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Given the importance that the issue of climate change has acquired in environmental policy, concerns are increasing about the effects of trade between nations of so-called "Carbon Leakage". The objective of this research is to examine the impact of US Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), trade openness (AC) and the consumption of renewable energy (RE), on carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) in Mexico during the period 1990 - 2019. For this, econometric tools were used. The main results show that the variables are of integration order I(1) and there is a long-term equilibrium relationship between the variables. Long-term models were estimated, demonstrating that there is a positive relationship between FDI, GDP and AC with CO2 emissions, so that an increase in FDI, GDP and AC contribute to the increase in CO2 emissions. And a negative relationship between RE consumption with CO2 emissions, so an increase in RE consumption will help reduce CO2 emissions. The results validate the Pollution Paradise Hypothesis because US FDI contributed to the increase in CO2 emissions, generating environmental degradation, turning Mexico into a pollution paradise country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public officials are oath takers and expected to uphold the law, but criminal convictions provide evidence that corruption exists. When public officials violate their oath, these violations evade ethical norms of behavior important to protecting the integrity inherent in the public office. This article synthesizes the literature on public corruption and related fields and presents a conceptual model to help us understand public leader violations of the oath and factors that enable corrupt behavior more broadly. Through an exploratory analysis of news articles and local government websites of examples of federal corruption convictions from the top ten most corrupt juridictions in the United States, this preliminary model finds six factors influence corruption within a jurisdiction at two collective levels: (1) organizational, and (2) institutional. A case study of an independent nonprofit's experience in anti-corruption further informs a claim that corrupt leaders (i.e., oath-takers) often involve and exert corrupt influence on subordinates. Findings on convicted corruptions expands the conceptual model to inform on institutional factors that may mitigate corruption. Failure to act on corruption creates a distributional consequence for society. Public corruption minimizes equal access to public goods and services, diverts public finances for personal gain, and undermines public confidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Peoples' may have their present and future collective needs realised in one of three ways. They may aspire to their own titular state, self-determination, where they predominate and act collectively; they may rely on the recognition and provision of collective minority rights (with some autonomy in a more or less territorially-defined multi-peopled space); or they may advocate for a regime of strong 'liberal', non-discriminatory individual rights for all in which (significantly weakened) collective identities are lodged in the private sphere.The second outcome, official minority rights within majority national self-determination, was a concomitant of the first or compensation for its serious imperfections, and became visible in the partially-successful minority rights treaties of interwar Europe. Importantly, it also had its day in the U.S., where populous minorities, mostly immigrant, facing discrimination, both as individuals and as groups, clamoured for group recognition and group rights, either within their 'pales of settlement' or throughout their countries. And it may be coming back --in light of the failures, inadequacies, and possible exhaustion of the first and third models. Is there now a conceivable progressive pluralist nationalism pluralist nationalism that combines recognition and redistribution, recognising that people are both apart and together? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systemic sclerosis (also called scleroderma, SSc) is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by excessive collagen deposition leading to skin fibrosis and various internal organ manifestations. The emergent diagnostics and therapeutic strategies for scleroderma focus on early detection and targeted interventions to improve patient outcomes and quality of life. Diagnostics for SSc have evolved significantly in recent years, driven by advancements in serological markers and imaging techniques. Autoantibody profiling, especially antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and specific scleroderma-associated autoantibodies, aids in identifying subsets of scleroderma and predicting disease progression. Furthermore, novel imaging modalities, such as high-frequency ultrasonography and optical coherence tomography, enable early detection of skin fibrosis and internal organ involvement, enhancing the diagnostic precision and allowing for tailored management. Therapeutic strategies for SSc are multifaceted, targeting immune dysregulation, vascular abnormalities, and fibrotic processes. Emerging biologic agents have shown promise in clinical trials, including monoclonal antibodies directed against key cytokines involved in fibrosis, such as transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Additionally, small-molecule inhibitors that disrupt fibrotic pathways, like tyrosine kinase inhibitors, have exhibited potential in limiting collagen deposition and preventing disease progression. Stem cell therapy, cell ablation and gene editing techniques hold great potential in regenerating damaged tissue and halting fibrotic processes. Early intervention remains crucial in managing SSc, as irreversible tissue damage often occurs in advanced stages. Novel diagnostic methods, such as biomarkers and gene expression profiling, are being explored to identify individuals at high risk for developing progressive severe disease and intervene proactively. Furthermore, patient-tailored therapeutic approaches, employing a combination of immunosuppressive agents and targeted anti-fibrotic therapies, are being investigated to improve treatment efficacy while minimizing adverse effects. The emergent diagnostics and therapeutic strategies in scleroderma are transforming the management of this challenging disease. Nevertheless, ongoing research and clinical trials are needed to optimize the efficacy and safety of these novel approaches in the complex and diverse spectrum of SSc manifestations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Serodiagnosis of Tuberculosis in Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in Southern India: A Latent Class Analysis." The correction addresses an issue with the ponceau loading control panels in Figure 1F and 1L, which appear more similar than expected. The original uncropped images are no longer available, but replicate data is provided. The authors also provide an updated version of Figure 1 with replicate image data and original uncropped images for Western blotting and ponceau staining. The raw data for Figure 1G and the summary results in Tables 1-3 are no longer available, but the original underlying data for all other results in the article and supporting information files are available. The authors apologize for the error. [Extracted from the article]

We have measured the subtle changes in magnetic reversal of weakly interacting arrays of submicrometer magnetic particles as a function of particle spacing and interpreted the data within the context of a model assuming a normal distribution of switching fields plus dipole fields between particles. The measurements were performed on a Kerr magnetometer and showed the changes in switching characteristics of the particle array as a function of array spacing in the two in-plane directions. The Monte Carlo calculations included the effect of changing particle pitch in two in-plane directions and explained the characteristic change in sharpness of the switching transition alternatively as a frustration or as an enhanced sharpness due to cascading transitions, depending on whether the hard- or easy-axis dipole coupling is dominant. This method is extensible to nanoscale particles and provides an estimate of the moment of the particle, a measurement which is difficult to obtain via other experimental methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a finite-element time-domain method is presented for the solution of the second-order vector wave equation (VWE) subject to electrically complex materials, including general combinations of linear dispersion, instantaneous nonlinearity, and dispersive nonlinearity. The presented method is novel in that it offers greater geometric flexibility than existing finite-difference methods, incorporates both instantaneous and dispersive nonlinearity, scales to arbitrary dispersive and nonlinear orders, and is simpler, faster, and requires less computational complexity than existing mixed formulations due to the use of edge elements only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel implementation of a perfectly matched layer (PML) is presented for the truncation of finite-element time-domain (FETD) meshes containing electrically complex materials, exhibiting any combination of linear dispersion, instantaneous nonlinearity, and dispersive nonlinearity. Based on the complex coordinate stretching formulation of the PML, the presented technique yields an artificial absorbing layer whose matching condition is independent of material parameters. Moreover, by virtue of only modifying spatial derivatives, the incorporation of the PML into existing solvers for complex media is simple and straightforward. The resulting material-independent PML is incorporated into a nonlinear dispersive method for the vector wave equation, which leverages the $z$ transform and Newton-Raphson techniques to yield an implementation free from recursive convolutions, auxiliary differential equations, and linearizations. This permits the unprecedented truncation and attenuation of nonlinear phenomena, such as spatial and temporal solitons, within the FETD method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a mixed finite-element time-domain (FETD) method is presented for the simulation of electrically complex materials, including general combinations of linear dispersion, instantaneous nonlinearity, and dispersive nonlinearity. Using both edge and face elements, the presented method offers greater geometric flexibility than existing finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) implementations, and in contrast to existing nonlinear FETD methods, also incorporates both linear and nonlinear material dispersions. Dielectric nonlinearity is incorporated into the Crank–Nicolson mixed FETD formulation via a straightforward Newton–Raphson approach, for which the associated Jacobian is derived. Moreover, the dispersion is modeled via the Möbius $z$ transform method, yielding a simpler more general algorithm. The method’s accuracy and convergence are verified, and its capability demonstrated via the simulation of several nonlinear phenomena, including temporal and spatial solitons in two spatial dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author offers insights into the important ethical considerations brought up by the entry of bioethicists into digital research creep. It references the article "Design bioethics (DB): A theoretical framework and argument for innovation in bioethics research," by G. Pavarini and her colleagues, which appeared within the issue. Topics include the use of humans as research subjects and the limitation in the conduct of review on DB tools by institutional review boards.

Building a modular architecture with superconducting quantum computing chips is one of the means to achieve qubit scalability, allowing the screening, selection, replacement, and integration of individual qubit modules into large quantum systems. However, the nondestructive replacement of modules within a compact architecture remains a challenge. Liquid metals, specifically gallium alloys, can be alternatives to solid-state galvanic interconnects. This is motivated by their self-healing, self-aligning, and other desirable fluidic properties, potentially enabling the nondestructive replacement of modules at room temperatures, even after operating the entire system at millikelvin regimes. In this study, we present coplanar waveguide resonators (CPWRs) interconnected by gallium alloy droplets, achieving high internal quality factors up to nearly one million and demonstrating performance on par with the continuous solid-state CPWRs. Leveraging the desirable fluidic properties of gallium alloys at room temperature and their compact design, we envision a modular quantum system enabled by liquid metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a novel method to solve the constant coefficient wave equation, subject to interface jump conditions, is presented. In general, such problems pose issues for standard finite difference solvers, as the inherent discontinuity in the solution results in erroneous derivative information wherever the stencils straddle the given interface. Here, however, the recently proposed Correction Function Method (CFM) is used, in which correction terms are computed from the interface conditions, and added to affected nodes to compensate for the discontinuity. In contrast to existing methods, these corrections are not simply defined at affected nodes, but rather generalized to a continuous function within a small region surrounding the interface. As a result, the correction function may be defined in terms of its own governing partial differential equation (PDE) which may be solved, in principle, to arbitrary order of accuracy. The resulting scheme is not only arbitrarily high order, but also robust, having already seen application to Poisson problems and the heat equation. By extending the CFM to this new class of PDEs, the treatment of wave interface discontinuities in homogeneous media becomes possible. This allows, for example, for the straightforward treatment of infinitesimal source terms and sharp boundaries, free of staircasing errors. Additionally, new modifications to the CFM are derived, allowing compatibility with explicit multi-step methods, such as Runge–Kutta (RK4), without a reduction in accuracy. These results are then verified through numerous numerical experiments in one and two spatial dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This phenomenological study explored student value perceptions of religious participation among nontraditional South African distance learners who persisted in theological distance education. Four basic types of churches emerged including the Equipping Church, the Empowering Church, the Engaging Church, and the Endangering Church. However, in examining religious coping strategies among South African distance learners, it was discovered that the four women interviewed experienced a deep sense of loneliness in their calling and had to rely almost exclusively on resources outside their local church. These Black South African women’s sense of being called alone is both inconsistent with the theoretical framework of role theory and the theological framework of the Anglican Church as expressed by the official Prayer Book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel graphics-processing unit (GPU) implementation of the recently proposed correction function method (CFM) is presented, for the finite-difference solution of Poisson problems with surface-charge distributions. The CFM is a robust and versatile method most notable for its immersed treatment of interface problems of any geometry, to an arbitrary order of accuracy. Given the well-known interface jump conditions associated with the electric scalar potential, the CFM is here shown to be immediately applicable to the computation of electrostatic fields, in the presence of curved surface-charge distributions. Moreover, an in-depth analysis of the CFM algorithm is presented, in which performance bottlenecks are investigated and significant potential for parallelizability is identified. The resulting parallel CFM algorithm is then implemented using NVIDIA’s compute unified device architecture GPU language, yielding a significant increase in performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel use of graphics processing units (GPUs) is presented in the execution of the dispersive finite-element time-domain (FETD) method, based upon the Möbius (bilinear) z -transform technique. By utilizing the immense computational power of modern GPUs via NVIDIA’s compute unified device architecture (CUDA) language, a narrowing of the performance gap, which currently exists between dispersive FETD methods and their non-dispersive counterparts, can be achieved, thus facilitating the study of a wider range of physical phenomena. An analysis of the z -transform dispersive FETD algorithm is presented in order to both identify dispersive overhead bottlenecks and determine its suitability to parallelization. Numerical studies are then undertaken to measure the performance increase as a function of simulation parameters, such as number of variables, the amount of dispersive material present, and floating point precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: We’ve developed a highly curated bacterial virulence factor (VF) library in PATRIC (Pathosystems Resource Integration Center, www.patricbrc.org) to support infectious disease research. Although several VF databases are available, there is still a need to incorporate new knowledge found in published experimental evidence and integrate these data with other information known for these specific VF genes, including genomic and other omics data. This integration supports the identification of VFs, comparative studies and hypothesis generation, which facilitates the understanding of virulence and pathogenicity.Results: We have manually curated VFs from six prioritized NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) category A–C bacterial pathogen genera, Mycobacterium, Salmonella, Escherichia, Shigella, Listeria and Bartonella, using published literature. This curated information on virulence has been integrated with data from genomic functional annotations, trancriptomic experiments, protein–protein interactions and disease information already present in PATRIC. Such integration gives researchers access to a broad array of information about these individual genes, and also to a suite of tools to perform comparative genomic and transcriptomics analysis that are available at PATRIC.Availability and implementation: All tools and data are freely available at PATRIC (http://patricbrc.org).Contact: cmao@vbi.vt.edu.Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective S-Nitrosothiols (RSNOs) are bioactive forms of nitric oxide which are involved in cell signalling and redox regulation of vascular function. Circulating S-nitrosothiols are predominantly in the form of S-nitrosoalbumin. In this study plasma concentrations of S-nitrosothiols were measured in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) where NO metabolism is known to be abnormal. Patients and methods Venous blood was collected from 16 patients with Raynaud's phenomenon (RP), 45 with systemic sclerosis (SSc) (34 patients had limited SSc (IcSSc) and 11 diffuse cutaneous disease (dcSSc)). Twenty six healthy subjects were used as controls. Plasma S-nitrosothiol concentrations were measured by chemiluminescence. The measurements were related to the extent of biological age, capillary/skin scores and disease duration. Results Plasma RSNO levels in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) and in those with SSc was significantly lower compared to the concentrations in control subjects. In SSc, plasma S-nitrosothiols were often below the level of detection (1nM). Conclusions Low S-nitrosothiol concentrations were observed in the blood of patients with SSc and patients with RP indicating a profound disturbance of nitric oxide metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new quantization method for superconducting electronic circuits involving a Joseph son-junction device coupled to a linear microwave environment. The method is based on an exact impedance synthesis of the microwave environment considered as a black box with impedance function Z(s). The synthesized circuit captures dissipative dynamics of the system with resistors coupled to the reactive part of the circuit in a nontrivial way. We quantile the circuit and compute relaxation rates following previous formalisms for lumped element circuit quantisation. Up to the errors in the fit our method gives an exact description of the system and its losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cloud has settled over the immigration regimes of the European welfare states and the United States. Confidence has waned in the viability and value of integrating newcomers into a system of social solidarity. The weakening of civic nationalism and secular constitutional patriotism has unsettled national identities and undermined efforts to facilitate the inclusion of immigrants, especially Muslims. More forceful integration policies might better sustain the welfare state, but individual liberties and group recognition make this more difficult. Ironically, immigrants may now fare better in more unjust neoliberal societies such as the United States than in the advanced welfare states. This article looks at Europe (Germany in particular) and the United States to assess recent developments. Current arrangements are inadequate to resolve the dual crisis of integration and solidarity at the very moment that social equality is increasingly undermined by fiscal crises and aggressive neoliberal social policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bed-load sediment transport is important yet difficult to measure in large, sand-bed rivers. Prior work established in theory and validated in a flume study a method known as integrated section surface difference over time version 2 (ISSDOTv2), which computes bed-load transport using sequential three dimensional (3D) bathymetric profiles. The same work identified a source of systemic error leading to an underprediction of computed transport rates. This paper demonstrates how the systemic error can be removed from ISSDOTv2 calculations to produce a more accurate dune transport value. This is demonstrated by analytic and geometric examples, and with field data from the Missouri River at Kansas City. The results of these analyses indicate that field data do exhibit the systematic error and that it is possible to extrapolate a corrected dune bed-load transport rate from field data obtained at different measurement intervals. Additionally, error bounds on this corrected value can be set. Independent validation of the resulting transport rate was not attempted due to the unreliability of physical measurements for bed-load transport in large sand-bed rivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The Hispanic community is the fastest growing ethnic group in the USA and is currently the largest minority group with tremendous buying power. This trend has seen a significant growth with respect to the Spanish-language media in recent years. Along with the media's ability to entertain, comes the responsibility to educate and warn its audiences of eminent threats and disasters. The aim of this paper is to look at the Spanish-language media's efforts to warn and prepare its listeners for local and national emergencies. Design/methodology/approach – Using descriptive and explanatory methods the author looks at the failures of the Spanish language media to communicate emergency warnings in both the Saragosa, Texas tornado and in the case of hurricane Katrina. Findings – Research indicated that pressure from constituents, however, forced a change on the Spanish language industry. Research limitations/implications – The research was limited by not having first hand contact with the Spanish language media. Practical implications – The practical implication of this research which has social overtones is that providing disaster warnings to the non-English speaking population in the USA is achievable. Emergency managers and first responders need to be aware of issues regarding non-English speakers. Social implications – The implications for this research is that all individuals will be notified of emergencies even non-English speakers. Originality/value – The issues on non-English speakers in emergency situations have come up before. Nevertheless, this work identifies a practical solution by involving the Spanish language media in emergency alerts. It is essential that this tremendous resource be involved in emergency alerts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a causative agent of chronic tuberculosis disease, is widespread among some animal species too. There is paucity of information on the distribution, prevalence and true disease status of tuberculosis in Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). The aim of this study was to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of serological tests to diagnose M. tuberculosis infection in captive elephants in southern India while simultaneously estimating sero-prevalence. Methodology/Principal Findings: Health assessment of 600 elephants was carried out and their sera screened with a commercially available rapid serum test. Trunk wash culture of select rapid serum test positive animals yielded no animal positive for M. tuberculosis isolation. Under Indian field conditions where the true disease status is unknown, we used a latent class model to estimate the diagnostic characteristics of an existing (rapid serum test) and new (four in-house ELISA) tests. One hundred and seventy nine sera were randomly selected for screening in the five tests. Diagnostic sensitivities of the four ELISAs were 91.3-97.6% (95% Credible Interval (CI): 74.8-99.9) and diagnostic specificity were 89.6-98.5% (95% CI: 79.4-99.9) based on the model we assumed. We estimate that 53.6% (95% CI: 44.6-62.8) of the samples tested were free from infection with M. tuberculosis and 15.9% (97.5% CI: 9.8 - to 24.0) tested positive on all five tests. Conclusions/Significance: Our results provide evidence for high prevalence of asymptomatic M. tuberculosis infection in Asian elephants in a captive Indian setting. Further validation of these tests would be important in formulating area-specific effective surveillance and control measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new class of spin-transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) is discussed, in which writing is achieved using thermally initiated magnonic current pulses as an alternative to conventional electric current pulses. The magnonic pulses are used to destabilize the magnetic free layer from its initial direction, and are followed immediately by a bipolar electric current exerting conventional spin-transfer torque on the free layer. The combination of thermal and electric currents greatly reduces switching errors, and simultaneously reduces the electric switching current density by more than an order of magnitude as compared to conventional STT-MRAM. The energy efficiency of several possible electro-thermal circuit designs have been analyzed numerically. As compared to STT-MRAM with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, magnonic STT-MRAM reduces the overall switching energy by almost 80%. Furthermore, the lower electric current density allows the use of thicker tunnel barriers, which should result in higher tunneling magneto-resistance and improved tunnel barrier reliability. The combination of lower power, improved reliability, higher integration density, and larger read margin make magnonic STT-MRAM a promising choice for future non-volatile storage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Human intestinal infections with the nematode Strongyloides stercoralis remain a significant problem worldwide and a vaccine would be a useful addition to the tools available to prevent and control this infection. The goal of this study was to test single antigens for their efficacy in a vaccine against S. stercoralis larvae in mice. Alum was used as the adjuvant in these studies and antigens selected for analysis were either recognized by protective human IgG (Ss-TMY-1, Ss-EAT-6, and Ss-LEC-5) or were known to be highly immunogenic in humans (Ss-NIE-1 and Ss-IR). Only mice immunized with the Ss-IR antigen demonstrated a significant decrease of approximately 80% in the survival of larval parasites in the challenge infection. Antibodies, recovered from mice with protective immunity to S. stercoralis after immunization with Ss-IR, were used to locate the antigen in the larvae. Confocal microscopy revealed that IgG from mice immunized with Ss-IR bound to the surface of the parasites and observations by electron microscopy indicated that IgG bound to granules in the glandular esophagus. Serum collected from mice immunized with Ss-IR passively transferred immunity to naïve mice. These studies demonstrate that Ss-IR, in combination with alum, induces high levels of protective immunity through an antibody dependent mechanism and may therefore be suitable for further development as a vaccine against human strongyloidiasis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Advances in bathymetric data acquisition have made it possible to explore alternative methods for measuring bed-load transport in rivers. The method validated herein consists of measuring rates of bed scour by using time-sequenced bathymetric data. The validation is performed in a laboratory flume by comparing the measured rates of bed scour with direct measurements of bed-load transport. The bed forms in the flume are dunes traveling at nearly constant speed. The shape of the dunes remains nearly constant. No suspended load is present. The ranges for Froude and Rouse numbers are 0.24-0.50 and 4.6-10.4, respectively. The study shows that under the given conditions, bed-load transport determined from time-sequenced bathymetric data is equally accurate to that determined from measurements of bed-form amplitude and speed. Obtaining bed-load transport from time-sequenced bathymetric data is often more expedient than traditional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a variant of the popular matching problem here. The input instance is a bipartite graph G = (A ∪ P, E), where vertices in A are called applicants and vertices in P are called posts. Each applicant ranks a subset of posts in an order of preference, possibly involving ties. A matching M is popular if there is no other matching M' such that the number of applicants who prefer their partners in M' to M exceeds the number of applicants who prefer their partners in M to M'. However, the “more popular than” relation is not transitive; hence this relation is not a partial order, and thus there need not be a maximal element here. Indeed, there are simple instances that do not admit popular matchings. The questions of whether an input instance G admits a popular matching and how to compute one if it exists were studied earlier by Abraham et al. Here we study reachability questions among matchings in G, assuming that G = (A ∪P,E) admits a popular matching. A matching Mk is reachable from M0 if there is a sequence of matchings (M0,M1, . . .,Mk) such that each matching is more popular than its predecessor. Such a sequence is called a length-k voting path from M0 to Mk. We show an interesting property of reachability among matchings in G: there is always a voting path of length at most 2 from any matching to some popular matching. Given a bipartite graph G = (A ∪ P,E) with n vertices and m edges and any matching M0 in G, we give an O(m√n) algorithm to compute a shortest-length voting path from M0 to a popular matching; when preference lists are strictly ordered, we have an O(m + n) algorithm. This problem has applications in dynamic matching markets, where applicants and posts can enter and leave the market, and applicants can also change their preferences arbitrarily. After any change, the current matching may no longer be popular, in which case we are required to update it. However, our model demands that we switch from one matching to another only if there is consensus among the applicants to agree to the switch. Hence we need to update via a voting path that ends in a popular matching. Thus our algorithm has applications here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two hearts beat in every liberal breast. One is the heart of non-discrimination - the commitment to propounding equal chances for all. Such a principle, built around individuals and their free choices, ought to be applicable everywhere and to everyone. This perspective currently dominates human-rights discourse and is associated with the 'global left' and with the politics of 'recognition'. The second liberal heart is communitarian social justice. Redistribution, effected primarily through the state, is owed the poor and exploited, and it can be accomplished best in one's own society, for one's own countrymen. This vision has lost a great deal of ground, especially among elites and critical intellectuals. This view is associated with the 'sovereignty left' and with the politics of 'redistributive justice'. This paper examines the manifestations of these tensions in recent US immigration debates, particularly over issues of labour market competition between immigrants and the domestic poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sand infiltration into gravel frameworks poses significant engineering and ecological difficulties. Ten flume experiments were conducted to quantify a sand bridging threshold in a static gravel bed. The D15 substrate/d85 sand ratio was computed for each of 37 unique sand-substrate pairs and the data were plotted, with previously published flume data, to determine the threshold between bridging and unimpeded static percolation. The process threshold boundary between bridging and unimpeded static percolation fell in the range of 12

Vertical gradational structures develop as sand infiltrates into static gravel beds. Understanding the vertical distribution of interstitial sand deposits will improve predictions of ecological suitability and hyporheic hydrodynamics. A series of flume experiments was performed to investigate fine infiltration processes. Four sand distributions were introduced into flows over gravel beds. After each experiment, bed cores were extracted and analysed in vertical layers to examine the gradational trends with depth. Vertical trends of fine content were highly sensitive to the relative grain-size distributions of the gravel bed and the introduced sand. For experiments with d15gravel/ d85sand ratios 15·4 and larger unimpeded static percolation was observed, where sand filled the voids relatively uniformly from the bottom of the gravel layer to the top. Experiments with ratios 10·6 and smaller bridged. Sand clogged a thin layer of gravel pores near the bed surface, precluding subsequent infiltration. Interstitial sand deposits fined with depth of penetration for all experiments which was the result of three distinct but overlapping processes. (i) Granular sorting: As particles fell through the substrate, smaller material preferentially passed through the voids deeper into the gravel. (ii) Bed-load sorting: Size segregation occurs in the wake of the leading bed form as smaller particles saltate further and settle first. (iii) Hydraulic sorting: Smaller sand was transported preferentially as suspended load filling the deep voids of the furthest flume positions downstream. Finally, when the experiments that formed a bridge layer were replicated with higher bed shear stresses, less interstitial sand deposition was observed. Higher shear stresses transported coarse particles downstream more efficiently causing bridge layers to form earlier and allowing less time for suspended load to settle into the deeper substrate pores before the pathways were closed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides abstracts of papers and articles on the topic of TGF-β and smad signalling in fibrosis including "Mechanism of activation of the TGF-b receptor," by J. L. Wrana, L. Attisano, R. Wieser, F. Ventura, and J. Massague, "Connective-tissue growth factor (CTGF) modulates cell signalling by BMP and TGF-beta," by J. G. Abreu, N. I. Keptura, B. Reversade, and E. M. De Robertis, and "Expression and regulation of intracellular SMAD signaling in scleroderma skin fibroblasts," by Y. Mori, S. J. Chen, and J. Varga.

We consider the problem of matching a set of applicants to a set of posts, where each applicant has a preference list, ranking a nonempty subset of posts in order of preference, possibly involving ties. We say that a matching M is popular if there is no matching M′ such that the number of applicants preferring M′ to M exceeds the number of applicants preferring M to M′. In this paper, we give the first polynomial-time algorithms to determine if an instance admits a popular matching and to find a largest such matching, if one exists. For the special case in which every preference list is strictly ordered (i.e., contains no ties), we give an O(n + m) time algorithm, where n is the total number of applicants and posts and m is the total length of all of the preference lists. For the general case in which preference lists may contain ties, we give an O(√nm) time algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A unique feature of systemic sclerosis (SSc) that distinguishes it from other fibrotic disorders is that autoimmunity and vasculopathy characteristically precede fibrosis. Moreover, fibrosis in SSc is not restricted to a single organ, but rather affects many organs and accounts for much of the morbidity and mortality associated with this disease. Although immunomodulatory drugs have been used extensively in the treatment of SSc, no therapy to date has been able to reverse or slow the progression of tissue fibrosis or substantially modify the natural progression of the disease. In this Review, we highlight recent studies that shed light on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the fibrotic process in SSc and that identify cellular processes and intra- and extracellular proteins as potential novel targets for therapy in this prototypic multisystemic fibrotic disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scleroderma [also known as systemic sclerosis (SSc)] is a complex autoimmune disease characterised by pathological remodelling of connective tissues. Although the earliest and most frequent manifestations include blood vessel and immunological abnormalities, the systemic and progressive pathology suggests that fundamental interactions between microvascular damage and inflammation are mechanistically linked to obliterative tissue fibrosis. This review will focus on how model systems have provided clues to these relationships and will discuss new data from the study of novel animal disease models. These reveal how vascular damage and leukocyte accumulation generate the molecular cues that control the profiles of soluble mediators, which regulate the aberrant behaviour of mesenchymal cells within connective tissues, and how the dysregulated expression of these components and their differentiation contribute to the persistent fibrogenic response. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Pheromone-binding proteins (PBPs) are soluble transporter proteins that increase the capture and the solubilization of pheromone molecules in the lymph surrounding the olfactory receptors. A polymerase chain reaction-based method was used to identify PBP genes in Agrotis species for an evolutionary genomic study of noctuid moth PBPs. From genomic DNA we determined the structure of different PBP genes in the two closely related species, Agrotis ipsilon and A. segetum. In all, we clearly identified four genes (Aips-1, Aips-2, Aseg-1 and Aseg-2) that represent two distinct PBP orthology groups. We found that the four genes have the same exon–intron structure and that they comprise three exons and two introns but differ in length mainly in the second intron. The three exons of Aseg-2 and Aips-2 have the same lengths but both intron 1 and intron 2 differ in length between the genes. In contrast, Aips-1 and Aseg-1 show dissimilarity only in the length of intron 2. Interestingly, introns 1 and 2 are inserted in the same positions in the Aips-1, Aips-2, Aseg-1 and Aseg-2 genes. These findings show that the Agrotis PBP genes have common ancestry and probably originate from gene duplication before the speciation of ipsilon and segetum. We found that expression of Aips-1/Aseg-1 and Aips-2/Aseg-2 is antennal-specific, but expression is not restricted to the male antennae. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Modern molecular genetic methods have allowed better understanding of established mouse models of scleroderma and also facilitated the development of new and better defined mouse strains for investigating the pathogenesis of the disease. The best characterized scleroderma animal model is the type 1 tight skin mouse (Tsk1). Backcrossing these animals with other mutant strains has been informative. These experiments implicate the IL-4 ligand-receptor axis in the development of skin fibrosis. Parallel expression analysis of genes using microarrays has provided insight into novel mediators of fibrosis including the C-C chemokine MCP-3. Other experiments suggest that embryonically defined fibroblast-specific regulatory elements may be targets for activation in this model. The same lineage-specific elements have been used to selectively activate TGFβ signaling pathways in fibrosis to generate a novel model for scleroderma and also have been used to develop systems for ligand-dependent fibroblast-specific genetic recombination that will allow further analysis key candidate genes implicated in scleroderma pathogenesis. Better mouse models will improve understanding of this intractable rheumatic disease and can be expected to ultimately lead to improved treatments and outcome. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The cause of fibrotic diseases, pathologies characterized by excessive production, deposition, and contraction of extracellular matrix, is unknown. To understand the molecular basis of fibrotic disease, it is essential to appreciate how matrix deposition is normally controlled and how this process is dysregulated in fibrogenesis. This review discusses the current state of knowledge concerning interactions among the profibrotic proteins transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF, CCN2), and ED-A fibronectin (ED-A FN) and the antifibrotic proteins tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and γ-interferon (IFN-γ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ), a multifunctional cytokine, plays a crucial role in the accumulation of extracellular matrix components in lung fibrosis, where lung fibroblasts are considered to play a major role. Even though the effects of TGFβ on the gene expression of several proteins have been investigated in several lung fibroblast cell lines, the global pattern of response to this cytokine in adult lung fibroblasts is still unknown. Methods: We used Affymetrix oligonucleotide microarrays U95v2, containing approximately 12,000 human genes, to study the transcriptional profile in response to a four hour treatment with TGFβ in control lung fibroblasts and in fibroblasts from patients with idiopathic and scleroderma-associated pulmonary fibrosis. A combination of the Affymetrix change algorithm (Microarray Suite 5) and of analysis of variance models was used to identify TGFβ-regulated genes. Additional criteria were an average up- or down- regulation of at least two fold. Results: Exposure of fibroblasts to TGFβ had a profound impact on gene expression, resulting in regulation of 129 transcripts. We focused on genes not previously found to be regulated by TGFβ in lung fibroblasts or other cell types, including nuclear co-repressor 2, SMAD specific E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 2 (SMURF2), bone morphogenetic protein 4, and angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AGTR1), and confirmed the microarray results by real time-PCR. Western Blotting confirmed induction at the protein level of AGTR1, the most highly induced gene in both control and fibrotic lung fibroblasts among genes encoding for signal transduction molecules. Upregulation of AGTR1 occurred through the MKK1/MKK2 signalling pathway. Immunohistochemical staining showed AGTR1 expression by lung fibroblasts in fibroblastic foci within biopsies of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Conclusions: This study identifies several novel TGFβ targets in lung fibroblasts, and confirms with independent methods the induction of angiotensin II receptor type 1, underlining a potential role for angiotensin II receptor 1 antagonism in the treatment of lung fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF, CCN2), a member of the CCN family of proteins, is a cysteine-rich proadhesive matricellular protein that plays an essential role in the formation of blood vessels, bone, and connective tissue. As expression of this protein is potently induced by transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ), it has been hypothesized that CTGF mediates several of the downstream actions of TGFβ. In particular, CTGF is profibrotic, as CTGF is overexpressed in fibrotic disease and synergizes with TGFβ to promote sustained fibrosis in vivo. Over the last several years, key data regarding the developmental role and structure and function relationship of CTGF have emerged. In addition, increased information concerning the mechanisms underlying the control of CTGF expression in normal and fibrotic cells and the signal transduction pathways through which CTGF acts on cells has been uncovered. This review summarizes the current state of knowledge regarding CTGF biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fibrotic diseases such as scleroderma (systemic sclerosis, SSc) are characterized by an excessive production of extracellular matrix and profibrotic proteins such as connective tissue growth factor (CTGF). In normal dermal fibroblasts, CTGF is not expressed unless induced by proteins such as tumor growth factor-β (TGFβ). Conversely, in fibroblasts cultured from fibrotic lesions CTGF mRNA and protein are constitutively expressed, even in the absence of exogenously added TGFβ. Thus, studying the mechanism underlying CTGF overexpression in SSc fibroblasts is likely to yield valuable insights into the basis of the fibrotic phenotype of SSc and possibly other scarring disease. CTGF overexpression is mediated primarily by sequences in the CTGF promoter. In this report, we identify the minimal promoter element involved with the overexpression of CTGF in SSc fibroblasts. This element is distinct from the element necessary and sufficient for the induction of CTGF expression by TGFβ in normal fibroblasts. Within this region is a functional Spl binding site. Blocking Sp1 activity reduces the elevated, constitutive levels of CTGF promoter activity and protein expression observed in SSc fibroblasts. Relative to those prepared from normal dermal fibroblasts, nuclear extracts prepared from SSc fibroblasts possess increased Sp1 binding activity. Removal of phosphate groups from nuclear extracts enhanced Sp1 binding activity, suggesting that phosphorylation of Sp1 normally reduces Sp1 binding to DNA. Thus, the constitutive overexpression of CTGF in SSc fibroblasts seems to be independent of TGFβ signaling but dependent at least in part on Sp1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review summarizes research using Onchocerca spp. in chimpanzees, cattle and mice to gain insight into the protective immune response to the filarial worm Onchocerca volvulus in humans. In addition, Acanthocheilonema viteae has been evaluated as a surrogate filarial worm for studying immunity to the infection. Immune mechanisms controlling these infections are described and initial success using recombinant antigen vaccines in these models is reviewed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Discusses the United States Court of Appeals ruling rejecting the asylum petition of Elian Gonzalez, a six-year-old Cuban boy. Right of parent to represent a child; Effect of his father's residence in Cuba; Judicial review of immigration decision.

Focuses on a study which discussed a measurement technique called thermal proximity sensing (TPS) and its application to the inspection of magnetic hard-disk surfaces. Introduction of TPS for magneto-resistive sensors; Background on the theory of TPS; Experimental results.

In this essay, I argue that the gap between 'citizen' and 'alien' has been shrinking in both American and German law. Despite the recent hostility toward immigrants and aliens in both countries, the longer-term tendency has been to grant aliens greater rights. In part this is because the courts have moved to a more functionalist and prosaic perspective and away from grand theories of citizenship and rights. In part, however, this development also points to the reduction of solidarity within these societies and the decline in the power and viability of citizenship as a political and socioeconomic category. The result has been a gain in 'recognition' but at the expense of 'redistributive' politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the performance of a political party in Germany, the Social Democratic Party. History of the party; Political activities; Goals of the party.