Morocco unique geography has made the country vulnerable to climateinduced migration (CIM)1 for three reasons. First, Moroccois located in a region identified as the highest vulnerability to climate change (IPCC, 2014). Second, Morocco's economy remains dependent on natural resources due to a history of neo-liberal development and agriculture policies (Davis, 2006). These policies' failure to diversify and develop the economy in rural regions has made Morocco the most geographically inequitable country in the MENA region (World Bank). Lastly, located just 14 km from Spain, Morocco has a 50-year history of migrating to Europe for work and opportunity (Eddouada, 2014). This paper (1) explores the causes of future migration and exodus from rural areas in Morocco. (2) Analyzes the present implementation of sustainable development in Morocco and its' ability to mitigate both climate change and CIM using interviews and participant observation. (3) This study's findings identify shortcomings in both governmental and non-governmental approachesand providerecommendations for the improvement of development projects in rural Morocco. 1 Climate-induced migration (CIM) refers to people who can no longer gain secure livelihood in their homelands because of drought, deforestation and other environmental problems together with associated problems of population pressures and profound poverty. Mitigating climate-induced migration in rural Morocco 6


Essential oil from  Premma  tomentosa  obtained in 0.073% yield has  been shown to contain limonene (57.8%),  beta-caryophyllene  (17.2%), a  new sesquiterpene  hydrocarbon (7.8%), an unidentified sesquiterpene  tertiary alcohol (5.6%) and an unidentified diterpene hydrocarbon (5.5%).


Appropriate dealing with boundary conditions is very important for SPH. Current boundary treatment methods like boundary force method, ghost particle method and virtual boundary layer method, when dealing with complex boundaries, they will have to compute much on putting external particles. For resolving this problem, we propose a new method assuming part of boundary surface instead of external particles, called effective force surface, directly repels the internal particles which approach sufficiently close. We call this new method EFS method. It is implemented in the SPH model for simulating fluid in rabbit-type cup and dam-breaking. In the former case, liquid flows vividly and no internal particles penetrate boundaries. In the latter case, the result is similar to existing result. The experimental results show that EFS method can effectively and precisely deal with complex boundary conditions.


Harold Pinter, an exponent of the Theatre of the Absurd, has a unique style of writing which can be distinguished from others by the sense of mystery, suspense and ambiguity. This uniqueness has been achieved by using a strategy of pauses and silence in his writing. They are part of Pinter's dramatic dialogue. The dialogue of Pinter's plays is perhaps as notable for the pauses as the words. The difficulties that characters experience with language are underlined by the pauses and silences in dialogue.


A recording/reproducing apparatus of the invention can measure a predetermined parameter related to a recording head and a reproducing head without reducing recording regions. The apparatus comprises a disk (10) having a data track mode and a servo mode formed by a concavo-convex mode (11t, 11s); a recording head (2w) for writing-in signals; a reproducing head (2r) for reading-out written signals; a control unit for performing writing-in and reading-out measurement signals on the disk (10) and measuring two predetermined parameters related to the two heads (2w, 2r), wherein when the control unit measuring the predetermined parameters, the control unit writes measurement signals in a first convex portion (each convex portion (11a) in a header mode region (Ap)) which is continuously formed in each convex portion (11a) of a servo mode region (As) by the recording head (2w) along a diameter direction of the disk (10), reads out the measurement signals by the reproducing head (2r) at the same time, and measures the predetermined parameters based on the readed-out result.


Usually, the precorneal film is neither seen with magnifying glass and oblique illumination, nor at ordinary slit lamp examination. The film is really only visible when slit lamp and corneal microscope are focused on the fine particles always found in the film. Slit lamp examination of these particles and thus indirectly of the film itself can be performed in several ways. When viewing the optical section through the cornea produced by the slit lamp, the precorneal film is hardly discernable. With the magnifications used, including the stronger about 50 X, only a slightly more luminous, anterior limit of the epithelium is seen. This method does not seem to be suitable for closer examination of the layer of liquid covering the cornea. In addition, the various particles in the film are hardly visible. A better method of observation is to focus the spot where the light is directly reflected from the surface of the film, ("spiegelbezirk" or "zone miroitante"). In this mirror zone the embedded particles are clearly seen as irregularities in the otherwise smooth and strongly luminous surface. With this method of examination it is, however, difficult to draw any conclusions as to the more specie1 character of the particles. Nor can deeper-lying structures be seen in this way. Various colour dispersions of the light can, however, often be seen (see Chapter VIII). A good picture of the film can be achieved by viewing the portions lying slightly outside the direct mirror zone. In this area the film is admittedly only weakly illuminated, but from the irregularities in the surface light is reflected into the microscope, and the particles will therefore appear lighter on a darker background. In this way it is also possible to get an impression of deeper-lying particles in the film. Finally, the film can be examined in regredient light, i. e. in the diffuse light reflected from the iris. This method of observation with retroillumination, where the


By considering the BN-600 reactor as a macrisopic thermocouple, the distribution of magnetic fields produced by the thermoelectric currents is calculated. (AIP)


SECTION ONE Organizational Planning Chapter 1 A. Organizational Decision Making B. Critical Thinking C. Creative Thinking in Organizational Decision Making Chapter 2 A. Organizational Planning B. Managing the Strategic Plan C. Communicating Mission and Values Chapter 3 A. Controlling B. Materials-Procurement, Processing, and Control C. Facilities D. Quality Control Systems E. Human Resource Management SECTION TWO Advanced Administration Chapter 4 A. Learning Basics B. Employee Development Through Mentoring and Coaching C. Training Design and Implementation for Improved Work Performance D. Assessment and Evaluation of Training and Development Chapter 5 A. The Purpose of Research B. Types of Research C. Statistical Analysis SECTION THREE Team Skills Chapter 6 A. Defining the Leadership Role B. Organizing People, Delegating Authority, and Directing Others C. Empowering Employees Chapter 7 A. Groups B. Dynamics of Group Membership and Participation C. Team Building D. Team Leading Chapter 8 A. Advantages and Disadvantages of Groups and Teams B. Group Problem-Solving Techniques C. Conflict D. Group Techniques for Reducing Interpersonal Chapter 9 A. Types of Meetings B. Purpose of Meetings C. How to Conduct Meetings SECTION FOUR Chapter 10 A. Understanding Communication B. Using Managerial Communication C. Employing Presentation Techniques Chapter 11 A. Legal Issues and the Workplace B. Laws Affecting Management and Employees C. Employment and Separation Chapter 12 A. Managing How Others View Us B. Learning International Professional Protocol and Etiquette C. Improving Professional Behavior Through Etiquette and Protocol


By the 1860s, Schelling's early comment that "[t]he beginning and end of all philosophy is freedom!" had lost the rhetorical force it had earlier in the century; even if people uttered it, it had become a cliche, even a shorthand for something else not being said and which was not itself about freedom. In terms of the more general intellectual culture, philosophy, which from Kant to Hegel had been at the leading edge of the way educated Germans tried to come to grips with what things meant to them, had been replaced by the natural sciences – at first by chemistry and physiology, then later in the century by physics and biology. For many people, the Industrial Revolution and the shattering disappointments of 1848–1849 seemed to have shown that the entire movement from Kant to Hegel was overblown, something with far too much metaphysics and far too little practicality. For those people, progress was from now on to be marked by materialism and industry, not by invocations of the development of spirit. Names like Helmholz and Virchow became the heroes of the new generation of intellectuals who shifted their faith to the authority of the natural sciences (and therefore of "reason" itself, interpreted differently than Kant and Hegel had thought) to contribute to the progress of humankind. If anything, the generation following the 1850s tended to see the generations that had embraced idealism as ancient relics, a part of the pre-industrial past, incapable of giving any guidance to the future.


Abstract In this article, we consider the following Schrödinger-Poisson problem: − ε 2 Δ u + V ( y ) u + Φ ( y ) u = ∣ u ∣ p − 1 u , y ∈ R 3 , − Δ Φ ( y ) = u 2 , y ∈ R 3 , \left\{\begin{array}{ll}-{\varepsilon }^{2}\Delta u+V(y)u+\Phi (y)u={| u| }^{p-1}u,& y\in {{\mathbb{R}}}^{3},\\ -\Delta \Phi (y)={u}^{2},& y\in {{\mathbb{R}}}^{3},\end{array}\right. where ε > 0 \varepsilon \gt 0 is a small parameter, 1 < p < 5 1\lt p\lt 5 , and V ( y ) V(y) is a potential function. We construct multi-peak solution concentrating at the critical points of V ( y ) V(y) through the Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction method. Moreover, by using blow-up analysis and local Pohozaev identities, we prove that the multi-peak solution we construct is non-degenerate. To our knowledge, it seems be the first non-degeneracy result on the Schödinger-Poisson system.


Objective:To observe the histogenesis, localization of leptin and leptin-receptor in stomach wall of 26 fetuses of different ages. Methods:Hematoxylin-eosin staining and immuno-histochemical SABC methods were used. Results:In 13-week fetus, gastric pit and gastric gland could be seen. The 15th week,the stomach wall formed tetra -layer structure,and the stomach wall and gastric gland developed with aging. In contrast to hematoxylin-eosin staining the leptin and leptin-receptor expressed in gastric epithelium and parietal cells of stomach on the 13th week fetus. The products of immunologic reaction distributed in cytoplasm,but nucleus was negative. The number of immunoreactive cells increased with the development of gastric gland.In the whole fetal period, the staining intensity was not obviously changed. Conclusion:The result indicates that there is close relation between leptin and development of human fetus.


The Austrian Theory of Value and Capital provides a meticulous account of Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk's life, his theory of value, capital and interest within the context of 19th century German economic thought and the development of neoclassical economic theory.


This report describes the development of an automated speed enforcement (aSE) system. The main function of the aSE system is to communicate relevant speed, violation, and hazard information to the stakeholders in the work zone context: drivers, CHP officers, and workers. The system consists of two sub-systems that can work jointly in an integrated manner as a whole but they can also be deployed and tested separately.


[1] Intermediate-depth earthquakes are often attributed to dehydration embrittlement reactivating preexisting weak zones. The orientation of presubduction faults is particularly well known offshore of Middle America, where seismic reflection profiles show outer rise faults dipping toward the trench and extending >20 km into the lithosphere. If water is transported along these faults and incorporated into hydrous minerals, the faults may be reactivated later when the minerals dehydrate. In this case, the fault plane orientations should be the same in the outer rise and at depth, after accounting for the angle of subduction. To test this hypothesis, we analyze the directivity of 54 large (MW ≥ 5.7) earthquakes between 35 and 220 km depth in the Middle America Trench. For 12 of these earthquakes, the directivity vector allows us to identify the fault plane of the focal mechanism. Between 35 and 85 km depth, we observe both subhorizontal and subvertical fault planes. The subvertical fault planes are consistent with the reactivation of outer rise faults, whereas the subhorizontal fault planes suggest the formation of new faults. Deeper than 85 km, we only observe subhorizontal faults, indicating that the outer rise faults are no longer being reactivated. The similarity with previous results from the colder Tonga-Kermadec subduction zone suggests that the mechanism generating these earthquakes, and controlling fault plane orientations, depends on pressure rather than temperature or other tectonic parameters and that the observed rupture characteristics constitute a basic feature of intermediate-depth seismicity. Exclusively subhorizontal faults may result from isobaric rupture propagation or the hindrance of seismic slip on preexisting weak subvertical planes.


Frequently, a series of similar experiments are performed each yielding an estimate of a parameter, such as the affinity of a ligand for receptor. To obtain the best estimate of the parameter, the results from the assays are often pooled and a common mean and standard error are derived. Commonly, the reciprocal of the observed variance is used to determine the weight of each estimate. This is appropriate for data which do not display a variance which is functionally related to the mean. However, this type of weighting is not appropriate for radioactivity such as is used in receptor binding assays that has the property that the variability of each measurement is proportional to the mean. Many parameter estimates derived from analysis of these data will also exhibit variability which is functionally related to the mean. We suggest more suitable weights for these type of data, present formulas for the weighted mean and standard error, and investigate the behavior of tests of homogeneity using simulation.


The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for managing vast amounts of information documenting historical and current operations. This information is critical to the operations of the DOE Office of Legacy Management. Managing legacy records and information is challenging in terms of accessibility and changing technology. The Office of Legacy Management is meeting these challenges by making records and information management an organizational priority. The Office of Legacy Management mission is to manage DOE post-closure responsibilities at former Cold War weapons sites to ensure the future protection of human health and the environment. These responsibilities include environmental stewardship and long-term preservation and management of operational and environmental cleanup records associated with each site. A primary organizational goal for the Office of Legacy Management is to 'Preserve, Protect, and Share Records and Information'. Managing records for long-term preservation is an important responsibility. Adequate and dedicated resources and management support are required to perform this responsibility successfully. Records tell the story of an organization and may be required to defend an organization in court, provide historical information, identify lessons learned, or provide valuable information for researchers. Loss of records or the inability to retrieve records because of poor records management processesmore » can have serious consequences and even lead to an organisation's downfall. Organizations must invest time and resources to establish a good records management program because of its significance to the organization as a whole. The Office of Legacy Management will continue to research and apply innovative ways of doing business to ensure that the organization stays at the forefront of effective records and information management. DOE is committed to preserving records that document our nation's Cold War legacy, and the Office of Legacy Management will keep records management as a high priority. (authors)« less


This week's articles describe a new drug conjugate to treat pain, a target for preventing cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease, and a strategy for sensitizing RAS-mutant cancers to PARP inhibitors. This week's articles describe a new drug conjugate to treat pain, a target for preventing cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease, and a strategy for sensitizing RAS-mutant cancers to PARP inhibitors.


We analyse a non-cooperative game between two competing ride-hailing platforms, each of which is modeled as a two-sided queueing system, where drivers (with a limited level of patience) are assumed to arrive according to a Poisson process at a fixed rate, while the arrival process of (price-sensitive) passengers is split across the two platforms based on Quality of Service (QoS) considerations. As a benchmark, we also consider a monopolistic scenario, where each platform gets half the market share irrespective of its pricing strategy. The key novelty of our formulation is that the total market share is fixed across the platforms. The game thus captures the competition between the platforms over market share, with pricing being the lever used by each platform to influence its share of the market. The market share split is modeled via two different QoS metrics: (i) probability that an arriving passenger gets a ride (driver availability), and (ii) probability that an arriving passenger gets an acceptable ride (driver availability and acceptable price). The platform aims to maximize the rate of revenue generated from matching drivers and passengers. In each of the above settings, we analyse the equilibria associated with the game in a certain limiting regime, where driver patience is scaled to infinity. We also show that these equilibria remain relevant in the more practically meaningful `pre-limit,' where drivers are highly (but not infinitely) patient. Interestingly, under the second QoS metric, we show that for a certain range of system parameters, no pure Nash equilibrium exists. Instead, we demonstrate a novel solution concept called an \textit{equilibrium cycle}, which has interesting dynamic connotations. Our results highlight the interplay between competition, passenger-side price sensitivity, and passenger/driver arrival rates.


Restrictions to health services in Poland have been an inspiration to establish Watch Health Care Foundation (WHC). The fundamental disease of the system is namely the disproportion between the amount of the funds and the contents of the package. It causes everywhere the same 'symptoms' and leads to the same pathological phenomena: queues and other forms of rationing ('guaranteed') health benefits, corruption, making use of privileges. Foundation uses the potential of information society and available infrastructure (web portal http://www.watchealthcare.eu) and all activities are presented on the website with the aim of influencing the health care system. On the basis of reports of limited access to health services, a ranking is created at WHC web portal, which aims to show what the biggest gaps in access to health services are - this is the way of showing the patient and health care system needs and also one possible approach of continuous education of the health care services consumers targeted at health care systems improvement.


To establish the fingerprints of saussurea involucrate and xuelian injection and analyze their correlation,this study adopts HPLC method,Ultimate XB-C18( 4. 6* 250 mm,5 μm) as chromatographic column,0. 06% acetic acid solution-0. 14% acetic acid in methanol( gradient elution) as mobile phase,column temperature 25 ℃,and detection wavelength 260 nm. The experimental results show that 12 common peaks are separated in the fingerprint of saussurea involucrate,and the similarity of 10 batches of samples is greater than 0. 85; 17 common peaks are separated in the fingerprint of xuelian injection,and the similarity of 11 batches of samples is greater than 0. 90. There is a good correlation between saussurea involucrate and xuelian injection. We conclude that this method is accurate and highly reproducible,which can be used as one of the control standards for preparation and quality of xuelian injection.


The use of active antennas in self-steering arrays and harmonically tuned power amplifiers for picosatellite networks is investigated. The application of these technologies in improving the security, size, and efficiency of picosatellite communications is reviewed, and the current research being performed by our group is presented.


Digital search engine, taking a search request from user and then returning a result responded to the request to the user, is indispensable for modern humans who are used to surfing the Internet. O ...


Special libraries are essential information and documentation centres for university teachers and researchers due to the quality and richness of their collections. In Spain, it is estimated that there are 2456 special libraries, although many are unknown either generally or among information professionals. These include museum libraries, which are important centres with valuable collections of bibliographic heritage for the area of Humanities and Social Sciences. The aim of this research is to gain an understanding of the real state of these information units and promote the social value of museum libraries in Spain. To do this, a survey was sent to the libraries of state-owned and -managed museums under the General Directorate of Fine Arts and Cultural Property (Ministry of Culture and Sports) of the Government of Spain. This general objective will be accompanied by a review of the scientific literature on various aspects of museum libraries at national and international level. After addressing the research methodology, the results obtained will be discussed and will include the following topics: collection management, library services and staff, economic and technological resources and finally, library management. Conclusions include recommendations for museum librarians and reveal that institutional cooperation is a strategic issue to improve both museum libraries visibility and their social recognition as cultural and research centre.


The mass-radius relations for white dwarfs are investigated by solving the Newtonian as well as Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equations for hydrostatic equilibrium assuming the electron gas to be non-interacting. We find that the Newtonian limiting mass of 1.4562 M ⊙ is modified to 1.4166 M ⊙ in the general relativistic case for He 2 4 (and C 6 12 ) white dwarfs. Using the same general relativistic treatment, the critical mass for Fe 26 56 white dwarfs is obtained as 1.2230 M ⊙ . In addition, departure from the ideal degenerate equation of state (EoS) is accounted for by considering Salpeter's EoS along with the TOV equation, yielding slightly lower values for the critical masses, namely 1.4081 M ⊙ for He 2 4 , 1.3916 M ⊙ for C 6 12 and 1.1565 M ⊙ for Fe 26 56 white dwarfs. We also compare the critical densities for gravitational instability with the neutronization threshold densities to find that He 2 4 and C 6 12 white dwarfs are stable against neutronization with the critical values of 1.4081 M ⊙ and 1.3916 M ⊙ , respectively. However, the critical masses for O 8 16 , Ne 10 20 , Mg 12 24 , Si 14 28 , S 16 32 and Fe 26 56 white dwarfs are lower due to neutronization. Corresponding to their central densities for neutronization thresholds, we obtain their maximum stable masses due to neutronization by solving the TOV equation coupled with the Salpeter EoS.


By testing wheel runout and wheel alignment parameter variation under different loading conditions of two light cargo vehicles with eccentric wear in the outer of front wheel, it is found that front wheel toe-in becomes a plus value with the jump process of wheel and deviates obviously from standard range.It is known through structural analysis, model, kinematic analysis and measured values that toe-in deviation when the vehicle is driven with load is the main reason to cause eccentric wear of the tires.The results show that the height and position of splitting point of steering trapezoid will directly determine the change characteristics of the wheel toe-in value with the wheel jounce. The permanent improvement measure is to strictly control manufacture precision of steering intermediate tie rod size.


Peaches (Prunus persica L) have been harvested in Cuba since 1992 and after 3 years of productive crops, a normal period for plant adaptation, industrial processing of halves in syrup was studied to determine suitability of selections. Selection ENF, Gonzalo #2, Aimee, Maritee and Cuco were used. All were processed into halves in syrup packed in Omnia #8 jars. Physical, chemical and sensory evaluations and texture studies by instruments showed that none of the selections was rejected by the judges though they received different scores. Selections ENF, Maritee and Cuco scored the lowest namely Acceptable. The Aimee selection received the highest score : Excellent; the second place went to Gonzalo #2 selections, with product qualified as Good


The paper will present the conflict between the natural preference of Technology Transfer Organization (TTO)'s regarding commercialization for the licensing option and the government preference for Spin-Offs. The conflict regarding preference for one of the two main Technology Transfer options: the first, the licensing or selling of the technology and the right to use it to existing commercial entities; the second the spinning –off of firms, in which new firms are formed, to which the technology is transferred. It will further suggest that the les than expected results, are due to the conflict.


�Oral reading fluency refers to the oral translation of text with accuracy, speed, and appropriate expression.�
(Breznitz, 2006; Fuchs et al., 2001; Rasinski, 2000). �Researchers in applied linguistics have paid little attention to
learners� perceptions of pronunciation instruction in L2 contexts.� (Kang, 2010). The current research
administeredad hocin two phases for this;the researcher examined the perceptions and feelings of teacher trainees on
pronunciation and oral comprehension instructions in (ESL) English as Secondary Language, andthe researcher also
explored various methods and techniques as strategies for teaching-leaning oral reading. The study emphasized
onAutomaticity Theory which provides a view to interpret the association between oral reading fluency and reading
comprehension. Furthermore, the researcher administered a survey to bring out the perceptions and feelings of
teacher trainees of Bengaluru on learningEnglish pronunciation and oral comprehension for this, a
questionnairefrom previous research of (Marza, 2014) was adapted.The data were collected from 134 (n=134)
teacher trainees and the reliability of the data were Cronbach�s Alpha = 827. The data analysis and factor analysis
revealed that the teacher trainees are in favour of learning English pronunciation and oral comprehension. Further,
they also perceive that, it�s one of the very important components in their future profession. The study concluded
with exploration of pedagogic strategies as suggestions to develop English pronunciation and oral comprehension.


Abstract Northern pike confined in tanks and aquaria were presented various species and sizes of food fishes. The optimum size of centrarchids eaten by 7- to 12-inch northern pike was 1.5 inches, and by 13- to 23-inch northern pike 2.5 inches. The northern pike selected minnows and chubsuckers over centrarchids and yellow perch. They showed no choice between centrarchids and yellow perch, but selected centrarchids over bullheads. These results increase doubt as to the effectiveness of northern pike for controlling pan fish populations in lakes, and suggest that large populations of appropriate size soft-rayed food fishes favor good growth of northern pike.


In this paper, we propose a new mask estimation method for the computational auditory scene analysis (CASA) of speech using two microphones. The proposed method is based on a hidden Markov model (HMM) in order to incorporate an observation that the mask information should be correlated over contiguous analysis frames. In other words, HMM is used to estimate the mask information represented as the interaural time difference (ITD) and the interaural level difference (ILD) of two channel signals, and the estimated mask information is finally employed in the separation of desired speech from noisy speech. To show the effectiveness of the proposed mask estimation, we then compare the performance of the proposed method with that of a Gaussian kernel-based estimation method in terms of the performance of speech recognition. As a result, the proposed HMM-based mask estimation method provided an average word error rate reduction of 69.14% when compared with the Gaussian kernel-based mask estimation method.


We consider a natural extension to the metric uncapacitated Facility Location Problem (FLP) in which requests ask for different commodities out of a finite set (S) of commodities. Ravi and Sinha (SODA 2004) introduced the model as the Multi-Commodity Facility Location Problem (MFLP) and considered it an offline optimization problem. The model itself is similar to the FLP: i.e., requests are located at points of a finite metric space and the task of an algorithm is to construct facilities and assign requests to facilities while minimizing the construction cost and the sum over all assignment distances. In addition, requests and facilities are heterogeneous; they request or offer multiple commodities out of S. A request has to be connected to a set of facilities jointly offering the commodities demanded by it. In comparison to the FLP, an algorithm has to decide not only if and where to place facilities, but also which commodities to offer at each. To the best of our knowledge we are the first to study the problem in its online variant in which requests, their positions and their commodities are not known beforehand but revealed over time. We present results regarding the competitive ratio. On the one hand, we show that heterogeneity influences the competitive ratio by developing a lower bound on the competitive ratio for any randomized online algorithm of (Ω( √|S| + log/n log log n)) that already holds for simple line metrics. Here, (n) is the number of requests. On the other side, we establish a deterministic (O(√|S| · log n))-competitive algorithm and a randomized (O(√|S| · log/n log log n))-competitive algorithm. Further, we show that when considering a more special class of cost functions for the construction cost of a facility, the competitive ratio decreases given by our deterministic algorithm depending on the function.


The article is devoted to one of the urgent problems - the problem of listening in the process of teaching children in a primary school. The author presents the system of exercises for teaching this kind of speech activity. Preparatory and speech exercises are detached in the system of exercises.


Background There is growing evidence demonstrating that life coaching can empower people to manage chronic illness and create sustainable behaviour change. However, little is known about how this might apply in the context of cancer survivorship, where people frequently experience reduced confidence following treatment. We hypothesise that life coaching could provide cancer survivors with a means to regain confidence, enhance quality of life and sustain positive lifestyle behaviour change. Aims To determine the acceptability, feasibility and practicality of conducting research into life coaching for cancer survivors. Methods A one group pre-test, post-test feasibility study was conducted, recruiting participants from community organisations. Eligibility criteria included: within one year of completion of primary cancer treatment; over 18; no metastases; no mental health problems. One face to face and five telephone sessions were given over three months. Outcome measures included quality of life, self-efficacy, coping and goal attainment. Interviews explored the feasibility and acceptability of life coaching and research issues. Results Nine women and two men were recruited, representing varying cancer diagnoses. All outcome measures were sensitive to change and indicated positive trends post intervention. Participant interviews indicated that the intervention was well received and had a positive impact. Lessons were learnt about study design, recruitment and acceptability of the intervention type and delivery. Conclusions This study showed that cancer survivors are prepared to be recruited into research about life-coaching, which shows promise with regard to helping people regain confidence following cancer. It merits further evaluation through conducting an exploratory randomised controlled trial.


affecting how work with the acquiring these broader knowledge bases and how this impacted on the learning outcomes in design-based learning. In this we discuss an approach to tertiary design teaching that involves the use of ubiquitous technologies to support fieldwork and in-situ learning and through this we evaluate the impact on teaching and learning. We will describe the methods of the study, which involved pre- and postinterviews and questionnaires completed by individual students, focus groups as well as analysis of the outcomes of the student projects. We will explore how a series of different contexts framed and affected the learning experience by exploring the context as location, technology and social setting. Since the projects required students to not only use ubiquitous technologies as tools for learning, but also as components of the design project outcomes we also highlight a series of short case studies of student project outcomes to analyse how the students integrated them into their learning environments. In the discussion of the results we will focus on how the context of the learning was understood by the and we will discuss an evaluation of how this changed during the course of the teaching project. the complete proceedings, see ED557171.].


We first investigate how the mass operator for symmetric and uncharged nuclear matter is modified in the presence of a Coulomb field and of neutron excess. Detailed calculations are performed with Reid's hard-core nucleon-nucleon interaction. They are carried out in the framework of the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approximation, although some higher-order contributions to the low-density expansion of the mass operator are also considered. We relate the mass operator to the optical-model potential. We then use a local density approximation to construct the optical-model potential in a finite nucleus. We find that the half-depth radius of the isoscalar part of the calculated optical-model potential has the form r/sub V/A/sup 1///sup 3/, where A denotes the mass number. Since this property has always been assumed in the phenomenological analysis of the scattering data, a meaningful comparison is possible between our theoretical results for the symmetry and for the Coulomb components of the optical-model potential on the one hand, and the empirical values of these quantities as determined from the analysis of proton and neutron elastic scattering data or of direct charge exchange reactions on the other hand. The calculated depth of the symmetry potential is 11.5 MeV, but its range is larger than thatmore » of the isoscalar potential. The calculated value of the so-called Coulomb correction is larger than the one that is assumed in most empirical analyses. The combined effect of these features yields good overall agreement between the calculated and the empirical dependence on neutron excess of the optical-model potential. (AIP)« less


The present research project with the theme: "THE STRATEGIC INSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATION OF THE MUNICIPAL GAD OF PALLATANGA AND ITS INCIDENCE IN THE PUBLIC OPINION OF THE INHABITANTS IN THE AGE COMPRISED OF 20 TO 50 YEARS IN THE PERIOD JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2016". In the theoretical framework, the foundations and theories necessary to sustain the research are identified; institutional communication, communication theories and functionalism will serve as a basis for the study of this project, whose objective is to determine the public opinion generated by the strategic institutional communication of the Municipal GAD of Pallatanga.

The scientific and deductive method was used, as well as the descriptive research, in order to identify the necessary steps in obtaining a valid knowledge for the project. Subsequently we proceeded to non-experimental research because this allows us to study what already exists the data used is not manipulated and the phenomena are observed in their original situation. Instruments such as documentary research, a survey directed at the inhabitants and interviews with the authorities of Pallatanga were developed, with a sample of 355 interviewers; the results are reflected in the data table and pie chart. Then, the discussion of the obtained results takes place, arriving at the conclusion of creating strategies that allow spreading the activities carried out by the Decentralized Autonomous Government of the Pallatanga Canton.
Finally, it is proposed to prepare a manual communication strategic l to strengthen the internal and external communication of the institution.


This paper describes a global method for analyzing the bifurcation phenomena in switched dynamical systems whose switching borders vary periodically with time. The type of systems under study covers most power electronics circuits. In particular, the complex bifurcation behavior of a voltage feedback buck converter is studied in detail. The analytical method developed in this paper allows bifurcation scenarios to be clearly revealed in any chosen parameter space.


This paper represents a forgery attack on new authenticated encryption mode which was proposed at JCCI 2003. NAE is a new authenticated encryption mode which is combined with CFB mode and CTR mode. And it provides confidentiality. In this paper, we show that it is possible to make a valid ciphertext-tag pair only by modifying a ciphertext.


ABSTRACT In this article, a generalized Drinfeld–Sokolov system, also called system which describes the anomalous propagation of nonlinear surface gravity waves over horizontal seabed, is investigated. The Lie classical method is performed on the governing model. The obtained symmetries are used to reduce the model into the fractional ordinary differential equations and to derive the local conservation laws. To make the use of the reduced system, an explicit series solution is derived. Also, it is shown that the bright and singular solitons exist only for the time fractional equation by means of a transformation. The considered system does not give rise to the dark soliton.


A shared group decision making might emphasize too much on the principles of "agreement management" and "seeking consensus" and therefore force group members to encounter "the Abilene Paradox" and "groupthink." The former occurs when members of an organization take an action contrary to what they really want to do and, as a result, defeat the very purpose they are trying to achieve; while the latter refers to a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the effect of "the Abilene Paradox" and "groupthink" into the context of group decision making for school change, and further explore constructive ways for improving the quality of school group decision making. This paper suggests that principals as school leaders should play a more active role in involving all faculty members in the ongoing process of communication, discussion, dialogue, and teamwork.


The family of q-Laguerre polynomials fL ( ) n ( ;q)g 1=0 is usu- ally dened for 0 1. We extend this family to a new one in which arbitrary complex values of the parameter are allowed. These so-called generalized q-Laguerre polynomials full the same three term recurrence relation as the original ones, but when the parameter is a negative integer, no orthogonality property can be deduced from Favard's theorem. In this work we introduce non-standard inner products involving q-derivatives with respect to which the generalized q-Laguerre polynomials fL ( N) n ( ;q)g 1=0, for positive integers N, become orthogo- nal.


What business are we really in? Why on earth do we need to ask such a fundamental question? Surely we have been around long enough at least to have grasped that basic principle!


The lack of antemortem diagnostic techniques has limited previous investigation of the epidemiology and prevalence of PPE, the effectiveness of methods of treatment, and economic impact of the disease. The PCR technique appears to be the most sensitive and specific method currently available for detecting the presence of L intracellularis in pigs with natural infection (Jones and others 1993b, McOrist and others 1994, Chang and others 1997). There


The present invention is a wireless personal area network (Wireless Personal Area Network: W-PAN) Bluetooth (Bluetooth) system (Sniff Mode) relates to a method and apparatus that can effectively communicate over the seven terminal, in particular a sniff mode throughout the sniff interval (sniff interval time: SIT) sleep state has active mode (Active mode) with conversion by receiving the service master (master) is a conventional seven active members address while (Active member address: AM_ADDR ) and to a method and apparatus that can effectively communicate with more than seven slaves (slave) use. According to the invention, giving a master demonstrate a superior in performance to all of the data transmission delay (Delay Transmission) or throughput (Throughput), channel utilization system by providing the service at least seven slaves at the same time in the Bluetooth system. Bluetooth sniff mode


This work is a reinvestigation of a previously reported structure [Zhu & Ng (2004). Acta Cryst. E60, m939–m940], where the crystal measured was twinned. The title compound, [Ag(C2F3O2)(C5H6N2)]n, is a polymeric silver(I) complex. Each AgI atom is in a tetrahedral configuration and is four-coordinated by two O atoms of two 3-fluoroacetate anions and two N atoms of two 2-methylpyrazine ligands. The 3-fluoroacetate anion and the 2-methylpyrazine ligand both act as bidentate bridging ligands and coordinate to the AgI atoms through the carboxylate O atoms and the pyridine N atoms, respectively, forming a three-dimensional network.


Based on Yunnan's precipitation data from 1901~1997, the spatial and temporal distributions of drought and flood in Yunnan are studied. The result shows that the drought is mainly climatic disaster and it takes place the most regions of Yunnan. In winter and spring, eight years out of ten years will be drought years. The climatic changes of Yunnan during the last 100 years are drought, but this tendency of dry climate was descending after 1995. The variations of drought and flood are the significantest on larger time scales. There is the most drought period from 1930 to 1958 and the precipitation is more than its climatic average value from 1959 to 1986 in Yunnan.


The Kostka semigroup consists of pairs of partitions with at most r parts that have positive Kostka coefficient. For this semigroup, Hilbert basis membership is an NP-complete problem. We introduce KGR graphs and conservative subtrees, through the Gale-Ryser theorem on contingency tables, as a criterion for membership. In our main application, we show that if a partition pair is in the Hilbert basis then the partitions are at most r wide. We also classify the extremal rays of the associated polyhedral cone; these rays correspond to a (strict) subset of the Hilbert basis. In an appendix, the second and third authors show that a natural extension of our main result on the Kostka semigroup cannot be extended to the Littlewood-Richardson semigroup. This furthermore gives a counterexample to a recent speculation of P. Belkale concerning the semigroup controlling nonvanishing conformal blocks.


Promoting the separation of photo‐generated carriers is significantly important to improve the efficiency of photocatalytic hydrogen production. Therefore, we prepared g‐C3N4/CeCO3OH/CeO2 (CeCeCN) ternary nanocomposite via an easy synthetic way using g‐C3N4 and CeO2 as reactants. A CeCO3OH layer was formed and resulted in the novel ternary photocatalyst. The CeCeCN composite shows superior photocatalytic (PC) H2 generation performance in sunlight excitation. The H2 evolution rate is about 764 μmol h−1 g−1, which is over 11 times larger than those of g‐C3N4 and CeO2. Compared with g‐C3N4 and CeO2, CeCeCN further shows a larger photo‐response current density and a lower charge‐transfer resistance. The remarkably increased photocatalytic property of CeCeCN is because of the efficient charge migration induced by the formed heterojunction. Our findings demonstrate that building multi‐heterostructures can liberate more excited electrons for efficient hydrogen production under sunlight.


The connection between the growth rate and morphology of supermolecular structures was investigated for polyoxymethylene which was isothermally crystallized from the melt at various temperatures. Optical and electron microscopy showed that below 158°C the crystallization occurred in the spherulite form, while above this temperature hedrites and, sporadically, ovoids were obtained. Although the radial growth rate itself does not exhibit a break around the critical temperature (158°C), a more detailed analysis based on the kinetic theory of crystallization has revealed a sudden drop in the interfacial free energy of the fold surface around this temperature. For the growth model represented by two-dimensional surface nucleation, which seems the most probable representation, values of 183 and 95.5 erg/cm2 were found for the temperature regions of growth of spherulites and hedrites, respectively. Morphologically, the two types differ by a larger extension of monocrystalline lamellae in hedrites, the mode of their arrangement, and the final external shape. The increasing extension of the lamellae, due to a decrease in the radial growth rate, which can be understood in terms of the segregation theory by Keith and Padden, is probably the reason that at a certain critical size (near 158°C), the hedritic growth becomes stabler than the spherulitic growth. A further investigation will be needed to elucidate the part played by a simultaneous drop in the free energy of the fold surface.


proliferation associated with lymphoedema may be involved in the early stages of IHRA. Although the pathogenesis of IHRA is uncertain, a previous report suggested that the cause is the lymphatic drainage of histiocytes from inflamed joints with RA. In our patient, the skin lesion developed only on the left forearm. No lesion appeared on the right forearm, which had been surgically treated without evidence of lymphoedema. We suspect that the leakage of cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor-a from inflamed joints may influence the histiocyte aggregation seen in IHRA. Therefore, surgery may be effective to reduce lymphatic obstruction and arthritis and to prevent subsequent development of IHRA. Finally, CD68-positive cells and D2-40 positive cells were found in the intraluminal aggregates (Fig. 2). It is likely that histiocytes and endothelial cells may proliferate and protrude together into lumina, resulting in anchor-like structures starting from vessel walls before conspicuous aggregates form.


Diffraction microlens arrays has been fabricated in silica substrates by deep UV photolithography and wet chemical etching. The calculated kinoform profile has been approximated by multistep function and this microrelief has been transfered into the surface with wet etching through the photoresist mask. The diffraction efficiency of eight-level kinoform microlens is as high as 85%.


ORA (Oxford University Research Archive) is the University of Oxford's instiutional respository. ORA holds a large number of diverse research-related objects and their metadata, such as journal articles, patents, monographs, and technical reports. The ORA Data Model is a formal definition of the descriptive and administrative metadata of objects in the ORA system. It describes the metadata's structure, naming conventions, authority schemes, and basic validation criteria. The Data Model applies to metadata managed within many different internal systems. Within ORA, it applies to ORA's own Hyrax, Fedora, Solr and Blacklight systems. It is also the basis of ORA's SWORD2 and OAI-PMH API services, which interact with other providers and consumers of the repository's metadata (e.g. Symplectic Limited via the University of Oxford's implementation of Symplectic Elements). It is therefore technology and implementation agnostic. While it contains some fields that are specific to the University of Oxford, we hope that the majority of the Data Model will be relevant to similar repositories and institutions. We welcome feedback on the data model. We also intend to share information regarding our implementation of the model across our chosen platforms as these sets of work are completed. Correspondence address for questions or comments on the model should be sent to: email@example.com


Abstract : Periodic oscillations have been observed in the laminar boundary layer of a sharp tipped, 5-degree adiabatic cone immersed in a stream of Mach no. 8. These oscillations have been photographed with a spark shadowgraph system and probed with a hot-wire anemometer. Evidence indicates that the waves are due to a hydrodynamic instability of the Tollmien-Schlichting type, active in the 2 million Reynolds no. Various factors involved are discussed.


Conflicts between intensive groundwater use and wetland conservation are widespread throughout arid and semiarid regions worldwide. These have become more significant wherever there has been a synchronism between pumping‐based human development and the awakening of an environmental awareness in society. The Mancha Occidental aquifer provides an example of such an occurrence, which has given rise to noteworthy social conflicts. This paper presents a cross‐policy analysis for wetland restoration measures, establishing the main reasons why funding‐intensive agricultural, environmental, and water policies have only attained marginal success in recovering the area's aquatic ecosystems.


The recent non-calculus proof of Kepler's first law succeeds because of an obscure, but valid property of the ellipse. 1 ar X iv :2 11 1. 11 93 8v 1 [ ph ys ic s. cl as sph ] 1 9 N ov 2 02 1 A recent article provides a non-calculus proof of Kepler's first law for undergraduate physics students and amateur enthusiasts. To this end two equations are derived with the same dependence on variables—r and φ—along with corresponding coefficients. In one of these equations (not shown here), planet dynamics is obtained from conservation laws (energy E and angular momentum L), expressed in terms of radial distance r = |r| and speed v = |v|. A sin φ term stems from the vector cross product L = m r× v. No speed v appears in the equation due to cancellation. The other, geometric equation expresses the triangle FPF ′, spanned by a point P on the perimeter of an ellipse and the foci F and F ′, derived with the law of cosines and trigonometric identities, (2ar − r) sinφ = a(1− e) , (1) in terms of semi-major axis a, excentricity e, and angle φ between the radius vector FP and the tangent at P . A comparison of the equations proves that a planet's orbit is an ellipse and a comparison of coefficients yields the ellipse parameters a and e in terms of E, L, masses M and m, and gravitational constant G. While the proof's result is reassuring to an undergraduate student or enthusiast by its familiarity with textbooks, it is not obvious why it works. The author mentions that it "employ[s] an unusual equation of the ellipse." It concerns indeed an obscure—but perfectly valid—ellipse property. It can be stated as: The geometric mean of the projections of F ′P = 2a− r and FP = r onto the normal to the tangent of an ellipse at P equals the length of its semi-minor axis, b. Going beyond algebraic procedure, this gives a geometric interpretation of Eq. (1). To this end we rewrite it as (2a− r)sinφ rsinφ = b . (2) With sin φ = cos(90◦ − φ), the product terms on the LHS are projections of F ′P and FP onto the normal to the tangent at P . The RHS follows from a(1− e) = a − c = b. A trivial case is at hand when point P is at the intersection of the ellipse's minor axis and perimeter (obtuse vertex). The tangent is then parallel to the major axis and the normal is along the minor axis. The projections of both obliques, F ′P and FP , onto the normal coincide with the semi-minor axis, b. Not quite that obvious is the case when P is at the intersection of the major axis and perimeter (acute vertex). Opposite to the previous case, the tangent is now parallel to the minor axis and the normal is along the major


Women's health advocates have criticized the choice of contraceptives available for not meeting reproductive needs and for controlling women's fertility at the expense of women's health. There is a call for technology that is appropriate, safe, and under the user's control. Concern about contraceptive testing does not mean that all contraceptive methods should be criticized. Development and evaluation of contraceptive technologies involves conformity with drug regulatory and licensing groups. Scientific trials are used to evaluate a drug's performance, but a shortcoming of the method is the exclusion of vulnerable populations such as adolescent, anemic, pregnant or breast-feeding women. The assumptions for distribution after approval are healthy, well-informed clients, in clean, well-equipped settings, with adequate follow-up. However, the realities may be quite different. Providers may be poorly trained to serve users who are in poor health and/or illiterate, and who will be likely not to return for follow-up. Clinical trials are limited also by the time frame, which is usually five years and not long enough to ascertain long-term effects for cancer, for instance. Sample sizes may be too small to detect serious side effects. Acceptability trials also have limitations. Acceptability is defined by researchers and is sometimes not made explicit. The generally agreed upon criteria is the continued use of the method by the women in the trial, who do not represent the entire population of potential users of the method. Goals of users and researchers may be different. Prevention of pregnancy is the goal of researchers, while women may be selectively concerned with safety and acceptability. Researchers make value judgments about what is and what is not important to women. Menstrual disturbance is one measure that is frequently cited as more important to women than researchers, or for which cultural practices may be violated. Population growth limitation can be used as the entire justification for research; researchers do not report that women themselves desire longer acting contraceptive alternatives. Consideration is not given to client-provider relations, or to deficiencies in health infrastructure affecting provision. The potential for abuse or coercion is ignored by researchers.


We present a novel electrical impedance sensor for measuring the resealing time of porated mammalian plasma membranes. Openings were generated by high speed cavitation bubbles using laser pulsing of metallic microdisks on transparent ITO electrodes. Real-time impedance measurements show that membrane resealing time and impedance recovery takes 1 to 2 minutes after laser pulsing. Our method can also detect cells under high energy laser pulsing that experience immediate death and a one-way impedance shift.


This paper presents decoupled second‐order accurate algorithm based on Crank–Nicolson LeapFrog (CNLF) scheme for the evolution Boussinesq equations. The proposed algorithm deals with the spatial discretization by finite element method and treat the temporal discretization by CNLF method. For the nonlinear term in the Boussinesq equations, the semi‐implicit method is used. Unconditional stability and error estimate of the numerical algorithm are proven. Some numerical tests are presented to justify the theoretical analysis.


High-cadence multiwavelength optical observations were taken with the Dunn Solar Telescope at the National Solar Observatory, Sacramento Peak, accompanied by Advanced Stokes Polarimeter vector magnetograms. A total of 11 network bright points (NBPs) have been studied at different atmospheric heights using images taken in wave bands centered on Mg I b1 - 0.4 Å, Hα, and Ca II K3. Wavelet analysis was used to study wave packets and identify traveling magnetohydrodynamic waves. Wave speeds were estimated through the temporal cross-correlation of signals, in selected frequency bands of wavelet power, in each wavelength. Four mode-coupling cases were identified, one in each of four of the NBPs, and the variation of the associated Fourier power with height was studied. Three of the detected mode-coupling, transverse-mode frequencies were observed in the 1.2-1.6 mHz range (mean NBP apparent flux density magnitudes over 99-111 Mx cm-2), with the final case showing 2.0-2.2 mHz (with 142 Mx cm-2). Following this, longitudinal-mode frequencies were detected in the range 2.6-3.2 mHz for three of our cases, with 3.9-4.1 mHz for the remaining case. After mode coupling, two cases displayed a decrease in longitudinal-mode Fourier power in the higher chromosphere.


Aim: To examine the plasma C-reactive protein levels in Pakistani population in association with periodontitis and diabetes. Methods: Eighty subjects were collected from Rabia Welfare Hospital and Dental Hospital, The University of Lahore from May 2010 to November 2010. They were divided in four groups; group I (normal healthy), group 2 (periodontitis), group 3 (diabetes) and group 4 (both periodontitis and diabetes). Each group comprised 20 patients. Patients who have at least 15 teeth and age between 30-60 years were included. The obtained values of the patient samples and control sera were multiplied by dilution factor of 100 to obtain CRP results in mg/l. Results: Statistically significant difference of C-reactive protein levels is present between periodontitis, diabetes and periodontitis diabetes group as compared to control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: The CRP levels are raised with periodontitis and diabetes, and if both are present in a person, these levels are further elevated.


The unscientific government control and abnormal administrative examination and approval in our economy restrict the economic development, leading to the corruption, which also violates the promise required by WTO. The reforms should be focused on the changing of our view of administration so that service would become the choice. And in the near future, we should pay attention to the following items: the reduction of proceeding, the reformation of the way of proceeding and the perfection of social relief program.


A recent study by the Fundacao Seade analyzed 1,622 accident reports involving the highway transport of dangerous products between 1997 and 1999. These records were sorted geographically in order to identify where most of these accidents were concentrated.


Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) formation involves a complex process of aortic medial destruction through degradation of extracellular matrix proteins, elastin, and collagen. AAA exhibits sexual dimorphism because male sex is a major risk factor of AAA in both mice and humans.1 In mice, testosterone has been implicated as a major contributor to sexual dimorphism of angiotensin II (AngII)–induced AAAs.2 However, the mechanism by which testosterone drives sexual dimorphism of AAA is unknown. During aortic development, lysyl oxidase (LOX) covalently cross-links elastin and collagen to create an insoluble extracellular matrix resistant to proteolytic degradation.3 We hypothesized that testosterone-mediated suppression of LOX activity is a critical contributor to increased susceptibility of male to AAA formation. Ethics and institutional review board approvals were provided by University of Kentucky (Protocol-2011-0907) and the Ehime University (Protocol-1603002), and informed consent was received from all participants. To test this hypothesis, we first evaluated LOX protein in human male and female, nonaneurysmal and aneurysmal, abdominal aortic sections. LOX protein was significantly more abundant in the aortic media in female nonaneurysmal and aneurysmal aortic sections than in male nonaneurysmal and aneurysmal aortic sections (Figure A). Consistent with observations in humans, abdominal aortas from female C57BL/6J mice showed significantly more LOX protein in the aortic media than from male mice (Figure B). To discern whether this sexual dimorphism was functionally relevant, we examined LOX activity by measuring breakdown of fluorescent-labeled LOX substrate in aortic tissues from male and female mice infused with either saline or AngII (1000 ng·kg·min) for 7 days. Consistent with LOX protein abundance, LOX activity in female aortic tissue was ≈2.5-fold significantly higher than in male aortic tissue, and AngII infusion had no influence on LOX activity in either sex (Figure C). To explore whether sex hormones regulate aortic LOX activity, 8-week-old male and female mice were subjected to either castration (orchiectomy or ovariectomy) or sham operation. Four weeks after surgery, abdominal aortic LOX activity was measured. Orchiectomy of male mice not only significantly increased LOX activity, in comparison with sham controls, but to a level present in female mice. Ovariectomy had no influence on LOX activity in female mice in comparison with sham controls (Figure D). Furthermore, testosterone replacement by dihydrotestosterone pellet (16 μg/d subcutaneously) administration for 2 weeks significantly suppressed LOX activity in orchiectomized mice similar to sham controls (Figure E). These results suggest that androgens, not estrogens, regulate and suppress aortic LOX activity in mice. Michihiro Okuyama, MD, PhD* Weihua Jiang, BS* Aida Javidan, MS* Jeff Zheying Chen, PhD* Deborah A. Howatt, BS Lihua Yang, BS Mika Hamaguchi, MD Takumi Yasugi, MD, PhD Jun Aono , MD, PhD Roberto Irenardo Vazquez-Padron, PhD Venkateswaran Subramanian , PhD


The filler metals of AgAlTi and AgAlTiCo were selected for the vacuum brazing of TiAl alloy and 42CrMo under different processing parameters. The results show that for both filler metals, the highest tensile strength of joint can be achieved at 950℃, 15min, and with the addition of Co the joint strength becomes higher. By the comparison of the microstructure of joints, the joint interface is the main factor that influences the joint strength.


'What do more intelligent brains look like?' considers a study that used data from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 to test the strength of the correlation between the general intelligence scores of the participants and different measures of their brain's structure. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure total brain volume, brain cortical thickness, brain white matter integrity (or health), and brain white matter hyperintensities. The study showed that people who have higher general intelligence tend to have larger brains, thicker grey matter on the surface of the brain, and healthier white matter brain connections. The associations are not strong, but some aspects of brain structure do relate to intelligence test scores.


The effect of sintering on the reactivity of solids at high temperature was studied. The nature of the interaction was studied with calcium silicate-aluminate reacting with SO2 between 665 and 800 C. The kinetics of the sintering and sulfation processes were measured independently in terms of the common variables, temperature and specific surface area. Surface reduction parameters were evaluated by the German-Munir sinter model, modified to account for a strong catalytic effect of H2O vapor. Sulfation parameters were determined from a series of conversion vs. time measurements at various temperatures using calcined solids of known surface area. These show product layer diffusion through CaSO4 to be the probable controlling process above 670 C and diffusion through a mixture of CaSO3 and CaSO4 controlling below that temperature. Like sintering, sulfation was enhanced by the presence of H2O in the feed gas. With 7% H2O vapor, the enhancement factor for sulfation was 1.5 at 665 C and estimated to be 5.0 at higher temperatures where only CaSO4 is formed. A combined sinter/sulfation model, based on the parameters evaluated for the independent processes, is compared to sulfation rates measured for the uncalcined solid when sintering is occurring simultaneously.


Transport packaging evaluation tests can generally be categorized into 3 types: integrity testing, general simulation, and focused simulation. While the simplest approach, integrity testing, has served reasonably well for many years in the U.S., increasingly stringent requirements of globalization, international competition and distribution, and widely varying transport conditions demand a more thorough approach. This paper will discuss integrity testing, the concept and increased effectiveness of general simulation testing, and then the further ability of focused simulation to take into account tremendous differences in the worldwide transport environment.


Two-photon absorption laser-induced fluorescence (TALIF) is used to measure the absolute density of atomic oxygen (O) in a coaxial microwave jet in ambient air at atmospheric pressure, operated with a mixture of He and a few per cent of air. The TALIF signal is calibrated using a gas mixture containing Xe. A novel method to perform calibration in situ, at atmospheric pressure, is introduced. The branching ratios of several Xe mixtures are reported, to enable us to perform the Xe calibration without the need for a vacuum vessel. The O densities are measured spatially resolved, and as a function of admixed air to the He, and microwave power. The electron density and temperatures are measured using Thomson scattering, and the N2 and O2 densities are measured using Raman scattering. O densities are found to have a maximum of (4–6) × 1022 m−3, which indicate that O2 is close to fully dissociated in the plasma. This is confirmed by the Raman scattering measurements. O is found to recombine mainly into species other than O2 in the afterglow, which is suggested to consist of O3 and oxidized components of NO.


Abstract Rational approaches towards drug development have emerged as one of the most promising ways among the tedious conventional procedures with the aim of redefining the drug discovery process. The need of current medical system is demanding a much precise, faster and reliable approaches in parallel to faster growing technology for development of drugs with more intrinsic action and fewer side effects. Systematic and well-defined diagnostic studies have revealed the specific causes of disease and related targets for drug development. Designing a drug as per the specific target, studying it in-silico prior to its development has been proved as an added benefit to the studies. Many approaches like structure based drug design, fragment based drug design and ligand based drug design are been in practice for the drug discovery and development with the similar fundamental theory. Fragment based drug design utilizes a library of fragments designed specifically for the concerned target and these fragments are studied further before screening with virtual methods as well as with biophysical methods. The process follows a well-defined pathway which moulds a fragment into a perfect drug candidate. In this chapter we have tried to cover all the basic aspects of fragment based drug design and related technologies.


Retrospective Study Showing the Correlation between Morphine Use in and the Incidence Abstract Background: Patients with breast cancer may have an increase of a cardiac arrhythmia because of systemic inflammation induced by the cancer and side effects of treatments. The most common arrhythmia that has been linked with opiate use is atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation has been known to have a high prevalence in the elderly population, and in correlation with congestive heart failure. Objective: The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between opiate use and incidence of having an arrhythmia in a patient with breast cancer compared with the background population. Methods: This is a retrospective study using the HCA Enterprise Data Warehouse for the years 2016 to 2018. HCA is a private corporation that encompasses 185 hospitals and 119 freestanding surgery centers located in 21 states in the USA and the United Kingdom. The data was accumulated for the study using the International Classification of Diseases, 9 th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes. Results: We identified a malignancy cohort of 90,097 female breast cancer patients without any history of documented arrhythmia before the diagnosis of breast cancer between 2016-2018 by using the HCA data base in America. Compared with non-morphine users, patients who received any morphine exhibited a 2.117-fold (95% CI=1.864, 2404) increase in developing an arrhythmia. Conclusion: Our results indicate that there is an association of developing an arrhythmia with opiate use, in particular morphine. More studies are required to affirm this study before any conclusion can be drawn. Complications from arrhythmias should be monitored closed to prevent mortality. Trial registration: This trial is not a prospective study. It is a retrospective study, retrospectively registered. findings were consistent for propensity score matched atrial fibrillation


Objective- Trigonella foenum graecum, (Fenugreek) has anti-inflammation, antiseptic and antidiabetic activities in traditional medicine. This study was performed to investigate the protection effects of Fenugreek seed extract on the experimental reflux esophigitis (RE) in rats. Design- Experimental study. Animals- 24 male Wistar albino rats. Procedures- Rats were randomly allocated into 4 groups including the sham-operated groups with normal saline (sham I) and extract (sham II) administration, the reflux esophagitis group (the reflux control group), and the reflux esophagitis group with extract administration (reflux extract group). Reflux esophagitis was induced by ligating the pylorus and the limiting ridge. Normal saline and Fenugreek extract were gavaged for one week before operation in the related groups. Then, the animals were euthanized and the esophagus was evaluated for gross and histopathologic features. Gross lesions in the esophagus were graded according to the scoring system of Oh and colleagues. Results- Significant difference in the gross lesions was observed between the reflux control and reflux extract groups. The reflux control group showed severe mucosal erosions and ulcers in the esophagus. Microscopic findings in the extract treatment group varied from no lesions to mild damages including hydropic degeneration, epithelial clefts and vesicles formation. Conclusion and clinical relevance- Based on the results, it can be concluded that the aqueous extract of T. foenum graecum seed have protective effects against RE and this extract can be considered as one of the therapeutic options in the clinical trial studies.


: Pristine multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were modified by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Afterwards, a series of MnO 2 /MWCNTs were prepared via a redox method and used in selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO x at 80–180 ℃ . Structural properties and catalytic performance were investigated by specific surface area measurements (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), filed emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), trans-mission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS), and H 2 temperature-programmed reduction (H 2 -TPR). The characterization results indicate that the nanoflaky MnO 2 highly disperse on MWCNTs. The results show that the low-temperature SCR activities of MnO 2 /MWCNTs catalysts are 85%–100% at 140–180 ℃ at a weight hourly space velocity of 210 L/ ( g cat · h), higher than that of catalyst fabricated via the wet impregnation method. The 10% MnO 2 /MWCNTs catalyst displays first-rate SCR activity, which is attributed to its low crystallinity, high concentrations of Mn 4+ and oxygen absorbtion onto the catalyst surface, as well as excellent reducibility. Addition-ally, compared to the MnO x /MWCNTs catalyst, the 10% MnO 2 /MWCNTs catalyst exhibits higher resistance to H 2 O and SO 2 .


The diagnosis of saber-sheath trachea is easy at CT due to its cross-sectional imaging, but the significance of this CT sign has not been evaluated in the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Various signs of COPD were compared between a series of 20 patients with a saber-sheath trachea at CT (tracheal index <66%) and a group of 20 pneumologic control patients without saber-sheath trachea (tracheal index ≥70%). These signs included clinical and standard radiographic indices of COPD, sternum-spine distance and 3 functional tests of COPD: forced expiratory volume in one second, carbon monoxide diffusing lung capacity, and functional residual capacity (FRC). A significant difference was found between the 2 groups, concerning the values of FRC (p < 10−4) and of sternum-spine distance (p < 10−2). The tracheal index was significantly correlated with the FRC values (r = −0.611; p < 10−5) and with the sternum-spine distance (r = −0.322; p < 0.05). No other significant difference was observed. It is concluded that saber-sheath trachea is basically a sign of hyperinflation.


Interest in general relativistic treatments of thin matter shells has flourished over recent decades, most notably in connection with astrophysical and cosmological applications such as black hole matter accretion, spherical wormholes, bubble universes, and cosmic domain walls. In the present paper, an asymptotically exact solution to Einstein's field equations for static ultra-thin spherical shells is derived using a continuous matter density distribution ρ(r) defined over all space. The matter density is modeled as a product of surface density μ0 and a continuous or broadened spherical delta function. Continuity over the full domain 0<r<∞ ensures unambiguous determination of both the metric and coordinates across the shell wall, obviating the need to patch interior and exterior solutions using junction conditions. A unique change of variable allows integration with asymptotic precision. It is found that ultra-thin shells smaller than the Schwarzschild radius can be used to model supermassive black holes believed to lie at the centers of galaxies, possibly accounting for the flattening of the galactic rotation curve as described by Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). Concentric ultra-thin shells may also be used for discrete sampling of arbitrary spherical mass distributions with applications in cosmology. Ultra-thin shells are shown to exhibit constant interior time dilation. The exterior solution matches the Schwarzschild metric. General black shell horizons, and singularities are also discussed.


Search for car in rental car when it is determining what he'll rent, but he
has yet to find out where the place to rent a car that he was looking for. Because
of that, searchers will be confusion in determining the rental car company that
rented a car that they want. Car rental company development system installed in
every car rentals and car rental search system used by the car search, from the two
systems do systems integration . The integration of car Finder to help in finding
the desired car by car search. Integration system using web service technology
with library NuSOAP. Web service sends the server system's functionality as a
service to the client. The purpose of the use of web services is to facilitate the
search of a car in a variety of various car rental. The functionality of systems
designed using the Unified Modelling Language (UML). The resulting system can
display data from a server (perusahaan car rental) to the client (the seeker). Data
shown is the name of the rental car, the type of car, and car rental rates. The test
results showed that 9524% of respondents stating the functionality of the system
to function properly. As many as 36,67% of respondents strongly agreed and
52,22% agree to usability system is good.


The atoll nations of Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Tuvalu are home to the highest rates of tuberculosis in the Pacific region. These countries also have very high rates of poverty, overcrowding and non-communicable diseases such as smoking and diabetes mellitus, which are all well-established risk factors for tuberculosis transmission. In addition, these three countries are among the most vulnerable in the world to the impacts of climate change, due to, inter alia, their very low elevation and extreme susceptibility to sea-level rise and extreme weather events such as cyclones, droughts and storm surges. Tuberculosis transmission rates have been linked to climate activity, such as changing seasons, yet tuberculosis has not hitherto been seriously discussed in the international literature as an infectious disease considered susceptible to climate change. This paper highlights the unique and unprecedented convergence of social and environmental risk factors for tuberculosis transmission risk in these three Pacific atoll countries, which demonstrate that tuberculosis is indeed a 'climate-sensitive' disease warranting international support for climate policy and public health intervention.


SINCE the first case of cholangiolitic hepatitis and jaundice after the administration of chlorpromazine was reported by Zatuchni and Miller,1 numerous papers dealing with various aspects of this p...


The utility model belongs to the printing industry and specifically relates to a production device with an identification device for packaging paper containing laser lines and aluminum-layer patterns. The production device comprises a reticle roller, wherein the lower part of the reticle roller is soaked in a glue pond; patterns are carved on the reticle roller; a transfer glue roller is arranged on the upper part of the reticle roller and externally tangent to the reticle roller; a film gets through a tangent part of the reticle roller and the transfer glue roller; a coating and laser lines are arranged on the film; an aluminum layer is arranged on the laser lines; the film gets through a compound roller and is compounded with compound roller paper; and a signal identification device is arranged on the compound roller and can be used for detecting a signal identifier on paper, so that patterns on the paper and the film can be accurately compounded to form internal packaging paper with patterns, laser lines and the aluminum layer. After adopting the production device disclosed by the utility model, the beneficial effects are as follows: the laser lines and the aluminum layer are printed on the packaging paper to have different patterns.


Increasing transistor counts in modern processors can create instantaneous changes in current, driving nanosecond-speed supply voltage (VDD) droops that require extra guardband for correct product operation. The POWER9 processor uses an adaptive clock strategy to reduce timing margin needed during power supply droop events by embedding analog voltage-droop monitors (VDMs) that direct a digital phase-locked loop (DPLL) to immediately reduce clock frequency in response.


Adopt the method of combining observation and research with leading seeds and planting and expenment,applicability of shade,drought resistance,propagation ways,trample resistance,ability of resistance of plant diseases and pests,the function of keeping water and soil,and economic value,arrangement mode of wild plants Potentilla bifurca L.var.glabrata have been studied.It shows that Potentilla bifurca L.var.glabrata is rare background plant of garden in the drought region of North.It should be applied in production.


Based on the selected hardware, the proper channel estimation method is chosen. A TD-LTE downlink channel estimation realizing scheme is given, which is based on LS algorithm of transforming domain IDCT/DCT and cell-special reference signal. The CCS simulation results show that this scheme has good real-time processing ability, and can provide good estimation performance.


The present invention relates to a user intention input system on the basis of a pattern and a sensor, which can support a new intention input method for analyzing a motion and a brief sketch, input from a user, and increasing the degree of freedom through motion information and an image, matched according to a search.


Accepted: 27 July, 2016 Abstract Background and Objectives: Apoptosis plays an important role in the development of cardiovascular diseases, especially heart failure. Some evidences suggest that exercise training may alter apoptosis-related signaling in somatic tissues such as the myocardium. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of 12 weeks of treadmill aerobic training on cytochrome c and caspase-9 gene expression in cardiac muscle of male rats.


This study aims to determine the effect of vegetable oils varieties in diets on the percentage of internal organ weights in 9 weeks old local male ducks. It was conducted using a completely randomized design (CRD) in a unidirectional pattern with 4 treatments and 6 replications, consisting of 6 ducks each. The treatments used include; P1: (96% basal ration + 4% palm oil); P2: (96% basal ration + 4% canola oil); P3: (96% basal ration + 4% coconut oil) and P4: (96% basal ration + 4% soybean oil). Furthermore, the data were analyzed using the one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) while the, Duncan's multiple range test (DMRT) was used to examine significant differences among treatments. The results showed that the percentage of intestinal weights indicated significant results (P < 0.05), while the percentage of heart weights, gizzard weight, intestine length, and percentage of caecum weight were not significant (P > 0.05). Based on the results, the addition of vegetable oils up to level 4% in the ration affect the percentage of intestinal weight. However, it had no effect on the percentage of internal organ weight and intestinal length.


This research guide highlights resources for those interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Included are handouts from past workshops at Drake and possible outlets for publishing on the topic.


Abstract : In this report, building on the deterministic multi-valued one-to-many Byzantine agreement (broadcast) algorithm in our recent technical report [2], we introduce a deterministic multivalued all-to-all Byzantine agreement algorithm (consensus), with linear complexity per bit agreed upon. The discussion in this note is not self-contained, and relies heavily on the material in [2] please refer to [2] for the necessary background.


This letter deals with forced oscillations in an oscillating circuit with nonlinear capacitance. The method in Reference 6 is used, which does not put limitations on the amplitude of the oscillations or on the degree of nonlinearity in the circuit. The resonance characteristic and the conditions for monostable and bistable regimes of the circuit oscillations are examined.


Soil borne diseases are the major constraints in the successful cultivation of gladiolus and a number of pathogens have been found to be associated such as Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. gladioli and Botrytis gladiolorum . In order to record the current status of soil borne diseases in gladiolus, periodical surveys were undertaken during 2010 and 2011. The disease was found to prevail in all the districts surveyed. The prevalence of disease was higher in 2010-11 as compared to 2009-10. Mycoflora found associated with the infected corms of gladiolus were Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. gladioli , Botrytis gladiolorum , Stromatinia gladioli and Penicillium sp. F. oxysporum f. sp. gladioli was the most dominant with an average occurrence of 82, 78 and 70%, whereas, B. gladiolorum had an occurrence of 42, 38 and 56% in Jammu, Kathua and Udhampur districts, respectively. Stromatinia gladioli occurred with the frequency of 10, 8 and 10 per cent and Penicillium sp. with the frequency of 4, 10 and 8 per cent in Jammu, Kathua and Udhampur districts, respectively. The weight loss was maximum (23.19%) in corms inoculated with combined inoculation of F. oxysporum f. sp. gladioli and B. gladiolorum , followed by inoculation of F. oxysporum f. sp. gladioli and B. gladiolorum individually.


The Foreword introduced ABI through Durham's personal experience. The co-author, Ramcharan, has been involved in funded disability research for 25 years. He was involved in research of the All Wales Strategy for the Development of Services to Mentally Handicapped People [sic] 1983 (see Felce et al., 1998) and co-directed the Learning Disability Research Initiative, a two million GBP strategy involving thirteen projects designed to support implementation of Valuing People (2001), a national intellectual disability government policy in England (see Grant & Ramcharan, 2007). Paul's work for over a quarter of a century has melded an interest in the everyday life experiences of people with a disability (Ramcharan, Roberts, Grant, & Borland, 1996), and advocacy and voice (Goodley & Ramcharan, 2010). The interest in everyday lives and the everyday struggles faced by people with disabilities was a key basis upon which this exploration of the life experiences of people with ABI was both interesting and, at the same time, challenging. Durham's work was, therefore, immediately of interest leading to both his supervision of her Ph.D. and his contribution to this volume. Both share the passion to seek to change lives for people whose struggles are grounded in their social circumstances as much as their biology. Chapter 2 provided a review of Websites, books and blogs written by people with ABI, supplemented by a consideration of the information and resources most readily available to people with ABI. The period over which mending bodies and re-establishing basic skills take place can be variable. One guide to TBI suggests written by a neuropsychologist using 'psychological tests' suggests that


This paper examines the challenges or problems of the privatization and commercialization of public enterprises in Nigeria and the way forward. Privatization and commercialization are vital tools for the upliftment of a country economic most especially the developing countries like Nigeria. The main performance of the public enterprises in Nigeria has becomes illusion and now brings about policy recommendations on how best to move them out of their predicament. However, the problems facing this privatization and commercialization programme of public enterprises are too many to mention. Therefore, this paper reviews privatization and commercialization in Nigeria. And also unveils the objectives, challenges or problems of privatization and commercialization. The study, however, adopts the economic theory and public choice theory to interrogate the discourse, it however, uses secondary source of data collection to gather needed information. Importantly, it also offered some way forward to make privatization and commercialization of public enterprises successful in Nigeria. Finally, privatization and commercialization of public enterprises is aimed at encouraging private initiatives that would, inculcates market discipline, monitor performance, create better opportunities and accountability and evolve better management.


R. K. was a white male admitted to the New Haven Hospital on the 18th day after birth with a chief complaint of convulsions. The first-born of healthy parents, he had been spontaneously delivered in another hospital after a normal 8-hour labor, weighed 8 lbs. 5 ozs., breathed and cried without stimulation, and seemed a perfectly normal vigorous infant. Because of the mother's inverted nipples, attempts at breast feedings were abandoned on the 4th day, and the baby was fed a mixture of evaporated milk, water, and dextrimaltose. Viosterol in doses of 30 drops a day was begun early. The baby always ate well, no vomiting occurred at any time, and the stools were always normal. On the 6th day the baby began to have spontaneous twitchings of his face and arms. These lasted from 30 to 60 seconds, and recurred frequently, sometimes as often as 10 in an hour. The right side of the face and the right arm and leg seemed more markedly involved than the left, but the whole body took part in the convulsions. The convulsions occurred at short intervals from the 6th to the 18th day. In spite of the numerous convulsions, the infant's general condition was good; he had no fever and his weight curve was upward. His urine was found to be normal and the spinal fluid obtained from cisternal puncture performed twice was negative. The serum calcium was reported to be 5.5 mgm. %o and calcium therapy was instituted in the form of 0.6 gm. of calcium gluconate in the milk mixture daily with occasional intramuscular injections of 0.5-1.0 gm. of calcium gluconate. The convulsions continued unabated, the diagnosis of tetany was doubted, and the baby was transferred to the New Haven Hospital for further study. On admission the patient was a well-formed, 18-day-old white male infant whose weight was 3500 gms. and temperature 370 C. The head was normally shaped and gave no evidence of trauma; the fontanel was soft, the optic discs and the vessels of the fundi appeared normal, and the neck was supple. There was no spasticity, but all of the tendon reflexes were hyperactive. The Chvostek and Trousseau signs were absent. There


National Transcommunications Ltd (NTL), one of the three successor bodies emerging from IBA UK, own and operate the United Kingdom Direct Broadcast Satellite Uplink. This uplink transmits five D-MAC services to two geostationary satellites situated at 31 degrees West. The equipment at the DBS Uplink is maintained by a mobile maintenance team based in Southampton which is also responsible for the maintenance of approximately seventy television and radio transmitters. The concepts used in the design of the DBS Uplink are based on more than thirty years experience in the construction, operation and maintenance of broadcast transmission systems. The authors describe the equipment installed at the uplink, then discuss the choice of test equipment and give examples of the measurements made.


A fuzzy fault diagnosis inference graph was built according to the architecture of the system modules.The minimization of fault diagnosis was realized by simplifying fuzzy inference graph and employing fuzzy operations.Based on feature criteria of observation positions,a diagnosis matrix was formed to carry out successive inference through cause-effect.As a result,a fuzzy diagnosis rank was obtained,which optimized the diagnosis detection.


Palm oil industry is the leading agricultural industry that contributes significantly to Malaysian economy. In the meantime, this industry is also creating environmental problem due to the discharge from palm oil refineries known as palm oil mill effluent (POME). In Malaysia, there are more than 85% of palm oil mills adopted ponding system to reduce the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of POME into an acceptable limit due to its low equipment cost and easy to operate. However, ponding system requires long hydraulic retention time (HRT), huge land, release methane gases and most importantly, many mills are unable to achieve the discharge limit. In this regard, this study addressed this issue by using chitosan as natural coagulant and ferric chloride (Ferric chloride) as synthetic coagulant to decrease the COD pollutant in POME before discharge into the watercourse. To achieve the objectives of this study, a series of experiments will be carried out to determine the characteristics performances and optimum working conditions of each natural and synthetic coagulants. The most optimum working condition for POME treatment with chitosan was found to be 100ppm with pH of 4.5. As for ferric chloride was 450ppm with pH 5.0. The optimum conditions allowed the coagulants to remove COD, colour and total suspended solid up to 38.54%, 97% and 91.5% respectively which is within discharge limit set by Department of Environment. The outcome of this study would contribute to all palm oil mill that currently using ponding system to achieve environmental sustainability.


In sub-Saharan Africa midwifery educators are in short supply and opportunities to pursue advanced education are severely restricted. Postgraduate programmes that encourage critical thinking and strategic planning in midwifery education, practice, management and research are required to empower midwives to lead their profession. A unique user-led distance learning programme was developed by adopting a participatory approach to developing a curriculum for a Masters in Midwifery and Women's Health. Midwives from the East Central and South Africa (ECSA) region and the UK participated along with a representative from the Commonwealth Secretariat and International Confederation of Midwives (ICM). The curriculum was based on shared goals but adaptable to cultural and local context. Brainstorming sessions, informal workshops and formal consensus methods were used to reach decisions regarding modules and subsequent content. This article describes the process of developing a shared curriculum, the challenges faced...