Interactive web maps generated by MapPoint-Microsoft's popular mapping technology are crucial for businesses in a number of fields, including real estate, package delivery, and commercial air travel. In a word, MapPoint provides businesses with "location." Specifically, it provides an integrated set of products, servers, and services to enable a business to track the precise location of remote assets, thereby reducing operational costs and improving productivity. Whether the asset is a truck, a taxi, or even a field rep, MapPoint can tell you exactly where it is at any time. Programming MapPoint in .NET from O'Reilly shows you how to use MapPoint to build custom applications for the desktop, the web, and mobile devices. The book also explains how to analyze and share data generated from a wide range of maps, including those that show demographic trends, population density, and sales potential. Chandu Thota, one of Microsoft's main MapPoint developers and the book's author, has organized the material into four major sections, each dedicated to a different MapPoint technology:MapPoint 2004 - calculating routes, rendering data maps, integrating with Global Positioning System (GPS) for obtaining real-time locationMapPoint Web Service - techniques for finding points of interest, creating applications using the Find APIs and Route APIs, rendering LineDrive maps and polygonsMapPoint Location Server - deployment scenarios, getting real-time location using mobile phones, managing contacts and privacy settingsMSN Virtual Earth - the basics of programming with new MSN Virtual Earth APIsThe book provides a jumpstart for working with these technologies, including in-depth discussions about the core concepts and sample code provided in C#. It's ideal for anyone who wants to develop locations-based applications with MapPoint technologies.The next time you follow online directions to the airport, you can chalk up an assist to MapPoint's state-of-the-art interactive mapping abilities. Better yet, you'll know how to create that same type of map yourself.


Photometry and low‐resolution spectroscopy have added V2552 Oph to the rare class of R Coronae Borealis variables. We confirm this classification of V2552 Oph through a comparison of our high‐resolution optical spectrum of this star and that of R CrB and other F‐type members of the class. We show that V2552 Oph most closely resembles Y Mus and FH Sct, stars in which Sr, Y, and Zr are enhanced.


The historical relationship between Judaism and Islam has been the subject of scholarly inquiry for decades. Until recently, however, this fourteen-century-old relationship has gone unremarked on by theorists and historians of rhetoric. In this article, I explore the interconnectivities between legal rhetoric in Judaism and Islam. Looking at the Nicomachaean Ethics and Chaim Perelman's analysis of rhetoric, justice, and law, I first investigate how, like Aristotle, Jewish and Muslim jurists link virtuousness to obedience to the law. Then, I show how sharia and halakha, Islamic and Jewish law, use rhetoric and systematic argumentation to articulate the place of law in the lives of Muslims and Jews. Finally, using the medieval Mamluk Sultanate and the Geniza community as the basis of a comparatist rhetorical analysis, I demonstrate the lived interconnectedness of Judeo-Muslim legal rhetorics pertaining to marriage, divorce, and the juristic agency of medieval Mediterranean women.


In this work, FTIR difference spectroscopy is used to search for possible binding partners and protonable groups involved in the binding of the quinol to cytochrome bd from Escherichia coli. In addition, the electrochemically induced FTIR difference spectra are compared for preparations of the enzyme isolated from cells grown at different oxygen levels in which the quinone content of the membrane is altered. On this basis, difference signals can be tentatively attributed to the vibrational modes of the different quinones types that are associated with the enzyme depending on growth conditions. Furthermore, vibrational modes due to the redox-dependent reorganization of the protein vary depending on the quinone associated with the isolated enzyme. Of particular interest are the observations that a mode at 1738 cm(-1) is decreased and a mode at 1595 cm(-1) is increased as observed in direct comparison to the data obtained from samples grown anaerobically. These signals indicate a change in the protonation state of an aspartic or glutamic acid. Since these changes are observed when the ubiquinone ratio in the preparation increases, the data provide evidence for the modulation of the binding site by the interacting quinone and the involvement of an acidic group in the binding site. The tentative assignments of the vibrational modes are supported by electrochemically induced FTIR difference spectra of cytochrome bd in the presence of the specific quinone binding site inhibitors heptylhydroxyquinoline-N-oxide (HQNO) or 2-methyl-3-undecylquinolone-4. Whereas HQNO leads to strong shifts in the FTIR redox difference spectrum, 2-methyl-3-undecylquinolone-4 induces a specific shift of a mode at 1635 cm(-1), which likely originates from the displacement of the C=O group of the bound quinone.


A common feature of contemporary political systems is the increasing amount of delegation from governments to non-majoritarian institutions. Governments may decide to delegate authority to such institutions for reasons relating to credible commitments, political uncertainty and policy complexity. This article focuses on Independent Administrative Authorities ( Autorites administratives independantes ) in France. We demonstrate that these institutions enjoy varying degrees of independence. We find that the degree of independence varies as a function of two factors: the need to make a credible commitment in areas subject to market opening and the complexity of policy in particular areas.


Scanning Thermal Microscopy (SThM) allows nanoscale temperature and heat flow measurements as well as thermal characterization of materials. This chapter focuses on fundamentals and applications of SThM methods. It reviews the main Scanning Probe Microscopy techniques developed for thermal imaging with nanoscale spatial resolution and presents selected SThM applications. After reviewing the fundamentals of thermal metrology by contact, it describes the approaches currently used to calibrate SThM probes. In many cases, the link between the nominal measured signal and the investigated parameter is not yet fully understood, due to the complexity of the micro-/nanoscale interaction between the probe and the sample. Special attention is given to this interaction, which conditions the tip–sample interface temperature. Some examples of the main applications of SThM are presented. Finally, future challenges and opportunities for SThM are discussed.


The PIK3C3 locus was implicated in case-case genome-wide association study of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) which we had performed to detect genes associated with autoantibodies and serum interferon-alpha (IFN-α). Herein, we examine a PIK3C3 promoter variant (rs3813065/-442 C/T) in an independent multiancestral cohort of 478 SLE cases and 522 controls. rs3813065 C was strongly associated with the simultaneous presence of both anti-Ro and anti-Sm antibodies in African-American patients [OR = 2.24 (1.34–3.73), P = 2.0 × 10−3]. This autoantibody profile was associated with higher serum IFN-α (P = 7.6 × 10−6). In the HapMap Yoruba population, rs3813065 was associated with differential expression of ERAP2 (P = 2.0 × 10−5), which encodes an enzyme involved in MHC class I peptide processing. Thus, rs3813065 C is associated with a particular autoantibody profile and altered expression of an MHC peptide processing enzyme, suggesting that this variant modulates serologic autoimmunity in African-American SLE patients.


Results of the experimental use of Dimiphen blue for determination of viability of tissues are presented. Experiments were made in 23 rabbits with standard contusion-crush skin-muscle wounds. the results have shown that the method is good for diagnosis and may be recommended for clinical use.


based on a bibliometric analysis in combination with other information analysis methods, this paper compares the different evaluation results on the subject of "electric vehicles" drawn from web of science (wos) and from scopus. we came to the following conclusions after a careful comparison of these two databases. firstly, both wos and scopus would provide some valid and unique evaluation indicators. secondly, they showed similar results in terms of evaluating research performance of countries and research organizations involved in the targeted subject fields. in fact, both databases are good for discovering the research trend in general at the macroscopic level. lastly, we ought to take the disciplinary characteristics, the extent of journal inclusion and resource selection criteria as well as inevitable data errors into full account in making recommendations to policy decision-makers.


Critical coarctation of the aorta in neonates is a common cause of shock and death. It may be the most difficult of all forms of critical congenital heart disease to diagnose because the obstruction from the coarctation does not appear until several days after birth (and after discharge from the hospital), and because there are no characteristic murmurs. Some of these patients may be detected by neonatal screening by pulse oximetry, but only a minority is so diagnosed. Older patients are usually asymptomatic but, although clinical diagnosis is easy, they are frequently undiagnosed.


Hydraulic Capsule Pipelines (HCPs) are the third generation of pipelines that are based on the transport of hollow spherical, or cylindrical, capsules by the force exerted on them from the carrier fluid, which is water. These hollow capsules can be filled with a variety of cargo goods, such as minerals, jewellery etc. The hydrodynamics of this transport phenomena is quite complex, and researchers around the globe have been trying to analyse the hydrodynamics of such systems. However, most of these studies are based on experimental investigations, which can provide reasonably accurate results for the pressure drop etc. across the pipeline. However, the flow structure within HCPs cannot be easily mapped using experimental facilities. Furthermore, in case of pipe bends, the difficulty level increases exponentially due to a constant curvature in the geometry of the pipeline, and hence mounting the flow measuring instruments can be very challenging. The present study makes use of the advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based solvers, with powerful computing services, in order to analyse the flow structure within HCP bends. It is expected that this information can provide valuable information to the HCP designers, not only to calculate pressure drop across HCP bends, but in order to select the correct size etc. bends for the pipeline.


In this study, we analyze high-spatial-resolution (0.″24) magnetograms and high-spatial-resolution (0.″10) Hα off-band (± 0.8 Å) images taken by the 1.6 m Goode Solar Telescope to investigate the magnetic properties associated with small-scale ejections in a coronal hole boundary region from a statistical perspective. With one and a half hours of optical observations under excellent seeing, we focus on the magnetic structure and evolution by tracking the magnetic features with the Southwest Automatic Magnetic Identification Suite (SWAMIS). The magnetic field at the studied coronal hole boundary is dominated by negative polarity with flux cancellations at the edges of the negative unipolar cluster. In a total of 1250 SWAMIS-detected magnetic cancellation events, ∼39% are located inside the coronal hole with an average flux cancellation rate of 2.0 × 1018 Mx Mm−2 hr−1, and ∼49% are located outside the coronal hole with an average flux cancellation rate of 8.8 × 1017 Mx Mm−2 hr−1. We estimated that the magnetic energy released due to flux cancellation inside the coronal hole is six times more than that outside the coronal hole. Flux cancellation accounts for ∼9.5% of the total disappearance of magnetic flux. Other forms of its disappearance are mainly due to fragmentation of unipolar clusters or merging with elements of the same polarity. We also observed a number of significant small-scale ejections associated with magnetic cancellations at the coronal hole boundary that have corresponding EUV brightenings.


This paper describes a method for automatic segmentation of facial features such as eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth and ears in color images. This work is an initial step for wide range of applications based on feature-based approaches, such as face recognition, lip-reading, gender estimation, facial expression analysis, etc. Human face can be characterized by its skin color and nearly elliptical shape. For this purpose, face detection is performed using color and shape information. Uniform illumination is assumed. No restrictions on glasses, make-up, beard, etc. are imposed. Facial features are extracted using the vertically and horizontally oriented gradient projections. The gradient of a minimum with respect to its neighbor maxima gives the boundaries of a facial feature. Each facial feature has a different horizontal characteristic. These characteristics are derived by extensive experimentation with many face images. Using fuzzy set theory, the similarity between the candidate and the feature characteristic under consideration is calculated. Gradient-based method is accompanied by the anthropometrical information, for robustness. Ear detection is performed using contour-based shape descriptors. This method detects the facial features and circumscribes each facial feature with the smallest rectangle possible. AR database is used for testing. The developed method is also suitable for real-time systems.


Despite increasing awareness of large‐scale climate‐driven distribution shifts in the marine environment, no study has linked rapid ocean warming to a shift in distribution and consequent hybridization of a marine fish species. This study describes rapid warming (0.8 °C per decade) in the coastal waters of the Angola‐Benguela Frontal Zone over the last three decades and a concomitant shift by a temperature sensitive coastal fish species (Argyrosomus coronus) southward from Angola into Namibia. In this context, rapid shifts in distribution across Economic Exclusive Zones will complicate the management of fishes, particularly when there is a lack of congruence in the fisheries policy between nations. Evidence for recent hybridization between A. coronus and a congener, A. inodorus, indicate that the rapid shift in distribution of A. coronus has placed adults of the two species in contact during their spawning events. Ocean warming may therefore revert established species isolation mechanisms and alter the evolutionary history of fishes. While the consequences of the hybridization on the production of the resource remain unclear, this will most likely introduce additional layers of complexity to their management.


This research aimed at knowing the impact of e-learning on students' achievement. The method used in this study was a quantitative research with one group pre-test and post-test design. The number of students were 43 students and the number of sample was the whole sum of the population (population sampling). The data collection was done by administring pre-test and post-test to the sample of the study. F test used to analyze the impact of e-learning method on students' achievement in english. The statistical analysis has described that the mean score of pre-test and post-test was 71.63 and the mean score of post-test was 80.23. by using F test at the level of significance 5% the present researcher got F> F table. It's mean that e-learning method was impact on students' achievement in english. Furtheremore, by using Tukeys HSD continued test, the researcher got average score from pre-test and post-test were increased. It was suggestted to conduct research using e-learning method with other media such as zoom app or microsoft team.


The CD20 mAb ofatumumab (OFA) is more effective than rituximab (RTX) in promoting complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) of B cells via the classical pathway (CP) of complement. CP activation is initiated by C1q binding to cell-bound IgG. Therefore, we examined the role of C1q in the dynamics of complement activation and CDC of B cell lines and primary cells from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, reacted with OFA or RTX. C1q binding, complement activation, and colocalization of C1q with cell-bound mAbs were determined by flow cytometry and high-resolution digital imaging. C1q binds avidly to OFA-opsonized Raji and Daudi cells ( K D (cid:1) 12–16 nM) and colocalizes substantially with cell-bound OFA. Cells opsonized with OFA undergo high levels of complement activation and CDC in C1q-depleted serum supplemented with low concentrations of C1q. Under comparable conditions, RTX-opsonized cells bind less C1q; in addition, even when higher concentrations of C1q are used to achieve comparable C1q binding to RTX-opsonized cells, less complement activation and CDC are observed. Greater CDC induced by OFA may occur because C1q is bound in close proximity and with high avidity to OFA, resulting in effective CP activation. Moreover, OFA binds to the small, extracellular CD20 loop, placing the mAb considerably closer to the cell membrane than does RTX. This may facilitate effective capture and concentration of activated complement components closer to the cell membrane, potentially shielding them from inactivation by fluid phase agents


The detection of Salmonella in primary poultry production is an issue of great concern in the European Union (EU), since control of this zoonotic disease is in part based on the reduction of the prevalence at the farm level. Success of detection is likely to be highly dependent on the choice of an adequate sampling procedure combined with a sensitive culture method. In poultry farms 'naturally pooled' faeces/litter and dust are the matrices of choice. In floor systems boot swabs are the preferred method for the collection of faeces. A wide range of culture methods is available, but ISO 6579:2002 (Annex D) is currently the standard for poultry environmental samples in the EU. In this review, the authors discuss in detail the range of sampling and culture methodologies for Salmonella in poultry farms. The review also covers sampling and testing of poultry hatcheries, live birds and poultry carcasses.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Elevated BP contributes to development and progression of proteinuria and decline in renal function in patients with type 2 diabetes. Our post hoc analysis assessed the baseline BP influence on the antiproteinuric effect in the Aliskiren in the Evaluation of Proteinuria in Diabetes (AVOID) study.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
In the AVOID study, 599 hypertensive type 2 diabetic patients with nephropathy received 6 months of aliskiren (150 mg force titrated to 300 mg daily after 3 months) or placebo added to losartan (100 mg) daily and optimal antihypertensive therapy. Changes in early morning urinary albumin:creatinine ratio and eGFR at week 24 were assessed by subgroups of baseline BP: Group A (prespecified target), <130/80 mmHg (n=159); Group B, <140/90 mmHg but ≥130/80 mmHg (n=189); and Group C (insufficient BP control), ≥140/90 mmHg (n=251).

RESULTS
Mean baseline BP (mmHg) levels for Groups A, B, and C were 120/71, 133/78, and 145/81, respectively. BP during the trial was nearly identical to baseline levels in all groups. The antiproteinuric effects of aliskiren were consistent across subgroups of baseline BP (19 to 22% reduction versus placebo). In Group C, the decline in eGFR was significantly lower with aliskiren than with placebo (P=0.013).

CONCLUSIONS
Aliskiren (300 mg) added to losartan (100 mg) plus optimal antihypertensive therapy provides antiproteinuric effects independent of BP in patients with type 2 diabetes and nephropathy. Renal function was better preserved with aliskiren in patients with insufficient BP control.


Aim: to explore nurses' experiences with pain assessment and pain relieving in patient with dementia. Background: research shows that patients with dementia are still suffering from unnecessary pain. The reason it may be nurses difficulty to interpret and map patients' pain. Method: data were collected through three different focus group interviews. A semi — structured interview guide was developed to answer the research question. Data were analyzed by using a content analysis in four steps. Findings: The findings are divided into three sub — categories with a focus on: patients age, comorbiditet and polyfarmasi, routines for pain assessment and pain relieving, and ethical dilemmas in pain relieving in patients with dementia. Conclusions: Pain assessment and pain relieving in patients with dementia are challenging. Common procedures for pain assessment and individual pain relieving may be good prospects for patients get effective pain relieving. Regular use of pain assessment instruments tailored for the patient group will contribute to effective pain assessment and pain relieving in patients with dementia.


The rubber hand illusion has been established as one of the most important tools in the quest for understanding body ownership. Such understanding may be vital to neuro-rehabilitative and neurosurgical therapies that aim to modulate this phenomenon. Numerous brain imaging and TMS studies indicate that a wide ranging network of brain areas is associated with illusory hand ownership in the RHI. However, while we have a good idea of where neural activity related to the RHI occurs, the question of how these networks interact on the temporal basis is still rather unexplored as the few EEG studies that have investigated this question have relied on problematic stimulation methods or have failed to induce a strong sense of illusion in participants. Avoiding these limitations the experiments in this thesis provide insights into the temporal dynamics of body ownership in the brain.
Experiment One (presented in Chapter Three) focussed on establishing that the purpose-built, automated setup induced the Rubber Hand Illusion reliably as measured by proprioceptive drift measurements and questionnaire ratings. The evoked visual and tactile responses elicited by the setup were identified and timing and intensity of illusory hand ownership were found to be comparable to the existing literature. The results of this experiment provided guidance regarding necessary adjustments to the RHI setup for the following experiments in order to avoid confounds induced by avoidable differences between conditions.
Experiment Two (presented in Chapter Four) used a setup adjusted according to the findings of Experiment One and recorded evoked responses and oscillatory responses in participants who felt the rubber hand illusion. A combination of experimental conditions was applied to rule out confounds of attention and body-stimulus position. In addition two control conditions were applied to reveal the neural correlates of illusory hand ownership. The experiment revealed a reduction of alpha and beta power as well as an attenuation of evoked responses around 330 ms over central electrodes associated with illusory hand ownership. Also, the results indicate that body-stimulus processing and illusion processing as measured by evoked potentials might emanate from the same cortical network.
Experiment Three (presented in Chapter Four) tested if the findings of the second experiment in regard to illusion effects were robust against changes in stimulus duration. The reduction in alpha and beta power and the attenuation of evoked responses at 330 ms were found to be robust against changes in stimulus duration. Together with the results from Experiment Two, these findings provide the first EEG marker of illusion related activity in the RHI induced by an automated setup with varying stimuli length.
Experiment four (presented in Chapter Five) investigated if the neural correlates identified in the Experiment Two and Experiment Three were indeed related to the feeling of illusory hand ownership in the RHI and not to a mere remapping of visual receptive fields. To test this, evoked and oscillatory responses were recorded during the somatic rubber hand illusion, a non-visual variant of the RHI. The somatic rubber hand illusion was found to be associated with an attenuation around 330ms post-stimulus on central electrodes, similar to the classic RHI in Experiment Two and Three. This indicated that this illusion effect in evoked responses was not related to a remapping of visual receptive fields as a result of the RHI but to the neurophysiological processes of the RHI itself.

To summarise, the results of the experiments presented in this thesis indicate that an attenuation at 330ms in evoked potentials is associated with illusory hand ownership in both, the classic RHI and the somatic RHI. Further, attenuation in alpha and beta band power is associated with illusory hand ownership in the classic RHI.


In the crop structure of Dobrogea, wheat occupies a percentage between 23 and 33%, depending on the economical factors, but also on the climatic ones. In the years with climatic risks, the percentage of wheat in the crop structure decreases. This drop is maintained the following year as well. The production is greatly influenced by the low precipitations fallen that particular year, both throughout the year but especially over the vegetation period of wheat. Temperature is another risk factor that influences wheat culture in Dobrogea. The scorchers occurred during certain vegetation periods of wheat, associated with atmospheric drought and soil dryness, influence negatively the formation of the productivity elements and finally lead to important production decreases. The paper presents the results of researches regarding the behavior of certain wheat types on chernozem soil in the conditions of the Dobrogea Plateau. The paper also makes proposals regarding the choice of a version of cultivation technology in order to control the negative effects of the biotic and abiotic factors on the autumn wheat production in Dobrogea. It also presents the results obtained regarding the harvest structure for the studied wheat types. Knowing that, in Dobrogea's specific climatic conditions, too early or too late sowing causes problems in wheat culture which lead to important harvest losses, the influence of the sowing time on the production of the studied types was researched. Because of the small quantity of precipitations falling in Dobrogea and their non-uniform distribution over the wheat vegetation period, irrigation must be applied as a measure to increase the production. Not respecting certain technological elements such as fitting sowing within the optimum period, cultivating wheat after good previous plants, good soil tilling on time or the use of chemical fertilizers also lead to important production decreases. This paper refers to the fact that the manifestation of the productive potential of one type of wheat is connected to the genetic factor, but also to the other vegetation factors and the applied technology. We attempted to study the behavior of certain Romanian and foreign autumn wheat types which exist in the official catalogue of types and hybrids of cultivated plants in Romania, some older in crops, other newly introduced in the crop structure of Dobrogea.


This paper explores a heuristic ('allowing people to learn for themselves' [Allen, 2004: p. 654]) mentoring case involving an Advanced Practitioner (AP) tasked with the role of mentoring a trainee PGCE teacher who had received a grade 4 (unsatisfactory) decision of his teaching by the college quality assurance system. The paper outlines the relevant theories and frameworks of mentoring which were considered at the time, those which seemed to emerge quite naturally, albeit in skeletal form, and the way in which reflective practice was found to be the key to unlocking the mentor/mentee relationship in profound and critical ways.


Five cows with reticular abscesses were examined clinically, haematologically, radiographicaHly and ultrasonographically. They all had clinical signs typical of traumatic reticuloperitonitis, including chronic indigestion, pyrexia, an absence of or reduced ruminal motility, weight loss and a positive reaction to foreign body tests. A haematological examination revealed anaemia, increased concentrations of plasma protein and fibrinogen and a decreased clotting time in the glutaraldehyde test. On the basis of the radiographic examination, a tentative diagnosis of reticular abscess was made in four of the cows, because the reticulum was displaced from the peritoneum or because there was an extensive gas-fluid interface in the reticular region. By ultrasonography, a large reticular abscess with a well developed capsule was visible in each of the cows. The abscess was located between the reticulum and ventral peritoneum in two of them, between the reticulum and right thoracic wall in two and between the reticulum and spleen in the other cow. A foreign body penetrating the abscess could be visualised ultrasonographically in one cow. In two cows, the abscesses were drained through an ultrasound-guided transcutaneous incision. In the other three cows, the abscess was incised and drained from within the reticulum during a rumenotomy. Ultrasonographic examination revealed that the abscess had been completely evacuated in four cows, but only by about two-thirds in the remaining cow. All the cows were clinically healthy when they were discharged.


An explicit series solution is proposed for the inversion of the spherical mean Radon transform. Such an inversion is required in problems of thermo- and photo-acoustic tomography. Closed-form inversion formulae are currently known only for the case when the centres of the integration spheres lie on a sphere surrounding the support of the unknown function, or on certain unbounded surfaces. Our approach results in an explicit series solution for any closed measuring surface surrounding a region for which the eigenfunctions of the Dirichlet Laplacian are explicitly known—such as, for example, cube, finite cylinder, half-sphere etc. In addition, we present a fast reconstruction algorithm applicable in the case when the detectors (the centres of the integration spheres) lie on a surface of a cube. This algorithm reconstructs 3D images thousands times faster than backprojection-type methods.


Construction simulation is unique as it involves complex systems characterized by a great deal of uncertainty, dynamic interactions of system components and large numbers of tasks and resources. Simulation methods used in construction must be capable of addressing issues often encountered in large and complex systems, yet be easy to use by an unsophisticated simulationist, the construction engineer. The paper discusses how simulation can implemented in the earthmoving sector of the construction industry. A summary of a method that enables assembling a simulation model by reference to the main resources involved in the operation is first presented. This is followed by an example application from the field of earthmoving that was observed in a strip-mining application of oil-sands at the Syncrude mine in Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada.


We present empirical measures of wealth inequality and its intergenerational transmission among four horticulturalist populations. Wealth is construed broadly as embodied somatic and neural capital, including body size, fertility and cultural knowledge, material capital such as land and household wealth, and relational capital in the form of coalitional support and field labor. Wealth inequality is moderate for most forms of wealth, and intergenerational wealth transmission is low for material resources and moderate for embodied and relational wealth. Our analysis suggests that domestication alone does not transform social structure; rather, the presence of scarce, defensible resources may be required before inequality and wealth transmission patterns resemble the familiar pattern in more complex societies. Land ownership based on usufruct and low‐intensity cultivation, especially in the context of other economic activities such as hunting and fishing, is associated with more egalitarian wealth distributions as found among hunter‐gatherers.


Abstract The shape optimization of mechanical and automotive component plays a crucial role in the development of automotive technology. Presently, the use of derivative-free metaheuristics in combination with finite element analysis for mechanical component design is one of the most focused on topics due to its simplicity and effectiveness. In this research paper, the mine blast algorithm (MBA) is used to solve the problem of shape optimization for a vehicle door hinge to prove how the MBA can be used for solving shape optimization problems in designing electrical vehicles. The results show the advantage of the MBA for designing optimal components in the automotive industry.


Ultrafine grain WC hardmetals were manufactured successfully from mixed powders of nominal composition of WC-6Co-1.5Al(wt%). To manufacture bulk ultrafine grain WC alloys, nanocrystalline WC powders as precursor were prepared for sintering from the mixed commercially available powders by high energy milling of 15 h. Then the electrical current sintering process of the milled powders was further studied. Experimental results showed that the density, hardness and transverse rupture strength of the sintered alloys reached 14.224 g/cm3, HRA 94 and 1660 MPa, respectively, by a appropriate coupling of pulse- and subsequent constant-current sintering and with the total sintering time of 6 min. It seemed difficult to obtain desirable sintered hardmetal by a single type of electric current sintering. However, the application of intensive pulse electric current was favorable to sintering, although it was difficult to achieve good WC alloys only by the pulse electric current sintering. A higher density WC alloy could be prepared by enlarging the electric current when only constant electric current was applied to sinter the milled powders. Unfortunately, the WC grains substantially coarsened concurrently so that the mechanical properties of the as sintered alloy decreased obviously.


DC currents in power grids are mainly caused by geomagnetic activity especially during magnetic storms. It is desirable to monitor these currents to prevent saturation of transformers, which may cause blackout. However, adding DC current sensors to existing installations would be very costly. We suggest to convert some of the existing current transformers to fluxgate DC current sensors by injecting AC excitation current into their secondary winding. We successfully tested this concept on 500 A current transformer. The achievable accuracy is 10% for DC currents and 1.5% for AC currents, which is sufficient for protection and monitoring purposes. We analyze the DC current sensitivity dependence on the (changing) grid impedance, and we show that the sensitivity can be stabilized by controlling the secondary voltage component at the excitation frequency. Excitation current injected into the grid also depends on the grid impedance, but for realistic conditions it is below 2 A.


Traffic sign recognition feature is widely employed in industry today by researchers working in artificial intelligence and machine learning fields targeted to create an autonomous driving assistance system. This will help the driver's human eye and manoeuvring capabilities which can't be presumed to be consistent for high accuracy for all weather condition challenges. As the limitation of the human eye perception on a road sign is upsetting the road safety. This research paper illustrates a novel approach for Traffic image classification using Deep learning model to distinguish the different classes of traffic signs only after applying Data augmentation offered by Keras deep learning library for shifting traffic signs images (5%,10%,15%) and applying Gaussian blur technique for blurring (3:3,5:5 & 7:7) images. This will help us re-create a dataset similar to images captured during bad climatic, foggy or windy conditions seen in Ireland or badly captured images due to fast moving cars with limitation in camera angles from roads. We will be introducing these pictures on a pre-trained transfer learning model VGG19 as it has better accuracy and operational speed to create a best fit model. Results of this research work can be used by automobile companies to create enhanced image capturing cameras and classification models to make better autonomous systems and safer roads.


Big Data applications have become more and more important over the last few years. Such applications are focused on the analysis of huge amounts of unstructured information and present a series of differences with traditional High Performance Computing (HPC) applications. For illustrating such dissimilarities, this paper analyzes the behavior of the most scalable version of the Graph500 benchmark when run on a state-of-the-art commodity cluster facility. Our work shows that this new computation paradigm stresses the interconnection subsystem. In this work, we provide both analytical and empirical characterizations of the Graph500 benchmark, showing that its communication needs bound the achieved performance on a cluster facility. Up to our knowledge, our evaluation is the first to consider the impact of message aggregation on the communication overhead and explore the selection of a trade off that diminishes benchmark execution time, increasing system performance.


ECMA Standard 335, "Common Language Infrastructure (CLI)", was published in December 2001. According to Partition I, Section 1, it defines the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) in which applications written in multiple high level languages may be executed in different system environments without the need to rewrite the application to take into consideration the unique characteristics of those environments. The standard is specified in natural language. Given the limitations of natural language, it is difficult to write a specification free of ambiguity and potential contradiction. Therefore, a formal model has been constructed in Z Notation of a subset of the Standard: the Common Type System (CTS) and many of the Common Language Specification (CLS) Rules. The model provides a framework for reasoning about the CTS and the CLS Rules, and establishes a base on which further areas of the Standard can be formalized. In the process of writing the formalisms, possible contradictions and ambiguities have been identified, which are discussed either in the body of the text or in the Appendices. In many cases the authors are confident that they have correctly interpreted the intention of the Standard; where they are not confident, the problems are described in Appendix E, Unresolved Questions.


The origin of the extraordinary strengthening of the highly alloyed austenitic stainless steel Sanicro 25 during cyclic loading at 700 °C was investigated by the use of advanced scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Along with substantial change of the dislocation structure, nucleation of two distinct populations of nanoparticles was revealed. Fully coherent Cu-rich nanoparticles were observed to be homogeneously dispersed with high number density along with nanometer-sized incoherent NbC carbides precipitating on dislocations during cyclic loading. Probe-corrected high-angle annular dark-field STEM imaging was used to characterize the atomic structure of nanoparticles. Compositional analysis was conducted using both electron energy loss spectroscopy and high spatial resolution energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. High-temperature exposure-induced precipitation of spatially dense coherent Cu-rich nanoparticles and strain-induced nucleation of incoherent NbC nanoparticles leads to retardation of dislocation movement. The pinning effects and associated obstacles to the dislocation motion prevent recovery and formation of the localized low-energy cellular structures. As a consequence, the alloy exhibits remarkable cyclic hardening at elevated temperatures.


The vertebrate pancreas is an endoderm-derived organ composed by an endocrine portion with cells secreting hormones, such as insulin, glucagon somatostatin, pancreatic polipeptide and ghrelin in the blood flow, and an exocrine one that releases digestive enzimes in the gut lumen.
One of the first decisions in the pancreatic differentiation is between endocrine and exocrine cell fates. The transcription factor ptf1a is an essential gene involved in the exocrine differentiation. In these years zebrafish has been widely employed as a model to study genes involved in endoderm and endoderm-derived organs specification and differentiation. This study is possible because genes and molecular mechanism implicated in embryonic development are highly conserved between this animal model and higher vertebrates. Despite several works done in the last years, the knowledge of molecular mechanisms underlying pancreatic development and differentiation in zebrafish is incomplete and many factors involved in this process are still unknown.
During these three years I produced a zebrafish transgenic line in which the GFP is directed in the exocrine pancreas by 5,5 kbp of ptf1a upstream regulatory region. This work gave us a new useful "tool" to clarify pancreatic organogenesis and to understand how ptf1a itself is regulated. The same ptf1a promotorial region was cloned upstream the DsRed gene with a new system called Tol2 that is able to increase the transgene integration rate in the zebrafish germinal cells genome. This strategy allowed us to obtain a transgenic zebrafish line that can be crossed to many transgenic lines where GFP is under the control of different tissue-specific promoters.
In order to determine what is the minimum ptf1a promoter region necessary to drive GFP expression in the zebrafish exocrine pancreas, 2,6 kbp of that region were also cloned. In this case I observed a ubiquitous GFP expression. With the aim to better clarify the genetics of pancreatic development in zebrafish I undertook a large-scale genetic screen, which took place at the Max Planck Institute in Tuebingen (Germany), using zebrafish larvae obtained from lines mutagenized with the chimical ENU. During that period I screened for the presence of defects in the insulin expression, detected by in situ hybridization; more than 1200 families were analyzed. One of the mutants identified, in which insulin was absent, was characterized and mapped, in collaboration with Prof. Dirk Meyer. Candidate gene analysis detected a new mutation in the raldh2 (ald1a2) gene, causing a phenotipe similar to the zebrafish mutant neckless. During that period, the astrocytes marker gfap was also used, to detect astroglial cell defects in the screened embryos. For two out of nine mutant families with defects in gfap expression I determined, in collaboration with Prof. Robert Geisler, the linkage group bearing the mutation responsible of the observed phenotype.


Importance of the field: Chronic kidney disease is frequently complicated by secondary hyperparathyroidism, which causes bone disease and vascular calcification, leading to increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Areas covered in this review: This review covers treatment options for secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients receiving dialysis, particularly focusing on active vitamin D derivatives, calcimimetics and direct injection therapy into parathyroid glands. In addition, the potential of gene therapy is also described. What the reader will gain: The reader will gain a comprehensive review of the effectiveness and role of available therapies for patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism, as well as the results of observational studies that address the effect of these treatments on clinical outcomes. Take home message: Treatment with active vitamin D derivatives and calcimimetics allows adequate control of secondary hyperparathyroidism, which it is hoped will translate into improved clinical outcomes. These treatments appear to be effective even in patients with advanced disease, but patients who develop resistance to therapy should undergo parathyroid intervention, such as surgical parathyroidectomy and direct injection therapy. Gene therapy is not applicable to humans at present, but they will help clarify the molecular pathogenesis of secondary hyperparathyroidism.


Social Protection Programs for Africa's Drylands explores the role of social protection in promoting the well-being and prosperity of people living in dryland regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific focus on the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Based on a review of recent experience, it argues that social protection policies and programs have an important role in promoting the resilience of the people residing in these areas. Social protection programs, when well designed and carefully implemented at scale, can reduce vulnerability to droughts and other shocks and promote coping capacity. If present trends continue, by 2030 dryland regions of East and West Africa will be home to an estimated 429 million people, up to 24 percent of whom will be living in chronic poverty. Many others will depend on livelihood strategies that are sensitive to the shocks that will hit the region with increasing frequency and severity, making them vulnerable to falling into transient poverty. Social protection programs will be needed in the drylands to provide support to those unable to meet their basic needs. Some of these people will require long-term support, while others will require periodic short-term support because of income losses due to shocks (for example, crop failure following a drought) or as a result of lifecycle changes (for example, loss of a breadwinner). Safety net programs can increase resilience in the short term by improving coping capacity of vulnerable households. Rapidly scalable safety nets that provide cash, food, or other resources to shock-affected households can allow them to recover from unexpected shocks. Scaling up an existing safety net program can be far less expensive than relying on appeals for humanitarian assistance to meet urgent needs. Social protection programs can increase resilience over the longer term by reducing sensitivity to shocks of vulnerable households especially if combined with other development programs. Providing predictable support to chronically poor households and enabling them to invest in productive assets and access basic social services can effectively reduce these households' sensitivity to future shocks, help them participate in the growth process, and take advantage of the investments made in agricultural and pastoralist activities proposed in the drylands.


A crucial unanswered question in lake and reservoir management is whether the Lake number can be used to predict mixing in a lake. To address this question, three field campaigns with measurements of meteorological conditions, internal wave response by three thermistor chains, and dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy were conducted to study generation of turbulence on the sloping boundary of a small lake for Lake numbers between 0.1 and 1000. We measured the velocities in the bottom boundary layer with a high resolution acoustic current profiler and then computed the dissipation using the structure function method, which uses the spatial correlations of velocity along a beam to estimate the dissipation. During the low Lake number events, the dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy increased by up to four orders of magnitude above the specified background level of 10-10 m2s-3, except during the fall turnover when the wind energy was used in thermocline deepening. To evaluate the Lake number conditions under which turbulence will be generated at the slopes, a power law between the Lake number and turbulence intensity was derived, showing a near linear decrease of turbulence intensity with increasing Lake number.


Initiatives directed at managing information on aquatic plants can support different areas of scientific research, educational practices and political decisions for sustainable management and protection of wetlands and natural resources, as well as reveal knowledge gaps regarding aquatic plants and wetlands. Furthermore, such initiatives can contribute directly to consolidating wetland classification systems in Brazil. The objectives of this work are to present and explore the use of a data repository and online platform created specifically for the management of data on aquatic plants in Brazil. The data repository for aquatic plants was developed to store information on species occurrence records in a standardized form considering: systematics, taxonomy, habit, life form, geographic distribution, hydrographic basin, wetland, bibliographic references and herbarium material. A total of 3,903 records referring to the Southeast Region of Brazil were generated for the data repository. This total encompassed 1,036 species distributed among 132 families and 466 genera. Our results illustrate the diversity of information available regarding aquatic plants, circumscribe this group of species and serve as a source of data about them. Similar databases and electronic infrastructures can be developed for other flora in the future.


Readable and practical, this workbook provides technical assistance and concrete advice for researching, writing, and teaching with cases. The exercises and worksheets encourage practicing skills and serve as a handy and affordable workshop alternative for both novice and experienced case writers. Nine stand-alone modules and 79 exercise worksheets guide case authors through the entire case writing process from research through publication. Special topics such as teaching students to write cases, learning how to review for others, and collaborative writing techniques are explained and will grab the readers attention. The book is written in a to-the-point, engaging manner and avoids academic jargon, acronyms, and inside terminology. It can be used as a stand-alone volume, or in concert with any other case writing manual.


The Ackermann function is a fascinating and well studied paradigm for a function which eventually dominates all primitive recursive functions. By a classical result from the theory of recursive functions it is known that the Ackermann function can be defined by an unnested or descent recursion along the segment of ordinals below ω ^ω (or equivalently along the order type of the polynomials under eventual domination). In this article we give a fine structure analysis of such a Ackermann type descent recursion in the case that the ordinals below ω ^ω are represented via a Hardy Ramanujan style coding. This paper combines number-theoretic results by Hardy and Ramanujan, Karamata's celebrated Tauberian theorem and techniques from the theory of computability in a perhaps surprising way.


Loud calls of adult male red howlers (Alouatta seniculus) inhabiting a deciduous and semideciduous open woodland site in Venezuela were recorded opportunistically and categorized by ear and sonographically as barks and roars. Five to six different bark syllables were identified as occurring singly or in sequences of doublets and triplets. In barks, spectral energy was concentrated in bands at 350-400 Hz, 900-1,100 Hz, 1,800-2,200 Hz and 3,000-3,500 Hz, but not all higher bands were present in each syllable. Roars appeared sonographically like prolonged barks composed of a pulsated preface, a long legato climax and a brief, fractionated and at times pulsated coda; each part varied internally to the ear and in acoustic structure. All loud calls were of the noisy type (nonharmonic energy over a broad frequency range). Acoustic characteristics of the calls are interpreted in terms of the subserving vocal tract anatomy. I compare loud calls of red howlers with those of mantled (A. palliata) and black (A. caraya) howlers.


While the accuracy of 3D human pose estimation from images has steadily improved on benchmark datasets, the best methods still fail in many real-world scenarios. This suggests that there is a domain gap between current datasets and common scenes containing people. To obtain ground-truth 3D pose, current datasets limit the complexity of clothing, environmental conditions, number of subjects, and occlusion. Moreover, current datasets evaluate sparse 3D joint locations corresponding to the major joints of the body, ignoring the hand pose and the face shape. To evaluate the current state-of-the-art methods on more challenging images, and to drive the field to address new problems, we introduce AGORA, a synthetic dataset with high realism and highly accurate ground truth. Here we use 4240 commercially-available, high-quality, textured human scans in diverse poses and natural clothing; this includes 257 scans of children. We create reference 3D poses and body shapes by fitting the SMPL-X body model (with face and hands) to the 3D scans, taking into account clothing. We create around 14K training and 3K test images by rendering between 5 and 15 people per image using either image-based lighting or rendered 3D environments, taking care to make the images physically plausible and photoreal. In total, AGORA consists of 173K individual person crops. We evaluate existing state-of-the-art methods for 3D human pose estimation on this dataset. and find that most methods perform poorly on images of children. Hence, we extend the SMPL-X model to better capture the shape of children. Additionally, we fine-tune methods on AGORA and show improved performance on both AGORA and 3DPW, confirming the realism of the dataset. We provide all the registered 3D reference training data, rendered images, and a web-based evaluation site at https://agora.is.tue.mpg.de/.


A new toxin, BotIT2, with a unique mode of action on the isolated giant axon of the cockroach Periplaneta americana and DUM (dorsal unpaired median) neurons, has been purified from the venom of the scorpion Buthus occitanus tunetanus. Its structural, antigenic and pharmacological properties are compared to those of three other groups of neurotoxins found in Buthidae scorpion venoms. Like excitatory, depressant and alpha-type insect-selective neurotoxins, BotIT2 is toxic to insects, but shows the following common and distinctive characteristics. (a) As alpha-type toxins, BotIT2 lack strict selectivity to insects; they have measurable but low toxicity to mice. (b) As depressant toxins and unlike alpha-type toxins, BotIT2 is able to displace iodinated AaHIT from its binding sites in insect neuronal membranes. This indicates that the binding site for BotIT2 is identical, contiguous or in allosteric interaction with that of AaHIT and depressant toxins. (c) The BotIT2 amino acid sequence shows strong similarity to depressant toxins. However, unexpectedly, despite this high sequence similarity, BotIT2 shares moderate cross-antigenic reactivity with depressant toxins. (d) Voltage and current-clamp studies show that BotIT2 induces limited depolarization concomitantly with the development of depolarizing after potential, repetitive activity and later plateau potentials terminated by bursts. Under voltage-clamp conditions, BotIT2 specifically acts on Na+ channels by decreasing the peak Na+ current and by simultaneously inducing a new current with very slow activation/deactivation kinetics. The voltage dependence of this slow current is not significantly different from that of the control current. These observations indicate that BotIT2 chiefly modifies the kinetics of axonal and DUM neuronal membrane Na(+)-channel activation.


This article aims at assessing the main characteristics of the business cycle of 80 developed and developing countries. By comparing the possibility for these economies to enter or to exit a recession and the associated consequences, it aims at complementing existing literature with regard to scale and/or frequency of the study. Following the usual definition of a recession, an algorithmic classification tends to show that, surprisingly, developed and developing countries face similar probabilities to enter or to exit a recession, respectively around 5% and 18%. This aspect contradicts existing literature, which often advocates a greater volatility of developing countries' business cycle with more frequent recessions. However emerging markets and economies face output per capita losses around twice as important as advanced ones when they undergo a recession. These observations are then tested using a non-linear parametric Markov-Switching Model. If the statistical validity of this method is bound by data availability, it echoes in a really good manner the pattern derived using a non-parametric approach. Estimating the model on the cyclical component of the series, derived using an HP filter, fits the best previous remarks. It also replicates other major characteristics. Indeed while developed countries form a rather homogeneous group, developing countries demonstrate greater heterogeneity. Latin American countries appear as the most vulnerable ones whereas Asian countries perform better than all other groups. Keyword: Business Cycles, Economic Growth, Vulnerability, Markov Switching Models. JEL Codes: F43, C32, O57 ⇤I thank Professor Daniel Cohen for the numerous useful advices, Mathieu Gex and colleagues at the Banque de France for their constructive remarks, and Mathilde Viennot and Paul Beaumont for insightful discussions. †email@example.com


The newspaper industry is facing a new innovation, i.e. the e-newspaper published on e-paper technology, which holds the potential of replacing the printed newspaper in the future, heavily reducing production and distribution costs, thereby catching the interest of the industry. As the newspaper firms lately have experienced declining subscription and advertising revenues, they have been forced to seek other revenue sources, e.g. by providing online newspapers and mobile news services. Thus, the traditional business model from print has not been successfully transferred to digital media. In this paper, we have used the Business Model Construct to analyze the empirical findings from 19 interviews, 9 workshops and 4 brainstorming sessions with newspaper representatives to propose a business model framework for the e-newspaper. This framework includes four typical business models: International Newspaper, the Interpress Newsagent, Community Micronews and Local Newspaper and corresponding business model components.


ABSTRACT Our purpose in this paper is to establish stylized facts of the Turkish macroeconomic adjustments using data from 1969 to 1999. We adopt a traditional a priori definition of business cycles as cyclical co-movements of economic variables such as public, private and construction investments, trade balance, labour productivity, wages and fiscal accounts with the cyclical component of real GDP. We also incorporate in our analysis an investigation of the cyclical components of exchange rates, interest rates, price inflation, and the monetary aggregates. Our quantitative findings reveal a robust and significant positive relationship between public and private investments and real GDP growth, suggesting the presence of "crowding in" effects of public investment. Trend growth of manufacturing wages and average labour productivity are loosely associated over the whole period, and the rapid gains in productivity in the post-1980 reform era are not observed to be materialized as gains in remunerations of wage labour. We also find a significant negative correlation of manufacturing wages with merchandise exports and the exchange rate; and document further evidence of the strong negative correlation between variations in consumer prices and production.


The paper studies closed queueing networks containing a server station and k client stations. The server station is an infinite server queueing system, and client stations are single server queueing systems with autonomous service, i.e. every client station serves customers (units) only at random instants generated by strictly stationary and ergodic sequence of random variables. The total number of units in the network is N . The expected times between departures in client stations are (Nμj) . After a service completion in the server station a unit is transmitted to the jth client station with probability pj (j = 1, 2, . . . , k), and being processed in the jth client station the unit returns to server station. The network is assumed to be in semi-Markov environment. A semi-Markov environment is defined by a finite or countable infinite Markov chain as well as by sequences of independent and identically distributed random variables. Then the routing matrix pj as well as transmission rates (which are expressed via parameters of the network) depend on a Markov state of the environment. The paper studies the queue-length processes in client stations of this network, and is aimed to the analysis of performance measures associated with this network. The questions risen in this paper have immediate relation to quality control of complex telecommunication networks, and the obtained results are expected to lead to solutions for many practical problems of this area of research.


A recent study, using a perceptual task, indicated that two heads were better than one provided that the members could communicate freely, presumably sharing their confidence in their judgments. Capitalizing on recent work on subjective confidence, I replicated this effect in the absence of any dyadic interaction by selecting on each trial the decision of the more confident member of a virtual dyad. However, because subjective confidence monitors the consensuality rather than the accuracy of a decision, when most participants were in error, reliance on the more confident member yielded worse decisions than those of the better individual. Assuming that for each issue group decisions are dominated by the more confident member, these results help specify when groups will be more or less accurate than individuals.


The objective of this study was to analyze the motor development of a ten year old child with ataxic cerebral palsy and the effects of a motor activities program in the swimming pool. Motor development was measured according to the motor assessment and the intervention program of motor activities in the swimming pool conducted at Sesi/Londrina, twice a week, during 45 minute sessions over a 2 month period, with an attendance rate of 87%. Data was analyzed descriptively comparing the results with before and after tests. Generally, the motor quotient regarding all items was classified as "very low", characterizing motor deficit, with exception of temporal organization, presented as "normal low". After intervention, the only area that showed positive change was balance; this result showed that the child gained 12 months in motor age, without corresponding alterations in the other areas.


In its efforts to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets, international policy has focused almost exclusively on the energy sector. Yet, as the global population and per capita demand for food both increase, emissions from agricultural sources risk jeopardising the achievement of those climate targets, as they already account for over a quarter of all anthropogenic emissions. The risk is heightened if the increasing demand for food causes further agricultural expansion and land cover change. Furthermore, increasing per capita food consumption, and also the share of livestock products, can have adverse effects on human health. There is accordingly a close interdependence between consumption patterns, human health and the sustainability of the earth system. Well-designed policies targeting the demand for particular foods could simultaneously improve the health of the global population, and restrict greenhouse gas emissions along with the impacts of land cover change. This briefing paper reviews and summarises evidence for this claim, and urges the need for policies that seek to achieve both better human health and environmental sustainability.


This study provides first-in-class evidence that optical spectroscopy allows sensitive detection of early changes in the biomolecular composition of tumors that predict response to immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Cancer immunotherapy provides durable clinical benefit in only a small fraction of patients, and identifying these patients is difficult due to a lack of reliable biomarkers for prediction and evaluation of treatment response. Here, we demonstrate the first application of label-free Raman spectroscopy for elucidating biomolecular changes induced by anti–CTLA4 and anti–PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of colorectal tumor xenografts. Multivariate curve resolution–alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) decomposition of Raman spectral datasets revealed early changes in lipid, nucleic acid, and collagen content following therapy. Support vector machine classifiers and random forests analysis provided excellent prediction accuracies for response to both ICIs and delineated spectral markers specific to each therapy, consistent with their differential mechanisms of action. Corroborated by proteomics analysis, our observation of biomolecular changes in the TME should catalyze detailed investigations for translating such markers and label-free Raman spectroscopy for clinical monitoring of immunotherapy response in cancer patients. Significance: This study provides first-in-class evidence that optical spectroscopy allows sensitive detection of early changes in the biomolecular composition of tumors that predict response to immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors.


CASE
Paul is an 8-year-old boy with a long-standing history of encopresis and enuresis. Potty training was initiated when he was 2 years old. At this time, his mother was absent from the home for 6 weeks when she cared for her ill father in a different city. The process of teaching Paul to use the bathroom was described as "inconsistent" due to multiple caretakers.Paul never successfully mastered bowel and bladder control. He continues to wet and soil his clothes on a daily basis at home and school. According to his parents, he does not accept responsibility and comments about his soiling such as, "I didn't do it; someone else must have put it there." One of Paul's teachers commented that she could tell at the beginning of the school day whether he would maintain bowel and bladder control. If he was "agitated and talkative" in the early morning, he would often soil that day.He had a pediatric gastroenterological evaluation at the age of 5 years when he was having daily episodes of stool soiling. Physical examination revealed normal anal tone, normal placement of the anus, and moderate stool in the rectal vault. An abdominal radiograph revealed moderate stool throughout the colon. He was treated with Miralax and instructed to sit on the toilet twice daily. Paul did not respond to these interventions and was diagnosed with "overflow incontinence secondary to stool withholding." When he was taking Miralax, he had a normal barium enema radiograph. He was admitted to the hospital for a cleanout with a polyethylene glycol/electrolyte solution.Although abdominal radiographs demonstrated absence of colonic stool for the following 5 months, he continued to soil his clothing. Play therapy and biofeedback did not change the chronic soiling and wetting pattern. An evaluation at the Continence Clinic resulted in a rigorous program including stooling after each meal, wearing a vibrating watch reminding him to void every 2 hours, drinking 60 ounces of water per day, tracking elimination patterns on a calendar, and a daily laxative (polyethylene glycol). A neuropsychological evaluation revealed a superior aptitude associated with unresolved early childhood issues of self-control, self-care, and frustration tolerance. Family therapy was initiated. However, daily fecal soiling and wetting persisted.Paul was born full-term without prenatal or perinatal complications. He was breast fed for 1 year and described as an easy baby. He achieved motor, social, and language milestone on time. Paul had difficulty with separation and aggression in preschool (e.g., biting). In school, teachers report inattention, fidgetiness, and difficulty following directions. He has been obese since age 3 years; his current body mass index is 29.


Aflatoxins are extremely teratogenic, mutagenic, toxic, and carcinogenic compounds. In the present study, 60 cow's raw milk
samples were collected from Qazvin province, Iran during Dec 2015 till July 2016. Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay
(ELISA) was applied to determine Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in the milk samples. AFM1 was detected in 34 raw milk samples
ranging from 6.25×10-3 to 127.87×10-3 (part per billion). AFM1 contents in all positive samples were far below the US legal
limit (0.5 ppb), but AFM1 in30% of the raw milk samples exceeded the EU legal limit (0.05) and 5% of the samples exceeded
the Iran legal limit (0.1 ppb). This study indicates a high occurrence of AFM1 in cow's raw milk especially in winter (40.71×10-
3ppb) but the level of contamination were not significantly different in various seasons (P<0.05). Since contamination of milk
with AFM1 is a potential risk for human health, in order to prevent the repetition, milk and milk products should be controlled
periodically. The levels of AFM1 contamination of milk in the present study showed that continuous examining of milk is
necessary to improve public health and reduce consumer exposure to aflatoxins. Reducing the levels of AFB1 in animal
feedstuffs can be regarded as initial step to control the transfer of AFM1 to the humans.


The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the first Common Policy of the European Union (EU). It was established in the late 1950's, but came into force in 1962. Its primary aim was to overcome food shortage problems after the Second World War. Therefore, the CAP introduced price support measures, eventually resulting in surplus production. This meant a financial burden for the EU budget as the reduction of surplus required export subsidies, which distorted international agricultural trade. In many reform efforts, the main idea was to reduce surplus of reduction, to replace price support with direct payments and to prepare the EU agricultural trade negotiations led by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). But making fundamental change in the CAP has not been straightforward. This study identifies three main reasons why the realization of the CAP reform has been elusive and taken such a long time: conflict of national interests, farm lobbying and the structure of the EU-policy making. Net contributing countries such as Germany and the UK opposed to subsidise the agricultural sectors of net recipient countries such as France. As European farmers were heavily reliant on subsidies, farm lobbyists opposed even the smallest reform to the CAP. Since one institution has not been given total power to play a decisive role in the decision making process, making fundamental change in the CAP has not been trivial so far, nor can it be easy in the near future.


We study ghost-free multimetric theories for (N+1) tensor fields with a coupling to matter and maximal global symmetry group SN×(Z2)N. Their mass spectra contain a massless mode, the graviton, and N massive spin-2 modes. One of the massive modes is distinct by being the heaviest, the remaining (N−1) massive modes are simply identical copies of each other. All relevant physics can therefore be understood from the case N=2. Focussing on this case, we compute the full perturbative action up to cubic order and derive several features that hold to all orders in perturbation theory. The lighter massive mode does not couple to matter and neither of the massive modes decay into massless gravitons. We propose the lighter massive particle as a candidate for dark matter and investigate its phenomenology in the parameter region where the matter coupling is dominated by the massless graviton. The relic density of massive spin-2 can originate from a freeze-in mechanism or from gravitational particle production, giving rise to two different dark matter scenarios. The allowed parameter regions are very different from those in scenarios with only one massive spin-2 field and more accessible to experiments.


Synopsis The phylogenetic intrarelationships of procolophonid parareptiles are determined via a comprehensive cladistic analysis using a data matrix of 21 taxa and 58 characters. Most taxa are included forthe first time in a phylogenetic analysis and 27 characters are novel. The relationships within the group are more firmly resolved than in previous analyses. Procolophoninae and Leptopleuroninae, two of the three traditional subdivisions of the Procolophonidae, are valid monophyletic groups, but Spondylolestinae is polyphyletic. The Chinese genera Pentaedrusaurus and Neoprocolophon are the most primitive members of the Leptopleuroninae. A new group, Theledectinae, is erected. The latter clade consists of small procolophonids with a reduced marginal dentition and wide bulbous monocuspid teeth. Eumetabolodon from China and the former genus 'Thelegnathus' from South Africa are shown to be polyphyletic. The successful radiation of the Procolophonidae during the Triassic is likely to be related to the development of feeding adaptations that allowed exploration of various ecological niches, particularly the exploitation of high‐fibre herbivory. The scarcity of Permian records of procolophonids is examined and the genus Spondylolestes from the Upper Permian of South Africa is considered to be a valid taxon with procolophonid affinities. Finally, a review of the records from the Middle and U pper Triassic reveals a procolophonid global hiatus of more than 15 Ma in Ladinian‐Lower Carnian rocks.


The castle was erected by Gilbert de Moravia, Bishop of Caithness, between 1223 and 1245, at the orders of Alexander II and entrusted to the hereditary wardenship of the local feudal landholders, the Earls of Mar. It is one of the most splendid examples of a great medieval fortress in Scotland, and is distinguished by its unusual size and architectural development. The ruins consist of a high and massive wall of enceinte, enclosing a spacious court, and defended by six strong round towers, of which two flanked the great gateway in the south front, while a third at the north-west corner, much larger than the others, and known as the Snow Tower, was the donjon. Excavation focussed on the foundations of the gatehouse. The great well in the Snow Tower was also investigated.


Effects of alpha-bungarotoxin (alpha-BuTX, 0.037-0.062 microM) and d-tubocurarine (d-Tc, 0.7-2.2 microM) on the post-tetanic potentiation (PTP) of the twitch tension were studied on the isolated mouse diaphragm preparation. In normal physiological solution, maximum PTP was obtained after 100 Hz tetanic stimulation for 5 sec. In preparations partially blocked by alpha-BuTX, PTP was less than in control preparations if tetanically stimulated at 100-200 Hz for 5-10 sec. In contrast, in preparations partially blocked by d-Tc (1-2.2 microM), PTP was increased if a higher frequency (500 Hz) was applied. This increase of the effect was independent of the duration of tetanic stimulation. Thus, d-Tc and alpha-BuTX have a different effect on PTP. The irreversibility of alpha-BuTX may contribute to the differences in mode of action of alpha-BuTX and d-Tc on the PTP of the twitch tension of the isolated mouse diaphragm.


Changes in the activity and abundance of NADPH:protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (NPR) and the abundance of mRNA encoding it were examined during the greening of 5-d-old etiolated cucumber cotyledons under continuous illumination. To measure NPR activity in the extracts from fully greened tissues, we have developed an improved method of assay. Upon exposure of etiolated cotyledons to light, NPR activity decreased rapidly within the first 2 h of exposure. Thereafter, enzymatic activity increased transiently, reaching a submaximum level at 12 h, and decreased slowly. The level of immunodetectable NPR protein followed the same pattern of changes during 96 h of greening as observed for NPR activity. The NPR mRNA in etiolated cotyledons disappeared quickly in the 1st h of irradiation. However, the level of mRNA increased thereafter to reach 3-fold or more of the dark level at 12 h and then decreased. The changes in the activity, protein level, and mRNA level after the first rapid decreases corresponded chronologically and nearly paralleled the increase in the rate of chlorophyll accumulation. These findings suggest that the greening of cucumber cotyledons is regulated basically by the level of NPR protein without activation or repression of enzymatic activity and that NPR mRNA increased by light maintains the level of enzyme protein necessary for greening.


In this paper, a virtual sensor for the estimation of the injected pilot mass in-cycle is proposed. The method provides an early estimation of the pilot mass before its combustion is finished. Furthermore, the virtual sensor can also estimate pilot masses when its combustion is incomplete. The pilot mass estimation is conducted by comparing the calculated heat release from in-cylinder pressure measurements to a model of the vaporization delay, ignition delay and the combustion dynamics. A new statistical approach is proposed for the detection of the start of vaporization and the start of combustion. The discrete estimations, obtained at the start of vaporization and the start of combustion, are optimally combined and integrated in a Kalman Filter that estimates the pilot mass during the vaporization and combustion. The virtual sensor was programmed in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), and its performance tested in a Scania D13 Diesel engine. The experimental results showed that the method can effectively improve the in-cycle pilot mass estimation. The accuracy, quantified by the average error between the actual injected mass and the estimated mass, was improved from an induced initial bias error of ±3 mg/st to a final error of ±0.1 mg/st, with a precision of ±0.45 mg/st. A level of precision of ±0.5 mg/st was already obtained at the peak of the pilot heat release. The suggested method is robust against changing operating conditions based on the calibration points. With the proposed parametrization, this is limited to regions where the parameter dependence is linear. The maximum calibration bias error for points out of the calibration range was within ±0.5 mg/st, with a precision of ±0.8 mg/st. In addition, the method was found to be robust against most input measurement errors and parameter bias. The major error sensitivity was detected for TDC offset. Different fuels than those used for calibration were found to result in an error proportional to the lower heating value error. The estimation framework can easily integrate more complex models to allow the estimation of greater pilot masses and multiple injections. The pilot mass estimation can be used to predict the pilot combustion and its effect on the main injection. This allows for better in-cycle controllability i.e. ability to adjust the main injection timing and duration, cycle-to-cycle control and adaptation of pilot and main injections. The closed-loop control of the combustion enables improved engine performance and efficiency, and reduced emissions variability. (Less)


Despite early diagnosis, one-third of Amish infants with glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (GA1) develop striatal lesions that leave them permanently disabled. To better understand mechanisms of striatal degeneration, we retrospectively studied imaging results from 25 Amish GA1 patients homozygous for 1296C>T mutations in GCDH. Asymptomatic infants had reduced glucose tracer uptake and increased blood volume throughout gray matter, which may signify a predisposition to brain injury. Nine children (36%) developed striatal lesions: three had sudden motor regression during infancy whereas six had insidious motor delay associated with striatal lesions of undetermined onset. Acute striatal necrosis consisted of three stages: (1) an acute stage, within 24 h of motor regression, characterized by cytotoxic oedema within the basal ganglia, cerebral oligemia, and rapid transit of blood throughout gray matter; (2) a sub-acute stage, 4-5 days after the onset of clinical signs, characterized by reduced striatal perfusion and glucose uptake, and supervening vasogenic oedema; and (3) a chronic stage of striatal atrophy. Apparent diffusion coefficient maps revealed that at least two of the six patients with insidious motor delay suffered striatal injuries before or shortly after birth, followed by latent periods of several months before disability was apparent. Thus, acute and insidious presentations may occur by similar mechanisms, and differ only with regard to the timing of injury. Intravenous fluid and dextrose therapy for illnesses during the first 2 years of life was the only intervention that was clearly neuroprotective in this cohort (odds ratio for brain injury = 0.04, 95% confidence interval = 0.01-0.34; P < 0.001).


The growth mechanism and kinetics of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) were investigated for the first time by using a synchrotron time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis. The synchrotron SAXS offers unsurpassed time resolution and the ability to detect structural changes of nanometer sized objects, which are beneficial for the understanding of the growth mechanism of small MSNs (∼20 nm). The Porod invariant was used to quantify the conversion of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) in silica during MSN formation, and the growth kinetics were investigated at different solution pH and temperature through calculating the scattering invariant as a function of reaction time. The growth of MSNs was found to be accelerated at high temperature and high pH, resulting in a higher rate of silica formation. Modeling SAXS data of micelles, where a well-defined electrostatic interaction is assumed, determines the size and shape of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) micelles before and after the addition of TEOS. The results suggested that the micelle size increases and the micelle shape changes from ellipsoid to spherical, which might be attributed to the solubilization of TEOS in the hydrophobic core of CTAB micelles. A new "swelling-shrinking" mechanism is proposed. The mechanism provides new insights into understanding MSN growth for the formation of functional mesoporous materials exhibiting controlled morphologies. The SAXS analyses were correlated to the structure of CTAB micelles and chemical reaction of TEOS. This study has provided critical information to an understanding of the growth kinetics and mechanism of MSNs.


This article addresses the topical question of how the increased availability of (and popular interest in) 'user-generated content' (UGC) influences the development of cyberlaw. While recognising that the Web has been 'user-generated' since its creation, it is argued that the commercial and critical interest in small-scale and individual contributions to the audio/video Web, and the use of such material by established media providers (online and offline) presents a challenge to those who are interested in Internet regulation and the evolution of Web media law. Differing perspectives on the future of Internet regulation are considered in the light of how they relate to understanding the UGC challenge. UGC does not necessarily 'create' novel issues or problems, but it brings questions of law, regulation and control that traditionally have assumed a small number of regulatory subjects into contact with a wide, non-legal audience. This article has a particular focus on the role of the familiar 'platforms' for creating and sharing content, including social networking sites. Possible responses to the threat of private censorship and control range from community pressure to the application of self-regulation; each response, though, could stifle the creativity and freedom that is at the heart of the shift from mass media to UGC. The author concludes by arguing that a critical understanding of the role of the private gatekeeper is particularly important in order to protect the rights of the diverse, apolitical users that form a large part of the audience for and membership of user-generated and social networking websites.


Abstract: This essay explores the possibility that the vernacular (Old English) may have been used in the baptismal rite in Anglo-Saxon England before the middle of the eighth century. Statements made by Bede (d.735) and Boniface (d. 754), provisions in the Canons of the Council of Clofesho (747) and the probable existence of a lost Old English exemplar for the 'Old Saxon' or 'Utrecht' baptismal promise (Palatinus latinus 755, fols 6v–7r), all suggest that it was. The use of the vernacular was most attractive in a context of ongoing Christianization, where the faith commitment of the baptizand was foregrounded and his or her understanding of the rite correspondingly highly valued. Later, the shift of focus towards the correct pronunciation of the Trinitarian formula and the increase of general knowledge about the baptismal rite reduced the impetus for translation, and Latin became the standard language of baptism. The translation and non-translation of the baptismal rite reflect broader concerns about the place of the Church of the English and its ethnic and cultural particularity within the universal Church, and particularly its relationship with Rome.


The incidence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in women of child-bearing age is low, and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is uncommon.1,2 Pregnancy, however, has been shown to increase the risk of AMI ≈3-fold compared with the risk in nonpregnant women of similar age.2–5 Although previous studies have provided some data related to the incidence of pregnancy-associated MI (PAMI), clinical characteristics, risk factors, and outcome1,2,4 more information is needed on the mechanisms of AMI, the efficacy and safety of standard therapy, and the applicability of guideline recommendations designed for the general AMI population, to women with PAMI.

The aim of this study was therefore to review contemporary data on PAMI in an attempt to provide recommendations for the management of this condition.

A literature search for cases with AMI related to pregnancy was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar. References from these studies were cross-checked to obtain additional studies that may have been missed by the original search.

All original articles were obtained online or by interlibrary communication. Articles published in languages other than English were translated by medical translators. A total of 134 cases published in the literature from 2006 to 2011 not included in a previous review4 were included in this study.6–124 In addition, 7 cases presented at the First International Congress on Cardiac Problems in Pregnancy in 2010 (Valencia, Spain) and 9 patients treated or consulted by the authors were also included in the analysis. Recommendations were made on the basis of available clinical information, with the understanding that the cases published in the literature and reviewed by us do not represent all the patients who developed PAMI during the period of the study and that reporting may therefore be incomplete and biased. …


One of the key challenges facing wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is extending network lifetime due to sensor nodes having limited power supplies. Extending WSN lifetime is complicated because nodes often experience differential power consumption. For example, nodes closer to the sink in a given routing topology transmit more data and thus consume power more rapidly than nodes farther from the sink. Inspired by the huddling behavior of emperor penguins where the penguins take turns on the cold extremities of a penguin "huddle", we propose mobile node rotation, a new method for using low-cost mobile sensor nodes to address differential power consumption and extend WSN lifetime. Specifically, we propose to rotate the nodes through the high power consumption locations. We propose efficient algorithms for single and multiple rounds of rotations. Our extensive simulations show that mobile node rotation can extend WSN topology lifetime by more than eight times on average which is significantly better than existing alternatives.


The polycyclic nature of the Migmatized gneiss basement complex of South-western Nigeria is depicted by several tectonic imprints oriented in different manner; such setting is characterized by temporal adjustment of the minimum stress field. Attitude (strike and dip), length, width, average perpendicular distance and aspect ratios were taken for foliations, joints, veins, intrusions and boudinages. These parameters were analyzed on histograms, rose diagrams and stereo nets; outcrop maps were used to elucidate the heterogeneity of the stress field. Joints are the youngest tectonic structures in the study area; they include extensional and shear types, systematic, non-systematic and orthogonal sets with dihedral angle of <90°. The boudinages occur in gneissic rocks; the veins and intrusions are metasome in the host rock and are made of quartz, feldspar and pegmatite minerals. The dominant orientation of structures are NNE-SSW for foliations, E-W, NE-SW, and NNW-SSE for joints, N-S, NNW-SSE and NNESSW for veins, and N-S for intrusions with dip direction of North-west and South-east for foliations and west for intrusions. Initial orientation of σ3 was east-west during the emplacement of the veins and pegmatite intrusions and then ENE-WSW for the quartz-rich intrusions. Joints oriented NE-SW commonly intersected the other structures suggesting they are juvenile and created by NW-SE oriented σ3. Subsequently, shearing of the rocks and rotation of the least stress field produced the boudinages, conjugate joints, and tension gashes. Evidence for horizontally situated σ1 is shown by few slightly folded foliations seen in specific locations. In the study area, the joints were the product of multidirectional minimum stress which was dominantly oriented NW-SE prior to the Pan African orogeny.


This study explores skill transfer in graduates as they transition from university to the workplace. Graduate employability continues to dominate higher education agendas yet the transfer of acquired skills is often assumed. The study is prompted by documented concern with graduate performance in certain employability skills, and prevalent skill gaps across developed economies. Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM), it models skill transfer in 674 business graduates from 39 different Australian universities. Findings support extant literature with the three areas of learner, learning programme and workplace characteristics influencing transfer. The model highlights the need for a more process-oriented, rather than outcomes-focused, approach to the acquisition and transfer of skills in graduates and the shared responsibility of transfer among stakeholder groups. There is a lack of variation among different graduate groups which suggests a generic model of skill transfer and intervention strategies for educators and employers may be implemented as bestpractice. Ultimately, graduate employers will enhance their investment return on new recruits; educators are more likely to achieve goals of work readiness; and individuals will benefit from career progression and intangible rewards associated with improved performance.


This introductory text presents the overarching question that informs the articles in this special section: How have notions of neighborhood and community determined urban planning discourse and practice in mid-twentieth century Europe? Against the backdrop of World Wars, crises and recovery schemes, aspirations to repair – or create – social cohesion among urban dwellers were manifest in the parlance and actions of a range of historical actors, many of which were at the heart of urban planning and reconstruction: architects, sociologists, administrators, planners and local officials. This special section covers different temporal and geographical contexts in Europe (and the US) to disentangle multilayered notions of 'the social' that have permeated neighborhood and community planning schemes. Moreover, taken together, the articles will show how persistent dichotomies in urban planning historiography, such as top-down versus bottom-up or organic versus mechanic, obscure historical understandings of how urban communities were conceived spatially, socially and politically.


While immersive media have been shown to generate more intense emotions, saliency information has been shown to be a key component for the assessment of their quality, owing to the various portions of the sphere (viewports) a user can attend. In this article, we investigate the tri-partite connection between user attention, user emotion and visual content in immersive environments. To do so, we present a new dataset enabling the analysis of different types of saliency, both low-level and high-level, in connection with the user's state in 360◦ videos. Head and gaze movements are recorded along with self-reports and continuous physiological measurements of emotions. We then study how the accuracy of saliency estimators in predicting user attention depends on user-reported and physiologically-sensed emotional perceptions. Our results show that high-level saliency better predicts user attention for higher levels of arousal. We discuss how this work serves as a first step to understand and predict user attention and intents in immersive interactive environments.


We present a MEMS-based distributed Bragg reflector for thermal infrared (TIR) wavelengths 7 µm < λ < 12 µm. Surface micro-machining process flow was developed for [poly-Si/air-gap/poly-Si] λ/4-mirror using low-pressure chemical-vapour deposited SiO2 as intra-mirror and mirror-to-substrate sacrificial layers. Circular 3 mm diameter mirrors with theoretical reflectance exceeding 99% were designed. Poly-Si layers of the mirror were anchored for retaining constant mutual distance. Anchoring density and mirror-to-substrate gap were varied among samples. We utilized scanning-electron microscope (SEM) imaging for qualitative estimation of processing result success as well as for layer-thickness measurements. We characterized the mirror topography and mechanical response under local point loading by scanning with a stylus profilometer. Fourier-transform IR (FT-IR) spectroscopy was utilized in studies of a reflectance spectrum. A one-dimensional computer simulation was allowed to fit model parameters to FT-IR data. Best-fit thicknesses of air gaps and poly-Si layers were compared with design parameters and with SEM measurements in order to verify the final structure corresponding to the design.


Purpose
This study aims to intend to check if female board representation affects performance and risk and to analyse the evolution of the demographic aspects of the presence of women on boards in Brazil.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a sample of 150 Brazilian publicly traded companies from 2010–2018, with different measures of firm performance, firm risk and women's presence on the board. The study approach is based on a set of ordinary least squares, quantile and panel data regressions.

Findings
The presence of women on the board has a positive effect on all of our accounting and market performance measures. However, the result of the impact on risk is not conclusive. The study also found that the number of females on the board has a more significant effect at the lower levels of firm performance measured by return on equity, but at the higher levels when measured by Tobin's Q. Regarding return on assets, the more significant effect happened on the extremes of the performance distribution. The study findings point that market investors place more value in female presence on the board than in director positions.

Originality/value
By estimating the impact of women's presence on the boards of directors in firm performance and risk, this study aimed to verify this impact in different aspects of the company. In addition, the authors did so in a sample with many years, making it possible to evaluate the historical evolution of the feminine presence in the boards of administration as well as in the groups of directors, assisting Brazilian legislators with new evidence about the possible impacts of Draft Law 7179/2017.