The paper proposes an extension of FMI 2.0 for the rigorous treatment of discrete-time models. This includes the introduction of discrete-time states, the declaration of clocks in the model description and an extension of the calling interface for the external activation of clocks by an importing environment. The synchronous discrete-time extension enables for the first time the synchronization of FMUs with the environment and with other FMUs. It specializes the existing generic event mechanism of FMI 2.0 and maps to synchronous features of Modelica. Discrete-time FMUs are needed for the generation of controller code from functional models. This paper outlines different use cases, including a simple PI controller, feed forward control with a nonlinear inverse model and nonlinear model predictive control. The FMI change proposal FCP-001 and the Modelica change proposal MCP-0024 describe the proposed extensions in more detail. Test implementations exist in the simulation tools Dymola and OpenModelica and in the importing optimization solver HQP. The use cases given in this paper served for further refinement of the change proposals and the test implementations.


The issue of forced displacement has been one of the distinctive features of Georgian cities over the last two decades since regaining independence. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) emerged as a separate vulnerable group due to violent ethno-political conflicts in the territories of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Owing to the lack of housing options a considerable number of IDPs were forced to settle collectively in non-residential buildings. Inappropriate for long-term living purposes and largely concentrated in urban fringe, their residential environment has fostered physical isolation, alienation and spatial segregation. The Government of Georgia bears legal responsibility for handling IDP problems. In 2007, state efforts were relatively weak and largely unclear before the State Strategy and Action Plan were adopted, covering all IDPs and aimed mainly at housing provision, promoting socio-economic integration and creating conditions for the dignified and safe return of IDPs to their original place of residence. This article has two aims: first, to present the specific phenomenon of internal displacement, specifically IDPs living in cities, and the difficulties faced by them drawing on the nationwide representative survey; and second, to discuss aspects of the State Strategy dealing with the housing issue.


Engineering education in higher education is facing multiple and significant challenges due to the changing requirements for future professional engineers and the changing landscape of higher education. How to raise the standard and quality of engineering courses to meet the demands of the fast evolving industry and society, how to improve the employability of graduates by developing the mentality and competence of professional engineers, and how to improve the inclusiveness to maximise the benefits of widening participation and internationalisation of higher education are some key issues that need to be addressed. This paper presents an innovative system for engineering education, the CIVA (standing for Coursework-driven teaching and learning process, Integrated teaching approach, Verification and validation guided quality learning and professional development and Active support mechanism) system. The CIVA system aims to address the above mentioned key issues in engineering education and represents a new way to manage the teaching and learning process in order to achieve a high quality engineering education outcome that is characterised by high academic standard and quality, high inclusiveness and high employability. An example of implementation of the CIVA system for a structural vibration unit is provided for illustration. Furthermore, the CIVA system provides a framework in engineering education that is responsive and customisable to the requirements of both the learners and the employers. With further development, the CIVA system is promising to make a significant contribution to modernising engineering education.


Purpose To investigate the influence of daily oral iron supplementation on changes in hemoglobin mass (Hbmass) and iron parameters after 2–4 weeks of moderate altitude exposure. Methods Hematological data collected from 178 athletes (98 males, 80 females) exposed to moderate altitude (1,350–3,000 m) were analysed using linear regression to determine how altitude exposure combined with oral iron supplementation influenced Hbmass, total iron incorporation (TII) and blood iron parameters [ferritin and transferrin saturation (TSAT)]. Results Altitude exposure (mean ± s: 21 ± 3 days) increased Hbmass by 1.1% [-0.4, 2.6], 3.3% [1.7, 4.8], and 4.0% [2.0, 6.1] from pre-altitude levels in athletes who ingested nil, 105 mg and 210 mg respectively, of oral iron supplement daily. Serum ferritin levels decreased by -33.2% [-46.9, -15.9] and 13.8% [-32.2, 9.7] from pre-altitude levels in athletes who supplemented with nil and 105 mg of oral iron supplement daily, but increased by 36.8% [1.3, 84.8] in athletes supplemented with 210 mg of oral iron daily. Finally, athletes who ingested either 105 mg or 210 mg of oral iron supplement daily had a greater TII compared with non-supplemented athletes (0 versus 105 mg: effect size (d) = -1.88 [-2.56, -1.17]; 0 versus 210 mg: effect size (d) = -2.87 [-3.88, -1.66]). Conclusion Oral iron supplementation during 2–4 weeks of moderate altitude exposure may enhance Hbmass production and assist the maintenance of iron balance in some athletes with low pre-altitude iron stores.


Connecting to the  electronic information network (internet) became the most characteristic that distinguish this era However , the long hours which young men daily spend on the internet On the other hand ,there are many people who are waiting for the chance to talk and convince them with their views This will lead the young people to be part in the project of the "cyber armies "that involved with states and terrorist organizations
 This project has been able  to recruitment hundreds of people every day to work in its rank . It is very difficult to control these websites because we can see the terrorist presence in all its forms in the internet   In addition there are many incubation environments that feed in particular the young people minds
Because they are suffering from the lack of social justice Also the unemployment, deprivation , social and political repression So , that terrorist organizations can attract young people through the internet by convincing them to their views and ideas . So these organizations will enable to be more  stronger.


Serum deprivation response (SDPR) gene has been recently characterized as a gene signature marker or serving a tumor suppressor role in specific types of cancer. However, gene expression alterations of SDPR in various types of cancer and their relevance to clinical outcomes remain unclear. In the present study, SDPR expression was profiled using the Oncomine database, and SDPR downregulation was indicated in most types of cancer. In agreement with previously reported breast cancer cases, downregulation of SDPR was indicated to be significantly associated with poor survival in patients with lung cancer, glioma and sarcoma. To clarify why SDPR expression was altered in these types of cancer, both DNA methylation patterns and potential transcriptional factors of SDPR were analyzed. Altered DNA methylation levels of SDPR were found in 17/18 cancer types using MethHC. To the best of our knowledge, the present study for the first time, identified the CpG site (cg10082589) as one of the best survival methylation markers for lung adenocarcinoma, and the CpG site (cg07488576) for sarcoma using Methsurv. In addition, GATA binding protein 2 was identified as a potential transcription factor for SDPR, by integrating and analyzing both the co-expressed genes and the potential transcription factor binding sites of SDPR. In the present study, the systematic analysis of SDPR provided insight for the underlying molecular mechanisms in cancer progression, revealing novel perspectives for the clinical prognostic evaluation of lung adenocarcinoma and sarcoma.


Environmental researchers all over the world are concerned with the rate at which lagoons are being negatively modified beyond critical threshold capacities to the detriment of future generations. The Fosu lagoon located in the Cape Coast Metropolis in the Central Region of Ghana is no exception. The lagoon was identified as polluted by the close of 1993. Various strategies to prevent, if not curtail, pollution and its effects on the lagoon, since then, have been suggested. Though the privatization of waste collection management in the metropolis was introduced during the 2000's, this has not been enough to save the lagoon from the effects of pollution.  Using content analysis as research technique the study looked at various works of researchers in relation to the lagoon from 1993 to 2013. Secondary data was basically employed using texts, essays, book chapters, journal and non-journal articles, historical documents, theses and dissertations. Informed interviews and observations were also employed. The paper contends that various stakeholders have failed to heed to suggestions made by researchers. It attributes the inadequacy of efforts to save the lagoon to myopic leadership, bribery and corruption, lack of shared visionary leadership among political parties and traditional councils, discontinuity of local government leadership and general institutional failure. The study sought to provide recommendations to stake-holders ways by which the lagoon could be salvaged from complete demise. It identified the central government, lands commission, metropolitan assembly, traditional council, town and country planning, the Environmental Protection Agency and educational institutions as the major stake holders in this regard. Keywords: aquatic; landfills; food chain; nitrates; solid waste.


Abstract The Asian population is expected to increase from 3103 million in 1990 to 5811 million in 2050 and to 6817 million in 2150. Such rises will invariably augment demands for all water uses. Water availability is unlikely to increase to accommodate all the expected demand growth. This will escalate the conflict between various water uses. Irrigation, which is now the most significant user of water, is likely to be the main loser. Its percentage share of total water used will decline steadily in the future. This will mean that the irrigation sector will have to do more with less water by increasing its efficiency significantly. The Asian countries will also have to take a balanced approach between irrigation development and environmental protection.


Continual learning methods with fixed architectures rely on a single network to learn models that can perform well on all tasks. As a result, they often only accommodate common features of those tasks but neglect each task's specific features. On the other hand, dynamic architecture methods can have a separate network for each task, but they are too expensive to train and not scalable in practice, especially in online settings. To address this problem, we propose a novel online continual learning method named "Contextual Transformation Networks" (CTN) to efficiently model the task-specific features while enjoying neglectable complexity overhead compared to other fixed architecture methods. Moreover, inspired by the Complementary Learning Systems (CLS) theory, we propose a novel dual memory design and an objective to train CTN that can address both catastrophic forgetting and knowledge transfer simultaneously. Our extensive experiments show that CTN is competitive with a large scale dynamic architecture network and consistently outperforms other fixed architecture methods under the same standard backbone. Our implementation can be found at https://github. com/phquang/Contextual-Transformation-Network.


Dyslipidemia is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease in diabetes mellitus. Diabetic's patients have a type of dyslipidemia that is related to insulin resistance. This profile is consisting with decreased high-density lipoprotein (HDL), increased triglycerides, slightly increased low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and LDL particles that are smaller and denser. Aim of the paper work was to verify and document, role and correlation of lipid disorders (dyslipidemia) and hyperglycemia in the pace of progress and the appearance of cardiovascular diseases in patients with Diabetes Mellitus type2. The present work included; one hundred forty eight patients with diabetes mellitus type2, were enrolled in this retrospective, cross-sectional study, who included (72 male and 76 female) aged (25-64 years).Total cholesterol were more than 200mg/dl in more than 50% of studied patients, while HDL less than 40mg/dl in 68.3% patients, whereas LDL level greater than 100mg/dl in 63.5% of patients. Triglyceride level was higher than 140mg/dl in 51.4% of all patients. Diabetic female had higher plasma cholesterol and lower plasma HDL in comparison with male, whereas LDL and triglyceride were significantly increase compared with male. AIP of both male and female were higher than normal value. CRC and AC of both genders were greater than normal value, although atherogenic indices of female were higher than that for male.


In this paper, we investigate the notion of organizational ambidexterity in using interorganizational system (IOS) in supply chain context. IOS ambidexterity is defined as a firm's capability of simultaneously pursuing exploratory and exploitative use of IOS. In order to understand the implication of IOS ambidexterity in IT resource-constrained firms, this paper draws on theories in resource-based view and organizational ambidexterity literature. Based on data collected from 375 firms and PLS analysis, this work empirically confirms that a firm capable of using IOS in a more ambidextrous way tends to experience greater performance improvement and that different types of IT resources exhibit differing influence patterns on IOS ambidexterity and performance. An additional analysis is performed to understand the moderating role of IT resources in the IOS ambidexterityperformance linkage.


This paper examines the persistence of Americans' misunderstanding of the function of privacy policies. We also identify groups that have misplaced confidence in the privacy policy label and address whether the groups' patterns of misperception have changed over time. The findings add a new dimension to the argument that the usefulness of privacy policies needs to be reassessed. As a remedy, we call for media literacy programs to address structural features of media systems that lead to broadly held misperceptions such as the one examined here.


The Constitutional Authority of Dr. Jabez Bunting over Wesleyan Methodism as seen through his correspondence, is an attempt to outline Dr. Jabez Bunting's influence over the Wesleyan Church from the moment of his entry into the Ministry in 1799 until the time of his retirement in 1855. There are two difficulties involved in attempting such a project: the first is that until Jabez Bunting's influence began to tell, Methodism suffered from a malady caused by the very lack of an effective constitution. Therefore when making a study of the Constitutional Authority of Jabez Bunting' it must be borne in mind that much of his efforts went into forming and developing that very constitution. The second difficulty is caused by the nature of the evidence used to compile this study. Dr. Bunting's correspondence which is the basis for this thesis, though complete, is not as complete as it might be. In his Will Bunting requested (his two elder sons to examine, on his death, all the papers, letters and correspondence in his possession, edit them, and "to destroy such portion thereof as in their judgement it might be expedient so to dispose of". It is apparent, especially in the podt-1843 correspondence, that his son Percival complied with his father's-wish. I wish most sincerely to thank my supervisor Professor W. R. Ward for his kind help and patience in the preparation of this thesis. I also wish to express my deepest gratitude to Mr. and Mrs. M. Murray Threipland for allowing me to use the peace and "quite" of their home, where much of the actual writing was done. Finally I wish to thank Mrs. Joan Gibson for her invaluable help in the final production of this thesis.


Human small intestine accounts for 75% of the gastrointestinal (GI) length but for only 1–5% of GI tumors. The reason remains as yet unclearly understood. Our study was designed to examine whether increased apoptosis and expression of related genes/proteins, especially those of the Bcl-2 family, contribute to this difference. For this purpose, 77 samples from patients were examined by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling and immunohistochemistry, including 40 cases from normal small intestine (jejunum), 7 cases from jejunum and ileum adenocarcinomas, and 30 cases from normal colon. The results showed that a significantly higher level of enterocyte apoptosis was observed in normal small intestine compared with small intestinal adenocarcinomas and normal colon (median of apoptotic index, 15.2% vs 0.1% and 1.6%, p<0.01). A similar pattern was observed for Bax (expression-positive, 77.5% vs 28.6% and 53.3%, p<0.05) but not for Bcl-2 (42.5% vs 42.9% and 46.7%, p>0.05) or Bax/Bcl-2 ratio (percent of samples having a ratio ≥1, 45.0% vs 14.3% and 36.7%, p>0.05). In conclusion, increased apoptosis and expression of Bax, not Bcl-2 or the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, may play some role in the relatively lower incidence of human small intestinal carcinomas. However, more studies are required for a better understanding of these changes.


Worldwide interest in how to prevent the progressive collapse for tall and large
buildings under exceptional loading conditions was heightened by the collapse of the
twin towers at the World Trade. The performance of steel-framed structures
subjected to fire loading is heavily reliant on the interaction between structural
members such as columns, slabs and beams. The implicit assumption in fire
engineering design is that bolted connections are able to maintain the structural
integrity for a large and tall building under fire conditions. Unfortunately, evidence
from the collapse of the World Trade Centre towers and full scale fire tests at the
BRE Cardington Laboratory indicates that connections may be particularly
vulnerable during both heating and cooling. Hence, this PhD research is focused on
structural performance of simple steel connections under fire conditions, particularly
the interaction mechanism between non-ductile and ductile components in a
connection and connection failure mechanism in a steel-framed structure subjected to
fire loading.
The research involved experimental testing of simple steel connections and
components (structural 8.8 bolts) at elevated temperatures. High temperature tests on
structural bolts demonstrated two modes of failure at elevated temperatures: bolt
breakage and thread stripping. In order to prevent the thread stripping in a connection,
the manufacturing process of bolts and nuts has been investigated and the 'overtapping'
of nut threads to accommodate the (zinc) coating layer for corrosion
resistance has been indentified as a primary reason resulting in this premature failure
between bolts and nuts. Experimental tests on endplate connections revealed the
ductility of these connections to decrease at high temperatures, which might hinder
the development of catenary actions in fire if plastic hinges are attempted to be
formed within the connection zones. Component-based modelling and finite element
simulation have been utilized for investigation of the performance of these
connections.
An improved component-based model has been developed which includes nonductile
(brittle) components (bolts and welds) into a connection model with a
reasonable assumption of their failure displacements, based on experimental tests.
This model also features vertical components for consideration of shear response of
these connections in fire. The component-based connection model has been used in a
sub-frame structure and a parametric study demonstrates that a connection may fail
due to a lack of rotational capacity (failure of bolts or welds) in a structure exposed
to a fire. Therefore, partial depth endplate connections are recommended to be fireprotected
to prevent the failure of these brittle components. Alternatively, ensuring
the strength of brittle components (bolts and welds) is higher than that of other
components in each bolt row is necessary to achieve the ductile failure mechanism of
simple connections. Based on the experimental tests, component-based connection
modelling and finite element simulation, recommendations to improve the robustness
of simple steel connections in fire have been presented.


The prevention of mental, emotional, and behavior problems in young people is a very high national mental health priority. Of all the various problems, a strong argument can be made that the prevention of male life-course-persistent (MLCP) antisocial behavior should assume the highest priority. MLCP refers to the childhood onset of severe overt conduct problems such as physical aggression, opposition-defiance, and rule-breaking that emerge from early neurodevelopmental risk factors such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and family adversity risk factors. MLCP greatly increases the risk for delinquency, adult criminality, and a host of other problems. If prevention of MLCP is ever to be effective, it must have three components: intensity, early beginning, and continuation over the long-term. This article makes the case that an essential part of the "early, intensive" components should be the preschool identification and treatment of children who have ADHD. It does so by establishing that ADHD is a major risk factor in the developmental sequence that leads to MLCP. It then argues that since there is massive evidence that ADHD can be very successfully treated, it follows that the early, intensive treatment of ADHD would be an effective means of preventing MLCP.


ABSTRACT Recombinant adenovirus or DNA vaccines encoding herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein D (gD) genetically fused to human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) oncoproteins (E5, E6, and E7) induce antigen-specific CD8+ T-cell responses and confer preventive resistance to transplantable murine tumor cells (TC-1 cells). In the present report, we characterized some previously uncovered aspects concerning the induction of CD8+ T-cell responses and the therapeutic anticancer effects achieved in C57BL/6 mice immunized with pgD-E7E6E5 previously challenged with TC-1 cells. Concerning the characterization of the immune responses elicited in mice vaccinated with pgD-E7E6E5, we determined the effect of the CD4+ T-cell requirement, longevity, and dose-dependent activation on the E7-specific CD8+ T-cell responses. In addition, we determined the priming/boosting properties of pgD-E7E6E5 when used in combination with a recombinant serotype 68 adenovirus (AdC68) vector encoding the same chimeric antigen. Mice challenged with TC-1 cells and then immunized with three doses of pgD-E7E6E5 elicited CD8+ T-cell responses, measured by intracellular gamma interferon (IFN-γ) and CD107a accumulation, to the three HPV-16 oncoproteins and displayed in vivo antigen-specific cytolytic activity, as demonstrated with carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE)-labeled target cells pulsed with oligopeptides corresponding to the H-2Db-restricted immunodominant epitopes of the E7, E6, or E5 oncoprotein. Up to 70% of the mice challenged with 5 × 105 TC-1 cells and immunized with pgD-E7E6E5 controlled tumor development even after 3 days of tumor cell challenge. In addition, coadministration of pgD-E7E6E5 with DNA vectors encoding pGM-CSF or interleukin-12 (IL-12) enhanced the therapeutic antitumor effects for all mice challenged with TC-1 cells. In conclusion, the present results expand our previous knowledge on the immune modulation properties of the pgD-E7E6E5 vector and demonstrate, for the first time, the strong antitumor effects of the DNA vaccine, raising promising perspectives regarding the development of immunotherapeutic reagents for the control of HPV-16-associated tumors.


Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) is a Pestivirus of the Flaviviviridaefamily that infects cattle, and its widespread distribution can cause substantial economic losses worldwide. The aims of this study were: (1) to estimate the prevalence of animals persistently infected (PI) with BVDV in industrial dairy cattle herds in suburb of Mashhad- Iran; and (2) to compare the occurrence of persistently infected (PI) animals in industrial dairy cattle herds where BVDV animals had been either removed from or retained in the herds. In total, 157 blood samples were taken from individual cows from 18 Holstein dairy cattle herds each containing 250-3000 cows in suburb of Mashhad. The blood samples were analyzed for the presence of BVDV using Pestivirus antigen-capture ELISA. Positive animals were retested after three weeks and animals those tested positive again weredefined as PI. We found that only 3/18 herds (16.7%) containedantigen-positive cows, and that only 5/157 animals tested (3.2%) wereantigen positive. All of the positive animals were confirmed as PI, andall of PI cows were less than 17 months old. The true prevalence ofantigen-positive cows was calculated to be 3.31%. A significantproportion (p


This book will change the way Americans think about their cities. It provides a comprehensive economic and social history of urban America since 1950, covering the 29 largest urban areas of that period. Specifically, the book covers 17 cities in the Northeast, 6 in the South, and 6 in the West, decade by decade, with extensive data and historical narrative. The author divides his analysis into three periods - urban growth (1950 to 1970), urban crisis (late 1960s to 1990), and urban rebirth (since 1990). He draws on the concepts of the vicious circle and the virtuous circle to offer the first in-depth explanation for the transition from urban crisis to urban rebirth that took place in the early 1990s. "Urban America" is both a message of hope and a call to action for students and professionals in urban studies. It will inspire readers to concentrate on finding ways and means to ensure that the urban rebirth will continue.


The study describes an investigation of the significance of the affective dimension of the therapeutic alliance (Bordin 1979), in a psychodynamic form of transactional analysis therapy after the style of "Redecision therapy" (Goulding & Goulding, 1979). We explored the client's pattern of affective relationships by use of CCRT (the Core Conflictual Relationship method, Luborsky & Crits-Christoph, 1990, 1998) and examined how the therapist responds to the client's affective messages ("tests") by use of the Plan Diagnosis method (Weiss & Sampson, 1986). We found that "emotional" aspects play a more decisive role than has been envisioned in the TA redecision method and similar approaches of TA psychotherapy that emphasise contracts, tasks of therapy and a rational approach.


As a researcher, the author was eager to see and contribute to the latest developments in multimedia. She enjoys thinking about new technology and interaction models. As a mom, however, she has to admit that she has become more selective about what she would really consider relevant and helpful. Are these roles in contradiction? She doesn't believe so. This observation is rather a reflection of the fact that new technology has not always reached a state in which it's really necessary or helpful in certain scenarios. This reality leaves a lot of room for development and research. Some future developments no doubt will leave us, as parents, dumbfounded, which is something that has happened in every past generation. To overcome this parental bewilderment, what was and is needed, then and now, is a curiosity about what interests children, a willingness to make time for discussion, and a big stockpile of patience.


Moral exclusion occurs when individuals or groups are perceived as outside the boundary in which moral values, rules, and considerations of fairness apply. Those who are morally excluded are perceived as nonentities, expendable, or undeserving. Consequently, harming or exploiting them appears to be appropriate, acceptable, or just. This broad definition encompasses both severe and mild forms of moral exclusion, from genocide to discrimination. The paper discusses the antecedents and symptoms of moral exclusion, and the interaction between the psychological and social factors that foster its development. Empirical research on moral exclusion is needed to pinpoint its causes, to predict its progression, and to effect change in social issues that involve the removal of victims from our moral communities. The last section of the paper introduces the articles that follow.


An efficient time synchronisation could increase the performance of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) applications significantly. Most existing research of time synchronisation in WSNs focuses on clock estimation and message exchange to improve the synchronisation accuracy without taking network performance as the primary consideration. In this thesis, we will investigate how to extend the network lifetime while maintaining a high level of network performance via energy conservation and time synchronisation mechanisms.To balance energy consumption and clock time accuracy in WSNs, this thesis proposes a new approach of time synchronisation that takes into account of the energy conservation factors, which reduces the energy consumption of individual nodes and extends the lifetime of WSNs by aligning schedules and reducing management packets (Chapter 3). As a cross-layer mechanism, the implementation of the proposed time synchronisation is carried out by the MAC (Medium Access Control) and application layers.To improve the network energy conservation, a new wireless sensor network MAC protocol, named SA-MAC (Schedule Awareness MAC), is proposed. It better supports the scheduling mechanism with dimensionality reduction to generate concentrated schedule tables with active time slots information of the two-hop neighbours. The energy conservation of sensor nodes is based on the theory of periodic activation and sleep, which relies on schedule tables with accurate timestamps. The schedule tables are maintained by frequent time synchronisations (Chapter 4).To maintain the clock accuracy of individual wireless sensor nodes, a clock adjustment method (TimeSync) for WSNs is proposed, which includes the system model, the clock offset estimation and the clock skew estimation (Chapter 5).To balance the network energy and extend the network lifetime, a simplified reverse firefly method (SRF) was proposed. The process of the method relieves both the timeslot conflict problem and the node movement problem with energy level information exchange and comparison (Chapter 6).By designing and implementing a set of simulation experiments, we show that by integrating the three methods above (SA-MAC, TimeSync and SRF), the energy consumption of the WSNs is reduced by more than 10% compared to the state-of-the-art MAC protocols 802.11 and S-MAC with TPSN. In the meantime, the clock accuracy of the individual nodes is maintained, which is similar to the clock accuracy achieved by TPSN.In conclusion, the benefits of the proposed methods on WSN energy conservation and time synchronisation are discussed and the future works of clock offset estimation, node lifetime extension and network maintenance are highlighted.


Grammatical gender embedded in determiners, nouns and adjectives allows indirect and more rapid processing of the referents implied in sentences. However in a language such as Spanish, this useful information cannot be reliably retrieved from a single source of information. Instead, noun gender may be extracted either from phono-morphological, semantic or syntactic cues, such as determiner-noun frames. This experimental work sought to explore toddlers' ability to use feminine and masculine determiners to infer a referent whose name was marked for grammatical gender, ending in 'o' or 'a', as well as a referent whose name was unmarked. Using the intermodal preferential looking paradigm, 24-, 30- and 36-month-old children were presented with pairs of images, target and distracter, of familiar objects while, at the same time, they heard a feminine or masculine definite (Experiment 1) or indefinite (Experiment 2) article that could only refer to one of the images displayed. Half of the trials presented objects whose target names ended in a final-vowel indicative of grammatical gender and the other half had another ending. The results demonstrated toddlers' ability to use the determiners to infer a target. Differences between toddlers' use of definite and indefinite determiners were found. The ability to use indefinite articles preceded the ability to use definite articles. In general, the results showed that anticipation of the noun from the determiner is mostly a function of phono-morphological cues embedded in marked nouns. Nevertheless, 36month-old children were also able to associate the articles to targets whose names were unmarked for grammatical gender.


The Ottoman empire was established in the last decades of the 13th century by the efforts of a Turkish Osman-I and continued till early 20th century. His father Ertugral Ghazi migrated from Mangolia towards Middle Eastern regions and worked as employ of the Saljuks. The Saljuks built a powerful Muslim empire in Central and Southwest Asia decades before, after the defeat of the Byzantine Empire. However, after its decline Ottoman Turks established the Empire, which was a typical combination of Western and Eastern multi-cultural societies and their traditions. According to the historians and many writers, it was an Islamic state, but in fact, it based on the secularism and non-Islamic traditions. The Ottomans used religion-Islam to make integrity in the conquered areas of the Islamic world and the western regions, because they felt that the religion could play a vital role in the establishment of strong empire. In the early sixteenth century, the Ottoman ruler got the title of caliph and became the custodians of Hermain-ul-Sharefain because the caliph ideally played a role as a spiritual and political leader of the Muslim world. So, it remained under the influence of Islamism, but after many decades the secularization of the empire reemerged and it transformed into a secular/modern empire. The proposed paper focuses on the emerging elements of the secularism in the empire after its establishment. The research study is based on the theoretical and analytical approaches of research to investigate that it was substantially a religious state or used religion Islam as the instrument to get the stability and favour of the Muslim world.


A t(17;19) chromosomal translocation in early B-lineage acute leukemia was shown to result in chimeric transcripts that contain sequences from the E2A basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor gene on chromosome 19, fused to sequences from a previously unidentified gene (HLF) on chromosome 17 that encodes a hepatic leukemia factor. The chimeric protein consisted of the amino-terminal transactivation domain of E2A linked to the carboxyl-terminal basic region-leucine zipper domain of HLF. HLF was normally expressed in liver and kidney, but not in lymphoid cells, and was found to be closely related to the leucine zipper-containing transcription factors DBP (albumin D-box binding protein) and TEF (thyrotroph embryonic factor), which regulate developmental stage-specific gene expression.


The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the world's most endangered mammals and remains threatened by environmental and anthropogenic pressure. It is commonly argued that giant pandas are an evolutionary cul-de-sac because of their specialized bamboo diet, phylogenetic changes in body size, small population, low genetic diversity, and low reproductive rate. This notion is incorrect, arose from a poor understanding or appreciation of giant panda biology, and is in need of correction. In this review, we summarize research across morphology, ecology, and genetics to dispel the idea, once and for all, that giant pandas are evolutionary dead-end. The latest and most advanced research shows that giant pandas are successful animals highly adapted to a specialized bamboo diet via morphological, ecological, and genetic adaptations and coadaptation of gut microbiota. We also debunk misconceptions around population size, population growth rate, and genetic variation. During their evolutionary history spanning 8 My, giant pandas have survived diet specialization, massive bamboo flowering and die off, and rapid climate oscillations. Now, they are suffering from enormous human interference. Fortunately, continued conservation effort is greatly reducing impacts from anthropogenic interference and allowing giant panda populations and habitat to recover. Previous ideas of a giant panda evolutionary cul-de-sac resulted from an unsystematic and unsophisticated understanding of their biology and it is time to shed this baggage and focus on the survival and maintenance of this high-profile species.


The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the growing body of knowledge which intends to make event studies more critical through a focus on the under researched demographic of the over 70s. Our discussion is centred on the socio-psychological impacts of arts events on older adults with the development of a conceptual framework drawing upon critical gerontology within the context of event studies. The value of this paper is threefold. Firstly, studies drawing upon critical gerontology and the potential benefits of planned events in relation to the over 70s are limited particularly within event studies literature. Secondly, only a limited number of papers have connected the particular issues and opportunities that the over 70s have with most choosing to present areas such as loneliness and isolation as separate rather than interconnected concepts. This paper debates the specific challenges around understanding and researching the potential socio-psychological benefits of participatory arts events for the over 70s. The wellbeing outcomes are particularly important within this demographic where there is a greater risk of isolation and loneliness and of lower self-esteem and self-worth. These key areas of literature set the context of our paper in relation to arts event participation and the theoretical debates within critical gerontology. Thirdly, our paper proposes a conceptual framework to guide further studies in this area. We aim for this to stimulate the development of a more cohesive body of knowledge and much needed critical dialogue around this under researched but highly important demographic within events.


Recently, network operators around the world reported statistics of network energy requirements and the related carbon footprint, showing an alarming and growing trend. Such high energy consumption can be mainly ascribed to networking equipment designed to work at maximum capacity with high and almost constant dissipation, independent of the traffic load. However, recent developments of green network technologies suggest the chance to build future devices capable of adapting their performance and energy absorption to meet actual workload and operational requirements. In such a scenario, this contribution aims at evaluating the potential impact on next-generation wireline networks of green technologies in economic and environmental terms. We based our impact analysis on the real network energy-efficiency targets of an ongoing European project, and applied them to the expected deployment of Telecom Italia infrastructure by 2015-2020.


This chapter explores the vexed question of the legal protection of geographical indications of origin, or 'GIs', which control how terms indicating geographical origin may be used in relation to goods such as foodstuffs and alcoholic beverages. For many years GI protection has caused significant controversy among policy makers. More specifically, the debate over GIs tends to be characterized as a battle between the EU on the one hand, and various agricultural producers such as the USA, Australia and New Zealand on the other, over appropriate legal standards. The authors argue that although European policy makers make achievements on this issue, a global agreement on GI protection remains far away.


Abstract : This paper presents an approach to automatic selection and modification of behavioral assemblage parameters for autonomous navigation tasks. The goal of this research is to make obsolete the task of manual configuration of behavioral parameters, which often requires significant knowledge of robot behavior and extensive experimentation, and to increase the efficiency of robot navigation by automatically choosing and fine-tuning the parameters that fit the robot task-environment well in real time. The method is based on the Case-Based Reasoning paradigm. Derived from incoming sensor data, this approach computes spatial features of the environment. Based on the robot's performance, temporal features of the environment are then computed. Both sets of features are then used to select and fine-tune a set of parameters for an active behavioral assemblage. By continuously monitoring the sensor data and performance of the robot, the method re-selects these parameters as necessary. While a mapping from environmental features onto behavioral parameters (i.e., the cases) can be hard-coded, a method for learning new and optimizing existing cases also is presented. This completely automates the process of behavioral parameterization. The system was integrated within a hybrid robot architecture and extensively evaluated using simulations and indoor and outdoor real-world robotic experiments in multiple environments and sensor modalities, clearly demonstrating the benefits of the approach.


Aim

Some regions donate more invaders from particular taxonomic and functional groups than they receive. We demonstrate a particularly striking donor–recipient asymmetry in invasion ecology in grasses. Specifically, we explore whether low numbers of invasive grasses in South Africa can be explained by sampling biases, introduction dynamics, species traits or invasibility of ecosystems.

Location

South Africa, Australia, Chile, Europe and the USA.

Methods

We tested for a donor–recipient asymmetry using lists of native and non-native grasses in five regions across the globe. Then, using distribution, trait and environmental data, we tested whether regions differed in: (1) herbarium sampling effort; (2) introduction dynamics of non-native grasses (primary uses, area of origin and minimum residence time of non-native grasses); (3) traits of native and non-native grasses (leaf size, height, life history, growth form, C3:C4 ratio and taxonomic placement); and (4) fire frequency.

Results

South Africa has fewer invasive grasses, and fewer widespread invasive grasses, than other regions; while grasses native to South Africa are much more likely to be invasive elsewhere than other grasses. This asymmetry cannot be explained by sampling biases, historical trade links or minimum residence time. Rather it is likely to be due to a combination of: (1) the massive scale of the introduction of South African grasses around the world; (2) specific traits that make South African grasses successful competitors; and (3) the high fire frequency of many South African ecosystems to which many native grasses are adapted, but introduced grasses are not.

Main conclusion

South Africa has a high diversity of grasses that possess specific traits to cope with fire, grazing and disturbance. This makes them more competitive. Moreover, the high diversity of certain grass lineages in South Africa acts as a reservoir of potential invaders and possibly helps limit invasions in South Africa by promoting fire.


One hundred twenty-five years ago, Philotheos Bryennios discovered the text of the Didache in an eleventh-century manuscript version. In 1883 he edited the manuscript for publication, and its special fascination for scholars remains undiminished. One of the oldest extracanonical Christian documents, the Didache's origins can be traced to the first century. It is apparently a catechism, intended to provide basic instruction in the Christian lifestyle and worship for persons preparing for baptism.The Didache exhibits fascinating echoes of Jesus' teaching in its Matthean form, along with rare glimpses into the life of an early Christian community -- its values, its observance of the Eucharist, its leaders, and the character of its hope.Niederwimmer's wonderful commentary is a model of clarity and learning and a splendid addition to this premier commentary series.


Beginning with hierarchy theory as a basic premise, the book goes on to explain that the conventional &dquo;levels&dquo; ecosystems, landscapes, communites, populations, organisms are not levels in themselves but criteria for observation. The authors assert that the essential character of ecology's sub-disciplines is scale-dependent. Putting scale back into systems of well-defined types captures the richness of the connections in the material ecological system. The authors present a conceptual framework for a more coherent view of ecology, showing how to link the various parts of ecology into a natural whole.


Third-order intermodulation (IM3) is a very important issue as a degradation factor of system performance in the range of high input signal power. In this paper, the effect of IM3 from a dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulator (DEMZM) and a photodetector (PD) is analyzed for optical single-sideband (OSSB) and optical double-sideband (ODSB) signals incorporating fiber dispersion. In addition, the optimum input signal power and the signal-to-noise-and-distortion ratio (SNDR) for the two cases are also investigated to optimize the performance of the entire system. In the case of OSSB signals, the fundamental components are robust against fiber dispersion, whereas their IM3 components are still sensitive to fiber dispersion. Subsequently, the SNDR for OSSB signals fluctuated to within 6 dB in the relatively high input power range due to fiber dispersion. In the case of ODSB signals, both powers of the fundamental and IM3 components are attenuated. However, the power attenuation of IM3 due to fiber dispersion is significantly faster than that of the fundamental. Thus, the SNDR for ODSB signals is improved as fiber dispersion increases until the power of IM3 is greater than that of the additive noise level.


Antrodia cinnamomea (AC) is a medicinal fungus found locally in Taiwan. Many studies have confirmed that AC is rich in triterpenoids, polysaccharides and other nutrients that may carry functional properties such as detoxification, antiinflammatory activity, liver function improvement and anti-cancer activity. White AC is thought to be relatively rare and is therefore expensive; it has a greater content of functional compounds than regular forms of AC. Thus, this study was performed in order to develop an ideal culture medium and to compare the contents of bioactive compounds, including triterpenes and polysaccharides, and medicinal functions, such as effects on free-radicals (DPPH) and anti-B liver cancer cells (MTT assay) of the regular form (red AC), the white variant of AC, wild-type red AC in a Petri-dish culture medium, and Basswood AC. The study results showed that the homemade medium enhanced the crude triterpenoid content of mycelia and basidiomatal formation of AC under Petri-dish solid-state fermentation. The polysaccharides contents of regular and white AC were higher in the homemade medium than in the commercial medium. The antioxidant effects (DPPH) of white and red AC in the Petri-dish culture were greater than that of Basswood white AC (culture growth only for 1 month). In addition, it was found that addition of peptone to the culture medium increased the contents of DeEA, DeSA, antcin B and antcin H. Anti-B cancer cell tests showed that approximately 50% inhibition was achieved at 62.5 μg/mL. The wild-type AC fruiting bodies extract concentration was higher than 125 μg/mL, and the anti-B cancer cell effect was over 80%. The results showed that wild-type red AC also exhibited good anti-cancer effects. However, these fungi are not easy to obtain, and 2–3 years are required for the development of fruiting bodies; in addition, other issues must be overcome during culture, such as infection. This study demonstrated the development of a suitable culture medium for solid-state fermentation of AC products that confer protective effects against B liver cancer cells, which has potential applications in the healthcare industry. KeywordsAntrodia cinnamomea, HPLC; Triterpenoids, Solid-state fermentation, MTT assay.


In the last 15 years Europe and Italy in particular have paid more and more attention to cultural services management. Italy possesses the most part of inestimable cultural heritage in the world and it has only recently begun to work in order to fully bring out such heritage(TCI, 1999). This requires the following approach to the analysis of the Italian case: it is essential, on the one hand, to know the cultural sector; on the other hand, to examine closely the mechanisms by which public services are supplied. The aim of this work is to ascertain whether or not the accounting information system of the public organizations in which cultural services are supplied is able to support decisions (Hood, 1991), in a context of rapid and constant transformation in the management of public services. Having clarified the peculiarities of the context in which the services are provided across Europe, we shall now investigate the state of the Italian accounting information systems supporting the decisions and the control. How to do so? And, is the information necessary for said choice available? And if it isn't, what's such a void dependent upon? Can it be filled in any way? We shall be trying to highlight which characteristics should comprise an accounting information system in order to enable the management of such administrations to gather the information necessary for reaching the best decision, in a public context, where resources are used thanks to the sacrifice of the citizens.


Social-epidemiology that excludes Aboriginal voices often fails to capture the full and complex social worlds of Aboriginal people. Using data from an existing co-designed Victorian government Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Survey (2008/9), we worked with Aboriginal organizations to identify data priorities, select measures, interpret data, and contextualize findings. Using this participatory co-analysis approach, we selected "cultural" and "structural" determinants identified by Aboriginal organizations as important and modelled these using principal component analysis. Resulting components were then modelled using logistic regression to investigate associations with "likely being well" (Kessler-10 score < 20) for 88 Aboriginal adolescents aged 11–17 years. Principal component analysis grouped 11 structural variables into four components and 11 cultural variables into three components. Of these, "grew up in Aboriginal family/community and connected" associated with significantly higher odds of "likely being well" (OR = 2.26 (1.01–5.06), p = 0.046). Conversely, "institutionally imposed family displacement" had significantly lower odds (OR = 0.49 (0.24–0.97), p = 0.040) and "negative police contact and poverty" non-significantly lower odds (OR = 0.53 (0.26–1.06), p = 0.073) for "likely being well". Using a co-analysis participatory approach, the voices of Aboriginal researchers and Aboriginal organizations were able to construct a social world that aligned with their ways of knowing, doing, and being. Findings highlighted institutionally imposed family displacement, policing, and poverty as social sites for health intervention and emphasized the importance of strong Aboriginal families for adolescents.


This study compares the noise levels at the cold-water coral Tisler reef, before and after the closure of the border between Norway and Sweden, which occurred as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tisler reef is a marine protected area located under a ferry "highway" that connects Norway and Sweden. Cold-water coral reefs are recognised as being important hotspots of both biodiversity and biomass, they function as breeding and nursing grounds for commercially important fish and are essential in providing ecosystem functions. Whilst studies have shown that fishery, ocean warming, and acidification threaten them, the effects of noise pollution on cold-water coral reefs remains unstudied. To study the severity of noise pollution at the Tisler reef, a long-term acoustic recorder was deployed from 29 January 2020 until 26 May 2020. From 15 March COVID-19 lockdown measures stopped passenger vessel traffic between Norway and Sweden. This study found that the overall noise levels were significantly lower after border closure, due to reduced ferry traffic, wind speeds, and sea level height. When comparing the median hourly noise levels of before vs. after border closure, this study measured a significant reduction in the 63–125 Hz 1/3 octave band noise levels of 8.94 ± 0.88 (MAD) dB during the day (07:00:00–19:59:59) and 1.94 ± 0.11 (MAD) dB during the night (20:00:00–06:59:59). Since there was no ferry traffic during the night, the drop in noise levels at night was likely driven by seasonal changes, i.e., the reduction in wind speed and sea level height when transitioning from winter to spring. Taking into account this seasonal effect, it can be deduced that the COVID-19 border closure reduced the noise levels in the 63–125 Hz 1/3 octave bands at the Tisler reef by 7.0 ± 0.99 (MAD) dB during the day. While the contribution of, and changes in biological, weather-related and geophysical sound sources remain to be assessed in more detail, understanding the extent of anthropogenic noise pollution at the Tisler cold-water coral reef is critical to guide effective management to ensure the long-term health and conservation of its ecosystem functions.


Participant selection is a major research challenge in Mobile Crowdsensing (MCS). Previous approaches commonly assume that adequately long and fixed periods of candidate participants' historical mobility trajectories are available before the selection process. This enables the frameworks to accurately model mobility which enables the optimization of selection. However, this assumption may not be realistic for newly-released MCS applications or platforms because the candidates have just boarded without previous mobility profiles. The sparsity or even absence of mobility traces will incur inaccurate location prediction of the individual participant, thus imposing negative effects on the participant selection process and hindering the practical deployment of new MCS applications. To this end, this paper investigates a novel problem called "From-Scratch MCS" (FS-MCS for short), in which we study how to intelligently select participants to minimize such "cold-start" effect. Specifically, we propose a novel framework based on reinforcement learning, which we name RL-Recruiter. With the gradual accumulation of mobility trajectories over time, RL-Recruiter can make a good sequence of participant selection decisions for each sensing slot by incrementally extracting and utilizing the collective mobility patterns of all candidate participants, thus avoiding the prediction of individual participant's location that is very inaccurate when the training data is sparse. We test our approach experimentally based on two real-world mobility datasets. Our experiment results demonstrate that RL-Recruiter outperforms the baseline approaches under various settings.


This paper presents a CMOS image sensor (CIS) with a zoom ADC, to quantize in-pixel temperature sensors, as well as for faster readout speed of the image pixels while maintaining low quantization noise. The proposed 15 bit zoom ADC has a 4 bit Unit Capacitor Array (UCA) SAR and a 13 bit incremental 2nd-order delta-sigma ADC (DSADC), as its first and second stage, respectively. The proposed UCA with improved switching and decoding technique minimizes capacitor area and switching energy, by 50 % and 75 %, respectively, compared to a conventional binary weight array (BWA) counterpart. Measurement results on 4 chips show the proposed zoom ADC could operate at least twice as fast, when maintaining the same signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or improve its SNR by 9 dB, when maintaining its sampling speed, compared to a DSADC only alternative. The proposed 15 bit ADC is measured a SNR of 80.1 dB and INL and DNL within ±1.5 LSB and ±1 LSB (full scale voltage is 1 Vp-p), when operating at 31 kHz. The incorporated imager-based temperature sensors are measured to have inaccuracies within ±0.6 °C on 4 chips, between −20 and 80 °C, when quantized by the same zoom ADC.


A Dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Award of the Degree of Master of Science in Human Resources Management
(MSc.HRM) of Mzumbe University


The subjects of many of the contributions are of special interest, apart from their main function of indicating methods. For instance, Alice M. Stewart, of Oxford, describes her study of the effects of fretal irradiation, to illustrate the use of existing records; W. R. Doll, of London, deals with his statistical investigations of cancer in nickel workers and leuksemia in patients with ankylosing spondylitis treated by radiation; and T. McKeown, of Birmingham, discusses the investigation of institutional facilities for the care of the mentally sick. A pleasing inclusion is a short paper by W. N. Pickles on epidemiology in country practice, which recalls the memorable visit of this rural master to Australia.


Pemetrexed (ALIMTA, LY231514, MTA) is a novel multitargeted antifolate that is currently approved for the treatment of metastatic nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Recent evidence reveals that the drug's efficacy is limited to nonsquamous lung cancer histology. As we further understand the drug's mechanisms of action, new genomic and proteomic evidence is shedding light on why some patients respond while others do not. The first goal of this review is to briefly review pemetrexed's mechanism of action, resistance patterns, toxicity profile, and pharmacokinetics. We will also review the clinical trials that led to its use in NSCLC, with special attention to data showing that pemetrexed has greater efficacy in nonsquamous histologies of NSCLC. Furthermore, we will discuss the hypotheses for the genomic and proteomic basis for this variation in efficacy. Finally, we will report the future directions for pemetrexed as a personalized agent for nonsquamous NSCLC.


We study the frequency-dependent structure of electronic self-energy in the pseudogap and superconducting states of the two-dimensional Hubbard model. We present the self-energy calculated with the cellular dynamical mean-field theory systematically in the space of temperature, electron density, and interaction strength. We show that the low-frequency part of the self-energy is well represented by a simple equation, which describes the transitions of an electron to and from a hidden-fermionic state. By fitting the numerical data with this simple equation, we determine the parameters characterizing the hidden fermion and discuss its identity. The simple expression of the self-energy offers a way to organize numerical data of these uncomprehended superconducting and pseudogap states, as well as a useful tool to analyze spectroscopic experimental results. The successful description by the simple two-component fermion model supports the idea of ``dark'' and ``bright'' fermions emerging from a bare electron as bistable excitations in doped Mott insulators.


Although forensic biology is a powerful tool in criminal investigations, there are a number of capability gaps; namely, the interpretation of low-level DNA mixtures, associating the DNA profile with a body fluid, and the issue of consent in sexual offences. A research strategy was developed that utilises whole genome amplification (WGA), messenger RNA and microRNA analysis, DNA profiling, and clothing damage analysis. An evaluation of a WGA technique – multiple displacement amplification - with and without a macromolecular crowding agent, indicated that this may be of use for DNA samples containing certain mixing ratios; however, for this to be truly of use, knowledge of the nature of the sample preanalysis is required, which is not feasible in a forensic environment. A SYBR Greenbased mRNA gene expression test was developed that was capable of distinguishing between saliva and blood by using relative quantitation on real-time PCR. However, the low specificity of the SYBR Green meant that a higher number of controls were required for this to work at forensic standard. A single channel simultaneous analytical test for DNA and microRNA was also developed, which meant that it could be possible to definitively identify the body fluid origin of a DNA profile. This represented a significant step forward in improving forensic biology capability. Reconstruction studies were carried out in response to a sexual assault case where consent was an issue. This study demonstrated that it was possible to cause significant damage to a bra without causing damage to the hook and eye fastening; thus, negating a hypothesis offered by the defence. A long term research strategy has been developed and significant progress has been made in improving the capability of the operational forensic biologist.


The following case study utilizes in-depth qualitative interviews and participant observation data in order to examine how color-blindness operates in a diverse Christian fraternity. The color-blind ideology functions in two distinct ways: to authenticate the fraternity's collective religious identity as an inclusive Christian community and to obscure within-group racial inequalities reproduced through tokenizing racist jokes aimed at its non-white members. Color-blind statements allow members to attribute their organization's racial diversity to their accepting religious doctrine, while also making problems of race within the organization difficult to address. This article provides a theoretical contribution by highlighting the dire implications of ignoring race in diverse religious groups, particularly problematic within the "edgy" joking subculture of Christian fraternities.


The structure of the Big Five model of personality was examined when its dimensions were measured independently at both poles, based on new items designed to reduce the social desirability bias often found between the polarities. Inductive, deductive and criterion-centric methods were employed and an instrument created that measures Big Five traits both adaptively and maladaptively.

Based on a comprehensive literature review of the potency of different personality scales in predicting positive and negative performance at work, 410 items were created to measure the desired adaptive and maladaptive scales and a sample of English speaking professionals (N = 1,686 females, mean age = 44.0, SD = 12.0; N = 820 males, mean age = 46.5, SD = 13.0) assessed themselves against them on a Likert scale. Eighteen scales were created based on fifty-seven items and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was employed to understand the impact of the new structure on the Big Five. The convergent and divergent validity were tested using hypotheses regarding the proposed correlations with industry benchmark instruments. A re-validation study (N = 438), test re-test study (N = 117), consensual validity study (N = 105) and social desirability study (N = 26, N = 28, N = 40) were also undertaken. Criterion validity was examined using behavioural competency models (N = 254, N = 73), with 360 observer feedback gathered and a priori hypotheses tested. The results revealed that evaluative bias can be reduced with the proposed approach, and the Big Five factor structure persists, whilst simultaneously enabling test users to explore their adaptive and maladaptive traits at both ends of the polarities. It is argued that conceptualising maladaptive traits as the more extreme ends of the Big Five ("too much of a good thing") is helpful from a user validity perspective and avoids the risk of pathologizing people in organisational settings.

Finally, the instrument's eighteen scales have been located in the personality periodic table (Woods and Anderson, 2016) and the concept of a blended Conscientiousness and Neuroticism scale has been supported by the current research and provides a new approach. The implications for research and practice are discussed.


Controllable passband and stopband optical filters based on tilted moire fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are presented. The gratings are formed by combining two FBGs of equal period, with one of them tilted at a small angle with respect to the fiber axis. The spectral response consists of the phase-shifted, narrow resonance-dip main peak, and the discrete cladding modes. In this paper, we systematically and experimentally investigated the spectral characteristics of tilted moire FBGs. Experimental results demonstrated that, upon changing the tilt angle and grating length in different combinations, the grating and resonance-dip bandwidths, and the cladding modes characteristics, can be controlled and modified. These features enable the flexible design of optical filters with controllable passband and stopband.


The use of simple models of soil erosion which represent the main effects of management in grazing lands in northern Australia is limited by a lack of measured parameter values. In particular, parameters are needed for erosion models (sediment concentration v. cover equations) used in daily soil-water balance models. For this research, we specifically avoided equations that use rainfall and runoff rates (e.g. peak flow), as current daily models are limited in their ability to estimate these rates. The resulting models will therefore give poor estimates of soil losses for individual events, but should give good estimates of long-term average erosion and management influences. Runoff and erosion data were available for 7 years on 12 hillslope plots with cover of 10–80%, with and without grazing, with and without tree canopy cover, on a variety of soils according to various soil classification systems. Soils were grouped into those derived from sandstone (SS), mudstone (MS), and eroded mudstone (MSe). These data were used to determine two parameters, i.e. (i) efficiency of entrainment for bare soil and (ii) a cover factor, for simple models of bedload and suspended sediment concentrations. Methods used to fit parameters affected the results; optimising to obtain the minimum sum of squares of errors in soil losses gave better results than fitting an exponential equation to sediment concentration–cover data. The use of a linear slope factor in the sediment concentration models was confirmed with data from plots with slopes 4–8%. Parameters for the bedload sediment concentration model were the same for SS, MS, and MSe soils. Parameters for the suspended sediment concentration model were the same for SS and MS soils, but the MSe soil had a greater efficiency of entrainment for bare soil (about double). The sediment concentration–cover relationships and fitted cover factors were different for suspended and bedload sediment. Thus, the resulting modelled proportion of sediment as suspended load changed with cover, from ~0.3 for bare soil to 0.9 at 80% cover, mimicking the measured data. The cover factor was lower than published values for cultivated soils, indicating less reduction in sediment concentration with greater cover. A compilation of parameter values for the sediment concentration model from published and unpublished sources in grazing and cropping lands is provided.


Objective To describe the epidemiologic and clinical profile of construction workers within the framework of the tracking of the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Subjects and methods We led a descriptive study of transverse type near 210 employees belonging at public and private institutions in the construction sector of Sidi Bel-Abbès city on a six month period from November 1st 2015 to April 30th 2016. The support of the investigation is an anonymous standardised questionnaire (ATS – DLD.78.A): (American Thoracic Society – Division off Lung Disease.1978.Adults) includes several components: socio-demographic data, practices of life, respiratory "family history, personal medical history, respiratory symptoms and occupational history. The seizure and the data analysis were carried out by the Spss 22.0 software. Results The Middle Age of the employees was of 38.94±11.92 years, the smokers represented 50.4%, ex smokers 17.1% and the nonsmokers 32.5%. 56.4% of workers lived in an urban area against 43.6% in an rural area. The most counted workstations were: manoeuvre 40.2%, scrap merchant 17.1% and mason 8.5%. The family history of respiratory diseases (asthma) accounted for 8.5%. Clinically, cough and expectoration were found in 6,8% against 4.3% of chronic bronchitis (cough during three months in two consecutive years). The mini spirometry was carried out at 29.9% of the population at risk of which: Tobacco ≥ 20 packages/year some is the age: 10.3% Old ≥ 40 years and tobacco ≥ 10 packages/year: 10.3% Symptomatic subject: 5.1% The results of the VEMS/VEM6 were the following: Not detected patients (>80): 24.8% Patients at risk (70–80): 1.7% Detected patients (<70): 3.4% Conclusion The building sector and public works is associated at the proven risk of COPD, the impact of this disease on the health of the workers invites to detect the patients at the risk to act at an early stage.


Aim: To discuss risk factors associated with rupture of pregnant uterus, its diagnostic dilemmas and associated maternal and fetal complications. Background: Unscarred uterine rupture is rare and associated with high risk of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality, especially in developing countries.
Case Description: Present case series discusses six cases of unscarred uterine rupture in pregnant women over a period of seven months in rural tertiary care centre of Northern India. All cases were un-booked and were referred for poor maternal condition. There were no maternal mortalities, but uterine rupture in all cases resulted in significant blood loss leading to features of shock, severe fetal distress and fetal deaths (five out of six cases), expulsion of fetus, placenta or both into abdominal cavity, injury to bladder and need for urgent exploratory laparotomy and uterine repair or hysterectomy. All these cases occurred in unscarred uterus and major risk factors were: grand multiparity, injudicious use of oxytocics and or prostaglandins for induction and augmentation of labor, malformed uterus.
Conclusion: Unscarred uterine rupture is increasing in developing countries due to poor health care facilities and lack of awareness amongst pregnant women. There are usually no specific signs for uterine rupture resulting in delay in diagnosis and loss of golden hour period when life of both mother and fetus can be saved. This can be prevented by creating awareness amongst pregnant women about regular antenatal check-ups, hospital deliveries, family planning and training medical and paramedical staffs at periphery for conducting deliveries.
Clinical Significance: Uterine rupture is a preventable catastrophic event with high maternal morbidity and fetal morbidity and mortality.

Keywords: Fetus; Bladder; Hysterectomy; Placenta; Uterine rupture; Shock


Abstract Most studies of competition in health care focus on prices and costs, but concerns about quality play a central role in policy debates. If demand is inelastic to quality, then competition may reduce patient welfare. This study uses a dataset of patient registrations for kidney transplantation in conjunction with a mixed logit model to gauge consumers' responsiveness to quality when choosing hospitals. Results indicate that at the hospital level, a one-standard deviation increase in the graft-failure rate is associated with a 6% decline in patient registrations. Privately-insured patients are more responsive to quality than Medicare patients, suggesting that insurers consider quality when contracting with providers.


The Affordable Medicine Facility – malaria (AMFm) was a pilot project established to subsidize quality-assured artemisinin-based combination therapies (QAACTs) in eight malaria-endemic African regions: Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Madagascar, Tanzania (mainland) and Zanzibar. The objectives of the program were to increase the affordability and availability of artemisimin-based combination therapies (ACT), as well as the market share relative to other less effective antimalarial medicines. Overall, the AMFm program had a greater impact in the private-for-profit sector than the public sector. In general, public services do not work as well as their private counterparts in most countries. Inadequate services in remote areas necessitate prohibitively long journeys to access resources and care. In general, the private sector was able to provide supplies of ACTs, as long as it was profitable. Seven countries showed significant increases in availability in the private sector, six regions had significant decreases in QAACT cost, with declines ranging from $1.28 to $4.82, and all eight regions had increases in market share. Impact in remote regions was substantial, with 60% (Ghana) and 48.5% (Kenya) of facilities in remote areas stocking QAACTs. Negotiations with manufacturers, the involvement of the private sector, and supporting interventions were critical in the success of AMFm. The AMFm pilot project then transitioned into a private sector co-payment mechanism involving only six countries. The AMFm program was not sustainable due to the enormous costs of the program, potentially due to unnecessary and excessive orders of ACTs, with an estimated total of 500 million USD. Fixing this sustainability issue would make a program such as this one more applicable to other malaria-endemic countries, which have limited financial resources.


Introduction Sport has traditionally been accepted as a male domain. Incorrect beliefs in and about the histories of games and sport, and their inherent invisibility of girls and women as participants, have built a foundation of myths upon which the contemporary culture of sport and the construction of masculinity have been built. ' As is true in many versions of history, women are absent from inclusion unless an individual woman or group of women was recognized as being exceptionally outstanding. The same is true for the history of sport. The invisibility of girls and women's games and events, not to mention many events held for women and men together in certain periods of history for certain classes of people, leads one to believe that only the Amazons, Annie Oakley, Mildred "Babe" Dirdrickson Zaharias, or the Edmonton Grads had any skills in physical activity or sporting prowess.2 This is as untrue as any history that relegates women and their involvement in various societies and cultures to footnotes or invisibility. Most contemporary North American references to girls and women in sport began in the late 1800's. Common sense understanding and acceptance of the involvement of women in spoit since this time is based, to a great extent, on myth and misunderstanding.3 For the most part, 'facts' about women and sport are delimited to stories about and health cautions around physical activity for white, middle and/or upper class, heterosexual women. The sporting practices of poor and/or working class women, certain groups of immigrant, non-white, Aboriginal, and lesbian women are invisible in the mainstream historical records, newspapers, newsreels, and collective memories of most North Americans. The participation rates of girls and women in sports and other physical activities skyrocketed in the 20th century. Women surpassed record setting performances by men in only a few years. Women participate in activities such as rugby, boxing, mountain climbing, tae kwan do, and hockey as well as in traditional gender appropriate activities for females such as gymnastics, swimming, tennis, and figure skating. Although there is growing acceptance across North America for girls and women to engage in all of these activities, there is still an underlying tone that they really do not belong in the male realm of sport. The abilities of women athletes are constantly compared to those of men. The femininity and sexuality of women athletes are often called into question and the value of women athletes-both financial and personal-is based more on heterosexy femininity than on athletic excellence. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how language directed toward male athletes in sport genre films may have contributed to the traditional and collective beliefs about girls and women and their involvement in and relation to sport today. Has the practice of motivating men through language that demeans women in myriad, twentieth-century 'Hollywood' motion pictures about men and their sporting practices, perpetuated and reinforced the second class status of girls and women as athletes? Setting the Scene There are two primary fin de side factors that can be critically analyzed to construct the contemporary foundation upon which many beliefs and practices about girls and women's participation in sport and physical activity can be based: the social and economic conditions that led to the first wave of feminist activism in North America and the movement to rekindle the spirit of sport and manhood through the 'rebirth' of the Olympic Games. These factors likely contribute to the basis for the belief system about women and the role of women in the sport films used in this analysis. A third factor, relative to the purpose of this paper, the role of misogynistic language in feature films about men's sport, was the actual development of the first 'motion' pictures. This technology was also developed at the end of the nineteenth century and will be briefly discussed. …


Previous studies have described the existence of high mobility group (HMG)-like proteins in macronuclei of the ciliated protozoan, Tetrahymena thermophila (Hamana, K., and K. Iwai, 1979, J. Biochem. [Tokyo], 69:1097-1111; Levy-Wilson, B., M. S. Denker, and E. Ito, 1983, Biochemistry, 22:1715-1721). In this report, two of these proteins, LG- 1 and LG-2, have been further characterized. Polyclonal antibodies raised against LG-1 and LG-2 fail to cross react with each other or any other macronuclear polypeptide in immunoblotting analyses. As well, LG- 1 and LG-2 antibodies do not react with calf thymus, chicken, or yeast HMG proteins. Consistent with these results, a 47 amino-terminal sequence of LG-1 has been determined that shows limited homology to both calf thymus HMGs 1 and 2 and HMGs 14 and 17. Two internal sequences of V8 protease-generated peptides from LG-2 have been determined, and these do not share any homology to the LG-1 sequence or any other sequenced HMG proteins. Comparison of the partial sequences of LG-1 and LG-2 with the complete amino acid sequence of the Tetrahymena histone H1 (Wu, M., C. D. Allis, R. Richman, R. G. Cook, and M. A. Gorovsky, 1986, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 83:8674-8678) rules out the possibility that LG-1 and LG-2 are proteolytically derived from H1, the other major macronuclear perchloric acid-soluble protein. Interestingly, however, both LG-1 and LG-2 are efficiently extracted from macronuclei by elutive intercalation (Schroter, H., G. Maier, H. Ponsting, and A. Nordheim, 1985, Embo (Eur. Mol. Biol. Organ.) J., 4:3867-3872), suggesting that both may share yet undetermined properties with HMGs 14 and 17 of higher eukaryotes. Examination of the pattern of LG-1 and LG-2 synthesis during the sexual phase of the life cycle, conjugation, demonstrates that the synthesis of LG-1 and LG-2 is coordinately increased from basal levels during the differentiation of new macronuclei (7-13 h), suggesting that both of these proteins play a role in determining a macronuclear phenotype. However, a specific induction of LG-2 synthesis is detected in early stages of conjugation (meiotic prophase, 1-4 h), leading to maximal synthesis of LG-2 at 3 h. Interestingly, the early induction of LG-2 synthesis closely parallels the hyperphosphorylation of histone H1. Taken together, these data suggest that LG-1 and LG-2 are not strongly related to each other or to higher eukaryotic HMG proteins.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Rough Description Logics (DLs) have been studied as a means for representing and reasoning with imprecise knowledge. It has been shown that reasoning in rough DLs can be reduced to reasoning in a classical DL that allows value restrictions, and transitive and inverse roles. This shows that for propositionally closed DLs, the complexity of reasoning is not increased by the inclusion of rough constructors. However, applying such a reduction to rough EL yields an exponential time upper bound. We show that this blow-up in complexity can be avoided, providing a polynomial-time completion-based algorithm for classifying rough EL ontologies.


World transport faces a serious challenge, which involves the detrimental impact of its activity on the environment. Marine transport is a significant link in the worldwide transport system, which provides the free flow of diversified cargoes and offers competitive prices compared to other modes of transport for the carriage of goods. Seaports enabling waterborne transport have a major impact on the economic, social and natural environment. Port managing authorities show growing awareness of the negative influence of port units on the surrounding environment. Concurrently, environmentally friendly measures are implemented in line with the principles of sustainable development. The article aim is to present the characteristics of the green ports concept in response to ports struggle with environmental problems. The article presents port development background and the evolving approach to environmental issues. The seaport in Gdynia is an example of pursuing a sustainable development policy, and informally is well embedded in the concept of green ports.


This article argues that the traditional way of defining and measuring domestic tourism may be overly simplistic and is not necessarily as straightforward as is commonly thought. This discussion provides insights into certain geographic conditions and spatial anomalies that give cause to rethink situations that might be labeled "domestic tourism" but that in reality may not be truly domestic, or that might deviate from the strictest tenets of the domestic tourism phenomenon. Conditions of travel between noncontiguous territories, the effects of a country's size or shape, a country's physical geography and accessibility, visiting contested territories or sections of partitioned states, and international sameday excursions while visiting a domestic destination call into question the customary measure of travel within one's country of residence as the only defining criterion of domestic tourism. These exceptions to the normative practices of domestic travel have important policy, legislative, management, and research implications.


Tourism environment problem increases prominent and overload is becoming more and more serious. This paper analyses the problems of city tourism environment sustainable carrying capacity to provide competitive advantage and sustainable source of competition. When related to tourism sustainability, the coupling relationship of tourism environment carrying capacity and tourist number of destinations or tourist areas must also be considered form the perspective of management innovation. This paper provides a new perspective for tourism enterprises through the analysis of Nandaihe International Amusement Center tourist area. It aims to provide a new perspective for the carrying capacity of the tourism environment, promotes tourism environment from the "latent capacity" to "carrying strength" transformation to achieve transformation from sustainable carrying to carrying sustainability of tourism destinations.


Binder jetting additive manufacturing is a promising way to process ceramic materials which are hard to be manufactured into complex shapes using conventional methods. However, the application of binder jetting is limited by the relatively low density of manufactured parts. Powder bed forming process is a critical step that determines the powder bed density and consequently the part density. Thus, investigating and understanding the power spreading process is necessary to improve the part density. A numerical model is developed to predict the powder bed density under different spreading conditions using the discrete element method (DEM). The predicted DEM results are compared with the prediction of an analytical model. The results show that under different layer thicknesses (50 μm, 70 μm, 100 μm) and roller diameters (12 mm, 14 mm, and 16 mm), the predicted maximum powder bed density by these two models has nearly the same value and the predicted maximum packing stress has the same trend.


. We consider a class of step skew product systems of interval diffeomorphisms over shift operators, as a means to study random compositions of interval diffeomorphisms. The class is chosen to present in a simplified setting intriguing phenomena of intermingled basins, master-slave synchronization and on-off intermittency. We provide a self-contained discussion of these phenomena.


This paper is intended to clarify the criteria used to differentiate the individual from the collective nature of labour disputes in Ethiopian labour law, and to cast light on processes and powers assigned to the actors to seek a settlement. To this end, an analysis of the provisions laid down in the Labour Proclamation will be carried out, alongside an overview of legal opinion and the precedents set by the Cassation Division of the Federal Supreme Court. The aim here is to provide the readership – whether practitioners and the general public – with some useful insight into a neglected – yet crucial – topic of national labour law.


Given the importance of international trade and export performance in economic growth, this study attempts to examine the determinants of exports of Pakistan, using a time series data over the period 1975-2008. A simultaneous equation approach is followed and the demand and supply side equations are specified with appropriate variables. We country-wise disaggregated analysis of Pakistan versus its trade partners and the estimation strategy is based on two approaches. First we employ the Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM), which is followed by the Empirical Bayesian technique to get consistent estimates. The GMM technique is believed to be efficient for time series data provided the sample size is sufficiently large. In case of small samples, the estimates might not be precise and might appear with unbelievable sign and insignificant magnitudes. To avoid the sample bias and other problems we employ the Empirical Bayesian technique which provides much precise estimates. The factual results obtained via the GMM technique are a little bit mixed, although most of the coefficients are found to be statistically significant and carry their expected signs. In order to compare and validate these results, the Empirical Bayesian technique is employed. This offers considerable improvement over the previous results and all the variables are found to be highly significant with correct sign across the countries concerned with the exception of a few cases. The price and income elasticities in both the demand and supply side equations carry their expected signs and significant magnitudes for the trading partners. The findings suggest that exports of Pakistan are much sensitive to changes in world demand and world prices. This establishes the importance of demand side factors like world GDP, Real exchange rate, and world prices to determine the exports of Pakistan. On the supply side we find relatively small price and income elasiticities. The results reveal that demand for exports is relatively higher for countries in NAFTA, European Union and Middle East regions. The study recommends more concentration on the trade partners in these regions to improve the export performance.


The construction industry is responsible for about one third of the annual global GHG emissions and its products carry significant lock-in risks: infrastructure and structures built today will contribute to anthropogenic GHG emissions for the next decades. Due to operational diversity, structural complexity, and the emission fluctuations associated with project-based work, construction companies struggle, however, with defining relevant carbon reduction targets. This study aimed at deriving a conceptual model for how these organizations can set targets that are meaningful in respect to their business characteristics. Conducted as a case study of the Skanska group, a qualitative approach was used: Interviews with different business units as well as literature reviews about the existing target setting methodologies, science-based methods, and approaches in other yet similar industries as well as competitors were leveraged to collect information. This data was qualitatively analyzed, discussed and compared against the requirements of defining reduction targets in the construction industry. An overarching, company-wide target is neither practically conceivable nor environmentally robust. Companies such as the Skanska group are recommended to differentiate between their different operations and to develop separate targets for each. Depending on the business volatility of these operations absolute or relative target setting methods are to be used. Meaningful relative targets require operations with low emission homogeneity to be broken down into further separate targets for individual activities, e.g., individual targets for the manufacturing of asphalt and concrete. Construction work itself has to be addressed by individual targets on project level for each project type, e.g., highways, bridges, offices, and residential, in order to avoid the issues of structural complexity and emission fluctuations. Creating a company-wide performance indicator embracing all construction work is only possible by normalizing these project-based targets a second time, e.g., by measuring the turnover of projects meeting the individual reduction targets.


Weeds reduce the potential yield of many crops as they are the host of many pests and diseases that ultimately deteriorate the quality and quantity of the produce. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the weed seed bank in arid zone area of Pakistan. This study reports the results of a 2 years experiment that was carried out at University Research Farm, Chakwal Road, Rawalpindi to assess weed seed bank response against different tillage systems in rain fed wheat. Experiment was arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four tillage treatments repeated thrice. These tillage treatments i.e. T1 = conventional tillage (farmer's practice), T2 = zero tillage, T3 = disk harrowing + glyphosate + direct seeding and T4 = chiseling + glyphosate + direct seeding were applied in kharif season, 2013 (Kharif crops are those crops which are grown on the onset of monsoon season i.e. from July to October each year) just after harvesting of wheat crop of previous rabi season, 2012-13 (Rabi cropping season is from October to March each year). Soil samples for weed seed bank analysis were collected periodically from three soil depths i.e. 0-10 cm, 11-20 cm and 21-30 cm at three stages i.e. pre cultivation, pre sowing and post harvesting stages. The results demonstrated that higher seed species density, weed species diversity, species frequency, dominant weed seed species, relative density, relative frequency, relative importance of species, temporal distribution of species were reported at post harvesting stage as compared to pre-cultivation and pre-sowing stages. This study would enable us to find the clear picture of the weed seed bank present in these soils to design future weed management strategies.


An authenticated group key exchange (AGKE) protocol allows participants to construct a common key and provide secure group communications in cooperative and distributed applications. Recently, Choi et al. proposed an identity (ID)-based authenticated group key exchange (IDAGKE) protocol from bilinear pairings. However, their protocol suffered from an insider colluding attack because it didn't realize the security issue of withstanding insider attacks. Withstanding insider attacks mean that it can detect whether malicious participants exist in the group key exchange protocol. Nevertheless, an AGKE protocol resistant to insider attacks is still unable to find "who are malicious participants". In this paper, we propose an ID-based AGKE protocol with identifying malicious participants. In our protocol, we use a confirmed computation property to achieve identifying malicious participants. Certainly, it is also secure against insider attacks. In the random oracle model and under related mathematical hard problems, we prove that the proposed protocol a secure AGKE protocol with identifying malicious participants.


In 1973, San Francisco allergist Ben Feingold created an uproar by claiming that synthetic food additives triggered hyperactivity, then the most commonly diagnosed childhood disorder in the United States. He contended that the epidemic should not be treated with drugs such as Ritalin but, instead, with a food additive free diet. Parents and the media considered his treatment, the Feingold diet, a compelling alternative. Physicians, however, were skeptical and designed dozens of trials to challenge the idea. The resulting medical opinion was that the diet did not work and it was rejected. Matthew Smith asserts that those scientific conclusions were, in fact, flawed. An Alternative History of Hyperactivity explores the origins of the Feingold diet, revealing why it became so popular, and the ways in which physicians, parents, and the public made decisions about whether it was a valid treatment for hyperactivity. Arguing that the fate of Feingold's therapy depended more on cultural, economic, and political factors than on the scientific protocols designed to test it, Smith suggests the lessons learned can help resolve medical controversies more effectively.


Electromagnetic pulse simulators are essential for testing the ability of electronic devices to withstand high intensity electromagnetic elds. This work presents the analysis of various parallel plate transmission lines used in electromagnetic pulse simulators. Numerical techniques are developed to obtain the characteristic impedance, eld map, and cut-o frequencies for the higher order modes of these transmission lines as exact analytical methods are not available for the determination of these quantities. The eld map and characteristic impedance are computed using both nite element method (FEM) and boundary element method (BEM). Cut-o frequencies of the higher order modes are computed using FEM. The analysis presented can handle very general transmission line geometries. This analysis is useful for the design of electromagnetic pulse simulators.


Purpose : How to influence meaningful experiences to motivate salespeople with an orientation on the identification Consumer satisfaction with the reward at the sales employee Textile in South Surabaya.
Design/methodology/approach : The research approach used in this study is a quantitative approach, the research focuses on hypothesis testing. The data used is the data measured and will produce results that can be generalized. This study is causal because it will examine the influence between variables.
Findings Based on the results of the regression analysis shows that the significance value (Sig) t is 0.025. Because the value (Sig) 0.025 t less than the level ? 5% (0.05), the satisfaction of reward (pay satisfaction) strengthening the influence of a meaningful experience (experienced meaningfulness) to motivate salespeople to make customer orientation significantly.
Research limitations/implications : This study uses the sales advisor respondents. General job description of this section is to conduct the sale of textile unit according to the targets set, which includes the search for Consumers (prospecting), Negotiation, closing, administrative process of sales, delivery and complaint.
Practical implications : A validity test is used to determine the extent of measuring instruments used actually measure what yang want to be measured. The test is performed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation.
Originality/value : The results showed meaningful experience (experienced meaningfulness) significantly affect the motivation of salespeople to make customer orientation and satisfaction with rewards (pay satisfaction) strengthening the influence of meaningful experience (experienced meaningfulness) to motivate salespeople to make customer orientation significantly.