration and is restricted further on each subsequent iteration, with the restriction corresponding to the accuracy and AC-feasiblity of the solution. This linearization was tested on the IEEE and Polish systems, which range from 14 to 3375 buses and 20 to 4161 transmission lines. It had an accuracy of 0.5% or less for all but the 30-bus system. It also solved in linear time with CPLEX, while the non-linear version solved in $O(n^{1.11})$ to $O(n^{1.39})$. The sequential linearization is slower than the nonlinear formulation for smaller problems, but faster for larger problems, and its linear computational time means it would continue solving faster for larger problems.A major consideration to implementing algorithms to solve the optimal generator dispatch is ensuring that the resulting prices from the algorithm will support the market. Since the sequential linearization is linear, it is convex, its marginal values are well-defined, and there is no duality gap. The prices and settlements obtained from the sequential linearization therefore can be used to run a market. This market will include extra prices and settlements for reactive power and voltage, compared to the present-day market, which is based on real power. An advantage of this is that there is a very clear pool that can be used for reactive power/voltage support payments, while presently there is not a clear pool to take them out of. This method also reveals how valuable reactive power and voltage are at different locations, which can enable better planning of reactive resource construction.Transmission switching increases the feasible region of the generator dispatch, which means there may be a better solution than without transmission switching. Power flows on transmission lines are not directly controllable; rather, the power flows according to how it is injected and the physical characteristics of the lines. Changing the network topology changes the physical characteristics, which changes the flows. This means that sets of generator dispatch that may have previously been infeasible due to the flow exceeding line constraints may be feasible, since the flows will be different and may meet line constraints. However, transmission switching is a mixed integer problem, which may have a very slow solution time. For economic switching, we examine a series of heuristics. We examine the congestion rent heuristic in detail and then examine many other heuristics at a higher level. Post-contingency corrective switching aims to fix issues in the power network after a line or generator outage. In Chapter 7, we show that using the sequential linear program with corrective switching helps solve voltage and excessive flow issues.


A comparative evaluation of the bacteria isolated from decomposing cow milk and soybean milk were investigated. Six (6) bacterial species Bacillus circulans, Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus luteus, Streptococcus faecalis and Streptococcus lactis were isolated from decomposing cow milk, while four (4) bacterial species namely Bacillus brevis, Bacillus licheniformis, Lactobacillus casei and Staphylococcus epidermidis were isolated from decomposing soybean milk stored at ambient temperature (30 + 10C). The initial bacterial load was found to be log 3.18 cfu/ml and log 3.70 cfu/ml in the decomposing cow milk and soybean milk respectively. The counts increased to log 9.99cfu/ml and 8.96 cfu/ml, in cow milk and soybean milk respectively, when the experiment was terminated. There was an increase from 40.0 to 90.0% occurrence of the bacterial isolates between day zero and day 4. Fresh cow milk contained 4.70% crude protein, 18.94% total solids and 0.0141% acidity; this values increased to 5.12 crude protein, 18.97% total solids and 0.1172% acidity in the spoilt sample while, fresh soybean milk contained 3.40% crude protein, 11.73% total solids and 0.0522% acidity, which also increased to 3.49% crude protein, 11.74% total solids and 0.0798% acidity in the spoilt sample on day 7. However, fresh cow milk was recorded to contain 9.75% soluble solids, 36.5mg/ml total sugar, and pH of 6.4; these values decreased to 7.67 soluble solids, 17.6mg/ml total sugar and pH of 3.9 in the spoilt sample while, fresh soybean milk was recorded to contain 9.60% soluble solids, 40.8%mg/ml total sugar and pH 6.2; this values also decreased to 5.69 soluble solids, 19.2mg/ml total sugar and pH 4.4 respectively on day 7, when the experiment was terminated. The 1.00 and 0.50% total ash with 3.50 and 2.75% crude fat recorded for the fresh cow milk and fresh soybean milk did not change in the spoilt samples throughout the study period. JARD Vol. 4 (2) 2005: pp. 122-138


The article proposes, justifies, and tests a new methodological framework to measure museum 'soft power' by employing geo-visualization as a new method empowered by the rapid development of digital humanities. This research not only demystifies the buzz term of 'soft power' that is frequently applied in relation to contemporary museums and their international cultural engagements but also develops an evaluation framework to assess museum capacities to exert global impacts. Specifically, the article draws on the academic scholarship outlining a plethora of approaches for 'soft power' evaluation, including Resources, Outputs, Perceptions, and Networks evaluation models. It argues for a new integrative approach that can comprehensively combine different methods to construct a more advanced tool to measure museum 'soft power'. The article draws on preliminary results of developing a digital mapping system to assess museum soft power. It shares findings from the pilot project, Australian Center of the Moving Image (ACMI) on the Global Map, designed in collaboration with the ACMI in Melbourne.


ABSTRACT Artists and scientists have long had an interest in the relationship between music and visual art, leading up to the present-day art form of correlated animation and music called visual music. Current live performance tools and paradigms for visual music, however, are subject to several limitations. The work reported here addresses these through a transdisciplinary integration of findings from several research areas, detailing the resulting ideas and their implementation in three interconnected software applications. This culminates in the art form of Soma, in which correlated auditory, visual and proprioceptive stimuli form a combined narrative.


The role of microenvironment interleukin 1 (IL-1) on 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MCA)-induced carcinogenesis was assessed in IL-1-deficient mice, i.e., IL-1beta(-/-), IL-1alpha(-/-), IL-1alpha/beta(-/-) (double knockout), and mice deficient in the naturally occurring inhibitor of IL-1, the IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra). Tumors developed in all wild-type (WT) mice, whereas in IL-1beta-deficient mice, tumors developed slower and only in some of the mice. In IL-1Ra-deficient mice, tumor development was the most rapid. Tumor incidence was similar in WT and IL-1alpha-deficient mice. Histologic analyses revealed fibrotic structures forming a capsule surrounding droplets of the carcinogen in olive oil, resembling foreign body-like granulomas, which appeared 10 days after injection of 3-MCA and persisted until the development of local tumors. A sparse leukocyte infiltrate was found at the site of carcinogen injection in IL-1beta-deficient mice, whereas in IL-1Ra-deficient mice, a dense neutrophilic infiltrate was observed. Treatment of IL-1Ra-deficient mice with recombinant IL-1Ra but not with an inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor abrogated the early leukocytic infiltrate. The late leukocyte infiltrate (day 70), which was dominated by macrophages, was also apparent in WT and IL-1alpha-deficient mice, but was nearly absent in IL-1beta-deficient mice. Fibrosarcoma cell lines, established from 3-MCA-induced tumors from IL-1Ra-deficient mice, were more aggressive and metastatic than lines from WT mice; cell lines from IL-1-deficient mice were the least invasive. These observations show the crucial role of microenvironment-derived IL-1beta, rather than IL-1alpha, in chemical carcinogenesis and in determining the invasive potential of malignant cells.


We quantify GIA prediction uncertainties of 250 1D and 3D glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models through comparisons with deglacial relative sea‐level (RSL) data from North America and rate of vertical land motion ( U̇ ) and gravity rate of change ( Ġ ) from GNSS and GRACE data, respectively. Spatially, the size of the RSL uncertainties varies across North America with the largest from Hudson Bay and near previous ice margins along the northern Atlantic and Pacific coasts, which suggests 3D viscosity structure in the lower mantle and laterally varying lithospheric thickness. Temporally, RSL uncertainties decrease from the Last Glacial Maximum to present except for west of Hudson Bay and the northeastern Pacific coast. The uncertainties of both these regions increase from 30 to 45 m between 15 and 11 ka BP, which may be due to the rapid decrease of surface loading at that time. Present‐day U̇ and Ġ uncertainties are largest in southwestern Hudson Bay with magnitudes of 2.4 mm/year and 0.4 μGal/year, mainly due to the 3D viscosity structure in the lower mantle.


Background: Recent postmortem studies have demonstrated pathological changes, including Purkinje cell loss, in the cerebellum in essential tremor (ET). Toxic exposures that compromise cerebellar tissue could lower the threshold for developing ET. Ethanol is a well-established cerebellar toxin, resulting in Purkinje cell loss. Objective: To test whether higher baseline ethanol consumption is a risk factor for the subsequent development of incident ET. Methods: Lifetime ethanol consumption was assessed at baseline (1994–1995) in a prospective, population-based study in central Spain of 3285 elderly participants, 76 of whom developed incident ET by follow-up (1997–1998). Results: In a Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for cigarette pack-years, depressive symptoms and community, the baseline number of drink-years was marginally associated with a higher risk of incident ET (relative risk, RR = 1.003, p = 0.059). In an adjusted Cox model, the highest baseline drink-year quartile doubled the risk of incident ET (RR = 2.29, p = 0.018), while other quartiles were associated with more modest elevations in risk (RR3rd quartile = 1.82 (p = 0.10), RR2nd quartile = 1.75 (p = 0.10), RR1st quartile = 1.43 (p = 0.34) vs non-drinkers (RR = 1.00)). With each higher drink-year quartile, the risk of incident ET increased an average of 23% (p = 0.01, test for trend). Conclusions: Higher levels of chronic ethanol consumption increased the risk of developing ET. Ethanol is often used for symptomatic relief; studies should explore whether higher consumption levels are a continued source of underlying cerebellar neurotoxicity in patients who already manifest this disease.


Objective: To investigate the role of intragenic deletions of ALDH7A1 in patients with clinical and biochemical evidence of pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy but only a single identifiable mutation in ALDH7A1. Methods: We designed a custom oligonucleotide array with high-density probe coverage across the ALDH7A1 gene. We performed array comparative genomic hybridization in 6 patients with clinical and biochemical evidence of pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy but only a single detectable mutation in ALDH7A1 by sequence analysis. Results: We found partial deletions of ALDH7A1 in 5 of 6 patients. Breakpoint analysis reveals that the deletions are likely a result of Alu-Alu recombination in all cases. The density of Alu elements within introns of ALDH7A1 suggests susceptibility to recurrent rearrangement. Conclusion: Patients with clinical pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy and a single identifiable mutation in ALDH7A1 warrant further investigation for copy number changes involving the ALHD7A1 gene.


The diversity of Cyanobacteria in water and sediment samples from four representative sites of the Salar de Huasco was examined using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and analysis of clone libraries of 16S rRNA gene PCR products. Salar de Huasco is a high altitude (3800 m altitude) saline wetland located in the Chilean Altiplano. We analyzed samples from a tributary stream (H0) and three shallow lagoons (H1, H4, H6) that contrasted in their physicochemical conditions and associated biota. Seventy-eight phylotypes were identified in a total of 268 clonal sequences deriving from seven clone libraries of water and sediment samples. Oscillatoriales were frequently found in water samples from sites H0, H1 and H4 and in sediment samples from sites H1 and H4. Pleurocapsales were found only at site H0, while Chroococcales were recovered from sediment samples of sites H0 and H1, and from water samples of site H1. Nostocales were found in sediment samples from sites H1 and H4, and water samples from site H1 and were largely represented by sequences highly similar to Nodularia spumigena. We suggest that cyanobacterial communities from Salar de Huasco are unique – they include sequences related to others previously described from the Antarctic, along with others from diverse, but less extreme environments.