Bridgeport spent the most per capita on public safety in 2014 compared to other Connecticut towns while Ashford spent the least. Westport generated the most tax revenue per resident, and Greenwich spent the most on wages in the state.
Trend CT recently took a look at the data behind the Office of Policy and Management’s Municipal Benchmarking App, which lets members of the public look up and compare their town’s revenue and spending. The most recent data is for 2014.
We wanted to see how the towns stacked up in various spending and revenue factors. It should be noted that much of the variance in numbers can be attributed to differences in population.
Public safety
Towns that spent the least on public safety per resident were Ashford ($5.20), Pomfret ($5.54), and Sterling ($9.32). (Public safety includes spending on police and fire departments.)
Rural communities such as Ashford and Pomfret rely largely on state police and volunteer fire fighters.
Meanwhile, large cities like Bridgeport, which support full time police and fire departments, lead the pack with about $1,000 per resident spent on public safety. The next largest amount was Stamford at about $840.
General government
Towns that spent the least on general government per resident were rural Eastford ($164.26), Scotland ($171.23), and Warren ($202.29).
In contrast, Waterbury spent the most at more than $1,400 per resident.
Tax revenue
Towns that generated the least tax revenue per resident were Mansfield ($1,070.83), Thompson ($1,475.54), and Griswold ($1,538.17). It should be noted that Mansfield is home to the University of Connecticut’s main campus, which contributes a significant annual payment in lieu of taxes.
Westport and Weston generated the most at $6,600 and $6,100 respectively.
Fines and assessments
Towns with the least revenue from fines and special assessments per resident were Hartland ($0.02), Colebrook ($0.05), and Easton ($0.06).
Salisbury and Simsbury generated the most revenue from parking violations, permits, etc, with $260 and $216 each.
Employee benefits
Rural Hampton and Scotland spent the smallest amount of money per resident on employee benefits — $32 and $36.
Waterbury and Hartford spent the most in the state — around $2,200 each.
Wages
Towns that spent the least on wages per resident were Hebron ($91.39), Bethlehem ($103.1), and Griswold ($110.74).
Greenwich and Hartford spent about $3,300 and $2,800 each, which was the most in the state.


Virtual reality development has really slowed in recent years and recent progress is not exactly recent. This is more than likely due to public disappointment, further due to the high expectations created by media sensationalisation.
Thankfully, virtual reality lives on in popular culture as a heavy influence on many consumer products that are in use today. These range from games to revolutionary input devices.
Virtual Worlds
Virtual worlds combine the power of 3D graphics and the internet, giving users the ability to create new versions of themselves literally within a virtual world.
Second Life, arguably the most popular of these games, has seen massive successes, which includes creating millionaires out of some of their long-time and most dedicated players. This is made possible by their own currency and exchange rates.
Virtual worlds have become so popular, laws have been extended to include property acquired on them.
Input Devices
In a similar thread of thought, modern input devices have been massively influenced by virtual reality and may become the corner stone of further virtual reality developments. Some of these include:
Microsoft’s Kinect– This device uses a camera to track a player’s movements, which are then reflected in-game. Wii Controls– The Wii, mostly due to its controls, took the world by storm. Using a controller, which can be latched to the hand, movement becomes a form of input.


Energy use is pervasive throughout all organizations. Designating a few important energy systems, equipment, facilities, and their associated operating personnel as significant, allows an organization to focus their limited resources on improving and maintaining optimum performance in a small number of critical systems. This approach ensures the best use of an organization’s limited energy management resources.
In an energy management system, if an energy use is identified as significant it means the application will receive special attention. The items of attention associated with significant energy uses includes consideration in establishing energy objectives, targets and action plans (Step 3
); ensuring the training and competence of relevant personnel (Step 5.3
); planning for effective operation and maintenance (Step 5.2
); and monitoring, measuring and analyzing their performance (Step 6.1
). Implementing these items is resource intensive and demands that the organization develop a reliable strategy for defining significance.
Identification of significant energy uses is necessary and sufficient for an organization to achieve the most improvement in performance with the fewest available resources. Below is a step by step process for determining significant energy uses:
The energy management representative, assisted by the energy team, typically establishes and applies criteria for determining the organization’s significant energy uses. At a minimum, this involves deciding on criteria for “
substantial energy consumption” and “ considerable opportunity for improvement.” The method used to determine the significant energy uses is documented. Because significant energy uses must be managed through operational controls, training and monitoring and measurement, designating an energy use as significant should be conducted carefully.


Shock-compression of Ni-Al nanolayered foils using controlled laser-accelerated thin foil impact Date2013-08-30 Author
Kelly, Sean Christopher
MetadataShow full item record Abstract
A laser-driven flyer impact system was constructed, characterized, and validated for performing uniaxial-strain experiments to investigate the shock equation-of-state (EOS) and processes leading to reaction initiation in thin, fully-dense Ni-Al nanolayered foils. Additionally, various fully-dense Ni-Al mixtures with highly heterogeneous microstructures and widely varying length scales were investigated to understand influence of meso-scale features on the shock compression and reaction response. Ni-Al composites are a class of reactive materials also called Structural Energetic Materials (SEMs), which aim to combine stiffness and strength with the ability to release large amounts of energy through highly exothermic reactions when the constituents are intimately mixed during shock loading. While porous reactive materials have been studied extensively, the processes leading to reaction initiation in fully-dense mixtures consisting of phases with disparate mechanical properties is more ambiguous. A table-top, small-scale laser system was developed for studying shock-induced effects in extremely thin reactive materials. Laser accelerated thin foil impact experiments utilizing time-resolved interferometry allowed for measuring the Hugoniot of the nanolayered Ni-Al foil over a range of particle velocities/pressures. Separate recovery experiments were performed by shock-loading Ni-Al foils slightly below the reaction initiation threshold and performing post-mortem TEM/STEM analysis to identify the constituent mixing processes leading to reaction. Direct-shock experiments were performed on the different fully-dense Ni-Al mixtures and hydrodynamic simulations using real microstructures allowed direct correlations with the experiment results, which yielded an improved understanding of the effect of phase arrangement on the shock propagation and reaction initiation response. The EOS experiments performed at particle velocities > 200 m/s showed a deviation from the predicted inert trend and recovered targets showed complete reaction to the B2-NiAl intermetallic phase. The measured deviation from inert behavior and state of recovered material suggests the occurrence of a shock-induced chemical reaction. The shocked (but unreacted) Ni-Al materials contained distinct constituent mixing features (layer jets and intermixed zones), where significant elemental penetration occurred and are likely sources of reaction initiation. The observed results provide the first clear evidence of shock-induced reactions in fully-dense nanolayered Ni-Al foils.


A hypothetical: The roof of a parking garage that is part of a condominium development partially collapses, destroying landscaping over the collapsed section of the roof and the floors underneath the collapsed section. The roof had been fully installed and the parking garage was being used at the time of the collapse, but work continued on the landscaping and the condominium units. The cause of the collapse is traced to roof beams not strong enough to withstand the load of the landscaping. The design of the parking garage called for weaker roof beams. The roof beams cannot be replaced, and consequently the landscaping over the rest of the roof must be removed and replaced with lighter materials to prevent further collapses.
This hypothetical, which is not an outlandish scenario in the construction business, raises a myriad of coverage issues under several different types of policies, including first party property, builder’s risk, general liability and professional liability policies. The attorneys in Reed Smith’s Insurance Recovery Group have extensive experience advising policyholders and engaging in litigation regarding these types of coverage issues.
Back to the hypothetical: Insurers can be expected to contest coverage for the collapsed parking garage roof on a number of grounds. One perennially hot topic is whether construction defects involve an “occurrence” as that term is used in policies. Insurers argue that damages from construction defects are not covered “occurrences” because they stem from foreseeable business risks rather than fortuitous accidents; insurance policies are not performance bonds. However, there is nothing expected or intended about a roof collapse, even one due to defective materials or faulty work, and policyholders expect to be covered for such accidents. Courts have been split on this issue, and lately several state legislatures have stepped in with laws intended to clarify the situation (with mixed results).
Another common issue is which type of policy applies to a loss. Builder’s risk policies are intended to cover structures undergoing construction or renovation, but usually are limited to specific projects and time periods. General liability policies, by contrast, may exclude damage from “ongoing operations” but insure damage included in the “completed operations hazard.” Both builder’s risk and general liability policies may exclude professional negligence (e.g., the architect’s mistake in designing a roof with weak beams). The damage in that case may be covered by the architect’s professional liability policy.
General liability policies often attempt to exclude damage caused by “faulty workmanship,” and damage to the policyholder’s “work” or “products,” but then give back much of the coverage in the form of confusing and overlapping exceptions to the exclusions. For example, damage may not be excluded where the work is performed on behalf of the named insured by subcontractors. Ensuing loss to other property caused by defective work or products also is typically not excluded. Paul specializes in threading ways through the arcane policy language applicable to construction defects.
A commonly overlooked source of coverage is additional insured coverage under someone else’s policy. General contractors often require that subcontractors name them as additional insureds under the subcontractors’ policies, but fail to ensure this is done, or do not timely notify the subcontractors’ insurers of an accident. Additional insured coverage can be vital because additional insureds are often exempt from many exclusions applicable to the named insured, resulting in coverage that in many cases is broader for the additional insured than the named insured. Paul can assist policyholders in crafting contract language to obtain maximum additional insured protection under business partners’ policies.


Political and tribal tensions brought Sudan into a decades-long civil war, catching hundreds of thousands of innocent people in the crossfire. In 2011, the Republic of South Sudan gained independence from Sudan after a bloody conflict that devastated its people’s lives.
Those who escaped the fighting fled to camps within South Sudan or escaped into neighbouring countries, leaving over a million men, women, and children homeless.
In December 2013, further fighting erupted in South Sudan, sending even more people fleeing for refuge. By February, nearly 65,000 South Sudanese refugees had arrived in Uganda, the vast majority being women and children. Refugee settlements in the area weren’t equipped with enough shelters to host the influx of new refugees and an enormous need for shelter emerged.
With a shortage of shelter, food, clean water, and hope, South Sudanese refugees are in deep crisis.
With 1.8 million South Sudanese displaced from their homes, Samaritan’s Purse, the largest charity operation in South Sudan, is offering help to displaced families in many different capacities:
Food – 2,800 tons of life-saving food is distributed monthly by mobile food teams have distributed food by airlifting items into hard to reach areas Shelter – distributed 200 shelter kits to families, providing shelter to a total of 1,000 individuals Nutrition – targeted supplementary feeding program for malnourished children Medical Care – providing life-saving medical support for displaced families. including those wounded by conflict Water – bringing clean, safe water to displaced families in the form of water wells, water purification systems and water filters A Critical Lifeline in Maban County
Throughout most of 2013, the ongoing conflict across the border in Sudan was the prime driver behind instability and the continued presence of over 124,068 refugees in Maban County, South Sudan. Recognising the dire health needs that the refugees and host communities in the area face, the Maban County Commissioner handed over the Maban County Hospital to Samaritan’s Purse to operate and expand services.
We now operate the only functioning hospital east of the Nile in South Sudan, conducting over 100 emergency surgeries every month for its catchment area of 200,000 people. A new hospital wing was constructed in Maban, funded with assistance from Samaritan’s Purse UK, to help the hurting refugees of South Sudan receive quality medical treatment. Here, malnourished and neglected children are being rehabilitated back to health; boys shot in the crossfire of tribal fighting are being saved; women beaten into early labour are being cared for and their babies delivered safely.
The hospital is a critical lifeline, providing surgical services for both refugees and surrounding communities.
Samaritan’s Purse medical staff, led by Dr. Evan Atar, started performing surgeries in the Bunj Hospital in January 2012. Dr. Atar, a South Sudanese doctor, had been working at a Samaritan’s Purse hospital before it was destroyed by the Sudan Armed Forces.
Food distribution in a camp for refugees from South Sudan.


The Athena SWAN Charter , launched in 2005, recognises commitment to advancing women's careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM).
Any university or affiliated research institute that is committed to the advancement of the careers of women in STEMM can become a member of the Charter by accepting and promoting the Ten Charter Principles:
We acknowledge that academia cannot reach its full potential unless it can benefit from the talents of all.
We commit to advancing gender equality in academia, in particular, addressing the loss of women across the career pipeline and the absence of women from senior academic, professional and support roles.
We commit to addressing unequal gender representation across academic disciplines and professional and support functions. In this we recognise disciplinary differences including:
the relative underrepresentation of women in senior roles in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL)
the particularly high loss rate of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM)
We commit to tackling the gender pay gap.
We commit to removing the obstacles faced by women, in particular, at major points of career development and progression including the transition from PhD into a sustainable academic career.
We commit to addressing the negative consequences of using short-term contracts for the retention and progression of staff in academia, particularly women.
We commit to tackling the discriminatory treatment often experienced by trans people.
We acknowledge that advancing gender equality demands commitment and action from all levels of the organisation and, in particular, active leadership from those in senior roles.
We commit to making and mainstreaming sustainable structural and cultural changes to advance gender equality, recognising that initiatives and actions that support individuals alone will not sufficiently advance equality.
All individuals have identities shaped by several different factors. We commit to considering the intersection of gender and other factors wherever possible.
There are currently 137 Athena SWAN members.
The University of East Anglia holds Athena SWAN bronze status (awarded 2012).
The School of Health Sciences (HSC) holds Athena SWAN bronze departmental status (awarded 2014).
This assists STEMM Schools (i.e. those in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine subjects) in examining the ways in which they support women to achieve their full potential in work and study. The framework has the additional benefits of fostering the creation of increasingly supportive environments for all those with family and/or caring responsibilities, in addition to those in dual career relationships.


Ensuring the Net Generation Is Net Savvy George Lorenzo and Charles Dziuban
Net Gen students may know the Internet, but they are not necessarily “net savvy.” Exposed to huge quantities and multiple formats of information online, they are constantly challenged to sort valid from inaccurate information. Moreover, students are creating information, not just consuming it. This paper explores the challenges students face online in effectively finding information, using technology, and thinking critically.


Airway smooth muscle (ASM) remodeling in chronic asthma involves structural and functional changes from healthy into hyper-reactive and proliferative/hypertrophic ASM. ASM remodeling is an important determinant in airway obstruction and decline pulmonary function in asthma that compounds the well- established immune/inflammatory components. These ASM phenotypic changes are of great clinical importance yet remains poorly understood. A more recent concept is that ASM not only contributes to physical obstruction of airways, but acts as immune effector in asthma. Orai1 encodes canonical, ubiquitous and evolutionarily-conserved Ca2+ release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channels regulated by the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+ sensor STIM1. We showed that CRAC mediate proliferative signals during pathological smooth muscle remodeling. However, Orai1-mediated CRAC is widely functional in most, if not all, tissues rendering its specific targeting for therapy challenging. Orai1 has two homologs, Orai2 and Orai3 which are exclusive to vertebrates and mammals, respectively. We propose that Orai3 is a key determinant in ASM remodeling during asthma and that Orai3 is a better therapeutic target than Orai1. Our exciting data identified novel native Orai3/Orai1 heteromultimeric channels in ASM that are regulated by STIM1 and gated by cytosolic leukotrieneC4. This "intracrine" function of leukotrieneC4 is independent of paracrine actions on plasma membrane receptors. We showed upregulation of STIM1, Orai1 and Orai3 proteins in ASM from asthmatic mice. Furthermore, we generated Orai3 knockout (O3-KO) mice which, unlike Orai1 knockouts, are viable and healthy. Therefore, we hypothesize that: i) increased leukotrieneC4-regulated Ca2+ (LRC) currents are regulated by STIM1 and mediated by Orai3/Orai1 hetero-multimers in ASM is an important determinant for ASM remodeling in asthma. We propose two specific aims to address this hypothesis:
Aim1) determine the mechanisms of leukotrieneC4-dependent activation of Orai3/Orai1 in ASM. i) We will determine the domains of STIM1 and Orai3 required for Orai3/Orai1 channel activation by LTC4. Using STIM1 truncations, Orai3/Orai1 chimeras and "erase and replace" strategies coupled to multi-cell Ca2+ imaging, we will determine the exact domains of STIM1 and Orai3 required for STIM1/Orai3 interaction and LTC4 action on Orai3/Orai1 channels. ii) We will determine the signaling pathways controlled by LRC-generated Ca2+ signals downstream Akt activation. Aim 2) We will determine the role of STIM1 and Orai3 in ASM remodeling in a mouse model of asthma. i) We will determine the increase in LRC current activity and Akt signaling in ASM from ovalbumin (OVA)-induced asthmatic mice. ii) We will determine the ability of smooth muscle-specific STIM1 and Orai3 knockout mice to develop asthma and ASM remodeling upon OVA challenge. These studies will enhance our understanding of native Orai Ca2+ channels regulation in ASM and will validate Orai3 and Orai3-encoded channels as therapeutic targets for ASM remodeling in chronic asthma.
Asthma is a devastating disease and current therapies are not specifically directed against the end-organ responsible for hyper-reactivity and decline pulmonary function during asthma, the airway smooth muscle (ASM). Research from this proposal will generate better understanding of ASM physiology, demonstrate a non-canonical and critical role for leukotrieneC4 in the direct modulation of ASM Ca2+ signaling and establish Orai3 and STIM1 proteins as novel targets for drug therapies aimed at controlling ASM remodeling during asthma and other obstructive lung diseases.


Toilet waste lines carry discharge to the main drain line for the house. In most cases, an odor indicates the line needs repair. While it's rare that ABS plastic lines need repair, cast iron waste lines are vulnerable to damage, such as cracks and punctures. If the house is built on a concrete slab, enlist a contractor to cut the slab, repair the line and patch the concrete. A do-it-yourselfer can fix minor cracks or punctures in a plastic or cast-iron waste line using supplies found at plumbing supply stores and many home centers.
1
Put on a dust mask, safety glasses and work gloves. Access the area under the subfloor through the crawl space door. Use a flashlight or work light to locate the area of a crack or puncture in the black ABS or cast-iron waste line. If the house has a basement, locate a crack or puncture in the line that runs to a main drain or through a basement wall. Use a stepladder to work on the line in a basement, if necessary.
2
Remove any moisture at the area of the crack or puncture with a rag. Prepare the pipe at the area of the repair by scuffing the surface with an 80-grit sanding block. The scuffed area should extend 2 inches each way of the crack or puncture. Remove residual debris with a dry rag.
3
Cut a piece of neoprene patching rubber that covers the scuffed area, using a utility knife. Peel off the paper backing, center the piece at the crack or puncture and press it firmly onto the pipe.
4
Use a nut driver to loosen the bolts on a dual-clamp no hub pipe coupling that's the same diameter as the pipe, such as 4 inches or larger. Pull apart the clamps and set them aside. Pull apart the aluminum sleeve, remove it from the rubber sleeve and set it aside.
5
Cut a slit in the rubber sleeve from one end to the other with a utility knife, and pull the sleeve apart. Fit the sleeve onto the waste line and center it on the patch. Fit the aluminum sleeve tightly around the rubber. Fit the clamps around each end of the sleeve, and tighten the bolts.
Things You Will Need Safety glasses Work gloves Dust mask Stepladder, optional Rags 80-grit sanding block Neoprene rubber patch Utility knife Dual-clamp no hub pipe coupling Nut driver Tip If the waste line is damaged or leaks at a connection or the pipe is broken, enlist a plumber to fix the line. Photo Credits Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images


Drafting a Law Office Memorandum
The following documents offer some suggestions for drafting a predictive legal analysis. The suggested format for a law office memorandum, structure for a working draft, a sample memorandum, and an advanced sample memorandum exemplify a conventional structure, highlighting a specific legal question and its answer, followed by a recitation of legally significant facts - the facts upon which resolution of the legal question depends - and a discussion section that identifies the applicable legal rule, applies it to the facts of the case, and addresses likely counterarguments to the principal line of analysis.
Some law offices adopt their own format for a memorandum which may differ in some respects from the examples we have provided. When in doubt, follow the conventions chosen by the office in which you are working. Even within the suggested format that we offer here, it is permissible and often appropriate to make choices - on how to frame the legal question, on the level of detail to include in the facts section, on the organization and scope of the legal discussion. There is no single version of a memorandum that will serve all situations. The choices you make will be informed by the nature and level of complexity of the legal question, and the preferences of your intended audience, including your reader's expected level of familiarity with the underlying area of law under discussion. At the same time, it bears emphasis that the reader for whom you prepare the memorandum may be only one of several attorneys who will consult the memo, particularly if the legal question becomes the subject of litigation. As the list of writer's questions included here suggests, keeping the needs and expectations of your (possibly extended) audience in mind is a key component of drafting an effective office memorandum.


A hormone called brain natriuretic peptide can predict the presence of pulmonary hypertension in patients with complicated lung disease, according to a study appearing in the April issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.
AdvertisementJuergen Behr, M.D., of the Division of Pulmonary Diseases in the Department of internal medicine at Ludwig Maximillians University in Munich, Germany, and six associates calculated the levels of the BNP in 176 patients who had lung disease. These patients were also subjected to right heart catheterization, lung function testing, and a 6-minute walk test. "In the absence of significant left heart disease, BNP serves as a marker of an increased workload in the right heart originating from idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension," Dr. Behr said. BNP is a hormone found in the heart. Its level in the blood is usually on the lesser side, but rises if the heart has to work harder. In the current study, it was noted that 31 participants (18 percent) died of heart disease over the duration of 10 months. "Patients who died during the follow-up period more frequently had elevated BNP levels and prominent pulmonary hypertension with significantly impaired right heart function," Dr. Behr said. "Despite the mixed nature of the study population, our data allows an estimation of the prevalence of pulmonary hypertension in a 'real life' setting of patients with advanced lung disease, because all participants underwent right heart catheterization as the reference diagnostic tool." Contact: Suzy Martin smartin@thoracic.org 212-315-8631 American Thoracic Society Source: Eurekalert
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Reprints YOUR ACCOUNT YOUR ORDERS SHOPPING BASKET
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Total amount: € 0,00 HOW TO ORDER YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS YOUR ARTICLES ACCESSIBILITY MINERVA ANESTESIOLOGICA A Journal on Anesthesiology, Resuscitation, Analgesia and Intensive Care
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Minerva Anestesiologica 2011 May;77(5):537-44 language: English Protective and ultra-protective ventilation: using pumpless interventional lung assist (iLA)
Moerer O., Quintel M.
✉ Department Anaesthesiology, Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
Acute lung failure is associated with high mortality and usually requires mechanical ventilation to ensure adequate gas exchange. However, mechanical ventilation itself can be associated with major complications and can aggravate pre-existing lung disease, thus contributing to morbidity and mortality. Extracorporeal gas exchange is increasingly used when conventional mechanical ventilation has failed. In contrast to veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), pumpless extracorporeal interventional lung assist (iLA) is applied via an arterio-venous bypass into which a gas exchange membrane is integrated. iLA allows for efficient carbon dioxide removal, which allows for a significant reduction in ventilator settings. iLA may be a useful tool in protective or even ‘ultraprotective’ ventilation, enabling the application of very low tidal volumes in patients with acute respiratory failure of different etiologies. This article reviews the current status and the potential role of interventional (pumpless) lung-assist iLA within the context of lung-protective ventilation strategies.


The pathways that comprise cellular metabolism are highly interconnected, and alterations in individual enzymes can have far-reaching effects. As a result, global profiling methods that measure gene expression are of limited value in predicting how the loss of an individual function will affect the cell. In this work, we employed a new method of global phenotypic profiling to directly define the genes required for the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A combination of high-density mutagenesis and deep-sequencing was used to characterize the composition of complex mutant libraries exposed to different conditions. This allowed the unambiguous identification of the genes that are essential for Mtb to grow in vitro, and proved to be a significant improvement over previous approaches. To further explore functions that are required for persistence in the host, we defined the pathways necessary for the utilization of cholesterol, a critical carbon source during infection. Few of the genes we identified had previously been implicated in this adaptation by transcriptional profiling, and only a fraction were encoded in the chromosomal region known to encode sterol catabolic functions. These genes comprise an unexpectedly large percentage of those previously shown to be required for bacterial growth in mouse tissue. Thus, this single nutritional change accounts for a significant fraction of the adaption to the host. This work provides the most comprehensive genetic characterization of a sterol catabolic pathway to date, suggests putative roles for uncharacterized virulence genes, and precisely maps genes encoding potential drug targets.


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According to Chemistry About, examples of organic compounds include table sugar, methane and DNA, while inorganic compounds include table salt, diamond and carbon dioxide. Organic molecules and compounds are generally associated with living organisms. Inorganic molecules or compounds include substances made from a single element.
Examples of organic compounds include proteins, nucleic acids and enzymes, explains Chemistry About. These examples include gasoline, carbohydrates, propane and certain plastics. Common inorganic compounds include sulfuric acid, metals, salts and water. The major distinction between inorganic compounds and organic compounds is the presence of carbon. Organic compounds contain carbon, while most inorganic compounds lack carbon.Learn more about Chemistry


Frederick Travis, PhD, director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition, explains that the concept "We create our reality" is more than a philosophical statement. It is a physical reality driven by neural plasticity—every experience changes the brain. Therefore, choose transcendental experiences and higher states of consciousness naturally unfold.
View this video on the Stanford University YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR1k0yX1LSY


Citation Edit
The White House,
Non-Compete Agreements: Analysis of the Usage, Potential Issues, and State Responses (May 2016) (full-text). Overview Edit
This document provides a starting place for further investigation of the problematic usage of one institutional factor that has the potential to hold back wages — non-compete agreements. These agreements currently impact nearly a fifth of U.S. workers, including a large number of low-wage workers. This brief delineates issues regarding misuse of non-compete agreements and describes a sampling of state laws and legislation to address the potentially high costs of unnecessary non-competes to workers and the economy.


Abstract
The glaciation of Antarctica at the Eocene–Oligocene transition (approx. 34 million years ago) was a major shift in the Earth’s climate system, but the mechanisms that caused the glaciation, and its effects, remain highly debated. A number of recent studies have used coupled atmosphere–ocean climate models to assess the climatic effects of Antarctic glacial inception, with often contrasting results. Here, using the HadCM3L model, we show that the global atmosphere and ocean response to growth of the Antarctic ice sheet is sensitive to subtle variations in palaeogeography, using two reconstructions representing Eocene and Oligocene geological stages. The earlier stage (Eocene; Priabonian), which has a relatively constricted Tasman Seaway, shows a major increase in sea surface temperature over the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean in response to the ice sheet. This response does not occur for the later stage (Oligocene; Rupelian), which has a more open Tasman Seaway. This difference in temperature response is attributed to reorganization of ocean currents between the stages. Following ice sheet expansion in the earlier stage, the large Ross Sea gyre circulation decreases in size. Stronger zonal flow through the Tasman Seaway allows salinities to increase in the Ross Sea, deep-water formation initiates and multiple feedbacks then occur amplifying the temperature response. This is potentially a model-dependent result, but it highlights the sensitive nature of model simulations to subtle variations in palaeogeography, and highlights the need for coupled ice sheet–climate simulations to properly represent and investigate feedback processes acting on these time scales.
Footnotes
One contribution of 12 to a discussion meeting issue ‘Feedbacks on climate in the Earth system’.
Accepted August 4, 2015. © 2015 The Author(s)
Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.


The term absenteeism is used to describe a pattern of absence from the workplace or any other form of commitment. Absenteeism may be an indicator of a serious medical or psychological condition, or it may indicate a lack of commitment to an employer or job.
While absenteeism was historically believed to be an indicator of a poor performing employee, it can also be associated with a chronic illness, or the inability of an individual to adjust to workplace norms. Employers, as well as the state and federal government, often provide employees with compensation when they are absent from work. These programs are considered employee "benefits" and include sick days, workers compensation, state illness plans, and benefits under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Absenteeism is often closely tracked by employers, since the employee may be getting paid, but not adding to the company's productivity or output. If an employee exhibits what the company's management team believes is an ongoing abuse of the company's absence / attendance policy, they may take action against the employee. Actions taken by management can range from simple oral and written reminders through termination.
Employers do not consider employee benefits such as paid vacation and holidays when evaluating an individual's absenteeism performance.


2012 was marked by a continued political stalemate, parties’ increased radicalization and a further militarization of the conflict. This dynamic resulted in a continued and significant deterioration of the humanitarian situation: Between March and December, the number of people in need inside Syria quadrupled, from 1 million to 4 million. During the same period, the number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries multiplied more than tenfold, from about 50,000 to over 630,000.
Needs rose in all sectors. At the end of the year, over 2.5 million Syrians required food assistance, while many of the over 4 million affected people required non-food items and other essential assistance. Intense fighting and bombings in urban and predominantly civilian areas resulted in considerable damage to infrastructure, further reducing people’s access to essential services. At year-end, more than half of Syria’s public hospitals had been damaged and those that remained open were short of medical supplies. Water and sanitation systems had broken down, leading to a rapid spread of waterborne diseases, such as Hepatitis A and typhoid. One in five schools had either been destroyed or they were being used as a collective shelter. As the conflict took an increasingly brutal turn, the protection situation became alarming. The prolongation of the crisis and the deteriorating socio-economic situation had an increased impact on local communities, whose coping mechanisms reached saturation point. Their ability to help people in need plummeted.
The situation also had serious humanitarian, political and economic consequences in neighbouring countries and in the wider region.
OCHA focused on establishing inclusive coordination mechanisms, including an inter-sectoral coordination group and the facilitation of sectoral working groups. At the end of the year, those mechanisms were in place and functioning. OCHA also supported the RHC and the UNCT in developing a shared understanding of the humanitarian situation, and defining a clear and common response strategy. The success of those efforts was reflected in the SHARP issued in June and revised in August. The 2013 SHARP was launched in December.
OCHA supported the RHC and the humanitarian community in their efforts to secure the access of assistance to all those in need across the country. At the end of the year, aid was reaching millions of people in need in all Governorates, in both Government and opposition-held or disputed areas. However, significant gaps remained, with some areas still inaccessible for aid organizations.
OCHA and the RHC remained at the forefront of humanitarian advocacy efforts throughout 2012. Six Syria Humanitarian Forums were held in 2012, and many interviews were given to the media. Hundreds of multilateral and bilateral discussions at all levels were organized with key stakeholders. These efforts allowed OCHA to shed light on the plight of Syrian civilians, stress the importance of unimpeded access, reaffirm the impartiality, neutrality and independence of humanitarian action and help partners mobilize necessary resources.
Regarding humanitarian financing, the OCHA office supported the RHC and UN agencies in preparing CERF requests for over US$46 million to address the needs in Syria and neighbouring countries. At the same time, OCHA established the Emergency Response Fund (ERF) to ensure NGO partners had quick and flexible access to funding. At the end of the year, the ERF had already allocated almost $10 million to international and national NGOs in Syria and neighbouring countries. Throughout these processes, OCHA made sure that CERF and ERF allocations corresponded to strategic priorities, such as the winterization response.
OCHA’s achievements helped humanitarian organizations expand their reach to millions of Syrians in need across the country. However, serious challenges remained. Widespread violence and continued lack of humanitarian capacity in-country hampered OCHA efforts to lead much-needed needs assessments and establish inter-agency presences in key affected areas. While the RHC and OCHA’s efforts helped secure access to millions of people, several areas were still out of reach for relief agencies at the end of year. Despite OCHA’s efforts to mobilize resources, the underfunded SHARP was a major challenge throughout 2012.


Genetic cardiomyopathies causing heart failure. Cahill TJ., Ashrafian H., Watkins H.
Despite the striking advances in medical and surgical therapy, the morbidity, mortality, and economic burden of heart failure (HF) remain unacceptably high. There is increasing evidence that the risk and course of HF depend on genetic predisposition; however, the genetic contribution to HF is heterogeneous and complex. At one end of the spectrum are the familial monogenic HF syndromes in which causative mutations are rare but highly penetrant. At the other, HF susceptibility and course may be influenced by more common, less penetrant genetic variants. As detailed in this review, efforts to unravel the basis of the familial cardiomyopathies at the mendelian end of the spectrum already have begun to deliver on the promise of informative mechanisms, novel gene-based diagnostics, and therapies for distinct subtypes of HF. However, continued progress requires the differentiation of pathogenic mutations, disease modifiers, and rare, benign variants in the deluge of data emerging from increasingly accessible novel sequencing technologies. This represents a significant challenge and demands a sustained effort in analysis of extended family pedigrees, diligent clinical phenotyping, and systematic annotation of human genetic variation.


From 1980 until 2007, U.S. average hours worked increased by thirteen percent, due to a large increase in female hours. At the same time, the U.S. labor wedge, measured as the discrepancy between a representative household's marginal rate of substitution between consumption and leisure and the marginal product of labor, declined substantially. We examine these trends in a model with heterogeneous households: married couples, single males and single females. Our quantitative analysis shows that the shrinking gender wage gaps and increasing labor income taxes observed in U.S. data are key determinants of hours and the labor wedge. Changes in our model's labor wedge are driven by distortionary taxes and non-distortionary factors, namely the cross-sectional differenves in households' labor supply and productivity. We conclude that the labor wedge measured from a representative household model partly reflects inaccurate household aggregation.
Subjects:
Female and Male Labor Supply Labor Wedge Gender Wage Gap Labor Income Taxation Household Aggregation


Local and large-scale climate forcing of Puget Sound oceanographic properties on seasonal to interdecadal timescales
Limnol. Oceanogr., 53(5), 2008, 1746-1758 | DOI: 10.4319/lo.2008.53.5.1746
ABSTRACT: The influence of climate on Puget Sound oceanographic properties is investigated on seasonal to interannual timescales using continuous profile data at 16 stations from 1993 to 2002 and records of sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface salinity (SSS) from 1951 to 2002. Principal components analyses of profile data identify indices representing 42%, 58%, and 56% of the total variability at depth-station combinations for temperature, salinity, and density, respectively, and 22% for water column stratification. Variability in the leading pattern of Puget Sound water temperature and salinity profiles is well correlated with local surface air temperatures and freshwater inflows to Puget Sound from major river basins, respectively. SST and SSS anomalies are informative proxies for the leading patterns of variations in Puget Sound temperature and salinity profiles. Using this longer time history of observations, we find that SST and SSS anomalies also have significant correlations with Aleutian Low, El Niño-Southern Oscillation, and Pacific Decadal Oscillation variations in winter that can persist for up to three seasons or reemerge the following year. However, correlations with large-scale climate variations are weaker compared to those with local environmental forcing parameters.


Abstract
Purpose: Acute appendicitis remains the common gastrointestinal emergency in adults. Single-incision laparoscopic appendectomy (SILA) has been proposed as the next evolution in minimally invasive surgery. SILA is postulated to reduce postoperative pain and enhance cosmesis, while effectively removing an inflamed appendix. However, the efficacy and benefits of SILA compared with conventional laparoscopic appendectomy (CLA) remain to be determined. Our objectives were to systematically review the literature comparing SILA with CLA for acute appendicitis and perform a pooled analysis on the efficacy of SILA.
Methods: Published English-language manuscripts were considered for review inclusion. A comprehensive search of electronic databases (eg, MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS, BIOSIS Previews, and the Cochrane Library) using broad search terms was completed. All comparative studies were included if they incorporated adult patients undergoing appendectomy for acute appendicitis by SILA. The primary outcomes of interest were operative time and length of hospital stay.
Results: From a total of 366 articles, 34 articles were identified. A total of 9 comparative studies were included for pooled analysis. There was no significant difference in operative time, length of stay, pain scores, and conversion or complication rates between SILA and CLA for acute appendicitis.
Conclusions: This systematic review and pooled analysis demonstrates that SILA is comparable to CLA for acute appendicitis in adults. However, this review identifies the need for randomized controlled trials to clarify the efficacy of SILA compared with CLA.
Author Information
*Department of Surgery, University of Alberta
†Center for the Advancement of Minimally Invasive Surgery (CAMIS), Royal Alexandria Hospital, Edmonton, AB Canada
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Reprints: Shahzeer Karmali, MD, FRCSC, Royal Alexandra Hospital, Room 405, Community Services Center, 10240 Kingsway, Edmonton, AB T5H 3V9, Canada (e-mail: shahzeer@ualberta.ca).
Received June 8, 2011
Accepted February 7, 2012


The search is on for a way to improve performance.
One of the challenges facing supporters of FD-SOI is the need to provide a pathway to improved performance. While FD-SOI wafers offer some significant advantages over bulk silicon wafers, performance enhancements like strain and alternative channel materials are more difficult to implement in the thin SOI environment. On the other hand, once a fab is willing to incorporate layer transfer techniques at all, those techniques can support a wide range of alternative wafer structures.
In a paper presented at this year’s VLSI Technology Symposium, A. Bonnevialle and colleagues at CEA-LETI discussed the integration of strain boosters with FD-SOI CMOS. In previous work, wafer-level tensile strain has given nFETs as much as a 20% ON-current boost, but has been detrimental to pFET devices on the same wafer. Similarly, wafer-level compressive strain degrades nFET performance. How then, to achieve localized strain effects?
One CEA-LETI approach starts with a thin SOI wafer and prepares compressed SiGe channels (for pMOS) and trench isolation by standard methods. Then, to apply tensile strain to the nFET regions, the group covered the pFET regions with a protective SiN layer and selectively grew SiGe on the nFET regions. The SiGe served as a template for recrystallization of the silicon under tensile stress, then was removed. This so-called “STRASS” approach (strained silicon by top recrystallization of amorphized SiGe on SOI) allows for further mobility enhancement by increasing the germanium content of the SiGe layer.
SiGe pFETs grown on thin SOI already have a degree of compressive strain. To increase performance further, the CEA-LETI group took advantage of the SiN-lined trenches already used in the shallow trench isolation process. Capping the pFET regions with tensile SiN and annealing before deposition of the trench oxide imposed additional compression on the SiGe channels.
Together, the researchers said, they were able to achieve localized tensile (nFETs) and compressive (pFETs) strains on a single wafer, allowing the extension of FD-SOI technology to sub-14nm process nodes.


Oltipraz is a drug that was originally used to treat intestinal worms. It was later found to prevent a broad variety of cancers (1). This was attributed to its ability to upregulate cellular detoxification and repair mechanisms.
Researchers eventually discovered that oltipraz acts by activating Nrf2, the same transcription factor activated by ionizing radiation and polyphenols (2, 3, 4). Nrf2 activation mounts a broad cellular protective response that appears to reduce the risk of multiple health problems. A recent paper in Diabetologia illustrates this (5). Investigators put mice on a long-term refined high-fat diet, with or without oltipraz. These carefully crafted diets are very unhealthy indeed, and when fed to rodents they rapidly induce fat gain and something that looks similar to human metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance, abdominal adiposity, blood lipid disturbances). Adding oltipraz to the diet prevented the fat gain, insulin resistance and inflammatory changes that occurred in the refined high-fat diet group. The difference in fasting insulin was remarkable. The mice taking oltipraz had 1/7 the fasting insulin of the refined high-fat diet comparison group, and 1/3 the fasting insulin of the low-fat comparison group! Yet their glucose tolerance was normal, indicating that they were not low on insulin due to pancreatic damage. The low-fat diet they used in this study was also refined, which is why the two control groups (high-fat and low-fat) didn't diverge more in body fatness and other parameters. If they had used a group fed unrefined rodent chow as the comparator, the differences between groups would have been larger. This shows that in addition to preventing cancer, Nrf2 activation can attenuate the metabolic damage caused by an unhealthy diet in rodents. Oltipraz illustrates the power of the cellular hormesis response. We can exploit this pathway naturally using polyphenols and other chemicals found in whole plant foods.


Neurological Disorders - Neuroscience - Pediatrics and Child Health - Physiology
GABAergic Neuron Deficit As An Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy Mechanism: The Role Of BRD2 Haploinsufficiency In Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy
Published:
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Author:
by Libor Velíšek, Enyuan Shang, Jana Velíšková, Tamar Chachua, Stephania Macchiarulo, Giorgi Maglakelidze, Debra J. Wolgemuth, David A. Greenberg
Idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) syndromes represent about 30% of all epilepsies. They have strong, but elusive, genetic components and sex-specific seizure expression. Multiple linkage and population association studies have connected the bromodomain-containing gene
BRD2 to forms of IGE. In mice, a null mutation at the homologous Brd2 locus results in embryonic lethality while heterozygous Brd2+/- mice are viable and overtly normal. However, using the flurothyl model, we now show, that compared to the Brd2+/+ littermates, Brd2+/- males have a decreased clonic, and females a decreased tonic-clonic, seizure threshold. Additionally, long-term EEG/video recordings captured spontaneous seizures in three out of five recorded Brd2+/- female mice. Anatomical analysis of specific regions of the brain further revealed significant differences in Brd2+/- vs +/+ mice. Specifically, there were decreases in the numbers of GABAergic (parvalbumin- or GAD67-immunopositive) neurons along the basal ganglia pathway, i.e., in the neocortex and striatum of Brd2+/- mice, compared to Brd2+/+ mice. There were also fewer GABAergic neurons in the substantia nigra reticulata (SNR), yet there was a minor, possibly compensatory increase in the GABA producing enzyme GAD67 in these SNR cells. Further, GAD67 expression in the superior colliculus and ventral medial thalamic nucleus, the main SNR outputs, was significantly decreased in Brd2+/- mice, further supporting GABA downregulation. Our data show that the non-channel-encoding, developmentally critical Brd2 gene is associated with i) sex-specific increases in seizure susceptibility, ii) the development of spontaneous seizures, and iii) seizure-related anatomical changes in the GABA system, supporting BRD2's involvement in human IGE.
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The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
In August, Amazon announced a plan that could potentially revolutionize the traditional workday and corporate America’s approach to work-life balance.
The perennial experimental tech giant will pilot a program offering a 30-hour work week to a small group of its thousands of employees. The participants will receive full benefits but 75% of their full-time pay. Their core hours will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Thursday, with additional flex hours, and they can transition to full-time if they choose.
"We want to create a work environment that is tailored to a reduced schedule and still fosters success and career growth,” the company stated in an Eventbrite announcement. “This initiative was created with Amazon's diverse workforce in mind, and the realization that the traditional full-time schedule may not be a 'one size fits all' model."
Workplace Innovation Or Damage Control?
Proponents of the program are calling it a step forward in fostering a more diverse workforce and opening the conversation about helping employees maintain a healthy work-life balance. Cynics are calling it a ploy to minimize the fallout from a 2015 New York Times piece that painted a grim picture of Amazon’s hard-driving work culture.
Either way, it’s a bold move for an innovative company known for its big thinking (delivery by drone, anyone?) and generally disrupting the status quo. And it could reflect a broader shift in employers’ understanding of what their employees truly value (spoiler alert: it doesn’t always boil down to extra dollars in their paychecks).
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Internationalization in academe is a response to globalization: the growing interdependency of countries, economies, and cultures. It reflects the university's focus on the whole of human knowledge. It shapes a cosmopolitan vision of human communities and assists students and faculty to live and work meaningfully in a complex yet connected world.
The Office of Internationalization provides leadership and support for the University of Hebron's efforts to internationalize the curriculum and the campus. At Hebron University, students, staff and scholars from overseas are part of our community, and all our faculty and students are encouraged to study, research, and offer service in a global context.


Hedge fund managers, once viewed as the rockstars of the financial world, are coming under fire by investors for poor performance.
Roughly half of all funds lost money last year, according to a study released on May 10 by Institutional Investors.
The average fund lost about 1 percent in 2015, the study found, noting that many actively-managed funds focused on macro strategies were beaten by computer algorithms.
Data tracker Hedge Fund Research, meanwhile, reported that investors yanked $15 billion from funds in the first quarter, the largest quarterly outflow since 2009.
"There is no doubt that we are in the first innings of a washout in hedge funds and certain strategies," Third Point's Daniel Loeb lamented in an April letter to investors.
That cautious mood could be felt at the annual SkyBridge Alternatives (SALT) conference in Las Vegas last week, where managers widely acknowledged they needed to do more to satisfy frustrated investors.


The company thinks it might. On Thursday morning, Airbnb released a 32-page document that ambitiously aims to “fight discrimination and build inclusion,” in response to widespread criticism that minorities were being shut out of the home rental site.
Working with Laura Murphy, the former head of the American Civil Liberties Union, the company plans to create a team dedicated full-time to fighting bias and promoting diversity, experiment with reducing the profile photo size, discourage renters from falsely claiming a home isn’t vacant, and promote diversity in its own offices. The company warns that hosts “may not” decline a guest based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability status. Failure to comply could (but maybe not) result in suspension from the platform.
In addition to growing complaints by Airbnb users about hosts’ discriminatory practices, three Harvard researchers released a working paper in December that revealed discrimination against guests with African-American-sounding names.
While the new policies read more like vague promises and a school teacher enforcing playground rules, it marks a step in the right direction for the company and for the world of the shared economy in general.


INTRODUCTION:
High-administered activity In-111 octreotide (HA-Oc) therapy has been used for patients with disseminated neuroendocrine tumors (NET) with high somatostatin receptor (SSR) expression. Combining HA-Oc with radiosensitizing 5-fluorouracil (5FU) chemotherapy could enhance efficacy. Our other aim was to assess whether concomitant 5FU would contribute to significant additional toxicity.
METHODS:
Fifteen (15) consecutive patients who received 3 cycles of HA-Oc+5FU were evaluated. Symptomatic, octreoscan, computed tomography (CT), hormonal responses, and toxicity were reviewed at 3 months post-last treatment. Long-term follow-up was performed to death or April 2008 to assess late toxicity and time to progression requiring retreatment.
RESULTS:
At 3 months post-treatment, 67% of patients had symptomatic improvement, with 20% experiencing a complete resolution of symptoms. Overall, 90% achieved stabilization or a decrease in hormone levels. Octreoscan improvement/stabilization occurred in 95% and CT stabilization in 80% of patients with previously progressive disease, but no partial or complete regression by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors criteria. Transient lymphopenia and nausea were the most common side-effects, and there was no significant renal or grade 4 hematologic toxicity. Subacute side-effects included a peripherally inserted central catheter line thrombosis (1 patient), discomfort/pain associated with lesion necrosis, and 1 lymph node swelling. Median time to retreatment was 23 months (range, 6-34) for 10 patients. Six (6) patients deceased (no deaths directly related to 5FU); 9 patients (60%) are alive at 36-139 months.
CONCLUSIONS:
HA-Oc+5FU achieve a high rate of symptomatic response associated with stabilization/improvement in hormonal and functional scan abnormalities. Combination treatment achieved disease stabilization in the majority of patients with previously progressive disease. There was no significant observed increase in toxicity with additional 5FU, making it a promising adjunct to radiopeptide receptor therapy for progressive NET.


Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a common and serious dominant genetic disease, and its main pathogenic gene is the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene. This study aimed to perform a systematic review of LDLR mutations in China. Using PubMed, Embase, Wanfang (Chinese), the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (Chinese), and the Chinese… (More)


giovedì 14 settembre 2006 Cerebellopontine angle (CPA) vestibular schwannoma
Findings
Figure 1: Noncontrast-enhanced T1-weighted coronal MR image of the brain demonstrates a heterogeneous, well-defined, iso- to hypointense mass in the right CPA, which has some mass effect on the brain stem. The lesion fails to demonstrate high T1 signal to suggest fat or hemorrhage.
Figure 2: Contrast-enhanced T1-weighted coronal MR image of the brain demonstrates the mass in question to avidly, albeit heterogeneously, enhance.
Figure 3: Noncontrast-enhanced T2 image demonstrates the mass to have heterogeneously increased T2 signal. This is characteristic for a schwannoma. In comparison, a meningioma should not demonstrate increased T2 signal.
Differential diagnosis for CPA masses:
Most likely:
- Vestibular schwannoma (90%)
- Meningioma
- Epidermoid
- Arachnoid cyst
Less likely:
- Aneurysm
- Metastasis
- Ependymoma
- Superior extension of glomus jugulare
- Vertebrobasilar dolichoectasia
Diagnosis: Cerebellopontine angle (CPA) vestibular schwannoma
Schwannomas are typically benign, slow growing tumors that arise from the schwann cells, which envelop and myelinate cranial, spinal, and peripheral nerves. These cells are the peripheral analog of oligodendrocytes, which serve the same function within the brain substance. In the skull, the most common location for schwannomas is within the CPA, where they arise from the vestibular portion of the eigth cranial nerve. Patients often present with tinnitus and hearing loss. Curiously, most patients do not demonstrate clinical symptoms of vertigo, despite vestibular nerve involvement. This is thought to be secondary to the slow-growing nature of the tumor, which allows for chronic compensation.
While small (less than 2 cm) schwannomas demonstrate a nonspecific, homogeneous appearance, they can become heterogeneous (as in our case), cystic, and even hemorrhagic as they enlarge. MR is the imaging modality of choice and typically demonstrates a round mass, which forms an acute angle with the petrous bone. On noncontrast-enhanced T1 images, the mass is iso- to slightly hypointense to brain matter and enhances intensely with gadolinium administration. The mass is hyperintense on unenhanced T2 images. As the mass actually arises from the internal auditory canal (IAC) and extends into the CPA, some secondary radiographic signs may suggest the diagnosis. These include erosion and flaring of the ipsilateral IAC, an IAC measuring wider than 8 mm, as well as a greater than 2 mm difference between the bilateral IACs. Many schwannomas may also be incidentally found on CT scans, where they are iso- to hypoattenuating with immutably intense intravenous contrast enhancement. However, MRI is so specific that a diagnostic biopsy is rarely performed.
A common imaging dilemma arises from determining whether a CPA mass reflects a schwannoma or a meningioma, both of which can grow along the eigth cranial nerve, and are the two most common diagnoses. A few differentiating points may help. First, as mentioned, a schwannoma is T2 hyperintense in contradistinction to a meningioma, which will be T2 iso- or hypointense. Secondly, in 81% of cases, a vestibular schwannoma will form an acute angle with the petrous bone, while a meningioma will form an obtuse angle. And finally, a classic dural tail, which may be found with a meningioma, will invariably be absent with a schwannoma.
While most of these neoplasms arise spontaneously, anywhere from 5% to 20% of patients will have an underlying disorder, such as neurofibromatosis type 2, predisposing them to the neoplasm. This should especially be considered if multiple masses are present or if there is a young age of presentation. Treatment options include surgical removal, fractionated stereotactic radiosurgery, or monitoring. There is a less than 5% recurrence rate.


A Strategic Industry, an Essential Resource
Cement is a strategic commodity, essential for Canada's economic security and infrastructure renewal and expansion. Canada's cement industry will be a necessary industry and partner as the green building movement builds momentum, and as governments across Canada move ahead with planned historic investments in Canada's infrastructure.
To ensure a competitive business environment that attracts and retains global investment in Canada's cement industry, the Cement Association of Canada advocates for:
harmonizing federal and provincial greenhouse gas initiatives aligning of Canada's corporate tax burden with the OECD average reducing the regulatory administrative burden improving the efficiency of permitting regimes in each jurisdiction, and passing legislation and regulations that enhances the industry's sustainability solutions.


The Patronage of Thirst: Exploring Institutional Fit on a Divided Cyprus
Dimitrios Zikos,
Humboldt University Berlin, Department of Agricultural Economics, Division of Resource Economics
Matteo Roggero,
Humboldt University Berlin, Department of Agricultural Economics, Division of Environmental Governance
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-05442-180225
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Abstract
We explore the links between Cyprus’s colonial past, divided present, and current water scarcity. With reference to the concept of fit, we tackle the question of whether we can observe fit in settings where institutions for collective action work differently than we would expect. We perform a secondary analysis of interview materials on Cyprus's water conflicts, extracting arguments for and against different solutions to water scarcity. Two perspectives on fit emerge: “island fit”, which supports island-wide institutions; and “patronage fit”, which embodies institutions that link Cypriots to their respective patrons Turkey and Greece. The analysis reveals a preference for island-wide institutional arrangements. However, rather than resting on biophysical considerations, such preference is linked to the feeling of unity of the two communities inhabiting Cyprus. We therefore observe institutions that face a trade-off between fitting to social groupings and fitting to biophysical circumstances.
Key words
Cyprus; fit; islands; social-ecological systems; water institutions; water scarcity


NEW YORK - Any occasionally, or frequently foul-mouthed speaker of our language knows how good it feels to drop a perfectly enunciated F-bomb.
To vocalize a realization with the S-word, or to launch a string of obscenities, perhaps never before assembled in that order, toward the heavens.
"You ****** you **** what the **** is happening to you, you ******* ****."
Before those with more delicate vocabularies, discount us savages for our filthy mouths, we'd like to introduce you to pro-cussing scientist Richard Stephens.
"Part of the process of giving birth to my daughter that my wife went through involved swearing."
A psychology professor at Keele University in the U.K., Stephens conducted a series of experiments in 2009, to see how swearing affected pain.
Stephens found that most people became more pain-tolerant when they swore.
The idea that humans used vulgarity to achieve a result sent Stephens in search of why people cussed.
A follow-up study found the less one swore, the more pain-relief they received from exclaiming a well-timed curse-word.


PUBLIC LAW 106-398 —APPENDIX 114 STAT. 1654A-503 during a period when beryllium dust, particles, or vapor may have been present at such facility. (b) CANCER. — An individual with cancer specified in subclause (I), (II), or (III) of section 3621(9)(B)(ii) shall be determined to have sustained that cancer in the performance of duty for purposes of the compensation program if, and only if, the cancer specified in that subclause was at least as likely as not related to employment at the facility specified in that subclause, as determined in accordance with the guidelines established under subsection (c). (c) GUIDELINES.—(1) For purposes of the compensation program, the President shall by regulation establish guidelines for making the determinations required by subsection (b). (2) The President shall establish such guidelines after technical review by the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health under section 3624. (3) Such guidelines shall— (A) be based on the radiation dose received by the employee (or a group of employees performing similar work) at such facility and the upper 99 percent confidence interval of the probability of causation in the radioepidemiological tables published under section 7(b) of the Orphan Drug Act (42 U.S.C. 241 note), as such tables may be updated under section 7(b)(3) of such Act from time to time; (B) incorporate the methods established under subsection (d); and (C) take into consideration the type of cancer, past healthrelated activities (such as smoking), information on the risk of developing a radiation-related cancer from workplace exposure, and other relevant factors. (d) METHODS FOR RADIATION DOSE RECONSTRUCTIONS. —(1) The President shall, through any Federal agency (other than the Department of Energy) or official (other than the Secretary of Energy or any other official within the Department of Energy) that the President may designate, establish by regulation methods for arriving at reasonable estimates of the radiation doses received by an individual specified in subparagraph (B) of section 3621(9) at a facility specified in that subparagraph by each of the following employees: (A) An employee who was not monitored for exposure to radiation at such facility. (B) An employee who was monitored inadequately for exposure to radiation at such facility. (C) An employee whose records of exposure to radiation at such facility are missing or incomplete. (2) The President shall establish an independent review process using the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health to— (A) assess the methods established under paragraph (1); and (B) verify a reasonable sample of the doses established under paragraph (1). (e) INFORMATION ON RADIATION DOSES.— (1) The Secretary of Energy shall provide, to each covered employee with cancer specified in section 3621(9)(B), information specifying the estimated radiation dose of that employee during each employment specified in section 3621(9)(B), whether established by a dosimetry reading, by a method established under subsection (d), or by both a dosimetry reading and such method. 79-194O-00 - 18:QL3Part3
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New York State Common Core Algebra I Standards Clarifications
In January 2011, the NYS Board of Regents adopted the NYS P-12 Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS), which include the Common Core State Standards and a small number of additional unique standards added by New York State. The CCLS were created through a collaborative effort on behalf of the National Governor’s Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The standards were developed by key stakeholders in the field, including teachers, school administrators, and content experts.
The main design principles in the NYS CCLS for Mathematics standards are focus, coherence, and rigor. These principles require that at each grade level, students and teachers direct their time and energy on fewer topics in order to form deeper understandings, gain greater skill and fluency, and more robustly apply what is learned.
A Story of Functions, the curriculum overview for grades 9-12, provides an overview of the academic year for grades 9 through 12 including curriculum maps and detailed grade-level descriptions. The footnotes in this document help to clarify some standards and, in cases where a standard is shared between Algebra I and Algebra II, indicate what is appropriate for the Algebra I level. In an effort ensure that the standards can be interpreted by teachers and effectively utilized to inform classroom instruction, several additional standards of the Algebra I curriculum have been identified as needing some clarification. These clarifications are outlined below. Note: It is anticipated that more standard clarifications will be added to the list as feedback and requests for additional guidance are received.


The top four congressional Republicans sent the following letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Monday ahead of the central bank’s two-day meeting that began today:
Dear Chairman Bernanke,
It is our understanding that the Board Members of the Federal Reserve will meet later this week to consider additional monetary stimulus proposals. We write to express our reservations about any such measures. Respectfully, we submit that the board should resist further extraordinary intervention in the U.S. economy, particularly without a clear articulation of the goals of such a policy, direction for success, ample data proving a case for economic action and quantifiable benefits to the American people.
It is not clear that the recent round of quantitative easing undertaken by the Federal Reserve has facilitated economic growth or reduced the unemployment rate. To the contrary, there has been significant concern expressed by Federal Reserve Board Members, academics, business leaders, Members of Congress and the public. Although the goal of quantitative easing was, in part, to stabilize the price level against deflationary fears, the Federal Reserve’s actions have likely led to more fluctuations and uncertainty in our already weak economy.
We have serious concerns that further intervention by the Federal Reserve could exacerbate current problems or further harm the U.S. economy. Such steps may erode the already weakened U.S. dollar or promote more borrowing by overleveraged consumers. To date, we have seen no evidence that further monetary stimulus will create jobs or provide a sustainable path towards economic recovery.
Ultimately, the American economy is driven by the confidence of consumers and investors and the innovations of its workers. The American people have reason to be skeptical of the Federal Reserve vastly increasing its role in the economy if measurable outcomes cannot be demonstrated.
We respectfully request that a copy of this letter be shared with each Member of the Board.
Sincerely,
Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. John Boehner, Sen. Jon Kyl, Rep. Eric Cantor


Iowa Supreme Court creates precedent on access to children's records by Legal and Regulatory Affairs Staff
August 27, 2009 — A recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling has broad implications for psychologists and other health care professionals who provide mental health services. The court's decision allows mental health professionals to refuse to grant parents access to their children's health records when doing so is not in the child's best interests.
In 2007, the plaintiff in this case sued to obtain copies of her three minor children's health records related to counseling services the children had received since 2003. The divorced parent who brought the lawsuit has joint legal custody of the children, although their father has primary physical custody.
The defendants were a mental health group practice consisting of licensed psychologists, social workers and mental health counselors, along with the licensed social worker in the practice who provided the counseling services.
In February 2008, the trial court denied the plaintiff's request for records release, finding that under the facts of the case, it would not be in the best interests of the children for the court to mandate disclosure of the records. On appeal, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling in an April 2009 decision.
In support of its decision, the court cited a history of abuse by the petitioning parent, who had been barred by court order from having contact with one of the children. The court considered the children's request that their records not be provided to their parents.
Further, the decision noted the potential for irreparable harm to the children's therapeutic relationship with their social worker, while also finding her testimony credible.
The Iowa Supreme Court agreed with the district court's reasoning as to why the mother's request for records release should be denied. In applying the "best interests of the child" standard, the high court stated that a noncustodial parent's right to access is not absolute.
Creating precedent
The Iowa Supreme Court decision has precedential value regarding whether a parent has an absolute right to waive the mental health professional/client privilege that exists between a therapist and minor child. Iowa courts had not ruled previously on this issue. Courts in that state will have to follow the high court ruling, and other states may follow the ruling if they find it persuasive.
Several other states have weighed in on this issue and related matters. The supreme court in New Hampshire ruled in the case of In re Berg that while parents do have constitutional rights to raise and care for their children, those rights are not absolute — for example, divorce and custody proceedings where the parents might not act solely in the child's best interests.
Additional states including California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts and Oklahoma have addressed whether a parent has an absolute right to access his or her children's mental health records.
Courts have consistently ruled that a parent or guardian may waive a minor child's psychologist-patient privilege only when waiver is in the child's best interest. However, waiver must not be allowed when the parent's interests are adverse to the child's interests.
The American Psychological Association Psychology Defense Fund provided $5,000 toward the legal costs incurred by the defendants in Iowa.


Stuttering signs and symptoms may include:
Difficulty starting a word, sentence or phrase Prolonging a word or sounds within a word Repetition of a sound, syllable or word Brief silence for certain syllables or pauses within a word (broken word) Addition of extra words such as "um" if difficulty moving to the next word is anticipated Excess tension, tightness or movement of the face or upper body to produce a word Anxiety about talking Limited ability to effectively communicate
The speech difficulties of stuttering may be accompanied by:
Rapid eye blinks Tremors of the lips or jaw Facial tics Head jerks Clenching fists
Stuttering may be worse when you're excited, tired or under stress, or when you feel self-conscious, hurried or pressured. Situations such as speaking in front of a group or talking on the phone can be particularly difficult for people who stutter.
However, most people who stutter can speak without stuttering when they talk to themselves and when they sing or speak in unison with someone else.
When to see a doctor or speech-language pathologist
It's common for children between the ages of 2 and 5 to go through periods when they may stutter. For most children, this is part of learning to speak, and it gets better on its own. However, stuttering that persists may require treatment to get better.
Call your doctor for a referral or contact a speech-language pathologist directly for an appointment if stuttering:
Lasts more than six months Occurs with other speech or language problems Becomes more frequent or continues as the child grows older Occurs with muscle tightening or visible struggling to speak Affects the ability to effectively communicate at school, work or in social interactions Causes anxiety or emotional problems, such as fear or avoidance of situations where speaking is required Begins as an adult


The human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine could be used to reduce the risk of cervical lesions, new research has discovered.
HPV jabs have been incorporated into standard childhood vaccines in Denmark since 2006.
Doctors from the Unit of Virus, Lifestyle and Genes and the Danish Cancer and Society Research Center in Copenhagen analysed data collected from women born between 1989 and 1999.
The number of cases of cervical lesions was compared between those who had received the HPV vaccine as a child and those who had not.
It was found that vaccinated females had a significantly reduced risk of developing cervical lesions, while among girls born in the late 1990s who received the injection as youngsters, no cases were reported.
Susanne Kruger Kjaer, lead author of the study, said: "In conclusion, our results show that vaccination with the quadrivalent HPV vaccine is already effective in reducing the risk of cervical precursor lesions."


This study focuses on a well-known biofuel battleground in Madagascar, highlighting the first case of successful social resistance against contemporary land grabs. Given recent critique of biofuels, producers have begun to shift away from large-scale commercial acquisitions and towards smaller integrated production alongside social and economic development. Parallel to this new wave of agrofuel capitalism, there is a push to secure tenure and stimulate agricultural investment in land and markets,and while foreign aid projects are beginning to address land rights in Madagascar, most of its agricultural zones remain under extremely complex tenure systems of overlapping state and customary claims. As competing visions of land securitization take hold, significant questions remain regarding whether new laws are an adequate alternative for protecting rural Malagasy from dispossession of livelihood resources under agrofuel capitalism. I demonstrate how new land reforms have helped to create an environment of confusion and mistrust around land reform and have facilitated access to land and labor through the fracture of tenuous social relations and promotion of rural differentiation.


Q: Our hydrangeas have always struggled. This year I dug one up to replant it and I noticed the main root had termites. Is this common for a live plant to get termites?
A: Termites don’t have mouthparts or a digestive system that can eat living tissue. They are present in the root because it died and began to decompose. I don’t know why your hydrangeas declined but I do know that termites weren’t the cause.


Dieting and health-related behaviours among adolescent girls: A longitudinal analysis of data from a school-based study Date2016-06-30 Author
Raffoul, Amanda
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Abstract
Objective: Dieting to lose weight is extremely common among adolescents, especially girls, and is driven by multiple factors, including individual traits and societal standards regarding body weight and shape. Dieting is associated with poor diet quality, overweight and obesity, and increased risk of eating disorders. Also, according to the amassed cross-sectional and longitudinal research, dieting adolescent girls are more likely to engage in smoking, binge drinking, and breakfast-skipping than non-dieting girls. However, despite literature documenting these bivariate associations, we know little about whether there is a causal link between dieting to lose weight and these behaviours among Canadian adolescent girls. Further, there has been little research considering clustering of multiple risky behaviours with dieting. Methods: Using longitudinal data (2012-2014) from COMPASS, a school-based study conducted in Ontario (N=3,386), we prospectively explored associations between dieting to lose weight and clusters of health-compromising behaviours among adolescent girls. Dieting was defined as an intentional change in behaviour to achieve weight loss. Longitudinal, multilevel logistic regression models were used to investigate the relationship between dieting and each of smoking, binge drinking, breakfast-skipping, and clusters of these behaviours. Results: Over half of girls reported dieting to lose weight (54%) and a similar proportion (61%) self-reported heights and weights corresponding with a healthy BMI (61%). Over 80% of girls classified as dieters at baseline also reported dieting 2 years later. Girls who engaged in dieting at baseline were at a significantly elevated risk of smoking, binge drinking, and breakfast-skipping (OR=1.3 to 1.4) by follow-up than non-dieters. Dieting was also associated with engaging in combinations of these behaviours, with the highest risk for engagement in patterns of binge drinking/breakfast-skipping (OR=1.6) and smoking/binge drinking/breakfast-skipping (OR=1.6). Girls who dieted at baseline were also more likely to engage in a greater number of risky behaviours than non-dieters, regardless of what the actual behaviours were. Conclusion: Dieting is a persistent and pervasive behaviour among adolescent girls, with implications for engagement in other risky behaviours. The theoretical mechanisms underlying the observed clustering are complex, but these findings suggest the need for comprehensive interventions that use a systems lens to consider the array of relevant factors, and their interactions, among this population. Strategies that target a single behaviour may represent missed opportunities to address shared risk factors and may have unintended consequences for other behaviours. These findings are particularly salient given the dominant focus within health promotion on weight loss and maintenance as part of a war on obesity.
Cite this work
Amanda Raffoul (2016). Dieting and health-related behaviours among adolescent girls: A longitudinal analysis of data from a school-based study. UWSpace. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/10570
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Governments have introduced policies to widen the participation of disadvantaged students in higher education. Widening participation policies are also introduced to ensure that higher education contributes to social and economic outcomes. This book includes important insights from 23 leading scholars across 11 countries on a wide range of topics that focus on government policies, institutional structures and the social and economic impacts of widening participation. While widening participation policies and outcomes in developed countries are more widely documented, the policies, achievements, and challenges in other countries such as Brazil, China, Indonesia, South Africa and Palestine are not so widely disseminated. Therefore, the untold stories of policies and outcomes of widening participation are a key part of this book. The chapters are organised according to three overarching themes, which include national and transnational studies of the history of widening participation and current policies; inclusive learning and academic outcomes; and socioeconomic structures, concepts and theories. engages prominent academics, earlier career researchers, and research students provides a wide range of topics related to widening participation explores social and economic impact of widening student participation presents untold stories of widening participation in developing countries experiencing growth in youth population


March 28, 2011
We have all heard the phrase, “water is essential for life,” and we all understand its importance. Many of us are blessed to have instant access to clean, sanitary water. However, World Water Day, which recently took place on March 22, sought to raise awareness of the current water crisis. Continue Reading...


I will remember their sins no more (Heb 8:12; 10:17; cf. Isa 43:25).
It's striking how often Bible scholars and theologians talk about forgiveness without beginning the analysis with a definition. Perhaps they think the meaning of forgiveness is self-evident. Or perhaps they think the concept is so basic that there's nothing more fundamental they can compare it to.
Still, given the centrality of forgiveness in Christian theology, you'd think there'd be more effort to define the key concept.
On rare occasion, Scripture uses the anthropomorphic notion of divine forgetfulness to illustrate the nature of forgiveness. That's a useful analogy, because it's a unifying principle.
i) It supplies a conceptual common denominator for many different kinds of Biblical statements that mention forgiveness. The basic idea is that forgiveness is like forgetfulness. When God forgives someone, it's
as ifGod forgot what they did. It wipes the slate clean.
ii) Likewise, it supplies a conceptual common denominator for divine and human forgiveness. For the same principle is applicable to divine and human relations.
iii) Finally, it covers both the psychological and the activist dimensions of forgiveness.
If you forget what someone did to you, then you can't harbor resentment for what they did. When you look at them, it doesn't remind you of what they did.
Likewise, if you forget what someone did to you, then you don't take punitive or vindictive action.
The point is not that God literally forgets our sins, or that we necessarily forget wrongdoing. Rather, forgiveness has the same effect as forgetfulness in that regard. In fact, it's all the more impressive to treat someone as if you forget their misdeed, even though you remember it.
iv) There are, of course, related concepts in Scripture. Justification is a richer concept than forgiveness. Forgiveness means treating the offender as if he's innocent, whereas justification means treating the offender as if he's good. It's a positive ascription. Not merely the absence of guilt, not bare acquittal, but a positive status.


Our skin produces natural oils (known as sebum) on a daily basis, helping to keep it moisturized and preventing it from drying out. However, individuals with oily skin types overproduce this sebum, resulting in clogged pores and acne blemishes. If you fall under this category, you should follow the steps to below to regain control of your skin.
Wash Your Face Daily
If you aren't doing so already, it's so important to get into the habit of washing your face daily, especially at the end of the day before you go to sleep. Doing so will rinse away excess oil, preventing clogged pores and the troubles they bring. Many dermatologists recommend using a gentle PH-balanced foaming cleanser for oily skin types, as this reduces the risk of irritation. Our Balancing Gel Cleanser and Radiant Cleansing Balm are two cleansers that work well for all skin types and are gentle to use, leaving your skin feeling fresh, balanced, and radiant.
Don't Overwash
Washing your face is essential to controlling oil production. However, washing too frequently will strip these essential oils from your face, leaving it feeling dry and rough. Washing in the morning and at night, while following with a moisturizer is the prefect way to keep your skin looking and feeling it's best.
Exfoliate
Even if you wash your face daily with a premium cleanser, you should still exfoliate to expunge stubborn oils and dead skin cells. Use an exfoliating scrub 1-2 times a week to deep clean your pores. Your skin will feel soft, smooth and look more natural afterwords. Of course, over-exfoliating can have the opposite effect by damaging your pores and making them more susceptible to irritation, so limit yourself to exfoliating 1-2 times per week.
Use a Face Mask
A high-quality face mask is an essential item that everyone with oily skin should have. While there are dozens of different face masks on the market, most of them serve the same basic purpose: to tighten the skin while drawing oils and impurities to the surface. The Clarifying Detox Mask is one such product that will protect your skin from the effects of excess oil. The charcoal in the Mask acts as a magnet, drawing out pore clogging impurities, attracting and absorbing oils from inside the pores.
Don't Sleep With Your Makeup
This may sound like common sense, but it's worth mentioning again that you should never sleep with your makeup still on, especially if you have oily skin. Makeup creates a cover over your pores, sealing in the oils and dead skin. As a result, there's a good chance you'll wake up in the morning with acne blemishes. I alway recommend others to wash their face as soon as you get home for the day...that way your face is clean for the night and you won't be tempted to skip it when you get tired.
How do you manage your oily skin? Tell us on Twitter @colrothschild.


Opalesque Industry Update - New research from Cerulli Associates, a Boston-based global analytics firm, finds that more than 60% of institutions' asset flows were consultant-intermediated in 2012 with the rest coming from direct sales, according to their recent survey of institutional asset managers.
"Given the significance of investment consultants, just over half of the asset managers we polled plan on placing an even greater emphasis on fostering consultant relationships," states Michele Giuditta, associate director at Cerulli. "This percentage initially appeared low to us, but our discussions with institutional distribution leaders confirmed that many firms are already devoting substantial resources to these efforts and plan on continuing to do so. This explains the high percentage of firms that plan on dedicating the same level of emphasis on the consultant relations effort in the future."
In the fourth quarter issue of
"Capital markets have become increasingly more complex, and the investment opportunity set has broadened to include more complicated investment products and vehicles," Giuditta continues. "Given institutions' growing needs, they seek more support and advice for their portfolios, which has led to an increase in the use of investment consultants."
Cerulli reports that many investment committees are redefining their roles, delegating more of the day-to-day investment-related responsibilities to their gatekeepers, and focusing more on overall policy matters.
"Consultant relations professionals shoulder significant responsibility as investment consultants request more from their asset managers," Giuditta explains.
Press release
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Abstract
Abstract Adult rats treated neonatally with monosodium glutamate (MSG) exhibit lesions in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. Following MSG lesioning, dopamine content in median eminence/arcuate nucleus (ME/AN) tissue extracts declined by 60–70%. Substance P (SP) content as determined by radioimmunoassay was significantly decreased in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) (531 ± 30 pg, mean ± SEM) compared to controls (871 ± 110 pg) but was unchanged in ME/AN extracts. Substance K (SK) content decreased to 257 ± 20 pg in the PVN of lesioned animals compared to controls (367 ± 31 pg) and the ME/AN content of SK was also significantly decreased (236 ± 36 pg compared to control levels of 619 ± 65 pg). The CRF-41 content of the PVN and ME/AN was unchanged by MSG lesioning, indicating that these areas are not affected by MSG. The partial depletion of SP and SK in the PVN following MSG treatment provides evidence that at least some of the neurokinin content of the PVN may originate in cell bodies of the arcuate nucleus. However, the lack of response of ME/AN SP to MSG treatment may suggest that the arcuate nucleus is not the major source of SP in the median eminence.


Here's a common way to run the analysis.
Create a segment of customers with similar performance --- maybe all customers who purchased three or more times in the past twelve months. Isolate these customers --- 3x buyers from 12/1/2007 to 11/30/2008. Measure performance in the next thirty days --- repurchase rates and spend rates during the month of December, for all customers in this segment during the past twelve months. Repeat the analysis by moving all dates back twelve months. Then repeat again, and again, and again, going back as far as you have data to replicate the analysis.
This analysis is important, because it helps you understand just how much your loyal customers are spending, compared with prior years. You'll know how much the "economy" is hurting your business, independent of your reactivation and customer acquisition strategies, independent of channel shift.
Most important, you'll truly know when your business is starting to recover.


IZA A Call for Comparative Research: Consequences of a Rising Income Inequality for State Activities byRenate Neubäumer (April 2011) Abstract: The aim of this discussion paper is not only to activate a debate over the interrelation between rising income inequality and economic policy measures but also to initiate comparative research in several European countries and North America. It discusses the consequences of a rising income inequality and its implications for state activities and economic policy. Using a simple model it becomes evident that an increasing income inequality leads to higher government spending, as a share of Gross Domestic Product, though the state does not take over more responsibilities. It also leads to a higher tax share though rates of taxation are not increased. This forces economic politicians to act. If they want to prevent an increase of these shares in order not to fall behind in the international competition, they must accept a rising public debt and/or must move away from socially accepted value judgments about "social standards", the degree of redistribution by taxes and/or an "adequate" supply of public goods. This might result in disenchantment with politics. Text: See Discussion Paper No. 5651