This opinion article wishes to highlight the importance of applying reinforcement learning in games designed for therapeutic or educational purposes and is directed in particular to the medical community.

Games provide enjoyment: people learn and keep on playing just for the sake of it, because it is fun. In addition the intrinsic presence of competition and confrontation in any game might be critical in social behaviour. Playing also represents a powerful tool for individual growth and development. In fact games might fulfil different objectives, such as supporting maturation in child, or enhancing educational programs and ultimately facilitating recovery from diverse pathologies. For example, when focussing on motor activities, it is widely accepted that the repetition of sessions of movement therapy plays a key role in the modification of motor outcomes (Kwakkel et al., 2004). In this context, games, due to their ability to improve patients' compliance to treatments, are increasingly being exploited to strengthen and validate training programs directed to improve motor outcomes (Johnson, 2006; Mirelman et al., 2009).

The role of games in improving motor outcomes during rehabilitation is quite obvious, however the rationale behind game clinical efficacy in rehabilitation programs which include games, when compared to the conventional ones (Broeren et al., 2008), has not been developed in a theoretical framework. Certainly, game-based rehabilitation is more effective due to its "more engaging" nature. In this framework, it may be helpful to take into consideration the theory behind machine learning and artificial intelligent systems, for which the outputs of motor re-training represent a valid replica: it is indeed demonstrated that repetitive task-oriented practice in an un-supervised scenario (which mimics a learning-by-doing paradigm) in motor re-training represents a viable and valid method for rehabilitation, and that another means to convey rehabilitation is usually obtained by either a real teacher (e.g. the physical therapist), or a virtual teacher (such as in virtual reality-based rehabilitation), thus triggering an instance of the learning-by-imitation scheme. If the rehabilitation exercises are administered in a game fashion, which means asking the player to choose a solution in terms of movement execution out of a number of discrete possible alternatives, we can hypothesize that this is an example of a reinforcement-learning scheme (Sutton and Barto, 1998).

The internal model hypothesis, i.e. the presence of an internal representation of the dynamics and kinematics of movement at the neural level, is acknowledged as one of the leading theories of motor control and learning in neuroscience (Jordan and Rumelhart, 1992), and many authors proposed different mathematical proxies of this empirical paradigm (see e.g. Tin and Poon, 2005). In the framework of rehabilitation, it is assumed that, in the brain (the controller), this internal representation is re-trained by changing its functional structure over time through interaction with modifications either in the environment or in the affordances of the body. It is acknowledged that most of the computational models that can simulate this ability towards change are based on the presence of rules (needed to adjust the parameters of the controller), where the interaction between the controller and the controlled plant (the body) allows some kind of modification. Among them, reinforcement learning is one of those machine-learning approaches where an entity decides a strategy that will maximize some reward function, as a result of the actions (Minsky, 1961). The controller, which is called the agent in machine learning definitions, is not actually told which actions need to be taken, but learns to adapt the policy, based on the obtained reward. Algorithms able to analytically provide this kind of training are now at hand (Williams, 1992), and the mechanism itself has been fully studied in behavioural analyses of games (see e.g. Zaghloul et al., 2009), where simple reinforcement learning schemes have been demonstrated as efficient in respecting both the law of effect, for which choices that carry positive effects in the short term tend to be repeated in the future, and the power law of practice, for which the performance of a natural system when facing unseen conditions tends to increase with a decreasing rate over time (Erev and Roth, 1998).

In the framework of motor control, this approach has been hypothesized as the only one that grants consistent improvement in general learning-by-doing schemes. At the same time, the implementation of reinforcement learning is generally based on the presence of a discrete number of different choices (a number of primitives), among which the agent is able to choose. The availability of (non-strictly) determined games that involve decision making and execution of a discrete and finite number of motor tasks is fostering new scenarios for enhancing re-training based on reinforcement. It is indeed acknowledged that the prefrontal motor cortex serves as the command generator that sends input to the descending pathways. The way this system chooses the pattern of commands based on the desired action can be represented as the function of a planner, whereas a controller at a lower hierarchical level transforms these neural commands into actual movers. If no mechanism intended to modify the parameters of the planner is present, the controller will only be able to adapt to modifications based on the nature of the planner, in a short-term paradigm based on the difference between the intended action and the executed one. If, instead, some measure of long-term reward is used to let the planner modify its behaviour, the latter will adapt its parameters based on how much the reward differs from the reward it was expecting. Once this difference is negligible, the planner will be trained to drive the lower hierarchy blocks in such a way that the actions are the ones needed to correctly perform the task, and obtain the reward which was expected.

This mechanism is the basis of training in games, where the Value Function inner block in Figure Figure11 replicates the mechanism of "acting to maximize the reward". If no games are present, the training is performed based on the difference between the intended action and the obtained one, with no long-term goal. As a result, if this were the case of rehabilitation programs for humans, the absence of reward mechanisms can lead to a "less adaptive" behaviour where no changes in the parameters of the planner appear due to long-term rewards. On the contrary, a system able to excite the reward mechanism (such as the case of games in a training session) will facilitate modifications of the planner, improve retention of the actions that grant a reward, and possibly facilitate generalization ability. It is here speculated that, also in real life activities, the same mechanism appears, where the human brain is able to extract some sort of reward function based on the performance of the executed task, in terms of accomplishment of the desired objective (see e.g. Cohen, 2008). Keeping this in mind when planning training and rehabilitation programs, it is no surprise that the increase in efficacy in terms of motor outcomes when games are present is a clear-cut consequence of a more efficient training strategy.

Figure 1

Schema of the Reinforcement Learning structure for motor training. Through the interaction with the teacher or with the environment, humans sense some variables and estimate the state; this is input to the Value Function block, which is able to estimate ...

In conclusion, games might represent an effective way of strengthening rehabilitation programs, not only as the result of an increased motivational effect, but also because they entail and trigger a more efficient learning paradigm, based on reinforcement learning. Experimental data targeted to dissect motivational aspects from learning factors might help in supporting/confuting this hypothesis.


In this paper, we present a novel method to detect and classify moving objects from surveillance videos that are obtained from a moving camera. In our method, we first estimate the camera motion by interpreting the movement of interest points in the scene. Then, we eliminate the camera motion and find candidate regions that belong to the moving objects. Considering these regions as priors, we apply an efficient segmentation algorithm to obtain accurate object boundaries for the moving objects. Finally, we classify the detected objects as people, vehicle, or others using some morphological features and the velocity vectors of moving objects. The evaluation of the proposed approach on our surveillance dataset shows that our approach is very effective for determining the classes of moving objects in a moving camera setting.


A complete PIC-Mediator structure As a critical transcription coactivator, the multisubunit Mediator complex binds RNA polymerase II (Pol II), facilitates preinitiation complex (PIC) assembly, and stimulates transcription and phosphorylation of the Pol II C-terminal domain (CTD). However, how these critical transcriptional events are coordinated by Mediator is not fully understood. Chen et al. determined the structures of human Mediator and Mediator-bound PIC in distinct conformational states, the latter of which represents a complete PIC-Mediator complex assembled on the 14-subunit transcription factor IID (TFIID). The structures show that Mediator undergoes reorganization during PIC-Mediator assembly, sandwiches and facilitates phosphorylation of Pol II CTD, and works with TFIID to organize TFIIH in PIC for transcription initiation. Science, abg0635, this issue p. eabg0635 The dynamics of PIC-Mediator assembly and Mediator-stimulated phosphorylation of the RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain are elucidated. INTRODUCTION The multisubunit Mediator binds RNA polymerase II (Pol II), transduces regulatory signals from transcription factors to Pol II, facilitates preinitiation complex (PIC) assembly, and stimulates cyclin-dependent kinase 7 (CDK7)–mediated Pol II C-terminal domain (CTD) phosphorylation. The 14-subunit transcription factor IID (TFIID) is globally required for almost all Pol II–mediated transcription initiation and cannot be replaced by TATA box–binding protein (TBP), a TFIID subunit. Previous structural studies focused on the TBP-based system. However, the mechanism by which Mediator is assembled into TFIID-based PIC and regulates Pol II CTD phosphorylation remains elusive. RATIONALE We reconstituted and determined the cryo–electron microcopy structures of human 26-subunit Mediator and its complex with TFIID-based PIC (76 polypeptides, ~4.1 megadaltons). Structural analyses were performed using the structures of Mediator and PIC-Mediator in distinct conformations, as well as the previously reported TBP-based PIC-Mediator structure. RESULTS Mediator in the Tail-extended (MEDE) and Tail-bent (MEDB) conformations reveals similar separation of the Head and Middle modules. The structure of MEDE at 3.5-Å resolution reveals the mechanism of Mediator assembly. Binding of PIC induces concerted modular reorganization (Head-tilting and Middle-down) of Mediator through two connected molecular levers. The α-helix bundle HB1 of the Head and the Knob of the Middle form a Head-Middle sandwich, which stabilizes two CTD segments with the longer segment extending toward the CDK7 active site. The CTD-Mediator-CDK7 binding pattern suggests a CTD-gating mechanism, by which Mediator binds and brings Pol II CTD to CDK7 for efficient and persistent phosphorylation. Structures of PIC-Mediator in distinct conformations indicate that PIC's architecture modulates Mediator organization. Mediator and TFIID together position TFIIH, stabilize xeroderma pigmentosum type B (XPB)–promoter–Pol II contacts, and may facilitate XPB-mediated promoter melting and DNA translocation toward Pol II. Structural comparison with TBP-based PIC-Mediator reveals considerable differences in Mediator conformation, CTD-Mediator interaction, and XPB stabilization, underscoring the critical role of TFIID in organizing PIC-Mediator. CONCLUSION Our study provides the structure of the human Mediator at near-atomic resolution as well as the structure of the complete PIC-Mediator holocomplex. These structures provide insights into PIC-Mediator assembly and Mediator-stimulated CTD phosphorylation. TFIID may confer considerable complexity and dynamics of PIC-Mediator organization to accommodate highly dynamic processes of transcription initiation. The structures also provide a framework for further studies of Mediator-stimulated transcription activation by transcription factors. Schematic model of PIC-Mediator assembly and Mediator-stimulated CTD phosphorylation. The enhancer- or promoter-bound transcription factors recruit and bring Mediator to the core promoter, on which Mediator, Pol II, and general transcription factors TFIID/IIA/IIB/IIE/IIF/IIH are assembled into PIC-Mediator, during which Mediator undergoes concerted modular reorganization. The Head-Middle sandwich provides two CTD-anchoring sites, which facilitate phosphorylation of the exposed CTD (eCTD) and may allow for gating of the cradled CTD (cCTD) for phosphorylation. Mediator and TFIID stabilize TFIIH, in which XPB mediates promoter melting and DNA translocation to Pol II and CDK7 phosphorylates Pol II CTD; both processes are required for transcription initiation. The 1.3-megadalton transcription factor IID (TFIID) is required for preinitiation complex (PIC) assembly and RNA polymerase II (Pol II)–mediated transcription initiation on almost all genes. The 26-subunit Mediator stimulates transcription and cyclin-dependent kinase 7 (CDK7)–mediated phosphorylation of the Pol II C-terminal domain (CTD). We determined the structures of human Mediator in the Tail module–extended (at near-atomic resolution) and Tail-bent conformations and structures of TFIID-based PIC-Mediator (76 polypeptides, ~4.1 megadaltons) in four distinct conformations. PIC-Mediator assembly induces concerted reorganization (Head-tilting and Middle-down) of Mediator and creates a Head-Middle sandwich, which stabilizes two CTD segments and brings CTD to CDK7 for phosphorylation; this suggests a CTD-gating mechanism favorable for phosphorylation. The TFIID-based PIC architecture modulates Mediator organization and TFIIH stabilization, underscoring the importance of TFIID in orchestrating PIC-Mediator assembly.


Among the solutions for broadband wireless access (BWA) provisioning, Long Term Evolution (LTE) represents one the most promising technologies. In order to effectively support the tremendous growth of mobile broadband services required by the users of the fifth generation (5G) systems, LTE is claimed to efficiently manage the contemporary presence of traditional unicast and value-added multicast services. In this paper, we propose an effective strategy for joint multicast and unicast scheduling in LTE networks which distributes system resources among unicast and multicast services by taking into account the instantaneous load conditions while guaranteeing session quality improvements to both unicast and multicast services. In particular, the designed policy firstly performs the allocation of the resources required for the delivery of minimum requested data rate for both unicast and multicast services. Subsequently, unicast and multicast services equally share the remaining network resources; while resource assignment of additional resources to unicast users is accomplished through a maximum throughput approach, multicast services are managed through a subgroup-based resource allocation scheme. Simulations highlight the effectiveness of the proposed strategy in several scenarios and under different traffic loads.


Radiation therapy (RT) is one of the primary treatment modalities for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). At the time of diagnosis two-thirds of HNSCC patients have local-advanced disease and 50–60% of these patients will experience a local-regional or metastatic relapse within three years. Improving the immunogenic response of RT may help address this clinical problem. However, current RT regiments have failed to reliably generate robust antitumor immunity as evidenced by the rarity of clinical abscopal responses. Recently we engineered a chimeric fusion molecule called Flagrp170, a novel immunostimulatory agent highly capable of promoting antigen presentation and T-cell activation. We hypothesize that the combination of RT and Flagrp170 provides superior immunogenic signals producing effective and durable antitumor immunity against HNSCC. We report that administration of Flagrp170 to the tumor sites upon RT using a small animal radiation research platform (SARPP) results in potent activation of antigen-presenting cells, increased functionality of tumor-infiltrating T-cells, and systemic immune augmentation, when compared to either monotherapy. Additionally, the combination treatment is able to reduce the dose of RT required for tumor control and protects previously cured animals from subsequent tumor re-challenge. Finally, the combination treatment can successfully control the contralateral untreated tumors, supporting the superior activity of Flagrp170 in potentiating abscopal responses of RT. Our data suggest that the Flagrp170 may be used to enhance immunogenic cancer cell death in RT and resultant protective antitumor immunity can potentially help reduce post-RT recurrence of HNSCC.


Sensory ataxic neuropathy (SAN) is a recently identified neurological disorder in golden retrievers. Pedigree analysis revealed that all affected dogs belong to one maternal lineage, and a statistical analysis showed that the disorder has a mitochondrial origin. A one base pair deletion in the mitochondrial tRNATyr gene was identified at position 5304 in affected dogs after re-sequencing the complete mitochondrial genome of seven individuals. The deletion was not found among dogs representing 18 different breeds or in six wolves, ruling out this as a common polymorphism. The mutation could be traced back to a common ancestor of all affected dogs that lived in the 1970s. We used a quantitative oligonucleotide ligation assay to establish the degree of heteroplasmy in blood and tissue samples from affected dogs and controls. Affected dogs and their first to fourth degree relatives had 0–11% wild-type (wt) sequence, while more distant relatives ranged between 5% and 60% wt sequence and all unrelated golden retrievers had 100% wt sequence. Northern blot analysis showed that tRNATyr had a 10-fold lower steady-state level in affected dogs compared with controls. Four out of five affected dogs showed decreases in mitochondrial ATP production rates and respiratory chain enzyme activities together with morphological alterations in muscle tissue, resembling the changes reported in human mitochondrial pathology. Altogether, these results provide conclusive evidence that the deletion in the mitochondrial tRNATyr gene is the causative mutation for SAN.


An approach to the analysis of grating-coupled semiconductor lasers is presented. It is shown that there are only two resonant solutions when the grating has infinite extent. The solutions are either symmetric or antisymmetric about the center of the longitudinal coordinate system where the antisymmetric solution is nonradiating. The field in the grating layer is expressed in terms of grating eigenfunctions and rigorously matched to the boundary conditions at the waveguide interface. Solutions to the finite-length grating problem are expressed as linear combinations of the infinite-length solutions. It is shown that the two diffraction parameters in the coupled-wave equations are composed of sums and differences of the eigenvalues from the infinite-length problem. >


This paper is written in the context of a development bank funding for livestock development in the arid/semi-arid areas of Kenya. A number of activities in the funding proposal will be supported by credit. They include beekeeping in small units, small scale honey refineries, a mini dairy plant to process camel milk, some rural tanneries, small stock and beef farming, Some of these will be individually owned and operated enterprises, e.g., beekeeping, while others will be owned by groups or associations, e.g., honey refineries, rural tanneries and the mini dairy. The financial viability of some of these enterprises is analysed, then organisation and operation of selected credit institutions involved in rural and micro finance business are reviewed in order to develop guidelines for selecting appropriate institution(s) for administering the credit components of the programme.


We develop a stochastic analysis for a Gaussian process $X$ with singular covariance by an intrinsic procedure focusing on several examples such as covariance measure structure processes, bifractional Brownian motion, processes with stationary increments. We introduce some new spaces associated with the self-reproducing kernel space and we define the Paley-Wiener integral of first and second order even when $X$ is only a square integrable process continuous in $L^2$. If $X$ has stationary increments, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions so that its paths belong to the self-reproducing kernel space. We develop Skorohod calculus and its relation with symmetric-Stratonovich type integrals and two types of Ito's formula. One of Skorohod type, which works under very general (even very singular) conditions for the covariance; the second one of symmetric-Stratonovich type, which works, when the covariance is at least as regular as the one of a fractional Brownian motion of Hurst index equal to $H = \frac{1}{4}$.


The Anglican ideal in 1559 was liturgical and organizational uniformity in a national church; today it is a comprehended diversity in a global communion. This very familiar generalization points in the right direction, but it requires a number of qualifications. One is that each Anglican province processed this shift in its own distinctive way, in its own time, and with its own specific purposes. In many places, Anglicans came to accept diversity only after generations of ferocious debates, partisan church politics, and lawsuits. In the case of Scottish episcopalianism, diversity was thrust upon it in a whirlwind in the decade or two after 1689, and its biggest problem for the next three centuries was not to keep its warring factions within, but to reunite its fragments. It achieved this historic goal in 1988 when St. Thomas's Church, an outpost of English evangelicalism in Edinburgh dating back to 1842, finally joined the Episcopal Church of Scotland. What originally brought serious diversity to Scottish episcopalianism was the dissolution of its authority structure in 1689. The Church of Scotland had been episcopally governed since 1662, but at the Revolution which brought William and Mary to the throne, the Scottish bishops, to a man, maintained their loyalty to the Stuarts. (The Stuart kings were, after all, not only champions of episcopacy but also descendants of the ninth-century Scottish king Kenneth MacAlpine.) The bishops thus gave the government no real choice but to end episcopacy and to restore presbyterianism to the Church of Scotland. From then until 1792, the bishops lacked any legally enforceable jurisdiction, and therefore each episcopalian meeting-house was left to determine its own life, congregationalist-style. Some congregations used a version of the Scots prayer book of 1637, others the English prayer book of 1662, and probably most, at least until the 1740s, followed an order of service little distinguishable from the Presbyterian. In the 1720s and 1730s some congregations recognized the "college" bishops who had no diocese, while others recognized the diocesan bishop, and still others recognized no bishop at all. Episcopalians in the "qualified chapels", which were recognized by statute and repellent to the bishops, were required to pray for the recognized monarch; others risked arrest by praying for the Pretender James VIII (or later Charles Edward). Among the latter, some acknowledged the Pretender's royal prerogative to govern the Church, but some did not. From time to time, leaders of the rival parties met together to seek peace. After the death of the Young Pretender in 1788, the Scottish Episcopal Church secured full legal toleration and its bishops could exercise authority, albeit no longer in an established church. But unity remained elusive. Not only did some "qualified chapels" remain independent, but, in addition, they served as a ready model for new congregations which liked episcopacy in principle but disliked bishops in practice. Of these new congregations, St. Thomas's, Edinburgh, was the most important. St. Thomas's originated in what historians have variously called, depending on their position on the ecclesiological spectrum, the Drummond Schism, the Diminuendo secession, or the Drummond Controversy. Its best historian is Rowan Strong, in Episcopalianism in Nineteenth-Century Scotland (Oxford, 2002). David Thomas Ker Drummond, an Oxford-educated Scot, was rector of an Episcopal church in downtown Edinburgh. In 1838 he began leading weeknight evangelistic services. Scottish episcopalians, overwhelmingly highchurch, scarcely knew what to make of this, and Drummond's bishop cited him in 1842 for deviating from the text of the Prayer Book in public worship. Drummond resigned from the diocese, and he and his supporters formed "St. Thomas's English Episcopal Church," which they viewed as a kind of ecclesiastical peculiar of the Church of England. It used an English liturgy and came to attract English immigrants. …


In this paper, we study the problem of selecting a subset from a ground set to maximize a monotone objective function f such that a monotone cost function c is bounded by an upper limit. State-of-the-art algorithms include the generalized greedy algorithm and POMC. The former is an efficient fixed time algorithm, but the performance is limited by the greedy nature. The latter is an anytime algorithm that can find better subsets using more time, but without any polynomial-time approximation guarantee. In this paper, we propose a new anytime algorithm EAMC, which employs a simple evolutionary algorithm to optimize a surrogate objective integrating f and c. We prove that EAMC achieves the best known approximation guarantee in polynomial expected running time. Experimental results on the applications of maximum coverage, influence maximization and sensor placement show the excellent performance of EAMC.


We conducted longitudinal studies on filariasis control in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu, south India, between 1995 and 2000. Overall, 23 entomological (yearly) data sets were available from seven villages, on indoor resting collections [per man hour (PMH) density and transmission intensity index (TII)] and landing collections on human volunteers [PMH and annual transmission potential (ATP)]. All four indices decreased or increased hand‐in‐hand with interventions or withdrawal of inputs and remained at high levels without interventions under varied circumstances of experimental design. The correlation coefficients between parameters [PMH: resting vs. landing (r = 0.77); and TII vs. ATP (r = 0.81)] were highly significant (P < 0.001). The former indices from resting collections stand a chance of replacing the latter from landing collections in the evaluation of global filariasis elimination efforts. The TII would appear to serve the purpose of a parameter that can measure infection pressure per unit time in the immediate household surroundings of human beings and can reflect the success or otherwise of control/elimination efforts along with human infection parameters. Moreover, it will not pose any additional risk of new infection(s) and avoids infringement of human rights concerns by the experimental procedures of investigators, unlike ATP that poses such a risk to volunteers.


The lanthanide metals lanthanum, praseodymium and neodymium containing 2,200, 2,600, 1,850 mass ppm oxygen, respectively, were deoxidized to 20-30 ppm level at 1,073 K by an electrochemical method. The metal to be deoxidized was used as the cathode in an electrolysis cell which consisted of a graphite anode and molten CaCl2 electrolyte. The calcium metal produced at the cathode by electrolysis effectively deoxidized the lanthanide metal. Calcium oxide produced by deoxidation, dissolved in the melt. The liberation of carbon monoxide/dioxide at the anode was found to prevent accumulation of oxygen in the melt. For a quantitative discussion of the limits of deoxidation achievable by this technique, a thermodynamic investigation of the lanthanide-oxygen (Ln-O ; Ln = La, Pr, Nd) solid solutions was conducted. The lanthanide metal, yttrium and titanium samples were immersed in calcium-saturated CaCl2 melt, containing a small quantity of dissolved CaO, at 1,093 K. The oxygen potential of the melt and the Ln-O solid solutions were obtained from the oxygen content of yttrium samples at equilibrium, and the known thermodynamic properties of yttrium-oxygen solid solution. The results were confirmed by using Y/Y2O3 equilibrium to control the oxygen potential of the molten salt reservoir. The oxygen affinity of the metals was found to decrease in the order : Y > Ti > Nd > Pr > La. The deoxidation results are consistent with the thermodynamic properties of the RE-O solid solutions.


One of the mega trends of the 21st century is "Mobility"; two others of equal importance are "Individualism" and "Sustainability". Yet when it comes to transportation, there seems to be no alternative to owning at least one car per household to be ultimately mobile as an individual - which does not really correspond to sustainable behavior. Especially not in a densely populated metropolitan area in Germany which provides a well-developed public transportation system.In this situation, it is critical to answer whether a mobility concept can be developed that is both sufficiently attractive and economically viable. The three major challenges are as follows: to encourage - users to give up their car- investors to accept major limitations in building parking space (which could negatively impact rents and selling prices)- operators to offer sharing of cars, bikes, etc.Using a real life case – a new city district – an integrated view is analyzed, qualitatively as well as quantitatively. There are substantial questions to be raised: Is a concept of limited individual parking spaces compensated by shared transportation utilities and improved public transportation just an illusion? Can these offerings really satisfy the current and future needs of the residents? Is the concept sustainable for all parties involved? Will investors invest and operators be able to make a profit? How would these systems need to be designed – physically as well as financially?These questions can only be answered using an integrated model that combines the findings of fundamental studies on user behavior and needs, investor and operator requirements, and translate those into interrelated financial and non-financial outcomes. Accordingly, the model needs to include and analyze aspects likedifferent types of users, their requirements as well as their cost-benefit profiles regarding a holistic mobility conceptrequirements of property investors regarding the physical and financial implications, including the advantages and disadvantages of new parking regulationsphysical and financial requirements for mobility operators providing mobility offers and satisfying users' needs.Such an integrated analysis and modelling could be an important point of reference for the real estate community in developing variable mobility concepts, implementing new parking guidelines, and producing sustainable urban development.


This discussion of optical particle counting (OPC) points out application areas where the procedure is used to collect data that would not be available otherwise. These areas include determination of particle size distributions from the size data of individual particles, identification of particles that do not fit within a specified size distribution function, and characterizing the particles present in a process of product fluid. The designs, performance, and operation of OPCs for both gasborne and liquidborne particles are discussed. Capabilities and limitations in terms of particle size ranges, counting accuracy, concentration, and so on are pointed out. The primary limitation is related to the fact that OPCs respond not only to the size of the particles, but also to the optical nature of the particles and of the fluid. Data are also affected by the counter design. All respond to a physical and/or chemical property of the particles, as well as to their physical size and morphology. The limitations of OPCs in relation to those factors are considered.

Operational requirements for OPC are pointed out. These include good sample acquisition and handling procedures, consideration of the effects of differences between particle counter designs on reported data, requirements for careful calibration before use and the effects of differences between calibration particles and sampled particles. A brief summary of present national and international standard documents for calibration and operation of these instruments is included. Performance capabilities of current OPCs are summarized and possible future developments are discussed. Performance is considered in comparison with that of other particle measuring procedures.


Objective Meningeal involvement in Immunoglobulin G (IgG)-4-related disease is rare and only described in case reports and series. Because a review into the disease is lacking, we present 2 cases followed by a literature review of IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis (IgG4-HP). Methods Two IgG4-HP cases were reported, one involving the spinal cord and responding to surgical management and a second involving the brain and responding to Rituximab therapy. We then review clinical cases and case-series of histologically proven IgG4-HP that were published in the PubMed-NCBI database. Results Forty-two case reports and 5 case-series were studied (60 patients, 20 women). The median age was 53. Eighteen patients had systemic involvement and 24 had single-organ IgG4-HP. Fifty-five percent of patients had an elevated serum IgG4. Treatment was surgical in 20/53 cases. Steroid therapy and immunosuppressors were effective in 85% and more than 90% of the cases, respectively. The rate of disease relapse was 42.1% after steroid therapy was discontinued. Discussion/conclusion IgG4-HP is characterized by the lack of extra-neurologic organ-involvement and systemic signs. Histopathologic studies should be performed as it is crucial for diagnosis because serum markers are rarely informative. 18F-FDG positon tomography can be useful to characterize systemic forms. There is no specific CSF marker for IgG4-HP and the diagnostic value of CSF IgG4 levels needs to be studied with larger samples. We provide a treatment algorithm for IgG4-HP. Such treatment strategies rely on early surgery, steroids, and early immunosuppressive therapy to prevent neurologic complications.


Electronic structure calculations have been carried out to provide a molecular interpretation for dihydrogen phosphate stability in water relative to that of metaphosphate. Specifically, hydration enthalpies of biologically important metaphosphate and dihydrogen phosphate with one to three waters have been computed with second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation and density functional theory (B3LYP) with up to the aug-cc-pvtz basis set and compared to experiment. The inclusion of basis set superposition error corrections and supplemental diffuse functions are necessary to predict hydration enthalpies within experimental uncertainty. Natural bond orbital analysis is used to rationalize underlying hydrogen bond configurations and key orbital interactions responsible for the experimentally reported difference in hydration enthalpies between metaphosphate and dihydrogen phosphate. In general, dihydrogen phosphate forms stronger hydrogen bonds compared to metaphosphate due to a greater charge transfer or enhanced orbital overlap between the phosphoryl oxygen lone pairs, n(O), and the antibonding O-H bond of water. Intramolecular distal lone pair repulsion with the donor n(O) orbital of dihydrogen phosphate distorts symmetric conformations, which improves n(O) and sigma*(O-H) overlap and ultimately the hydrogen bond strength. Unlike metaphosphate, water complexed to dihydrogen phosphate can serve as both a hydrogen bond donor and a hydrogen bond acceptor, which results in cooperative charge transfer and a reduction of the energy gap between n(O) and sigma*(O-H), leading to stronger hydrogen bonds. This study offers insight into how orbital interactions mediate hydrogen bond strengths with potential implications on the understanding of the kinetics and mechanism in enzymatic phosphoryl transfer reactions.


Companies that are ready to compete must have effective management. To improve employee performance ineffective management requires the support of qualified and competent employees in their field. On the other hand the coaching of employees including who should be prioritized as the main asset of the company. The learning process should be a corporate culture so that the skills of the employees can be maintained, even improved. In this case, the loyalty of competent employees must be considered. Therefore, understanding and development of human resources within a company organization becomes very important. This study aims to analyze the effect simultaneously and partially between the variables of education and training and leadership on employee performance. The sample of the research was conducted at PT. Hutama Agung Jakarta Indonesia as many as 94 people. The sampling technique used random sampling technique and the analysis using path analysis. The results showed that the variables of education and training and leadership influence simultaneously and partially on employee performance.


Nuclear EGFR promotes posttranslational modifications of histone H4 that stimulate DNA synthesis and repair. Although usually thought of only as cell surface receptors, many receptor tyrosine kinases, such as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), also function in the nucleus. Both ionizing radiation (IR) and the ligand EGF stimulate translocation of EGFR to the nucleus, where it affects gene transcription and DNA synthesis and repair. Chou et al. report that both IR and EGF triggered colocalization of EGFR and histone H4 in the nuclei of cultured A431 cervical cancer and MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells. EGFR and H4 coimmunoprecipitated from extracts of these cells, and EGFR phosphorylated H4 on Tyr72 in vitro and promoted this phosphorylation in cultured cells. EGFR-mediated phosphorylation of H4 on Tyr72 recruited the histone methyltransferases SET8 and SUV4-20H to H4 and promoted both mono- and dimethylation of H4 on Lys20 in cells. SET8-mediated monomethylation of H4 on Lys20 is required for DNA synthesis, and SUV4-20H–mediated dimethylation of this residue is required for DNA repair. EGF promoted DNA synthesis in cells that had wild-type H4, but not in cells that had mutant forms of H4 in which Tyr72 or Lys20 had been mutated (H4Y72F and H4K20R). Repair of double-strand DNA breaks induced by IR was reduced in cells with H4Y72F compared to cells with wild-type H4. Increased EGFR signaling is implicated in several types of human tumors, including breast cancer. A peptide that competed with H4 for binding to EGFR reduced tumor size in an MDA-MB-468 breast cancer xenograft model. By immunohistochemical staining of human breast tumor samples, the abundance of EGFR positively correlated with the abundance of Tyr72-phosphorylated and Lys20-methylated H4 and with a marker of cell proliferation in human breast tumor samples. This potential for nuclear EGFR to promote DNA synthesis and repair in cancer cells may therefore have implications for the survival and proliferation of tumor cells. R. -H. Chou, Y. -N. Wang, Y. -H. Hsieh, L. -Y. Li, W. Xia, W. -C. Chang, L. -C. Chang, C. -C. Cheng, C. -C. Lai, J. L. Hsu, W. -J. Chang, S. -Y. Chiang, H. -J. Lee, H. -W. Liao, P. -H. Chuang, H. -Y. Chen, H. -L. Wang, S. -C. Kuo, C.- H. Chen, Y. -L. Yu, M. -C. Hung, EGFR modulates DNA synthesis and repair through Tyr phosphorylation of histone H4. Dev. Cell 30, 224–237 (2014). [PubMed]


We devise automated workflows for the calculation of Helmholtz and Gibbs free energies and their temperature and pressure dependence and provide the corresponding computational tools. We employ non-equilibrium thermodynamics for evaluating the free energy of solid and liquid phases at a given temperature and reversible scaling for computing free energies over a wide range of temperatures, including the direct integration of PT coexistence lines. By changing the chemistry and the interatomic potential, alchemical and upscaling free energy calculations are possible. Several examples illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of our implementation.


This paper is the second part of the new evaluation of atomic masses, Ame2012. From the results of a least-squares calculation, described in Part I, for all accepted experimental data, we derive here tables and graphs to replace those of Ame2003. The first table lists atomic masses. It is followed by a table of the influences of data on primary nuclides, a table of separation energies and reaction energies, and finally, a series of graphs of separation and decay energies. The last section in this paper lists all references to the input data used in Part I of this Ame2012 and also to the data included in the Nubase2012 evaluation (first paper in this issue).


This paper intended to explore the information literacy skill and ICT knowledge of women students in higher education. The data were retrieved from Mother Theresa Women University, Kodaikkanal and Avinashilingam University for Women, Coimbatore, and Tamilnadu, India. There are 300 questionnaires were distributed, 252 questionnaires were collected back. Data have been analyzed with simple analysis. The study found that these two women universities have good environment with Wi-Fi and providing well equipped laboratory and library. The majority of the students are using database and other electronic resources for their research work and studies. The women's students have excellent knowledge of ICT and Information Literacy skills.


Iatrogenic illnesses are those that arise as a result of the process of medical care and are potentially preventable by improvements to patient care. The term is commonly used to denote medical error; however, for the critically ill patient the term has a much more fundamental meaning. Critical illness is inherently iatrogenic: it only develops in those patients who have been resuscitated from an otherwise life-threatening disorder, and its subsequent evolution is shaped by the beneficial and adverse consequences of therapeutic and supportive interventions. The construct of organ dysfunction describes both the nature of this support and its inadvertent consequences. This review explores evolving evidence on the iatrogenic nature of critical illness and the implications of an iatrogenic model of disease on the taxonomy, management, and prevention of the complex processes that threaten to limit the survival of the critically ill patient.


The influence of inspiration on well-being was examined in 4 studies. In Study 1, experimental manipulation of exposure to extraordinary competence increased positive affect, and inspiration accounted for this effect. In Study 2, trait inspiration predicted an increase in positive hedonic and eudaimonic well-being variables (positive affect, life satisfaction, vitality, and self-actualization) across a 3-month period, even when the Big 5 traits, initial levels of all well-being variables, and social desirability biases were controlled. In Study 3, both trait inspiration and personal goals inspiration predicted increases in positive well-being variables across a 3-month period. In contrast, well-being did not predict longitudinal change in inspiration. Study 4, a diary study, extended the relation between inspiration and well-being to the within-person level of analysis. For given individuals, variations in inspiration across mornings predicted variations in evening levels of positive well-being variables. These effects were mediated by purpose in life and gratitude. These studies provide converging evidence that inspiration enhances well-being and document 2 parallel mediating processes.


To control the microstructure and the responsive rates of hydrogels, a temperature-induced phase separation (TIPS) method applied to an organic-inorganic hybrid hydrogel. A copolymer between thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), polyNIPA, and a vinyl monomer possessing a trimethoxysilyl group was synthesized by radical reaction. Its cross-linking could be carried out by hydrolytic polycondensation of trimethoxysilyl groups. During both reactions, the pre-gel solution was separated into two phases by heating above a lower critical solution temperature of the elongating polyNIPA copolymer. The responsive rates of the microporous gel could be controlled by characteristic diffusion path length as the thickness of micropore wall, instead of the macroscopic sample size. Therefore, the shrinking rates of the hydrogel could be successfully maximized by fixing the phase-separated, microporous polymer network. Besides the interconnectivity of generated pores, the thermally triggered shrinking kinetics was investigated.


A rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based procedure was developed for detection of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines , the causal agent of bacterial pustule disease on soybean. A set of primers was designed from partial sequence of the pathogenicity gene of X. axonopodis pv. glycines strain YR32. Specific PCR product of 490 base pairs was produced from strains of X. axonopodis pv. glycines originally from Indonesia as well as from Taiwan. No other pathovars and bacterial species among those tested showed amplification product under optimized PCR conditions. Shaking infected soybean leaves in phosphate buffer saline during six hours was proved to be an essential in order to increase cell number of the bacterial. The procedure was applicable and reliable for detecting of pathogens in infected plant materials. The procedure was proved to be more effective than that of conventional detection and could be of great help for monitoring of pustule bacterial disease in the soybean fields. Key words: Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines, bacterial pustule disease, rapid detection, PCR, specific primer


The relationship of erythromycin biosynthesis to growth appears to vary with the fermentation medium in which the microorganism is grown. In a medium containing a complex nitrogen source, antibiotic production occurred only when growth was halted, whereas in a glycine-containing synthetic medium the two parameters increased at nearly the same time. An autostimulation of antibiotic production through addition of erythromycin is reported. Also described is the use of a labeled precursor as an index of biosynthesis rates during short periods of time.


When a small air bubble bursts from an equilibrium position at an air/water interface, a complex motion ensues resulting in the production of a high-speed liquid jet. This free-surface motion following the burst is modelled numerically using a boundary integral method. Jet formation and liquid entrainment rates from jet breakup into drops are calculated and compared with existing experimental evidence. In order to investigate viscous effects, a boundary layer is included in the calculations by employing a time-stepping technique which allows the boundary mesh to remain orthogonal to the surface. This allows an approximation of the vorticity development in the region of boundary-layer separation during jet formation. Calculated values of pressure and energy dissipation rates in the fluid indicate a violent motion, particularly for smaller bubbles. This has important implications for the biological industry where animal cells in bioreactors have been found to be killed by the presence of small bubbles.


Recent years have seen the rise of a new industry which has clogged the dockets of small claims courts throughout the country. It is known as the "debt buyer" industry. Members of this $100 billion per year industry exist for no reason other than to purchase consumer debt which others have already deemed uncollectable, and then try to succeed in collecting where others have failed. Debt buyers pay pennies on the dollar for this charged off debt, and then seek to collect, through hundreds of thousands of lawsuits, the full face value of the debt. The emergence and vitality of this industry presents several legal, ethical and economic issues which merit exploration, study and scholarly debate.This article focuses on the problem of robo-signing and the lack of proof in debt buyer cases. Although this problem has received limited attention from the media and from regulators, there is a paucity of legal scholarship about debt buyers in general, and this problem in particular. This article demonstrates that robo-signing and fraud are rampant in this industry, and that the debt buyers who pursue these claims often lack proof necessary to show that they own the debt, and often lack proof even that a debt was ever owed in the first place. The fact that this lack of proof has led to consumers being sued twice on the same debt demonstrates the due process concerns which are implicated when courts enter judgments against consumers based on robo-signing and insufficient proof.This article calls on courts to hold plaintiffs in debt buyer cases to the same standards required of other litigants. Courts must require a demonstration of personal knowledge of the matter at issue before any affidavit is accepted, before any person testifies, and before any documents are admitted into evidence.


The effect of zinc, copper, and iron levels on production of ochratoxin A by Aspergillus ochraceus Wilhelm in a synthetic medium in a shake culture was investigated. Optimal concentrations of ZnSO(4), CuSO(4), and FeCl(3) for ochratoxin A production were 0.055 to 2.2 mg/liter, 0.004 to 0.04 mg/liter, and 1.2 to 24 mg/liter, respectively. Zinc and copper levels greater than optimum reduced the rate of ochratoxin accumulation without altering either glutamate or sucrose utilization. Ochratoxin A production was correlated with rapid utilization of sucrose by the fungus and decreasing pH of the medium. Most of the glutamic acid was removed from the medium prior to ochratoxin production. There was no correlation between mycelial dry weight and ochratoxin A production.


Unit One Classroom and cultural contexts for the teaching of literature 1 Why should language students study literature? 2 What do language students bring to the literature classroom? Knowledge, skills, attitudes, and expectations 3 What do teachers bring to literature classes in the languages? Knowledge, skills, attitudes, and expectations Unit Two Expanding the community of readers: Promoting engagement in second language literature classes 4 Terms of engagement in the literature classroom: Practice and theory 5 Assembling the tools: Equipping students to read literary texts 6 Coming to terms with the literary text: Reading for engagement 7 From literary analysis and argument toward independent reading 8 Composing and conducting a class: Ethics and mechanics Unit Three Larger contexts and long range planning 9 Literature in the language curriculum: Structures and articulation 10 Accountability and engagement: Grading, evaluation, and assessment 11 Preparation and support for literature teachers Appendix : Sample syllabi, assignment sheets, course handouts and exam questions


Abstract Platycrinites is traditionally one of the more recognizable crinoids, a camerate crinoid with very few if any fixed brachials or interradials and a helically twisted column. Accordingly, many taxa have been assigned to this genus. With a better understanding of the Platycrinitidae, these characters actually unite the family Platycrinitidae rather than the genus. Further, use of different genus-diagnostic characters in Western Europe versus North America has resulted in a confused systematics for this important late Paleozoic family. Here, we objectively define genera within the Platycrinitidae and assign all species to either newly defined or newly named genera. A phylogenetic hypothesis, incorporating both parsimony-based character analysis and stratigraphic ranges, of the genera within the Platycrinitidae is presented. With consideration of the type species, Platycrinites laevis Miller, 1821, Platycrinites sensu stricto is distinguished from Platycrinites sensu lato, which is used for species that cannot be assigned with confidence to any objectively defined genus. New genera are Artaocrinus n. gen., Collicrinus n. gen., Elegantocrinus n. gen., and Laticrinus n. gen.; and Exsulacrinus Bowsher and Strimple, 1986 is designated a junior synonym of Platycrinites s.s. Collicrinus shumardi n. gen. and sp., Laticrinus oweni n. gen. and sp., and Laticrinus wachsmuthi n. gen. and sp. are described; and Platycrinites formosus approximatus (Miller and Gurley, 1896a) is designated a junior synonym of Platycrinites formosus (Miller and Gurley, 1895a), which is reassigned here to Collicrinus n. gen. Platycrinites s.s. now includes 14 species and species-level taxa, and 76 species are assigned to Platycrinites s.l. Ten species are designated nomina dubia, as are taxa based solely on columnals or pluricolumnals. Two species are designated nomina nuda, and two are transferred to genera outside of the Platycrinitidae. In addition, twenty-seven species and four open-nomenclature taxa are each reassigned to a different genus.


Despite strong empirical performance for image classification, deep neural networks are often regarded as ``black boxes'' and they are difficult to interpret. On the other hand, sparse convolutional models, which assume that a signal can be expressed by a linear combination of a few elements from a convolutional dictionary, are powerful tools for analyzing natural images with good theoretical interpretability and biological plausibility. However, such principled models have not demonstrated competitive performance when compared with empirically designed deep networks. This paper revisits the sparse convolutional modeling for image classification and bridges the gap between good empirical performance (of deep learning) and good interpretability (of sparse convolutional models). Our method uses differentiable optimization layers that are defined from convolutional sparse coding as drop-in replacements of standard convolutional layers in conventional deep neural networks. We show that such models have equally strong empirical performance on CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, and ImageNet datasets when compared to conventional neural networks. By leveraging stable recovery property of sparse modeling, we further show that such models can be much more robust to input corruptions as well as adversarial perturbations in testing through a simple proper trade-off between sparse regularization and data reconstruction terms. Source code can be found at https://github.com/Delay-Xili/SDNet.


Abstract The Black Sea is generally thought to be a back-arc basin with active extension (rifting) beginning in late Early Cretaceous times – although some fundamental issues such as the presence or absence of a related magmatic arc and the orientation of the related, driving, subduction zone remain vaguely defined at best. However, as shown here, the regional structure of the Black Sea is consistent with that predicted by geodynamic models of modern back-arc basin formation, in which extension is driven by slab roll-back. This includes an asymmetric distribution of horst and graben structures in the back-arc basin, the distribution and spacing of which is related to the strength of the underlying lithosphere, which forms the hanging wall of the subduction zone. By analogy, the intrabasinal structure of the Black Sea as a whole is explicable as the consequence of a single phase of asymmetric back-arc basin formation, not two separate phases independently responsible for its western and eastern segments, and its underlying lithosphere is rheologically strong, as predicted by recent models of Precambrian Europe and present-day tomography.


This study examined the influence of corporate governance on return on assets of quoted banks in Nigeria. The study used secondary data from 2013 to 2017.Data sourced from selected Annual Report and Accounts of three Quoted banks by the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The study utilised both Descriptive Statistics and Ordinary Least Square-Multiple Regression method with the aid of using E-view 9 to analyse the data. The results shown that, the corporate governance has significant influence on return on assets as (F-statistics = 23.46, P <0.05). The results further indicate that, the proportion of shareholders more than 10,001 share, board of composition size and bank size exerts a positive and considerable relevance to return on assets of quoted banks in Nigeria and bank size has significant influenced on return on assets with (β=2.09, t=3.94, p<0.05). Findings suggest that board of directors size of quoted banks in Nigeria should not be too large and must be meeting regularly to effectively and efficiently carry out their oversight functions and responsibilities


Nineteen papers are here given, so arranged as to set forth the outlines of the evangelical creed, emphasizing Ruin, Redemption and Regeneration. With the constant uprise of strange teaching, sweeping badly instructed young Christians off their feet, there is constant need of sound instruction. The names of Meyer, Webster, Pierson, Varley, Anderson, indeed of all the seventeen authors, will raise expectations quite fulfilled, and it is not surprising that a third impression has already been called for. W. T. WHITLEY.


This paper studies the root-cause analysis based on the time delays among various signals, for reducing nuisance alarms in modern industrial systems including power grids. Time delays are estimated via the revised nearest neighbor imputation method, and are validated via the subsequent consistency check. Numerical examples including the IEEE 5-node system as a prototype power grid are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed time delay estimation method and the subsequent consistency check.


From the earliest years of her career, which began about 1906, until her death in 1976, photographer Imogen Cunningham explored botanical imagery with intelligence and originality. Her detailed examinations of nature combined scientific curiosity with the eloquent creative expression of a true artist. Imogen Cunningham: Flora presents a stunning selection of Cunningham's botanical images dating from 1913 through the 1970s, with an emphasis on work from the 1920s and 1930s. More than half the images have never been published. In his illustrated essay, author Richard Lorenz discusses Cunningham's abiding amateur interest in botany and traces the evolution of her photographic imagery, which closely paralleled many of the technical and aesthetic developments of the twentieth century. Botanical notes on plants illustrated in the plates, a chronology of Cunningham's life, and a selected bibliography are included.


Theoretically it would be possible to create a jetpack that used water as a primary propulsion method. This paper looks at the physics behind such a proposition, by deriving a relationship between the mass of the water required m and the time spent airborne t. The masses of water involved are analysed for practicability, and it is found that 99.0 kg of water is required per second of flight, which is concluded to be an unfeasibly large amount.


The Writing Centre in Maynooth University, Ireland, is proud of its learner-centred approach (Biggs 1999, Lea et al. 2003). In the Centre we begin where students are, by asking them about their writing concerns. We also appreciate the need to recognise and build on their approaches to writing, their effective writing processes and their writing achievements. We see this under the broader heading of 'writing transfer'. In this article, we outline our strategies to promote transfer and thinking about transfer with students before and after one-to-one appointments. In a small-scale research project we conducted, our research questions accentuated two potential principles of transfer, as noted in the Elon Statement on Writing Transfer, that '[s]uccessful writing transfer occurs when a writer can transform rhetorical knowledge and rhetorical awareness into performance … [when they] draw on previous knowledge and strategies … [and] … transform or repurpose that prior knowledge, if only slightly', and that University programs can 'teach for transfer' (Perkins and Salomon 1988) through the use of enabling practices (Elon 2013: 4). Our work suggests that highlighting transfer in the writing centre context reinforces our learner-centred approach while also acknowledging the literacy archives with which our students present.


This paper describes a transdisciplinary approach that takes places in South of Brazil with the aim to contribute with an eco-bio-social problem: dengue fever. Inspired by enactive theories about relation between body x environment, the authors present here a nontraditional multifaceted bottom-up intervention, designed by civic-oriented journalists and artists to promote health and mobilize a small community in Maringá. The intention is to promote healthier behavior in a participatory perspective when citizens can produce and share their narratives. The content was used as creative material to produce multimedia news, sketch and prototype mobile apps with the support of community.


Human dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) is a ubiquitously expressed type II transmembrane serine protease. It cleaves the penultimate positioned prolyl bonds at the N terminus of physiologically important peptides such as the incretin hormones glucagon-like peptide 1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide. In this study, we have characterized different active site mutants. The Y547F mutant as well as the catalytic triad mutants S630A, D708A, and H740L showed less than 1% wild type activity. X-ray crystal structure analysis of the Y547F mutant revealed no overall changes compared with wild type apoDPP-IV, except the ablation of the hydroxyl group of Tyr547 and a water molecule positioned in close proximity to Tyr547. To elucidate further the reaction mechanism, we determined the crystal structure of DPP-IV in complex with diisopropyl fluorophosphate, mimicking the tetrahedral intermediate. The kinetic and structural findings of the tyrosine residue are discussed in relation to the catalytic mechanism of DPP-IV and to the inhibitory mechanism of the 2-cyanopyrrolidine class of potent DPP-IV inhibitors, proposing an explanation for the specificity of this class of inhibitors for the S9b family among serine proteases.


PURPOSE: To compare the visual acuity and macular thickness in patients with diabetic retinopathy presenting and not presenting macular edema before treatment and submitted to argon laser retinal panphotocoagulation. Methods: Patients were included and classified into two groups before the treatment. All patients were submitted to ophthalmological examination and optical coherence tomography, following panphotocoagulation. The results were evaluated by measuring visual acuity at the end and by optical coherence tomography after one week, one and three months following the treatment. RESULTS: The sample was composed of 37 patients (37 eyes). Group 1 included 29 patients with diabetic retinopathy without macular edema; Group 2 included 8 patients with macular edema. The two groups were similar regarding gender, age, and the mean of argon laser spots treatment. The groups showed differences in visual acuity (p<0.001) and Group 2 patients presented decrease of visual acuity three months after the treatment (p<0.001). Group 2 patients showed a greater mean of macular thickness measurements on optical coherence tomography evaluation. CONCLUSION: Variation of the macular thickness as well as decrease in visual acuity was present in the patients with macular edema previously to panphotocoagulation. Only minimal increase in macular thickness was observed in the absence of macular edema.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Students on a required family medicine clerkship participated in an experiential project designed to teach them about emergency contraception (EC). This study describes students' changes in knowledge and attitudes about barriers to care after assuming the patient role and presenting their findings to peers and after hearing a presentation about EC from their peers.

METHODS
This mixed-methods study used quantitative measures of knowledge and attitudes about EC before and after the students' family medicine clerkship. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with all students who self-selected the EC Project and assumed the role of a patient and then taught their peers.

RESULTS
All student groups showed improvement in knowledge and attitude scores, though gains were not statistically significant. Students who participated in the EC Project reported multiple benefits related to (1) assuming the role of the patient, (2) engaging in an experiential learning process, (3) teaching their peers, and (4) considering their future role as clinicians.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings demonstrate that playing the role of a patient and teaching their peers are valuable learning experiences, and students can learn well during peer-taught sessions. Students increased their medical knowledge and sensitivity to the barriers that patients face and began to consider their role in improving systems of health care.


Primary amines are an important structural motif in active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates thereof, as well as members of ligand libraries for either biological or catalytic applications. Many chemical methodologies exist for amine synthesis, but the direct synthesis of primary amines with a fully substituted α carbon center is an underdeveloped area. We report a method which utilizes photoredox catalysis to couple readily available O-benzoyl oximes with cyanoarenes to synthesize primary amines with fully substituted α-carbons. We also demonstrate that this method enables the synthesis of amines with α-trifluoromethyl functionality. Based on experimental and computational results, we propose a mechanism where the photocatalyst engages in concurrent tandem catalysis by reacting with the oxime as a triplet sensitizer in the first catalytic cycle and a reductant toward the cyanoarene in the second catalytic cycle to achieve the synthesis of hindered primary amines via heterocoupling of radicals from readily available oximes.


Abstract Background: Working memory (WM) impairment in schizophrenia substantially impacts functional outcome. Although the dorsolateral pFC has been implicated in such impairment, a more comprehensive examination of brain networks comprising pFC is warranted. The present research used a whole-brain, multi-experiment analysis to delineate task-related networks comprising pFC. Activity was examined in schizophrenia patients across a variety of cognitive demands. Methods: One hundred schizophrenia patients and 102 healthy controls completed one of four fMRI tasks: a Sternberg verbal WM task, a visuospatial WM task, a Stroop set-switching task, and a thought generation task (TGT). Task-related networks were identified using multi-experiment constrained PCA for fMRI. Effects of task conditions and group differences were examined using mixed-model ANOVA on the task-related time series. Correlations between task performance and network engagement were also performed. Results: Four spatially and temporally distinct networks with pFC activation emerged and were postulated to subserve (1) internal attention, (2) auditory–motor attention, (3) motor responses, and (4) task energizing. The "energizing" network—engaged during WM encoding and diminished in patients—exhibited consistent trend relationships with WM capacity across different data sets. The dorsolateral-prefrontal-cortex-dominated "internal attention" network exhibited some evidence of hypoactivity in patients, but was not correlated with WM performance. Conclusions: Multi-experiment analysis allowed delineation of task-related, pFC-anchored networks across different cognitive constructs. Given the results with respect to the early-responding "energizing" network, WM deficits in schizophrenia may arise from disruption in the "energization" process described by Donald Stuss' model of pFC functions.


Chick precardiac tissue explants were cultured on the 8-day mission of STS-60, space shuttle Discovery. Development of in vitro cultures of precardiac chick tissue from embryo stages 5 though 8 (H-H) were initiated during orbit and were terminated after approximately fifteen hours of 37 degree C culture. Transmission electron microscopy and tritiated thymidine studies were performed postflight. No significant differences in cell proliferation were observed between flight and ground controls. Electron-microscopic studies revealed stage 8 explants were capable of differentiation during flight in a pattern which matched ground control tissues. As anticipated, stage 7 explant tissues had differentiated to a lesser extent compared to stage 8 tissues. Interestingly, stage 7 precardiac explant flight tissue differentiation was less than ground control tissue. This difference in differentiation between flight and ground cultures was enhanced in stage 6 tissues, as high levels of myofibril organization were only seen in ground controls. Other cellular components such as Golgi apparatus, junctional complexes, and mitochondria were present and appeared normal and healthy.


Objective: There are urinary tract infection (UTI) guidelines for treatment of patients <2 years old, but there is a paucity of data for other pediatric age groups including the potential role for stewardship to reduce prescription of broad-spectrum antibiotics. We assessed practice patterns for the diagnosis and empiric treatment of UTI for outpatient and school health sites affiliated with a large urban pediatric medical center. We hypothesized that outpatient providers under-utilize narrow-spectrum antibiotics, such as first-generation cephalosporins, for uncomplicated UTI. Study Design: Retrospective study from December 1st, 2015 to May 31st, 2016. Results: The study population included 903 children (70.1% female) with a median age of 11 years, evaluated in an outpatient clinic (n = 780, 86.4%) or school health site (n = 123, 13.6%). E. coli was the most common urinary pathogen (50.9%) and 92.6% of E. coli isolates were susceptible to cephalexin. However, cephalexin was prescribed empirically for only 12.8% of patients. In contrast, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim was commonly prescribed, but only 79% of E. coli isolates were susceptible. Antibiotics were discontinued in only three of 48 children who had negative urine cultures. Conclusions: Cephalexin may be the most appropriate first-line choice for management of outpatient UTI for our patient population. Antibiotics were rarely discontinued for those with negative urine cultures. Antibiotic stewardship in the outpatient setting could reduce unnecessary antibiotic exposure in the management of pediatric UTI.


OBJECTIVE
The authors evaluated the evolution of inpatient care for psychiatric illness in 1992 and 2002 for senior community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries.

METHODS
National Medicare Provider Analysis and Review files for 1992 and 2002 were analyzed.

RESULTS
From 1992 to 2002, rates of inpatient hospital use for treatment of psychiatric illness declined 28%, from 429 to 311 stays per 100,000 eligible beneficiaries, mostly because of reduced hospitalization for depression, and next, for substance use disorder. Inpatient care patterns for patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder changed little. Although stays were shorter in 2002 in general, rehospitalization rates remained the same in 2002 as they were in 1992.

CONCLUSION
Trends in hospitalizations differed by diagnoses, which may be representative of general changes in treatment philosophy during the 1990s.


The fracture behavior of ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) was investigated using the infrared (IR) thermography nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technique during monotonic and cyclic loadings. The CMCs used for this investigation are continuous Nicalon (silicon carbide fiber) fiber reinforced calsium aluminosilicate (CAS) glass-ceramics matrix composites. During monotonic tension and cyclic fatigue loadings, IR camera was used for in-situ monitoring of temperature evolution, and the temperature changes during testing were measured. Microstructural characterizations using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed to investigate fracture modes and failure mechanisms of Nicalon/CAS samples. In this investigation, the NDE technique and SEM characterization were employed to facilitate a better understanding of damage evolution and progress of Nicalon/CAS composites during monotonic and cyclic loadings.


Aim: The aim of our work was to study the types of power preferred by teachers and students of pedagogical specialties. Method: Ivanov's questionnaire "Teacher's pedagogical power" was used to study the pedagogical power including Reward, Coercive, Legitimate, Expert and Referent powers. In 2012 and 2013, 46 secondary school teachers and 40 students of pedagogical specialties were part of a study in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Results: The results indicated that teachers and students of pedagogical specialties preferred making use syncretic power, more than one power. The most frequent types of power were Legitimate and Reward. The rarest was Referent power. The teachers used the different types of power less than students of pedagogical specialties did, confirming Adler's view that humans striving for power over others was inversely proportional to the degree of education. Female teachers preferred to use Legitimate power more compared to male teachers. Conclusions: The study of teachers' pedagogical power could contribute to clarify teachers and students' views of the teacher's role in schoolar education. The studied teachers and students of pedagogical specialties perceived the teacher mainly as a regulating (rewarding or coercive) legitimate figure of pedagogical power.


Organization of the work performed by 59 medical department heads who concurrently act as off-staff district specialists was studied. Investigations were being carried out over the years 1972 through 1974 in 14 central district hospitals of the Tula region serving as a base. The bulk of the time spent by the department heads was found to be devoted to the work at the inpatient department (67-88 per cent of the total time), with that spent at the polyclinic comprising merely 7.3-13.6 per cent and extrahospital work taking up 3.8-7.7 per cent of the total time. The main shortcoming in the organization of their activities is the absence of a precise planning of the hours accorking to the types of activity, with only 18.6-50.7 per cent of the available time spent in discharging their primary functions, while desk work and other kinds of activity, as well as interruptions and management chores taking up 28.5 to 47.1 per cent of the working time. This forms a reserve for broadening the basic activity of the department heads and for improving the quality of diagnosing and treating the patients. The article carries a number of recommendations for rationalization of the work performed by department heads.


trans-Arylvinylboronate derivatives are important synthesis blocks in natural products, pharmaceuticals and organic materials. There are only a few reaction conditions that could selectively provide trans-arylvinylboronates by Heck coupling of pinacol vinylboronate and aryl halides. Here we report an efficient and versatile method of palladium catalyzed cross-coupling between pinacol vinylboronate and various aryl or hetaryl bromides to obtain the corresponding trans-(het)arylvinylboronates in excellent yields and selectivity. 30 examples have been synthesized using this protocol which offers an alternative method to prepare these useful building blocks.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The pipeline embolization device (PED) has become widely accepted as a safe and efficacious treatment for intracranial aneurysms with high rates of complete occlusion at initial follow-up. For aneurysms that are not completely occluded at initial follow-up, further treatment decision-making is varied. Furthermore, the risk of aneurysmal rupture in these incompletely occluded aneurysms after PED is not known. The objective of this study was to determine treatment decision-making that results in increased occlusion status at final follow-up and to evaluate risk of rupture in those aneurysms that do not go onto occlusion.

METHODS
This study is a retrospective review of prospective data for intracranial aneurysms treated with PED at two institutions from 2013 to 2019. Aneurysms with near-complete or incomplete occlusion at initial follow-up were included in the statistical analysis.

RESULTS
There were 606 total aneurysms treated at two academic institutions with PED with incomplete occlusion at initial follow-up in 134 aneurysms (22.1%). Of the 134 aneurysms that were nonoccluded at initial follow-up, 76 aneurysms (56.7%) went on to complete or near complete occlusion with final complete or near complete occlusion in 90.4% of all aneurysms treated. The time to final imaging follow-up was 28.2 months (13.8-44.3) Retreatment with a second flow diverter was used in 28 aneurysms (20.9%). No aneurysms that were incompletely occluded at initial follow-up had delayed rupture. Furthermore, older patient age was statistically significant for incomplete occlusion at initial follow-up (P = .05).

CONCLUSION
Intracranial aneurysms treated with the PED that do not occlude at initial follow-up may go on to complete occlusion with continuous observation, alteration in antiplatelet regimens, or repeat treatment. Delayed aneurysmal rupture was not seen in patients with incomplete occlusion.


The literature on indirect tax reforms in pollution-ridden economies is quite limited. This paper, using a model of a small open economy with production and consumption generated pollution, considers the welfare implications of tax reforms within an integrated structure of consumption and production taxes. Specifically, both in the presence and absence of a binding government revenue constraint, we derive sufficient conditions for welfare improvement in the case where we implement (i) reforms in either production or consumption taxes, (ii) reforms in both consumption and production taxes and (iii) uniform changes in consumption taxes.


Interventricular septal haematoma is a rare postoperative complication in congenital heart surgery. We present one case of a 6-month-old after tetralogy of Fallot repair and 1 case of a 10-month-old after ventricular septal defect repair. Both were noted to have interventricular septal haematoma on intraoperative transoesophageal and postoperative echocardiogram. Although multiple previous reports, mainly in adults, have suggested aggressive intervention, both these cases were managed conservatively, highlighting the management and evolution of a rare postoperative complication in the paediatric population. Case one Following antenatal diagnosis of tetralogy of Fallot (ToF), an infant with absent cerebellar vermis underwent elective repair at 6 months of age. Physical examination revealed a harsh pulmonary ejection systolic murmur, mild respiratory distress with oxygen saturations 93% and no hepatomegaly. The repair was performed via a transatrial approach. The ventricular septal defect (VSD) was a large anteriorly malaligned perimembranous outlet type, closed with a bovine pericardial patch using 6/0 running prolene suture, reinforced with pledgeted 6/0 sutures. The Patent Foramen Ovale was closed directly and the hypoplastic pulmonary valve annulus was dilated using a 10 mm Hegar dilator. Transoesophageal echocardiogram (TOE) showed no residual VSD, no right ventricular outflow tract obstruction but a significant haematoma (Figure 1A) in the septum. Despite its size, a decision was made for a conservative approach in view of excellent surgical result and haemodynamic stability. Transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) that evening showed the interventricular septal (IVS) haematoma to be essentially unchanged in size with no inflow or outflow tract obstruction. Serial TTEs measured the haematoma to be at its largest 26×18 mm in short-axis view (Figure 1B) and 30×19 mm in 4-chamber view (Figure 1C). ECG demonstrated first-degree heart block. MDT discussion concluded that no intervention was needed as the infant remained haemodynamically stableAbstract 8 Figure 1 The postoperative course was uneventful, and serial TTEs confirmed reduction in size of the septal haematoma. The patient was discharged on Day 8 in sinus rhythm with right bundle branch block. At follow-up 1 month later, there was no clinical concern and TTE demonstrated improved biventricular systolic function with a small residual VSD at the superior margin of the patch. A cystic lesion (4.5×4.5 mm) was present in the same position as the original haematoma, suggestive of false aneurysm into which there was arterial flow. Case two A 10-month-old infant underwent elective repair, following postnatal diagnosis of VSD and mild mitral valve regurgitation. Examination confirmed normal heart sounds with a harsh pansystolic murmur loudest at the left lower sternal border with no respiratory distress and no hepatomegaly. The defect was a moderate size perimembranous VSD partially covered by the septal leaflet of the tricuspid valve. It was closed with a bovine pericardial patch and 6/0 surgilene running suture. This was supported with a piece of autologous pericardium on the tricuspid valve septal leaflet. An additional two interrupted 6/0 pericardial sutures were placed to secure the patch in position. The infant came off bypass smoothly in sinus rhythm. No TOE was performed; however, postoperative TTE showed no residual VSD with good ventricular systolic function and an IVS haematoma measuring 11×25 mm. Repeat TTE the following day showed the septal haematoma resolving and less echogenic in appearance. The patient remained haemodynamically stable with no rhythm disturbance and was discharged on Day 6 postoperatively. On follow-up a month later, he was clinically well; the echocardiogram showed the haematoma had significantly reduced in size (Figure 2A and B). Unlike the previous case, there was cystic collection, and follow-up was arranged for 6 months. Discussion Haemorrhagic dissection of the IVS after patch closure of a VSD is a rare complication.1 This is the first report of a case where the haematoma was seen in a patient following ToF repair.Abstract 8 Figure 2 In both cases, we have described a rapid postoperative increase in the diameter of the IVS which suggests surgical trauma of the coronary septal branch during placement of the septal patch sutures. Anticoagulated, the bleeding probably dissects along a plane beneath the endocardium, resulting in a haematoma that bulges into the ventricular cavity,2 confirmed by echolucency on postoperative echocardiogram. Follow-up echocardiogram in Case 1 lends support to this theory with coronary flow seen in the cystic lesion within the resolving septal haematoma which likely dissipates into a ventricle. Most reports are in the adult population where IVS haematoma has been described after myocardial infarction, percutaneous coronary artery intervention and coronary artery bypass grafting.2 The use of intraoperative TOE is essential in congenital heart surgery to facilitate the early detection of any complications.2,3 Haemodynamic instability dictates management with prompt reintervention, carried out in those cases with compromise through surgical drainage4,5 or with needle puncture.1 The vast majority of adult cases opt for aggressive intervention, thereby potentially influencing decision-making in paediatric cases following surgery. Myocardial haematoma formation may cause haemodynamic instability or conduction abnormalities that may lead to serious short-term complications, including heart block, outflow obstruction and tamponade.3 Conservative approach is rarely adopted; however, in haemodynamically stable cases, complete and spontaneous resolution of the haematoma has been seldom demonstrated.2,4 Management is dictated by initial presentation, ECGs are mandatory initially to ensure no AV block and as the haematoma resolves, we feel it is unlikely to result in later AV nodal issues. In the absence of haemodynamic instability, echocardiography remains the mainstay of follow-up. References Padalino M, Speggiorin S, Pittarello D, et al. Unexpected interventricular septal hematoma after ventricular septal defect closure: Intraoperative echocardiographic early detection. Eur J Echocardiogr2007;8:395–398. Eyileten Z, Aliyev A, Çiftçi O, et al. An extremely rare complication of congenital heart surgery: interventricular septal hematoma. Turk J Pediatr2013;55:662–664 Mart C, Kaza A. Postoperative dissecting ventricular septal hematoma: recognition and treatment. ISRN Pediatr2011:534940. Jensen R, Burg P, Anderson C, et al. Posttoperative ventricular septal hematoma: Natural history of two paediatric cases. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg2007;133:651–1652. Drago M, Butera G, Giamberti A, et al. Interventricular septal haematoma in ventricular septal defect patch closure. Ann Thorac Surg2005;79:1764–5.


A study was conducted to determine the mode of inheritance for grain shape and aroma traits of lines in the Uganda rice germplasm. Five aromatic and four non-aromatic rice lines were crossed in screen house using North Carolina Design II at the National Crops Resources Research Institute, Uganda. The resulting F2 seeds and their parents were planted in the field using complete randomized block design in two replications. The grain shape and aroma intensity of the harvested F3 seeds on per hill basis were determined in laboratory using instrumental and sensory evaluation procedures, respectively. The results revealed that the inheritance of grain shape and aroma traits were influenced by both additive and non-additive gene actions, but with the grain shape being dominated by additive gene action and the aroma by non-additive gene action. In addition, Supa 3, Supa 5 and Supa 1052 rice lines exhibited good general combining ability effects for the shape trait while Supa 3 and MET 13 were good general combiners for the aroma trait. The superior cross combination from Supa 3 x Supa 5 for grain shape and Supa 3 x MET 13 for aroma trait could be used for selection of the relevant traits at advanced stages of the breeding cycles.

 Key words: General combining ability effects, gene action, North Carolina design II, selection, sensory evaluation.


The recent arrival of refugees from Ukraine has thrown into sharp focus the racialised colonial underpinnings of the French asylum and refugee system, as the open-door welcome afforded to Ukrainians, supposedly "closer" to the French population, highlights the rejection and marginalisation of "others" who seek refuge in the country. The current situation lays bare not only the "double standards" applied to refugees depending on their country of origin and race, but also the colonial foundations of the French asylum system as a whole. This might be seen as particularly significant in a country where even within academic research on asylum and refugees the racial and colonial foundations of the current system are rarely mentioned, and where the principle of Republican universalism has been consistently used to both hide and justify racialised and gendered forms of inequality and discrimination. In this contribution we wish to explore the ways in which the coloniality of the French asylum system works to deny exiled women access to welfare and social services, creating systems of racialised and gendered violence against them. We highlight the ways in which the State not only neglects these women, but actively contributes to violence through its racialised neo-liberal policies. The withdrawal of access to welfare and social services, including housing, welfare payments or health services, all form a part of this system of structural violence which leads to increasing levels of harm. Based on ethnographic research carried out in the Paris region, our article aims to emphasise that the structural production of gendered violence, particularly sexual violence against racialised exiled women, illustrates the coloniality of the asylum system and more broadly of the migration regime, which manifests itself in policies of exclusion, neglect and endangerment—including death.


Cloud service providers, including Google, Amazon, and Alibaba, have now launched machine-learning-as-a-service (MLaaS) platforms, allowing clients to access sophisticated cloud-based machine learning models via APIs. Unfortunately, however, the commercial value of these models makes them alluring targets for theft, and their strategic position as part of the IT infrastructure of many companies makes them an enticing springboard for conducting further adversarial attacks. In this paper, we put forth a novel and effective attack strategy, dubbed InverseNet, that steals the functionality of black-box cloud-based models with only a small number of queries. The crux of the innovation is that, unlike existing model extraction attacks that rely on public datasets or adversarial samples, InverseNet constructs inversed training samples to increase the similarity between the extracted substitute model and the victim model. Further, only a small number of data samples with high confidence scores (rather than an entire dataset) are used to reconstruct the inversed dataset, which substantially reduces the attack cost. Extensive experiments conducted on three simulated victim models and Alibaba Cloud's commercially-available API demonstrate that InverseNet yields a model with significantly greater functional similarity to the victim model than the current state-of-the-art attacks at a substantially lower query budget.


In the 1940s and 1950s, Western governments turned to radio as the most effective means of countering the Soviet information monopoly. U.S. and West European radio stations attempted to provide listeners with the kind of programs they might expect from their own radio stations if the latter were free of censorship. For most of these listeners in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the broadcasts were their only contact with the outside world. The importance of the foreign radio programs was confirmed not only by audience estimates, but also by the considerable efforts the Communist regimes made to jam the transmissions. Given the importance of foreign broadcasting for the political life of the Soviet bloc, it is remarkable that these broadcasts have received scant scholarly attention in the Western countries that sponsored them. The three books reviewed here help to fill that gap.


Participatory development models remain influential within mainstream development institutions, despite substantial scholarly critique. This paper examines one case study of a rural development facilitator from Tamil Nadu, India, who adopted participatory strategies to promote transitions to ecological agriculture. It considers the challenges and frustrations she faced in adopting these strategies and their shortcomings in promoting meaningful, long-term transformations within communities. In particular, local power structures and neoliberal institutions that made up the local context made it difficult to achieve participatory development's stated objectives. The case illustrates potential pathways forward beyond the current participatory development impasse, suggesting a modified participatory development model, with a stronger emphasis on fostering cooperative economic relations.


BACKGROUND
Little has been reported about mortality among crews in passenger shipping. The aim of the study was to determine the detailed causes and circumstances of deaths from unnatural causes among crews employed in United Kingdom (UK) and Bermudan registered passenger shipping, their trends, how they relate to the type of passenger ship and crew rank and to discuss preventative measures.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A longitudinal study from 1976 to 2018, based on reviews of marine accident investigation reports, death inquiry files, cruise shipping websites and online searches.

RESULTS
One hundred and forty crew fatalities in UK (127) and Bermudan (13) passenger ships were identified: from accidents and drowning (91), suicides and disappearances at sea (38), homicide, other and unexplained causes (11). Over the 43-year study period, a reduction in mortality (per 1000 ship-years) from accidents and drowning was identified (mean annual reduction: 4.3%; 95% confidence interval: 2.1-6.5%) but no significant reduction for suicides and disappearances at sea (annual reduction: 1.2% confidence interval: -1.3% to +3.7%). Most suicides and disappearances (70%) were among customer service Staff and, of 19 employed on large cruise ships, most (79%) were non-Europeans.

CONCLUSIONS
The number of suicides and probable suicides is a cause for concern, especially among customer service staff on cruise ships. These findings indicate the need for interventions to reduce suicide risks. Further studies are needed to improve the targeting of interventions. These will need both to analyse the circumstances of individual deaths and derive suicide rates according to rank, department and nationality, based on reliable population denominators.


Whilst the body has recently assumed greater sociological significance, there has been less engagement in social work and social care on the bodily experience of health, illness and disease. This innovative volume redresses the balance by exploring chronic illness and social work, through the specific lens of autoimmunity, engaging in wider debates around vulnerability, resistance and the lived experience of ongoing ill-health.

Moving beyond existing conceptualisations of vulnerability as an issue of mental distress, ageing, child protection and poverty, Price and Walker demonstrate the role that society has to play in actively engaging the physical body, rather than working around and through it. The book focuses on auto-immune conditions such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma. Conditions like these allow for an exploration of the materiality of illness which exacerbates social and economic vulnerability and may precipitate personal and social crises, requiring a variety of interventions and support. The risks and challenges associated with chronic illness include disruptions to a sense of self and identity, altered relationships and the renegotiation of roles and responsibilities in a variety of relationships in addition to an economic impact, with the potential for disruption to employment status and financial insecurity.

This text opens up a range of debates around some of the central concerns of the social work profession, including vulnerability, ill-health, and independence. It will be of interest to scholars and students of social work, nursing, disability studies, medicine and the social sciences.


A convenient, portable companion for whale watchers, serious oceanographers, and marine mammal lovers, this guide represents the most recent research on dolphins and whales. After being hunted nearly to the point of extinction, the cetaceans have now become a symbol of the need for marine conservation. Today, dolphins and whales are featured in numerous books and television documentaries, which has allowed people to connect with them. Bringing together the most recent research on cetaceans, this volume provides a scientific grounding to our feelings for these distant relatives of ours. Filled with splendid photographs and drawings, the book describes in realistic details the fascinating biology and behaviour of dolphins and whales. Cetaceans returned to the sea about 60 million years ago, and today, represented by 81 species, they have colonized nearly all the world's oceans and some big rivers in South America and Asia. Dolphins and whales have been the subject of many legends, and so this book begins with the history of how humans have viewed these creatures, and then it explains their evolution. At the end, readers will find an illustrated guide to the various species. A useful tool as well as a visual delight, "Dolphins and Whales" will be a valued addition to all ocean-lovers' libraries.