This slide presentation reviews the requirement and issues around removal of debris from the earth orbital environment. The 10 questions discussed are: 1. Which region (LEO/MEO/GEO) has the fastest projected growth rate and the highest collision activities? 2. Can the commonly-adopted mitigation measures stabilize the future environment? 3. What are the objectives of active debris removal (ADR)? 4. How can effective ADR target selection criteria to stabilize the future LEO environment be defined? 5. What are the keys to remediate the future LEO environment? 6. What is the timeframe for ADR implementation? 7. What is the effect of practical/operational constraints? 8. What are the collision probabilities and masses of the current objects? 9. What are the benefits of collision avoidance maneuvers? 10. What is the next step?


In the 1970s, when the contemporary environmental movement was still in its infancy, Holmes Rolston, III began publishing philosophical essays in environmental ethics, and it is no exaggeration to say that his early efforts contributed to establishing this subject as a serious academic field, one in which he has played a leading role ever since. Indeed, over the past five decades Rolston has not only developed and defended one of the most comprehensive and recognizable positions in eco-philosophy, but he has also used it to address some of the most difficult and challenging issues that environmentalism in the modern era has had to face. It should come as no surprise, then, that the appearance earlier this year of his A New Environmental Ethics 1 represents both the culmination of a professional lifetime of dedication to the discipline that he helped to create, as well as a guidepost out ahead of those of us who have


The need for regional styles to exist in architecture has been broadly and long discussed. In general, regionalisms are socially accepted and they should be employed. Discussions usually become more intensified together with the search for inspiration to create new styles in architecture. In Poland Stanislaw Witkiewicz, arts critic and theoretitian, a painter and a writer, created and developed "the Zakopane style" on the turn of the 19th century. This is the only one architectural style focussed on the regional features that has been preserved until nowadays. It referred both to architecture and industrial forms. It was received by the contemporaries with ambivalent attitude, from the uncritical enthusiasm to emotional negation. One side claimed that the style affected the national consciousness and united the nation without the State. According to the other side, "the Zakopane style", when outside the Podhale region, shocked with its non-conformity to the surroundings. About 1910 there was an attempt to create the style not exactly regional but rather national. The designs referred to neoclassic Old Polish mansion house with a porch supported by columns and high mansard roof. Between 1915 and 1918 projects to rebuild the Polish villages and little towns were thrown open to competition. Afterwards, neatly published project catalogues presented universal, all-Polish type of architecture. In 1918, after I World War and after Poland regained independence, whole housing estates were built in manorial style. At the same time the described sets of competition projects were used together with the new ones, prepared by eg. Polish Hygenic Society (1936). All the project proposals show the all-Polish type of regionalism. Another intensification of discussion concerning the regional style is linked with the post-modernist ideas. Modernism-lacking ornament, cosmopolitan, without any homely features (by the way, he is jolly smart who knows what this "homeliness" is all about) despite its undeniable achievements has been finally faced with crushing criticism. Together with this reaction the search for inspiration in regional features of architecture has been revived. But then there has been a lack of Witkiewicz's enthusiasm and stubbornness. We deal with constant attempts to solve the problem of creation in regional style. The situation described allows for the statement that there are two forms of regionalism: one on a narrow, territorial and second on the all-Polish scale. No doubt, "the Zakopane style" was the territorial regionalism, and the manorial architecture-the all-Polish one. The condition and quantity of traditional forms are really varied in Poland. For these still existing objects to serve as "model" and inspiration, they have to be examined, classified and made accessible to the designers. The next step is to extract the most distinct features of sub-regions and to popularize the knowledge of these problems. At the Faculty of Architecture of Bialystok Technical University the relative data base concerning the regional architecture is being created on the basis of Microsoft's ACCESS. It is still another attempt to preserve and uphold the cultural landscape of Poland.


Ego Laboratories, a specialist in dermatological products and manufactures over 90 skincare treatments from bath oils, lotions, moisturisers, gentle cleansers, soothing balms, sunscreens and more specific preparations for the treatment and prevention of acne, commenced operations in 1953 in the home of life and business partners Gerald and Rae Oppenheim in Melbourne. The manufacturing and quality control processes exacted by Ego meet and exceed the exacting standards of the pharmaceutical Code of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) administered by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.


Solving Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) is a recurrent task in engineering. Even though it is known that solutions for minimizing the infinite horizon expected cost can be found in polynomial time using LP techniques, iterative methods like the Policy Iteration algorithm (PI) remain usually the most efficient in practice. This method is guaranteed to converge in a finite number of steps. Unfortunately, it is known that it may require an exponential number of steps in the size of the problem to converge. On the other hand, many unknowns remain considering the actual worst case complexity. In this work, we provide the first improvement over the fifteen years old upper bound from Mansour and Singh (1999) by showing that PI requires at most 2 · 2 n n iterations to converge.


sequences of Vatican II, hoping thereby to underscore the experiential roots of that development. Legitimate in the exposition is G.'s emphasis on the situation-specific methodology of Rahner's theology, and on the intersubjective, social-horizontal components of Rahner's philosophy of human self-realization. In part the result of Metz's critique, argues G., in part due to the horizons opened by the Council, Rahner learned the lesson of the social/public dimension of faith. Rahner's 1965 address to Cologne social workers on the unity of love of neighbor and love of God is foundational in G.'s view. Though not mentioned, Rahner's 1967 essay "On the Theology of Hope" makes even more explicit the political-structural elements of his view of the Christian project. G. joins other sympathetic commentators who note the progressively historical-horizontal shift in Rahner's later years. He concludes that Rahner and Metz represent legitimate "political theologies," the former with sacramental-incarnational-mystical, the latter with prophetic-apocalyptic leanings (288). Curiously, when quoting Rahner's Hearers of the Word G. cites the 2nd edition, revised by Metz. Nevertheless, G. generally relies on a wide range of secondary sources for his interpretation of Rahner's underlying philosophical anthropology, sources he uses well. While appreciating the helpful elucidation of the projects of both Metz and Rahner, I found the argument that Rahner's is a "political theology" somewhat strained. But I would concur with G.'s interpretation that Rahner and Metz provide converging and mutually complementary approaches to theology. And G. certainly presents a welcome counterposition to Klemens Baake's study, Praxis und Heil (Wiirzburg, 1990), which compared Rahner with liberation theologians Gutierrez, Sobrino, and Boff, but found no foundation in Rahner for a political theology. Clearer definition of terms such as "narrative theology," "solidarity," "apocalyptic," "prophetic-apocalyptic," and "human experience" would have been helpful, perhaps crucial to G.'s study, and greater attention to Rahner's pneumatology would have strengthened his argument. Although G. does not unearth vital new information for the Rahner specialist, he provides an accessible, balanced, historically contextualized study of two important figures who have greatly influenced each other in addressing a pressing contemporary question. That makes it worth the read.


Marpaung et al, 2019. Utilization of Upland Rice as Intercropping Chilli Plant in North Sumatra Province (case study in North Sumatra Karo District). pp. 442-448. Rice is one of the main comodity that the government always seeks to increase. This research was to  study utilization of upland rice as intercropping chilli in North Sumatra Province.  The decrease in rice field area for rice plants needs to be an effort to increase  rice production, one of them is by using intercropping between chilli plants. Rice cultivation as a chilli crop carried out by upland farmers in North Sumatra can provide farmers' income of  Rp. 3.809.000/ 2000m2 with R/C ratio 1.74 compared to just monoculture. The intercropping of rice and chilli plants carried out for farmers is a means of fertilizer production that is more efficient and easier to use. OPT for chili plants.


The development of clean and efficient energy conversion and storage systems is becoming increasingly vital as a result of accelerated global energy consumption. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) as one key class of fuel cells have attracted much attention, owing to their high energy conversion efficiency and low emissions. However, some serious problems appeared because of the scorching operating temperatures of SOFCs (800–1000 °C), such as poor thermomechanical stability and difficult sealing, resulting in a short lifespan and high cost of SOFCs. Therefore, lowering the operating temperature of SOFCs to mid-range and even low range has become one of the main goals for SOFC development in the recent years. Looking for new cathode materials with high electrocatalytic activity and robust stability at relatively low temperatures is one of the essential requirements for intermediate-to-low-temperature SOFCs (ILT-SOFCs). During the past 15 years, we put considerable efforts into the development of alternative cathode materials for ILT-SOFCs. In this review, we give a summary of our progress from such efforts. We first summarize several strategies that have been adopted for developing cathode materials with high activity and durability toward reducing operating temperatures of SOFCs. Then, our new ideas and progress on cathode development with respect to activity and stability are provided. Both the cathodes of oxygen-ion-conducting SOFCs and protonic-conducting SOFCs are discussed. In the end, we outline the opportunities, challenges, and future approaches for the development of cathodes for ILT-SOFCs.


Conventional ANC systems can reduce a target noise around the error microphone. Hence, the users for ANC systems may not get sufficient noise reduction if the user's ears are apart from the error microphones. This is because the size of the Zone of Quite (ZoQ) is 1/10 of wavelength of the target noise. To solve this issue, some virtual sensing techniques have been already proposed and examined. These techniques can create the maximum noise reduction at the desired positions. In this paper, we introduce two methods, which are called "Remote Microphone" and "Auxiliary Filter based Virtual Sensing" methods to an ANC headrest in order to examine the effectiveness. In various situations, we implement the two virtual sensing techniques on the ANC headrest and compare the results through some simulations in MATLAB


A fast and reliable non-linear heterogeneous FE approach specifically conceived for the analysis of FRP-reinforced masonry arches is presented. The approach proposed relies into the reduction of mortar joints to interfaces exhibiting a non-linear holonomic behavior, with a discretization of bricks by means of four-noded elastic elements. The FRP reinforcement is modeled by means of truss elements with elastic-brittle behavior, where the peak tensile strength is estimated by means of a consolidated approach provided by the Italian guidelines CNR-DT200 on masonry strengthening with fiber materials, where the delamination of the strip from the support is taken into account. The model is validated against some recent experimental results relying into circular masonry arches reinforced at both the intrados and the extrados. Some sensitivity analyses are conducted varying the peak tensile strength of the trusses representing the FRP reinforcement.


Strangely enough, it is the Marxist Baran and the proto-Marxist Bray who come through as rather colorless and unimaginative thinkers. One gets the impression that Bray might be more interesting, except that his working-class background relegated most biographical particulars to obscurity, and his forays into spiritualism and support for the Confederacy's right of secession are treated as erratic aberrations. As for the others, I still have no idea why Henry George achieved such notoriety, at least given the quality of his thought. Schumacher seems to have been caught up in a wave of what the critic Edward Said calls "orientalism," or the uncritical participation of Westerners in stereotypic images of the East. Cayley appears such a nonentity that I am perplexed how he came to be included at all. I suspect the hidden agenda of choosing underconsumptionists overrode the primary mandate to pick interesting heretics in these instances. Nevertheless, this book takes a very interesting idea and bats at least .440 with it, an average better than anyone in the American League and most definitely better than in the Ivy League. I recommend it as good history and also as a salutary reminder to meditate upon one's own place in the larger scheme of things.


In managing the Hanford site for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHQ) is pursuing three missions: environmental restoration, economic transition, and technology development and transfer. Site activities related to economic transition are facilitated by WHC`s economic transition organization. Economic transition also interfaces with several external organizations: local, state, and federal governments and agencies; commercial firms; stakeholders in the restoration and transition endeavors; the Tri-City Industrial Development Council; and the Hanford Economic Transition Initiative Economic Cabinet (which comprises economic development directors of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho).


Accurate quantification of /sup 18/F-FDG myocardial uptake values can be complicated by partial volume losses (PV). The use of an extravascular (EV) density image has been proposed as a means of correcting for PV losses in the left ventricle (LV) myocardium. The EV image, initially developed for lung density measurements, is created by subtracting a blood pool image from a transmission image. Within the myocardial wall, the EV values represent the mass of tissue present for tracer uptake. Increased PV losses correspond to decreased EV values. Division of the regional myocardial (MYO) values by the corresponding EV values should yield PV-free MYO estimates. As well as motion- and resolution-based PV losses, the EV value also removes the effects of the vascular component in the myocardial wall. In this paper, the EV model is developed mathematically and the assumptions of the model are discussed. Simulations performed to validate the model, indicated that the EV values could exactly estimate PV losses, under ideal conditions. However, a 2 mm difference between emission and transmission resolution was found to bias the EV value by /spl sim/5%. As well, transmission and activity spillover from organs adjacent to the LV myocardium violated the assumptions of the model leading to as much as a 15% underestimation of the corrected activity in the anterior and inferior walls. It was found that endocardial placement of the ROIs used to determine MYO and EV values minimized the effect of this spillover.


Parasitic helminths include soil transmitted helminth (STH) parasites such as Ascaris, Trichuris, hookworms and tissue invasive-systemic helminths like filarial and Schistosome parasites. They cause severe morbidity in both humans and animals and continue to pose serious challenges to the economic welfare and public health in most of the developing countries in the world. The global burden of infections caused by these STH parasites is estimated to be responsible for loss of 39 million life years of disability adjusted life years (DALYS)1, comparable to the burden of all other major diseases afflicting the human communities. In children, STH are reported to adversely affect appetite, nutritional status, healthy growth, cognitive development, physical fitness, and clinical outcome of malaria, tuberculosis, or AIDS and are reported to affect adversely their immunological responses to vaccines2,3.


In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a novel type of PCF that has two cladding layers with Ge rods at the center core. The authors numerically show that it is possible to design a single mode PCF with large effective area greater than 200 mum over the whole wavelength above 1.2 mum. The proposed LMA-PCF exhibits a large negative dispersion coefficient from -186 [ps/nm-km] to -158 [ps/nm-km] in all wavelengths ranging from 1.2 mum to 1.8 mum, mainly for applications as dispersion compensating in wideband high speed optical transmission systems.


The effects of electrochemical conditions on the behaviour of plutonium and adequate conditions for recovery at liquid cadmium cathode (LCC) used in pyrometallugical reprocessing were studied with small, not stirred electrodes. Cathodic current density adequate for plutonium collection at LCC was considered to be controlled by diffusion plutonium ion in molten salt and proportional to its concentration. It was shown that plutonium collected at the LCC beyond saturation formed intermetallic compound PuCd6 and accumulated at the bottom of the LCC. This behaviour of coexisting americium was reasonably explained by the local equilibrium model between plutonium and americium at the surface of the LCC. The plutonium collection rate in practical electrorefining equipment estimated by extrapolation of experimental results was satisfactorily high in designing practical equipment and process.


Let spt(n) denote the total number of appearances of smallest parts in the partitions of n. Recently, Andrews showed how spt(n) is related to the second rank moment, and proved some surprising Ramanujan-type congruences mod 5, 7 and 13. We prove a generalization of these congruences using known relations between rank and crank moments. We obtain explicit Ramanujan-type congruences for spt(n) mod p for p = 11, 17, 19, 29, 31 and 37. Recently, Bringmann and Ono proved that Dyson's rank function has infinitely many Ramanujan-type congruences. Their proof is non-constructive and utilizes the theory of weak Maass forms. We construct two explicit nontrivial examples mod 11 using elementary congruences between rank moments and half-integer weight Hecke eigenforms.


In this paper we give a method to detect edges in digital images based on the second order recursive implementation of a filter. These filters are directly designed in the discrete domain. We report the result of a set of experimental trials carried out to detect edges in digital signals. This design of filter for edge detection has the advantage of the simplicity. The lack of criteria, as those defined by J. Canny (1986) for analog filters, allows just to compare the digital filters with a qualitative method.


In situ measurements of sea ice thickness from ship and upward‐looking sonar are used to assess the potential for satellite radar altimetry to provide information on Antarctic sea ice thickness. A climatology of satellite ice elevation estimates is compared to an Antarctic sea ice thickness climatology made from the Antarctic Sea Ice Processes and Climate (ASPeCt) data set. In addition monthly, regional, satellite ice elevation estimates are compared to ULS ice draft data. The results show reasonable spatial agreement between the satellite and in‐situ data, and show regional signals of change in ice elevation in line with that which would be expected. The results show some promise for providing information on Antarctic ice thickness from radar altimetry missions such as CryoSat. However, further studies into snow and ice density and the radar penetration into the Antarctic snow cover are required.


This article provides information on immunization policies that should be adopted among child cancer patients. It is noted that in children with cancer chemotherapy radiation and corticosteroids result in some degree of immunosuppression. These considerations as well as the age of the patient and the local epidemiology of infections that could be prevented by immunization should be taken into account in prescribing specific vaccines. In general all non-replicating antigens are safe in children who are immunosupressed although their efficacy may be reduced. It is also pointed out that minor illnesses are not contraindicated for the administration of vaccine. Therefore with reference to the Pulse Polio Campaign children with a mild case of diarrhea fever or upper respiratory tract illness may be given oral polio vaccine. In summary one must view immunization in two ways; one for individual protection by personal prophylaxis and two for the public health purpose of control or elimination of an infection.


A suboptimal output feedback controller is designed based on a reduced order model and applied to a flexible rotor bearing system in order to control the unstable or lightly damped vibrations occurring during operation. The reduced order model is a truncated modal equation of the distributed parameter system obtained through the singular perturbation. The instability problem arising from the spillover effects caused by the uncontrolled high frequency modes is prevented through the constrained optimization by incorporating the spillover term into the performance index


Currently there is hot discussion and debate regarding
emotional intelligence (EI) & Intelligence Quotient (IQ).
The importance of emotional intelligence (EI) is
increasingly being realized and a school of thought
consider that beside IQ, EI is also very important for
success. Persons having intelligence quotient (IQ) but
with clouded emotions are less successful in achieving
their objectives in life as compared with subjects
having more EI yet average IQ.


ABSTRACT The extent to which primary headteachers have become 'chief executives' as a consequence of the introduction of 'market forces' to schooling is investigated through action research techniques. The head as manager is contrasted with a more holistic view as the leading professional whose authority has been perceived chiefly in terms of intellectual, moral and management values. The research suggests that in coping with the pressures of managing current reforms, heads are vulnerable to adopting a form of leadership where they feel forced to deal with the immediacy of management problems at the expense of more highly regarded professional knowledge and values needed to secure the quality of school life and its academic standards.


ABSTRACT Research publication has increasingly turned into academics' top priority around the world. Since researchers' professional survival/growth in the current competitive academic atmosphere hinges upon their research profile, there is a need for investigating how researchers' possible selves may guide their research productivity. Therefore, in this study, we explored, through interviews and narratives, how ideal, ought-to, and feared selves of Applied Linguistics researchers at various academic career stages – doctoral students, assistant professors and associate professors – interact with their research productivity. The findings demonstrated that the ideal selves motivating the researchers to publish are oriented towards images of problem-solving or insight-providing, highly-focused, world-recognised, and influential life-long learner-researchers. Additionally, fears of ending up as publishing-or-perishing, unknowledgeable non-publishing, academically marginalised, and unfocused researchers are among the dimensions of researchers' feared selves which guide their research productivity. Furthermore, researchers' desires to gain visibility in the research community, fulfill the university requirements, preserve their international researcher positions, and turn into prolific publishing-practicing researchers trigger them to publish in top-tier publication outlets. The study provides practical implications for researchers, professors, and researcher educators.


Practice theory is a strand of social scientific theorization which attributes to practice a particularly fundamental role in the formation and functioning of the social world (Ortner 1984). The concept of practice refers to human activity which simultaneously constructs both individuals as social beings and the social world that surrounds them (Ortner 2006, 129; Ortner 1989, 11–12; Sewell 1992, 5). Through their activities, individuals internalize cultural symbols and meanings. Through the same activities, they also reproduce and transform these symbols and meanings in the social world. This is the central premise of theories of practice. The use of the term "practice" in contemporary religious scholarship often signals some form of alignment with practice theory. There is, for instance, a growing interest in the intertwinement of the self and the social world in daily religious activity (e.g., Bowman and Valk 2012; Giordan and Swatos 2011; Morgan 1998). The concern with the everyday, moreover, is often coupled with an emphasis on the body as the locus of religious practice and on embodied practices as the foundation of religious identities (e.g., Csordas 1994; Lester 2005; Trulsson 2010). Other scholars, for their part, have focused on the social structures informing religious practices, and on the struggles for their reproduction and reform (e.g., Asad 2003; Asad 1993; Ortner 1989; Tweed 2006; Wood 2007). Since its development into a distinct research field, lived religion has been closely connected to practice theory (e.g., Hall 1997a, xi; Orsi 2003, 174; Orsi 1997, 7). In essence, it promotes a practice-oriented approach to religious phenomena. The concept of lived religion refers to religion as something that is continuously being made and remade by individuals engaging in religious activities and using religious idioms – laymen, religious specialists, and policymakers alike. Within the lived religion paradigm, moreover, this conceptualization of religion as ongoing "cultural work" (Orsi 2003, 172) is expanded to include religious scholarship as well. In recent years, scholars of religion have become increasingly aware of the historical baggage carried by conventional academic definitions of religion; that is to say, their intertwinement, for instance, with Reformation and colonialist discourses (Asad 1993, 27–54; McGuire 2008, 20–24, 39–41; Orsi 2012,


Objective To study the surgical management of elderly patients with acute colorectal obstruction caused by colorectal cancer.Methods Clinical data of 88 elderly cases of acute colorectal obstruction caused by colorectal cnacer in our hospital from 1992 to 1999 were analyzed retrospectively, and the surgical management methods were evaluated comprehensively. Results All 88 patients received surgical treatment from 3h to 5 days after admission. Strangulation was diagnosed preoperatively in only 3 of 10 cases ( 30% ). The tumor resection rate was ( 67% ) (59/88), postoperative complication rate was 42% (37/88), and mortality was 11.4% (10/88). Conclusion The accurate recognition of the presence of strangulation, active management of coexisting diseases, selection of rational operation procedure and prevention and treatment of postoperative complication were the keys to improve the therapeutic effects of the elderly patients with acute colorectal obstruction caused by colorectal cancer.


But beyond these resemblances, the two books come at the subject from different perspectives: Egalitarian revolution examines one site in western Burkina Faso, occupied between the second and the mid-fifteenth centuries, while Power and landscape presents case studies from throughout West Africa in the early modern period, roughly the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. They are also, inevitably, quite different in flavour: one contains 12 chapters covering eight West African countries, which throws up variability as well as similarities, while the other is a book-length monograph discussing one site and its context within the wider 'Voltaic tradition'.


Measurements of the thermally induced optical distortion of an active-mirror laser amplifier are presented along with a comparison of measured and calculated distortion. A discussion of a means for compensation for these distortions is also presented.


In 2005—2008,Zhejiang Province made an inquiry and evaluation to the debris flows in 42 mountainous counties of the province.It was found that there were 486 debris flows at various scales in the whole province,among which there were about 347 gully debris flows and 139 slope debris flows.From the analyses and studies of debris flow types and their distribution characteristics,gully debris flow is the main type of debris flow,characterized by small scale,large damage,and landslide-collapse changing into debris flow.The distribution of debris flow is mainly controlled by landform,rock nature structure,and precipitation and it is mainly distributed in the volcanic area along big fractures.Debris flows have the obvious bimodal distribution form due to plum rain and typhoon.


Rationale:
 The developmental cardiac tissue is a proliferative organ capable of regeneration that extends briefly into the postnatal period. Studies show that the heart undergoes alterations in metabolism that coincide with cessation of regenerative processes during postnatal development. Whether cardiac cells in the early postnatal heart exhibit metabolic properties that favor regeneration remains unknown.

 Objective:
 To determine whether postnatal cardiac tissue harbors CPCs with unique metabolic profile.

 Methods and Results:
 CPCs were isolated from C57BL/6 mice aged 2-day (NCPC), 2-month (adult CPC) and 2-year old (ACPC). Morphological assessment showed NCPCs were smaller and rounded compared to CPCs and ACPCs and expressed putative stem cell markers and were negative for hematopoietic marker CD45. Interestingly, NCPCs expressed elevated levels of pluripotency markers such as LIN28 compared to ACPCs and CPCs. Increased viability, proliferation rate, metabolic activity and reduced doubling times were observed in NCPCs compared to CPCs and ACPCs measured by CyQuant, MTT, and Resazurin assays. NCPCs demonstrated a youthful phenotype and were resistant to H2O2 induced stress compared to ACPCs and CPCs as measured by β-Galactosidase and TUNEL labeling respectively together with a unique expression of paracrine factors as assessed by proteome profiler array. Interestingly, NCPCs demonstrated increased ATP generation, glycolytic activity and reduced oxidative phosphorylation compared to CPCs and ACPCs measured by seahorse assay parallel with enhanced expression of glycolytic enzymes measured by qRT-PCR and western blot. NCPCs showed increased lactate production and pyruvate kinase activity and low mitochondrial membrane potential. Interestingly, mitochondrial fuel dependency assay showed increased glutamine dependency as the fuel for mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. RNA-sequencing analysis demonstrated increased expression of metabolic signaling in NCPCs compared to CPCs and ACPCs.

 Conclusions:
 Postnatal cardiac tissue possesses progenitor cell population with unique metabolic profile that coincides with enhanced functional properties of NCPCs suggesting their potential therapeutic value for cardiac repair.


A kind of silicon-and-boron-modified phenolic–formaldehyde resin (SBPF) with excellent thermal stability was fabricated via a simple two-step method and used for the matrix of ablation materials. The structure and thermal stability of the modified phenolic–formaldehyde resins (PFs) were characterised. The results showed that boron and silicon elements have been incorporated into SBPF in the form of a chemical bond. Meanwhile, the cured products showed an increase in graphite structure and a decrease in disordered structure due to the incorporation of boron and silicon. Compared with the ordinary phenolic resin, the initial thermal degradation temperature and charring yield at 800°C of SBPF increased by 73°C and 15 wt%, respectively. Further, the modified PFs, nano-Al2O3 powders, glass powders and vitreous silica fibres were used to obtain a novel ceramizable phenolic moulding composite. The morphology, chemical composition and ablative characteristics of the composites were explored. The results showed that a compact and homogeneous SiO2–Al2O3 layer formed on the ablated surface and protected the carbonised matrix and fibres from further oxidation. Compared with the ordinary PF composites, the SBPF composites showed a highly decreased linear/mass ablation rates, indicating the synergistic effect of boron and silicon modification on the enhanced ablation property.


Introduction. Alexithymia is manifested by limited abilities to identify and express emotions and is a possible risk factor for the onset and treatment of the disease. Objective. To determine the dependence of the presence of alexithymia in patients with chronic lung and heart diseases. Methodology and results. One hundred respondents aged 35 to 75 participated in the research, 50% of whom were being treated for chronic lung diseases, and 50% for chronic heart diseases. After filling out the Toronto Twenty-Point Scale (TAS-20) questionnaire, the degree of alexithymia was determined. Using the Chi-square test for independence, it was determined that the presence of alexithymia and chronic heart and lung diseases were dependent characteristics (p > 0.0005), and a significantly larger number of respondents with established alexithymia were treated for chronic lung diseases. Using the Chi-square test, it was shown that the presence of alexithymia and the gender of the subject were not dependent characteristics, while the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test of significance was used to analyze the dependence of alexithymia and the age of the subject. It demonstrated that there was a statistically significant difference in the age of the subjects with and without alexithymia (p < 0.05). Conclusion. In this paper, we found that alexithymia is a more significant risk factor for the occurrence of chronic impairment of lung function in relation to heart disease.


This study is summarised as an experiment comprising 5 varieties of direct sown rainfed rice (Oryza sativa L.) was conducted in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh during 2002- 2003 and 2003-2004. All the varieties differed significantly in their grain yield in different environments. Environment (linear) and variety x environment (linear) interactions were also significant. On the basis of stability analysis the variety 'Ashoka 228' was found stable for better environments, whereas 'Ashoka 200F' was stable across environments with better yield potential.


The usefulness of azopyridinium methyl iodide salts for designing new promising light-controlled molecular switches is presented. Large absorbance changes have been produced in the samples by irradiation with light at lambda = 355 nm. The thermal recovery of the initial state took place completely within 130-450 ms, which is much faster than that reported previously for other push-pull azobenzene-doped nematic mixtures.


Abstract The literature of social and educational research reflects the significance that issues of culture and ethnicity have gained in such research. This is evident, for example, in concerns to analyse and redesign social practices and to elaborate a critique of dominant Western institutions. In the research literature upon the accounting focus, evidence of such concerns has been comparatively scarce. While some research has been done@8ifor example, researchers have pointed to the Eurocentric character of accounting and critically analysed ethnic minority experiences of accountancy@8ithere is much more to do. Particularly scarce in the accounting literature have been studies concerned to focus upon accounting from an indigenous cultural perspective or to promote multicultural accounting education. Such a silence is of significance in the light of increasing worldwide concerns to learn from and to protect the cultures of indigenous peoples and to question the universal validity of Western practices, notably such as those of Eurocentric education. In this paper we focus upon Maori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, and critically assess and explore their participation in and experiences of accounting education. We concentrate upon university accounting education which is central to the process of gaining admission into the accountancy profession of Aotearoa New Zealand. We provide a historical and contextual analysis which elaborates upon the oppression and marginalisation of Maori people. The study reflects our concern that, in inquiring into why particular ethnic groups, including indigenous peoples, are under represented and lack influence in particular social activities and occupations, we need to give consideration to the role of cultural as well as socioeconomic factors. And in this respect we need to critically analyse the very institutions and practices of Western accountancy and Western accounting education as forms of insensitive cultural imperialism. These forms can change rather than the culture of peoples. For us, increasing the participation of Maori in accounting education and accounting practice and changing the character of these practices so that they are more reflective of Maori indigenous culture are two dimensions of the struggle for change which can be mutually reinforcing. We are supportive of such change and seek to bring this about in the Eurocentric institutions of Aotearoa New Zealand. Our contention is that a deeper critical analysis of issues of ethnicity in Western society can help to inform a critique of Eurocentric practices and institutions including in the sphere of accounting. In brief, we explore a range of interconnected themes: the complex character of the marginalisation and oppression of Maori; focusing in, the position respecting accounting education and the very practice of accounting; how this relates to ways forward and connects up with wider issues.


Holey fibers with high nonlinearity have great potential for the development of a compact devices based on nonlinear effects operating at low power. Holey fibers have been made conventionally by stacking of capillaries. We have used a novel extrusion method to produce microstructured performs and we have successfully fabricated the first microstructured single-mode non-silica glass fiber. Good dimensional control and surface finished of preforms can be achieved through the optimization of the extrusion parameters such as temperature, pressure, shear strain rate and die design. Hence die swell and "melt fracture" are avoided. The microstructure holey fiber is fabricated by canning of the extruded microstructured perform. The cane is inserted to the extruded jacket tube and the assembly is drawn into fiber. The measured effective nonlinearity = 540 W^-1km^-1. Which is more than 500 times larger than standard silica fiber.


How are Showmanship classes divided? Ideally, a separate class should be created for each age group by year, for example all 3 graders, all 4 graders, etc. When there are insufficient numbers to achieve this (aim for four or more entries per class) the competition may be divided as follows: Pre-junior (children in grades K – 2) Junior Division for children grades 3 – 5, Intermediate Division for children grades 6 – 8, and Senior Division for grades 9 – 12. Some shows add a Novice class to meet the needs of those who have never participated in showmanship before, regardless of age.


The paper reports an efficient procedure for the extraction and purification of R-phycoerythrin (R-PE) from marine red algae Amphiroa anceps. A. anceps was extracted in 50 mM phosphate buffered saline and precipitated by (NH4)2SO4. The R-PE was isolated by ion-exchange chromatography loaded with Q-Sepharose Fast Flow, which was developed by linear ionic strength gradients. Then it was purified by gel filtration Sepharose CL-6B column chromatography. SDS-PAGE showed the presence of two major subunits with 18 kDa and 20 kDa, respectively, and a minor subunit of 30 kDa. The observations are consistent with the (αβ)6γ subunit composition characteristic of R-PE. The absorption spectrum of R-PE was characterized by three absorbance maxima at 563, 538 and 495 nm, respectively, and the fluorescence emission spectrum at room temperature was 580 nm. Furthermore, R-PE showed good stability between pH 3.5 and 9.5. However, under oxidative conditions R-PE lost its shining. The results indicate that using ion-exchange chromatography with Q-Sepharose and gel filtration Sepharose CL-6B chromatography, R-PE can be purified on large scale from the red alga A. anceps.


This paper presents a novel discrete Hartley transform based VLSI architecture for quickly computing the N-point discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and its inverse (IDFT), where N is a power of two. The architecture consists of one real multiplier, three real adders, five special memory units, and some simple logic circuits. It can evaluate, in average, one DFT sample every log/sub 2/N+2 clock cycles or one IDFT sample every log/sub 2/N+1 clock cycles. Under 0.6 /spl mu/m CMOS technology, the proposed design consumes chip area about 4838/spl times/4032 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ to reach a throughput of 4 M DFT samples per second or 3.6 M IDFT samples per second for the case of N=512. Such area-time performance shows that it is rather attractive for use in discrete multitone based ADSL transceivers.


ABSTRACT RESULTS obtained during a 99-test, 3-year study in-volving ten dependent-, nine meteorological-, and nine operational/equipment-variables of spray drift are reported. The five corresponding coefficients of deter-mination for five dependent, drift variables range from 65.6 to 90.2 percent and all five equations were signifi-cant (P = 99 percent). Horizontal wind velocity and noz-zle height were included in all five equations and were the two most important variables in four of the five equa-tions. The importance of each of the 3-4 variables in each equation is assessed. The results reported herein provide applicators new information to direct them toward safer pesticide applications.


The aim of the present investigation was to analyse the influence of estrogen and/or progesterone on exudation, inflammatory cell migration and granulation tissue formation in inflamed areas of oophorectomized rats. The hormones were given daily for up to five weeks. Two weeks after the beginning of the hormone treatment perforated cylinders of Teflon® were implanted subcutaneously in the back of each rat (Lundgren & Lindhe, 1973). The cylinders were removed 12 hours, 4, 7, 14 and 21 days after implantation, after which the amount of exudate and the number of inflammatory cells within the cylinder cavity were measured. The amount of formed granulation tissue was recorded from day 7 inclusive. Progesterone treatment increased, and estrogen treatment decreased the accumulation of exudate as well as the number of inflammatory cells during the early phase after implantation. In the estrogen-treated animals the number of inflammatory cells and the amount of granulation tissue were markedly decreased throughout...


The aim of this paper is to study the profiniteness of compact topological residuated lattices and the existence of Hausdorff topological residuated lattices. Firstly, we study profinite residuated lattices and obtain sufficient and necessary conditions for profiniteness in compact topological residuated lattices. These conditions include topological and algebraic characterizations. Moreover, it order to study the existence of Hausdorf topological residuated lattices, we investigate finiteness conditions in residuated lattices. Finally, we investigate linear topological residuated lattices and give the class of residuated lattices that can be endowed with a non-trivial Hausdorff topology.


Dendrobaena veneta (Rosa, 1886) is widely distributed all over Europe due to its use as compost worm. The specimen presented here was collected in Tiran € e district, Albania. Currently, only two species' complete or nearly complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) sequences have been reported in the genus Dendrobaena ; D. octaedra (Savigny, 1826) and D. tellermanica Perel, 1966. In this study, the complete mitogenome of D. veneta was sequenced, assembled, and annotated. The mitogenome of D. veneta is a circular DNA molecule, consisting of 15,475bp with an A þ T content of 61.2%. It contains 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and 1 non-coding region (control region). Phylogenetic analysis showed that D. veneta is clustered with the other two Dendrobaena species in the well-supported family Lumbricidae.


* Corresponding author Abstract—Improved PSO algorithms combined with Simulated Annealing are proposed in this paper to solve the problems of the original PSO algorithm. After that three further improvements are proposed respectively from the parameters adjustment, the organization structure and evolution, and the topology structure. Four common test functions are used to test the optimizing performances of the improved PSO algorithms in the paper. The test results indicate that all the improved PSO algorithms have better performances compared with former PSO algorithms. Finally, the improved PSO algorithm is applied to PID parameter tuning, and the simulation experiment results prove that the improved PSO algorithm proposed in this paper is more feasible than other intelligent algorithms.


Affective neuroscience: the study of the neurological mechanisms of emotion (also called the cognitive neuroscience of emotion); Panksepp (1992) is credited with coining the term affective neuroscience, the exploration of emotion in humans and animals Amygdala: an almond-shaped brain center for emotional memory related to reward and fear; plays some role in mating Attachment Theory: a model that describes the lifelong dynamics of adaptive affectional bonds and behaviors, with particular attention to attachment patterns and styles in children and adult romantic relationships Emotional hijacking: an acute sensitivity to past emotional experience (also referred to as emotional allergy or emotional flooding) Emotional intelligence: traits and skills that promote positive social behavior, recognizing emotions, and the capacity to use the information in productive and useful ways Hippocampus: the part of the brain responsible for long-term memories and maintenance of cognitive maps for navigation Hypothalamus: regulates bodily functions including sexual arousal Limbic System: the brain structures involved in accessing and processing emotional experience; includes the amygdala and hippocampus Positive Psychology: the study of positive emotion, meaning in life, positive relationships, and positive accomplishments—mastery, achievement, and competence Neuroplasticity: the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life Oxytocin: a biomolecular type of chemical messenger (called a hormone) that is synthesized in the hypothalamus and referred to as the " cuddle chemical " ; plays a role in maternal behavior, pair bonding, and orgasm Psychology: the science of the mind and behavior Marriage is a crucible that will 'chemically' transform the partners.


This article presents the idea of building human phantom to testing textronic clothing with measurements system. It also describes the method of testing this prototype garments on special design phantom. The construction of phantom to testing pulse signal will be presented.


The problem of a vertical elastic sheet subjected to a train of ocean waves in infinitely deep water is solved. The sheet is assumed to be thin and governed by the Bernoulli-Euler equations, and to extend from the water surface to a finite depth. The solution utilizes the Green's function for water waves and the transformation of the Bernoulli-Euler equation to an integral equation. The model predicts that there will be substantial reflection when the sheet is held rigidly at the top end and penetrates the water to a significant fraction of the wavelength. Resonances at which the reflection is reduced, or is zero, also exist for certain values of the stiffness, mass and frequency. A sheet which is free at both ends does not reflect significantly for any values of mass, stiffness or depth of the sheet.


Much of an architect ś training occurs by a process of elimination. We must unlearn many things to learn the new ones; in our particular Costa Rican educational context learning to produce correct architecture seems to start with the assumption that most of what we see in our cities is wrong. But when it comes to construction we move between two traditions: the academic one and the informal one. These traditions seem to dismiss each other, an architect would consider the products of informality ingenuous, a person operating within the informal tradition in need of the materialization of the preconceived idea of a house would normally consider an architect a luxury. According to the National Architectural College 23% of overall construction lacked permits in 2014, a percentage slightly higher than the previous year, this nevertheless renders only partial understanding on the phenomenon.


* Abbreviations:
 CFU — : colony-forming unit
 IAP — : intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis

Sepsis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among infants in the NICU. Because septic infants present with nonspecific clinical findings, providers are justifiably concerned about missing sepsis. Blood cultures are the gold standard for diagnosis of sepsis, and when adequate volumes are obtained, cultures have excellent sensitivity even when the infant has very low levels of bacteremia.1 However, many providers view sterile culture results with skepticism, especially when the infant appears ill or received antibiotics before cultures were obtained. Therefore, we have developed a culture (no pun intended) of acceptance in treating "culture-negative" sepsis. Recent reports suggest that up to 10 times as much antibiotic is used for culture-negative sepsis as for culture-proven sepsis.2,3 This practice must stop. The evidence for unintended harm caused by prolonged or unnecessary antibiotic exposure continues to mount and includes increased risk for obesity, atopy, and, for preterm infants, necrotizing enterocolitis, sepsis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and death.4 Why then do providers view sterile cultures with such skepticism?

The first reason is that providers have all-too-frequent experiences with cultures that are obtained incorrectly. Blood cultures collected inappropriately cannot be trusted, but such cultures, unfortunately, are a common problem. The recommendation is that a minimum of 1 mL of blood, either in 1 culture or divided into 2 0.5 mL cultures, be obtained from infants …

Address correspondence to Joseph B. Cantey, MD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Dr, San Antonio, TX 78229. E-mail: cantey{at}uthscsa.edu


Inspired by artificial enzymes, we have designed zeolites acting as scaffolds for a given Diels–Alder reaction using mimics of the reaction transition state.


The radiated immunity (RI) measurement is one of the tests that are necessary to validate an electronic product so that it can enter mass production. This paper is a practical approach in which a measurement setup and a calibration method for a stripline, based on the ISO 11452-5 standard, are presented. The test setup relies on measured data on different competing stripline scenarios, of which the best suited has been chosen. Our focus has been on the possible causes for variations in the uniformity of the electric field strength generated between the two plates of the stripline in order to improve the test design. Measurements reported here have been performed with two types of equipment: the one used in testing and a network analyzer.


Gated Si-tip with on-tip integrated gate-all-around field effect transistor using hyperbolic nano-channel (Hy-GAAFET) for actively controlled field electron emission is presented. Fully IC compatible nano-fabrication procedures were developed to obtain the Hy-GAAFET and the on-tip integration with the Si-tip emitter. The Hy-GAAFET exhibit characteristics of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}_{\textit {on}}/{I}_{\textit {off}} =\sim 10$ </tex-math></inline-formula>4, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}_{\textit {sat}} = 0.25 ~\mu \text{A}/\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> at <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\textit {gaa}}=-0.4$ </tex-math></inline-formula> V and 20 mV of drain-induced barrier lowering. The emission current of the gated Si-tip can be actively regulated by the Hy-GAAFET gate voltage, i.e., 0.4 pA/mV with an extractor voltage of 53 V and showed a well-optimized current stability. This on-chip integrated device is promising for applications in modern miniature vacuum nano electronics.


The understanding of plasma kinetics of radio-frequency capacitively coupled plasmas (RFCCP) is essential to control the important parameters such as the surface ion flux and the plasma potential. For several decades, numerous researches for RFCCP had been conducted mainly using fluid models or one-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations due to the limitation of the computation load. In this study, we have observed the heating mechanism of electrons and the ion transport with a two-dimensional PIC simulation parallelized with a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Different dynamics behaviors were measured for the non-local and the local kinetics by the variations of gas pressure and bias voltages with the addition of the secondary electron emission by ion bombardment. The simulation results indicate that the spatial profiles of the plasma parameters are highly concentrated or pronounced in the peripheral region as the secondary electron emission of the conductors increases.


A model compound sheds light on the puzzling role of calcium in the metal cluster that oxidizes water during photosynthesis. Within photosynthetic organisms, the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II generates dioxygen from water using a catalytic Mn4CaOn cluster (n varies with the mechanism and nature of the intermediate). We report here the rational synthesis of a [Mn3CaO4]6+ cubane that structurally models the trimanganese-calcium–cubane subsite of the OEC. Structural and electrochemical comparison between Mn3CaO4 and a related Mn4O4 cubane alongside characterization of an intermediate calcium-manganese multinuclear complex reveals potential roles of calcium in facilitating high oxidation states at manganese and in the assembly of the biological cluster.


We examined the reproductive biology of Tolmeia menziesii and Tellima grandiflora (Saxifragaceae) and barriers to hybridization between these species. Crossing experiments and pollinator observations suggest that Tolmeia is completely self-incompatible, obligately outcrossing, and bumble bee pollinated, whereas Tellima is self-compatible, with a mixed mating system possibly facilitated by rove beetles. Hybrid crosses set seed only when Tellima was the pollen recipient. Observations of pollen-style interactions indicate that self-incompatibility in Tolmeia is late-acting and that pollen tube growth is comparable between reciprocal hybrid pollinations. Seven of 40 progeny from Tolmeia X Tellima crosses were isozymically and morphologically intermediate between Tolmeia and Tellima, and were identical to a naturally occurring hybrid. The remainder were identical to Tellima, the maternal parent in successful hybrid crosses, which we attribute to either intraspecific pollen contamination, or agamospermy. Barriers to hybridization between sympatric Tellima and Tolmeia consist of divergence in floral morphology, pollinator relationships, compatibility, and a series of postzygotic isolating mechanisms including hybrid sterility.


Based on spatial vector auto-regression model, this paper analyses the spatial and temporal diffusion of urban house prices in East China and examines the impact of price fluctuation of Shanghai and Hangzhou. The results show that assuming Shanghai as the price diffusion center city, more than half cities are affected significantly by the neighbor lag. Current price changes in Shanghai and Hangzhou have the biggest influence scope to other cities, while the house price in Hangzhou is the most difficult to be affected in the long-run. Compared with Shanghai, Hangzhou has greater and longer impact on other cities. It is concluded that the spatial and temporal diffusion exists in East China. Transportation accessibility, economic ties, information dissemination could explain house price diffusion in East China. Introduction With the acceleration of urbanization in China, the economic and social transactions between the big and medium cities have strengthened a lot, accompanied by the closer interactions between the real estate markets. East China, being as one of the fastest growing areas in China, its real estate market is always considered with great investment potential. Thus, whether there is a time and space diffusion in regional housing price fluctuation and how does the central city influences the housing price in surrounding cities could be interesting issues to be discussed. The intrinsic relationships between regional housing prices have been widely concerned by scholars. Based on the vector autoregressive model and vector error correction model, Stevenson (2004) [1], Oikarinen (2004) [2] find the evidence of price fluctuations in different cities in Ireland and different regions in Finland. According to Pollakowski (1997) [3] and Luo & Liu (2007)'s [4] research on real estate market in the United States and Australia, the neighboring cities will be more prone to generate housing price diffusion. Besides, Jones & Leishman (2006) [5] point out that in the UK, the spill-over in housing price is more likely to happen in cities which have large population migration. Based on the common VAR model and introduced with spatial relations, the spatial VAR model has been applied a lot to the study of house price diffusion effect. Ioannides & Thanapisitikul researched house price change rate under six different geographical distance weights and found that the geographical distance has a powerful explanation to the change rate of house price, Cohen & Ioannides(2016) [6]introduced transfer flow weight matrix on basis of that and proposed that the migration flow can explain the temporal and spatial diffusion of house prices to some extent. Holly & Pesaran(2011)[7] confirmed the existence of strong time and spatial spillover effect in the UK's housing prices using Spatial VECM model and generalized impulse response function. It should be noted that the spatial matrix could be built based on many other factors except geographical connection, such as economic and social ties Literature review on the study of domestic housing prices shows a focus on the study of the influence factors of house price fluctuation and lead-lag relationship between cities, quantitative research on the temporal and spatial diffusion effect of house price is very few, let alone quantitative research based on long time series data at the urban level. Therefore, this article aims at 7th International Conference on Education, Management, Computer and Medicine (EMCM 2016) Copyright © 2017, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Advances in Computer Science Research, volume 59


Recent 2ω laser propagation and stimulated Raman backscatter (SRS) experiments performed on the Helen laser have been analyzed using the radiation-hydrodynamics code HYDRA [M. M. Marinak, G. D. Kerbel, N. A. Gentile, O. Jones, D. Munro, S. Pollaine, T. R. Dittrich, and S. W. Haan, Phys. Plasmas 8, 2275 (2001)]. These experiments utilized two diagnostics sensitive to the hydrodynamics of gasbag targets: a fast x-ray framing camera (FXI) and a SRS streak spectrometer. With a newly implemented nonlocal thermal transport model, HYDRA is able to reproduce many features seen in the FXI images and the SRS streak spectra. Experimental and simulated side-on FXI images suggest that propagation can be explained by classical laser absorption and the resulting hydrodynamics. Synthetic SRS spectra generated from the HYDRA results reproduce the details of the experimental SRS streak spectra. Most features in the synthetic spectra can be explained solely by axial density and temperature gradients. The total SRS backscatt...


to pin down because it was everywhere and embraced everything' (p. 212). This observation, I would suggest, creates a tension in Slack's overall argument. In the concluding chapter Slack, following the Hartlib circle, defines improvement as 'endless progress' and nails his colours to the mast of Whig history (p. 263). However, it is not altogether clear that the advocates of improvement who came after the Hartlib circle endorsed this 'strong' version of improvement. Consider, for example, political arithmetic after Petty's death in 1687. Gregory King and Charles Davenant embraced Petty's national accounting framework but were considerably more equivocal than Petty when assessing the prospects for England's future improvement (pp. 163–4, 191–2, 197–8). This suggests that as improvement culture diffused more widely, it may have become less ambitious and more pragmatic. Although the Hartlib circle thought in terms of the improvement of knowledge ad infinitum, later writers discussed by Slack appear to have been more focused on short-term impediments to improvement such as warfare, infectious disease or the poor laws. In other words, Slack's claim that 'improvement never ended' was not universally accepted in the mid-eighteenth century. Slack tacitly acknowledges this when he notes that Adam Smith and T. R. Malthus, though products of improvement culture, did not share Lord Macaulay's 'insular and unqualified confidence in material progress' (p. 264). This, it seems to me, is an important caveat since Smith's Wealth of Nations contains literally hundreds of references to improvement. As E. A. Wrigley has repeatedly emphasised, Smith thought that a country 'which had acquired the full complement of riches' would 'advance no further' owing to the fixed supply of land. Wrigley has shown how the use of coal enabled England to overcome the Smithian limits to growth. It would be fascinating to learn how Slack's improvement culture responded to, and shaped, industrial expansion after 1730. S . J . THOMPSON Formerly Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure


Under the background of urbanization and urban development,the lack of justice is more and more serious in China's urban space.In order to explain the logic of spatial injustice and explore solutions,we try to construct a comprehensive framework of spatial adjustment theory which comes from the adjustment theory,and then the logic of spatial injustice in China's urban space is investigated through this framework.Finally,we analyze solutions to the lack of justice in China's urban space through three perspectives of value,institution and policy.


their spiritual questions in theatrical form because, as Milton implied, the contemporary stage had sold out to a Catholic-oriented and hedonistic court. As for a new interest in the Apocrypha, Roston's examples are very far from being central to a history of Jacobean drama. I would argue that the Jacobean stage abandoned biblical drama just as it abandoned the English history play, not from an awe of portraying sacred matters but from a total rejection of the theater by those public audiences who might seek comfort in the form of biblical or patriotic analogy. Peele's effort represents a late attempt to bridge a cultural gap between the court and London; the bridge was destined to collapse. And this collapse brought with it the death of an art form that no mere restoration of the monarchy could hope to revive. THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO David Bevington


Flood disaster disrupted routine and performance in daily activities. Disengagement from performing daily activities have a negative impact on health leading to decrease the quality of life. Women were tied with the social norms of having to take care of others, which proves to be harder to juggle in times of disaster. The objective of this study was to identify the most affected occupations among the sandwich generation of women flood survivors. One hundred and thirty-one participants participated in this cross-sectional study. The results indicated that there is a significant difference in rest and sleep among the sandwich generation of women flood survivors.


Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a significant burden in China, where approximately 114 million patients have been diagnosed with diabetes. Chinese patients present with prominent β‐cell failure, with resulting deficiency in insulin secretion, particularly early phase insulin secretion leading to postprandial hyperglycemia. Sitagliptin, a selective once‐daily oral dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitor, has been shown to improve glycemic control as monotherapy and in combination with other antihyperglycemic agents, including sulfonylureas and metformin.


Summary

Conidia of two isolates of Elsinoe veneta were consistently produced in vitro by a 3-stage culture system in which sparsely sporulating microcolonies produced on corn meal agar were used to 'seed' Czapek-Dox V8 juice agar. E. veneta then sporulated on this medium if dises were floated mycelium uppermost on sterile distilled water for 24 h at 25°C. Both isolates also produced microconidia in vitro.

Only the growing apices of raspberry canes were susceptible to infection. Of 12 genotypes inoculated in the glasshouse, a red raspberry derivative of Rubus coreanus, EMRS 2769/9, was the most resistant and the black raspberry selection SCRI 815286 and cv. Malling Delight were the most susceptible. Of four red raspberry cultivars inoculated in the field cv. Malling Orion was the most susceptible. Inoculated flowers and developing fruits produced malformed fruits because infected drupelets were smaller or slower to ripen than uninfected ones.


The so-called decoupling and scaling solutions of functional equations of Landau gauge Yang-Mills theory are briefly reviewed. In both types of solutions the positivity violation seen in the gluon propagator is taken as an indication of gluon confinement. In the scaling solution the resulting infrared singularities of the quark-gluon vertex are responsible for the linear potential between static quarks and are therefore signaling quark confinement. A corresponding description of the UA(1) anomaly in functional approaches is only known for the scaling solution. Nevertheless, it seems puzzling at first sight that quark confinement is related to the dynamical and anomalous breaking of chiral symmetry in a self-consistent manner: One obtains either all these phenomena or none. For the scaling solution also fundamental scalar fields are confined. This provides evidence that within functional approaches static confinement is an universal property of the gauge sector even though it is formally represented in the functional equations of the matter sector.


In her essay on The Satanic Verses, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak temporarily brackets her discussion of the Rushdie affair in order to "attempt the impossible: a reading of The Satanic Verses as if nothing has happened since late 1988" (219). A short while later, she returns to the "cultural politics" of the controversy in order to reconnect the book with its notorious context, the debate between the twin demonologies of "Islam" and "free speech and secularism." The attempt to separate the book from its reception is interesting, not because it can't be done, or done well, but in the way it raises the issue of the Rushdie text and its "proper" audience, its desired reading constituency. Within the field of a text that is marked as "high culture" with respect to its literary antecedents--surrealism, magic realism, and European modernism--and its potential sphere of evaluation, the Booker Prize--the interventions by South Asian Britons in Bradford, Birmingham, Bolton, and London, and by self-serving politicians i n India and Pakistan, along with their range of mis- or nonreadings, are clearly part of a debate that is not intended to be theirs. Yet The Satanic Verses, as Spivak and a number of other commentators, including Rushdie, have pointed out, is a novel about migrancy in general and about South Asian immigrants to Britain in particular. (1) One of the problems that attends any investigation of migrancy in Rushdie's work is the almost limitless applicability of the concept, fostered not inconsiderably by the author's own moves from India to Pakistan to England, and now to New York. In this essay I discuss the ambivalent ways in which migrancy recurs in Rushdie's life and work as a concept he celebrates, yet one that has historically had undesired consequences for him. Migrancy can be called the reigning trope of the twentieth century Writers such as Beckett, Joyce, and Rushdie have made it a determining feature of counterhegemonic literature and politics. Rushdie is not alone in being fascinated by the liberatory and metaphysical connotations that attach themselves to the concept. Migration refers not only to the displacements of people in history but to a state of displacement that befalls humankind in general. In his essay on Gunter Grass, Rushdie proclaims, "We all cross frontiers; in that sense, we are all migrant peoples" (279). While that may be true on some abstract level, still we all cross them differently, and thus we are not all migrants in the same way. That experiences of migration differ, I think, is one of the crucial distinctions to be made in any discussion of the subject. An attendant problem involves Rushdie's shifting claims about the relationship between his novels and history While any straight correspondence between the two would be facile, Rushdie's changing positions with regard to the historicity of The Satanic Verses invites a questioning of the reasons behind such claims and disclaimers. In his letter to Rajiv Gandhi, Rushdie insists that "the book isn't about Islam, but about migration, metamorphoses, divided selves, love, death, London and Bombay... How much further from history could one get?" (Appignanesi 35-36). Later, however, in the Observer, he claims that the book is an attempt to "discuss the growth of Islam as a historical phenomenon, as an ideology born out of its time" (Appignanesi 62). And in the same essay, he explains the novel as "an attempt to write about migration, its stresses and transformations, from the point of view of migrants from the Indian subcontinent to Britain." In the first case migration is a category far removed from history, and in the second it is inextricably a historical event. The status of such statements as truth claims is hardly the issue. The point, rather, is to understand these shifting patterns of migrancy's relation to history as they appear in his work. While the strategy of disaffiliation that Rushdie performs may in part be attributable to a rhetorical line of defense necessitated by the attacks on his book, exactly what his concept of migration is, and what his place in the migrant population is, still remain to be examined. …


ECN is a powerful tool that can achieve low latency and high throughput simultaneously. Support ECN for multiqueue scenarios is an industry trend in datacenter networks. However, ECN schemes developed for per-port marking cannot be applied directly to the multi-queue scenarios. It hurts at least one metric among latency, throughput, and the scheduling policy. State-of-the-art multi-queue ECN marking schemes each has its own limitations. In this paper, we present per-Port Marking with Selective Blindness (PMSB). The intuition is that: if a flow is found to be a victim of per-port marking, we can either revoke the marking or cancel the flow back-off even if its packets qualify the per-port threshold (i.e., selective blindness). By breaking the fixed causal relationship between ECN marking and flow backoff, flows from un-congested queues can be protected. We evaluate PMSB with large-scale NS-3 simulations. Our results demonstrate that PMSB can preserve a given scheduling policy. Compared with the current practice, PMSB can reduce the average/99% completion time for small flows by 64.49%/72.89% respectively while delivering a slightly better performance for large flows.


of the hare's unborn young, must be the killing of the innocent and defenceless at Troy.' Here, perhaps, one should take the last point first and draw attention to an observation of the late Eduard Fraenkel (Vol. ii, page 96, of his monumental edition of the Agamemnon, which is nowhere alluded to by Mr. Sommerstein): 'Thefundamental maxim Spdaavn iradeiv cannot be supplanted by SpdaovTt iraOeiv.' Also, it should not be forgotten that Aeschylus' 'direct' link of Artemis' grievance to the omen is through the mouth of Calchas. Zeus sent the two eagles as an omen to set the expedition under way: these eagles devoured the pregnant hare and her unborn young—an act which Calchas interpreted would anger Artemis; cf. Ag. 135:


The foundation is the lower part of the structure which functions to continue the load of the upper structure as a result of the forces that occur in the upper structure. The choice of foundation type is influenced by the location of the hard soil depth. The amount of bearing capacity is also influenced by the cross-sectional shape of the foundation. In this study, a pile foundation with square, triangular, and circular sections and a drill pile was compared to obtain a foundation alternative that was more effective with different sections in terms of strength with relatively the same cross-sectional area and more efficient in terms of implementation in the field and at a lower cost economical. This research took a case study on the Inna Sanur Beach Hotel Development Project with clay and sand conditions. The calculation of the carrying capacity of a single pile foundation is carried out by taking the calculation of the bearing capacity based on the SPT value and the sondir value. The maximum load received by the piles in the group is calculated so that it is not greater than the carrying capacity of a single pile. The pile foundation with square sections has the largest bearing capacity of the pile group and the drill pile has the smallest bearing capacity of the pile group. The maximum load control received by the pile group is smaller than the carrying capacity of a single pile foundation so that the structure is safe. In terms of implementation, the pile foundation is more efficient and more economical than the bored pile foundation.


Surgical Therapy of Colon Diverticulitis – German Experiences From up-to-date literature, the German experiences in the treatment of diverticular disease and the modern principles of surgery in diverticulitis are shown and discussed. The concept in diagnosis and therapy has changed in the last 5 to 10 years, and today the one-stage resection with primary anastomosis after the second attack should be the standard even in cases of diffuse peritonitis. The own results and experiences in the treatment of 393 patients between 1991 and 1999 are critically analysed.


Taking the state experimental demonstration centers in some universities in East China as references and based on constructivism and learning community theory,practical activities for modern media skill developments were conducted in the Chinese experimental teaching center in Jinan University to create a practical activity environment for the cultivation of application-oriented innovative talents.Learners' competence and initiative are inspired by taking part in meaningful problem-solving group activities such as planning,writing,shooting,clipping and presenting,which also helps them realize knowledge construction.


Two hundred years ago, as the American Revolution was ending, the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts voted to grant the petition of 14 Boston physicians and established th...


We analyze here the trajectory of the German composer emigrated to Brazil in 1937, HansJoachim Koellreutter (1915-2005), and his relations with the theoretical and practical debate about art and the aesthetics of the 20th century, based on his original texts and works. An aesthetic that was developed in close collaboration with the formulation of philosophical ideas and art history which the composer, in parallel with his compositional practice, expresses in many articles, lectures and courses. The philosophy of history that he proposes presents itself as an articulation between two temporalities: large and small time intervals, whose marks are transitions, characterized by crises among systems that are exhausted or that emerge one day only to be overcome the nexto day. Inside an modernity and contemporaneity, both considered anacronic, the trajectory of the composer ends up providing us with a paradigmatic model of the characterization of an aesthetic crisis presenting some symptoms of a double temporality: (i) the anachronistic echos of the avantgardes of the twentieth century common life as art approach; desacralization of art values; breach of protocols and prejudices; subversion of the means of productions ; denunciation or reflection on modes of production; (Caps I and II) -, occurring along with (ii) topics that would become brands in the contemporary world: functional art; collaborative authoring network; art oriented to difusion; expanded field and site specific (Chapter III). Thanks to these moments of crisis, transformations and hybridity between the old and the new carry opposing forces: the first resisting and constituting opposition through formalizations and regulations; the second subjectivizing itself through new paradigms of form and performance, moments in which a vanguard can be constituted (Caps II and III): a group that, in tune with its time, manages to connect the aesthetic and formal aspirations with the contents to interfere directly in these transformations. Koellreutter composed three especial pieces in the 1980s here chosen as the basic material for examples and models: Ácronon, Nova-mente and Rôdo, works that once again announced the new, which fifty years after he introduced in Brazil again as a phenomenon of novelty (Chapter III). Attempts to show (Final Remarks) how the composer, in dealing with these two forces tradition and modernity. Finally we build a relationship that he calls a "retritive alpha". His concept of the opposite without contradiction — where he can integrate tradition and rupture as well as noise and information, establishing an intimate relationships between ethics and aesthetics.


This study was conducted as an attempt to discover the effect of Promblem Based Learning Strategy on The Students Speaking Achievement. It was an experimental reserch. The subject was students of Grade X111, Junior Hight School of Nusa Penida. Which consisted of 40 students. The research was divided into two groups: experimental and control groups. The instrument used to collect the data was speaking test. To obtain the reliability of the test, the writer applied inter-rater reliability formula. The result of the reliability was 0.86, and it was found that the test was reliable. The data were analyzed by using t-test formula. The analysis showed that the scores of the students in the experimental group were significantly higher than the scores of the students in the control group at the level of significant I±=0.05 with the degree of freedom (df) 18, t-observed value 6.68 > t- table value 2.101. The findings indicate that using Problem Based Learning Strategy significantly affected the students achievement in speaking skill. So, English teacher are suggested to use Problem Based Learning Strategy in order to improve students achievement in speaking skill.


Conventional elastography techniques require an external mechanical or radiation excitation to measure noninvasively the viscoelastic properties of skeletal muscles and thus monitor human motor functions. We developed instead a passive elastography technique using only an array of skin-mounted accelerometers to record the low-frequency vibrations of the biceps brachii muscle naturally generated during voluntary contractions and to determine their two-dimensional directionality. Cross-correlating these recordings provided travel-times measurements of these muscle vibrations between multiple sensor pairs. Travel-time tomographic inversions yielded spatial variations of their propagation velocity during isometric elbow flexions which indicated a nonuniform longitudinal stiffening of the biceps.


As literature review will enable to know what has already been done to the related field of studies by many researchers earlier, various tools techniques used for data collection and analysis and the findings of the earlier studies, a detailed search for related literature was conducted by browsing databases such as EBSCOhost, Wiley InterScience, ScienceDirect, Emerald and Internet. There were some related studies about Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and human resource development. According to the objectives of the study, this review with chronological order is presented in five main parts viz., application of ICT; impact of ICT on training; impact of ICT on productivity; impact of ICT on performance; and impact of ICT on job satisfaction.


There is experimental evidence that low molecu lar weight heparin fractions are as effective as unfractionated standard heparin in preventing venous thrombosis but that they produce less bleeding. 1,2 This reduced hemorrhagic effect may be related to the experimental observation that low molecular weight heparin inhibits platelet function less than unfractionated heparin. 3 We have conducted a literature review to compare the relative efficacy and safety of low molecular weight heparin fractions with unfractionated standard heparin and to examine the rela tionship between ex vivo anti-Factor Xa levels and bleeding.


Oxygen is found to be incorporated into amorphous silicon films deposited by sputtering, both during and after deposition, unless the argon pressure is less than about 3×10-2 Torr during fabrication. The oxygen inclusion process has been studied by infrared transmission and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. The relations between the gas pressure during deposition and the amounts of both oxygen and argon in the films are presented. An as-deposited film of hydrogenated amorphous silicon by reactive sputtering has shown no trace of oxygen initially, but subsequent starage in air has resulted in oxygen contamination.


Organizations face tradeoffs when they adopt strategies in changing resource environments. The type of tradeoff depends on the type of resource change. The paper gives an organizational tradeoff model for quantitative change. I call that the "Cricket and Ant" (CA), because the pertaining strategies resemble to the cricket and ant behavior in La Fontaine's famous fable. I demonstrate that organizational ecology's niche theory and U-.-strategist theory obtain as special cases of CA; their predictions on selection derive as theorems, if their respective boundary conditions are represented in the formal model. New selection conclusions also derive, prone to empirical testing.


This chapter focuses on the place of human rights and humanitarian considerations in the actions of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) over the past six or so years. The manner by which the IDF has prosecuted the Al-Aqsa Intifada is unlike the way it performed during the previous uprising (1987-1991). In the context of the Al-Aqsa Intifada some of the same dynamics appear to take hold. Numerous human rights movements and humanitarian organizations regularly operate within and report about the plight of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. While many of the rules governing the actions of the IDF existed, no doubt, at the time of the last Intifada, the IDF appears to have internalized many of the prescriptions found in the discourse on human rights and the activities and organizational innovations of other military establishments. Keywords: Al-Aqsa Intifada; human rights; humanitarian considerations; Israel Defence Forces (IDF)


Investigations on efficacy of some botanical and synthetic insecticides against Sitophilus oryzae Linnaeus in stored maize were carried out during 2009–10. Among the various botanical materials, the higher adult mortality of S. oryzae was noted with eucalyptus (39.01%), tulsi (35.38%) and neem (31.63%) leaf powders. The half-lives of tulsi (71.73 days), eucalyptus (68.02) and neem (61.73) were more as compared to the other botanicals. Higher persistency and lower population growth of the weevil were exhibited by these botanical powders. Among the various synthetic insecticides, deltamethrin (adult mortality 91.30%) was found superior followed by thiamethoxam (87.60%), cypermethrin (86.41%) and fenvalerate (85.13%). These insecticides were also found superior on the basis of half-life and gross persistency. After 7 months of storage, the per cent germination was almost equal in all the insecticides with none showing any significant adverse effect on germination.


Vessel development and regeneration by angiogenesis is critical for adequate oxygen and nutrient delivery to every organ in the body. However, the concept of anti‐angiogenesis therapy has previously been proposed due to the important role of blood vessels in solid tumor growth and dissemination. Non‐neoplastic disorders associated with numerous proliferative diseases (e.g. diabetes or chronic inflammation) also are promoted by pathological angiogenesis that leads to blinding diseases. Current anti‐angiogenic treatments are based on the use of synthetic drugs, many of which, not only cause serious side effects without correcting the underlying pathology, but also have an unfavorable cost to benefit ratio. The objective of this study is to explore the anti‐angiogenic potential of abscisic acid (ABA), a natural plant hormone that inhibits germination from occurring when the environmental conditions are not favorable and contributes to the acquisition of stress tolerance. Using a fibrin beads‐based sprouting assay, we show that ABA effectively inhibits in a dose‐dependent manner, migration, growth and expansion of endothelial tubes without affecting cell viability. In the in vivo model of postnatal retinal angiogenesis, administration of ABA affects neither the differentiation and normal development of the retinal vasculature nor the growth of the animals although it incidentally increases fetal hyaloid vessel persistence. In the mouse model of oxygen‐induced retinopathy (OIR) characterized by a hyperoxia‐induced vaso‐obliteration phase and a subsequent ischemia‐induced neovascular growth, administration of ABA reduces aberrant growth of retinal vessels during the ischemic phase of OIR without altering the normal vascularization of the retina. Thus, as a natural vascular stabilization signal restricting neovascular growth, ABA is an anti‐angiogenic molecule with potential translational implications in vascular diseases of the eye.


A spectrograph complex, developed for the ISKRA-4 and ISKRA-5 facilities, is described. The complex was developed to study continuous and line spectra in the 0.06-3 keV range. It comprises diffraction-grating, multilayer-mirror, and grazing-incidence crystal spectrographs. Recorded laser plasma X-ray spectra are compared with the ones predicted by the gas-dynamical theory. 9 refs., 2 figs.


In secretory cells, calcium‐regulated exocytosis is rapidly followed by compensatory endocytosis. Neuroendocrine cells secrete hormones and neuropeptides through various modes of exo‐endocytosis, including kiss‐and‐run, cavicapture and full‐collapse fusion. During kiss‐and‐run and cavicapture modes, the granule membrane is maintained in an omega shape, whereas it completely merges with the plasma membrane during full‐collapse mode. As the composition of the granule membrane is very different from that of the plasma membrane, a precise sorting process of granular proteins must occur. However, the fate of secretory granule membrane after full fusion exocytosis remains uncertain.


Extrusion driven collision is controlled by strike-slip faults of opposite senses whereas subduction related oblique convergence is accommodated by margin parallel faults of identical senses. Northern Andes geodynamics has been interpreted either as resulting from the obliquity of convergence between Nazca and South American plates or from the collision of the Carnegie Ridge with Ecuadorian margin. The sense of the Cauca-Patia and Romeral Fault System (CPRFS) has been interpreted in two opposite manners: right or left-lateral agreeing with oblique or collisional patterns, respectively. We analyze arguments which favor, South to 4°N, a right-lateral motion along the CPRFS that is consistent with obliquity driven geodynamics. However, North of 5°N, the CPRFS is actually left-lateral. These opposite motions between the northern and southern part of the CPRFS have to be accommodated around 5°N by N-S stretching and/or shortening. Existing data support N-S shortening around 5°N, this buttressing could be due to the collision between the Panama and Andean Blocks.


Doxycycline is recommended for persons with Ixodes scapularis tick bites in certain geographic areas, if the tick had fed for at least 36 hours. Based on the scutal index, over 40% of I. scapularis tick bites from patients seen at the Lyme Disease Diagnostic Center did not warrant antibiotic prophylaxis.


In the information-intensive marketplaces of the networked economy, database-related marketing techniques have gained unprecedented popularity. Their development is based on the assumption that greater capturing of customer information in digital databases leads to epistemologically superior insights about the customer. The proliferation of customer databases, however, has triggered privacy concerns and has encouraged consumers to devise information externalization strategies to maintain control over their digital representation (identity) vis-à-vis companies. Drawing on poststructuralist theory, the authors argue that current consumer strategies are ineffective in maintaining control over one's identity in the electronic marketplace because such strategies are based on an obsolete ontological distinction between material identity and digital representation. They suggest that in the age of database marketing, digital consumer representations in fact constitute the consumer. Therefore, only if consumers are given full access to companies' customer databases can they maintain a sense of control over their identities in the marketplace.


Based on deeply researching Data Carousel protocol in a set of DVB data broadcasting protocols,this article pro-vides a kind of scheme to transport data broadcast service in the CATV network.With this scheme,the data of data broad-cast and digital audio and digital video in the MPEG-2transport stream can be transported in the same time.


Hugo Claus (1929-2008) is often praised as one of the most important Flemish authors of the twentieth century, with an internationally acclaimed oeuvre. For an author writing in Dutch, translation into a more central language is a basic condition to enter the World Republic of Letters. From the very beginning of his literary career, the exceptionally early and numerous French translations and Parisian publications of Claus' work played a crucial role in the international circulation and literary consecration of his oeuvre. However, until now, especially the earlier French translations have received very little scholarly attention. In order to gain an insight into their coming about and their effects on the international spread and status of Claus' oeuvre, we investigate the textual and material translation processes of the earlier French translations as well as their early international reception. The subsequent comparison with later retranslations enables us to outline temporal and spatial differences and evolutions in the networks, translation strategies and international position of the author and his oeuvre. Because of its early reception and important position amongst the French translations of his work, Claus' dramatic production will receive our main attention – however, not in isolation from other significant French translations of his work. In our analysis of the translation process, we investigate the textual and paratextual 'resemantisations' due to linguistic, ideological, socio-cultural and historical shifts by relating them to epitextual sources and various contextual factors (individual and institutional position of the mediators, networks of contacts, mediatisation of the author, translation subsidies, critical resonance etc.). At the crossroads of this textual-discursive and contextual analysis, we investigate the decisive role of the translators and/or mediators both as textual 'voices' and as real-life agents. Moreover, this study of a cultural transfer from a peripheral language into a central one aims at gaining a clearer understanding of the functioning and positioning of twentieth-century Flemish, Dutch-language literature in French translation and of the intercultural, international and intranational dynamics between the Dutch-speaking (Flemish) and Francophone fields, between the peripheral sub-field of Francophone Belgian translation and the Parisian centre and between the Flemish and Francophone intra-Belgian cultural fields respectively.


While this statement is technically correct in that there have been several recent papers to this effect, these papers are based on flawed arguments. First, the fact that models project more positive climate feedbacks in the future does not in any way prove that the models are correct in doing so. Secondly, the more detailed explanation in the paper itself supports the statement with several different, mainly invalid, arguments:


This paper presents an innovative comparison that works creatively with the entangled spatialities of policy mobilities, drawing on a city-to-city cooperation between São Paulo (Brazil) and eThekwini (South Africa) municipalities for the exchange of slum upgrading expertise. The proposed comparative tactic entails tracing the establishment of this connection in order to disassemble the constituent flows and localities merged within it. Subsequently, by posing questions to one another, a relational comparison of the trajectory of slum upgrading policy in each locality is composed, unearthing the political and institutional conditions that preceded the existence of the connection per se. In that sense, both eThekwini and São Paulo are considered equivalent starting points from which local actors engaged in circulating ideas and mobilised slum upgrading policies. This paper not only brings a fresh approach to comparative methods – incorporating political contexts and their extensive overlapping networks of relations alongside a focus on particular policy trajectories – but also contributes to furthering global urban studies in two other ways. First, it provides insight into the processes by which policies are put on the move and localised (or not). Second, it demonstrates how repeated instances of urban practice may be unravelled by allowing each context of policy formation, with its distinctive trajectory of slum upgrading, to speak to one another. In this regard, the comparative analysis identified how, in both São Paulo and eThekwini, the consolidation of democracy was followed by the development of more technocratic approaches to the detriment of earlier slum upgrading initiatives focussed on community empowerment.