Decolonizing discourses teach us that we need to move away from the universalizing 'grand narratives' of knowledge production and focus on contextualizing diverse and situated experiences, epistemologies and narratives. Yet, few contributions actively demonstrate what a shift to decolonizing design means in practice. Participatory Design (PD) approaches are particularly well-suited to contributing to contemporary debates of decolonization in design due to PD's long-standing political traditions and values of equality and empowerment, but even here empirical methods and techniques to fully realize pluriversality in design are lacking. In line with the CHI 2021 theme of Making Waves. Combining Strengths, this interactive workshop will invigorate the debates and practices in HCI of decolonization by bringing together and demonstrating how designers and researchers in diverse global contexts are working with and adapting modes, concepts, methodologies and sensibilities into decolonizing design practices. Not only will this workshop provide new ways of thinking in HCI but also fuse theories and practices to develop truly transcultural approaches to HCI.


We staged the transfer of the aurofusarin and bikaverin biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) to Aspergillus nidulans with the aim of gaining functional insights into dynamics immediately following a horizontal gene transfer (HGT) event. While the introduction of both BGCs resulted in the production of detectable pathway metabolites in A. nidulans, the transferred aurofusarin BGC formed dimeric shunt products instead of aurofusarin. This was linked to low transcription of the cluster activator and insufficient activity of tailoring enzymes, demonstrating how a shift of the pathway bottleneck after HGT can result in metabolic innovation. The transferred bikaverin BGC readily produced bikaverin, providing a model system for studying the conservation of regulatory responses to environmental cues. Conserved PacC‐mediated pH regulation of the bikaverin BGC was observed between original host Fusarium fujikuroi and A. nidulans. Contrary to strong nitrogen responses described in other hosts, the BGC appeared unresponsive to environmental nitrogen in A. nidulans. While F. fujikuroi and A. nidulans both form chlamydospore‐like structures when exposed to ralsolamycin, specific induction of the bikaverin BGC was not observed in A. nidulans. We propose that the presence of compatible cis‐regulatory elements in BGCs facilitates regulatory conservation after transfer, without which the chromosomal context would dictate expression.


In this work, the physical and mechanical properties of bleached Eucalyptus pulp reinforced with nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) are compared with those of traditional beaten pulp used in the making of writing/printing and offset printing papers. For this purpose, three different types of hardwood slurries were prepared: beaten pulps, unbeaten pulps reinforced with NFC, and slightly beaten pulps also reinforced with NFC. Physical and mechanical tests were performed on handsheets from these different slurries. The results showed that adding NFC to unbeaten pulps results in physical and mechanical properties similar to those in pulps used for printing/writing papers. Nevertheless, the best results were obtained in slurries previously beaten at slight conditions and subsequently reinforced with NFC. These results demonstrate that the addition of NFC allows a reduction in beating intensity without decreasing the desired mechanical properties for this specific purpose.


Architectural adaptation is important for handling self- configuring properties of autonomic distributed systems. It can be achieved by model-based management of dynamic architectures. Describing dynamic architectures includes defining rules for reconfiguration management. Within this research context, several works have been conducted using formal specification to handle this complexity. Graph and graph rewriting-based approaches showed, through many studies, their appropriateness to tackle architectural adaptation problems. However, scalability of such approaches remains an open issue and has been rarely explored. In this paper, we investigate this issue. We introduce a graph-based general approach for handling of dynamic architectures, and we illustrate it within a scenario of collaboration support in Crisis Management Systems. We elaborate the formal models for dynamic architecture management. Using the French Grid GRID5000, we conducted an experimental study to assess the scalability of the elaborated models.


ABSTRACT Interpretation research can be and is used to inform and improve interpretation policymaking and planning undertaken by practitioners such as those who work for Australian protected area management (PAM) agencies. This study explores perceptions of the extent to which interpretation research is undertaken and used by these agencies, and the facilitators and constraints to doing so. In-depth telephone interviews were conducted with senior interpretation planners and managers in all Australian PAM agencies. The findings indicate that interpretation research is usually prompted by a crisis or a short-term need such as a specific project and that most research is site-specific and content-focused, while respondents see a need for more longitudinal and evaluation-focused research. Two-thirds of the respondents reported that their agency made poor or no use of research findings for improving interpretation practice. Stated barriers to undertaking and using research included lack of funding, lack of time and that research was not considered an agency priority. Underpinning these were perceptions consistent with diffusion of innovation theory (e.g., that doing or using research is perceived as being too complex, not compatible with agency goals or not offering relative advantage). Strategies for removing these perceptual barriers to undertaking and using interpretation research and research findings are presented.


Natural killer (NK) cell activity is influenced by a complex integration of signaling pathways activated downstream of both activating and inhibitory surface receptors. The tumor microenvironment can suppress NK cell activity, and there is a great clinical interest in understanding whether modulating tumor-mediated NK cell suppression and/or boosting preexisting NK cell numbers in cancer patients is therapeutically viable. To this light, we characterized the surface receptor phenotypes of peripheral blood NK cells and examined their clinical relevance to human gastric cancer (GC). We found that the proportion of peripheral blood NK cells which expressed the activating receptors NKp30, NKp46, NKG2D, and DNAM-1 was significantly decreased in GC patients compared to healthy donors, and that this decrease was positively associated with tumor progression. At the same time, plasma TGF-β1 concentrations were significantly increased in GC patients and negatively correlated with the proportion of NKp30, NKp46, NKG2D, and DNAM-1 expressing NK cells. Furthermore, TGF-β1 significantly downregulated the expression of NKp30, NKp46, NKG2D, and DNAM-1 on NK cells in vitro, and the addition of galunisertib, an inhibitor of the TGF-β receptor subunit I, reversed this downregulation. Altogether, our data suggest that the decreased expression of activating receptors NKp30, NKp46, NKG2D, and DNAM-1 on peripheral blood NK cells is positively associated with GC progression, and that TGF-β1-mediated NK cell suppression may be a therapeutically targetable characteristic of GC.


The Schottky barrier determines the contact resistance between metals and semiconductors. Lowering the Schottky barrier height (SBH) reduces the contact resistance and thus the energy consumption as well as the heat production of electronic devices. Detailed understanding and quantitative calculations of the SBH as a function of interface composition are possible via atomistic simulations using the MedeA® [1] software platform, thus enabling the tuning of the contact resistance. This application note illustrates the calculation and modification of the SBH for a NiSi/Si contact showing the reduction of the Schottky barrier height by doping with barium. Furthermore it is demonstrated how the preferred positions of dopant atoms such as sulfur can be determined.


The recent advance of neural fields, such as neural radiance fields, has significantly pushed the boundary of scene representation learning. Aiming to boost the computation efficiency and rendering quality of 3D scenes, a popular line of research maps the 3D coordinate system to another measuring system, e.g., 2D manifolds and hash tables, for modeling neural fields. The conversion of coordinate systems can be typically dubbed as gauge transformation, which is usually a pre-defined mapping function, e.g., orthogonal projection or spatial hash function. This begs a question: can we directly learn a desired gauge transformation along with the neural field in an end-to-end manner? In this work, we extend this problem to a general paradigm with a taxonomy of discrete & continuous cases, and develop an end-to-end learning framework to jointly optimize the gauge transformation and neural fields. To counter the problem that the learning of gauge transformations can collapse easily, we derive a general regularization mechanism from the principle of information conservation during the gauge transformation. To circumvent the high computation cost in gauge learning with regularization, we directly derive an information-invariant gauge transformation which allows to preserve scene information inherently and yield superior performance.


Confidentiality has become an integral part of the individual enforcement model for equality law in Australia and the UK. Contrary to the focus on openness and transparency in the courts generally, confidentiality is embedded in the enforcement, process, and outcomes of equality law. In this article, we consider the role and utility of confidentiality in equality law in Australia and the UK. We scrutinise the ways confidentiality is embedded in the enforcement, process, and outcomes of equality law, including via an examination of statutory provisions in each jurisdiction, the processes adopted by statutory equality agencies and the available information about claims in each jurisdiction. We argue that the enforcement of equality law requires a more nuanced balance between confidentiality and transparency to support the individual and systemic aims of equality law and the imperatives of the rule of law.


Local sea-level is affected by a number of forcing factors, which all contribute to the trends observed by tide gauges. Here we use the fingerprints of main factors contributing to secular sea-level trends to construct an initial empirical model that explains best the trends in sea-level as recorded by the large number of coastal tide gauges over the last 50 years. The forcing factors considered include steric changes derived from observations, post-glacial rebound as predicted by geophysical models and mass changes in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets as predicted by the static sea-level equation. The approximation of the observed spatial pattern of sea-level trends through a model based on the spatial fingerprints of the main forcing factors fully utilizes the information contents of the available observations and models and allows the interpolation of the sea-level trends between the tide gauges. As a result, we obtain the global picture of sea-level trends due to the forcing factors accounted for in the analysis. Moreover, we derive constraints on the mass changes of the large ice sheets. The empirical models explain about 15% of the variance of the sea-level trends. Nevertheless, the models are correlated with the observations on the level of 0.38±0.07, indicating that most of the unexplained variance is due to contributions with small spatial scales. Averaged over the last five decades, the results indicate that the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets have been melting with an equivalent contribution to global sea-level rise of 0.39±0.11 and 0.10±0.05 mm yr−1, respectively. The steric signal derived from observations is clearly identified in the sea-level trends and is found to be at a minimum of 0.2 mm yr−1, with the most likely value being close to 0.35 mm yr−1. The global tide gauge network, which covers only a small fraction of the ocean surface, appears to sense an average sea-level rise larger than the global average. Extrapolating the regression models to the global ocean and taking into account the uncertainties in the extrapolation results in a most likely global average of the order of 1.05±0.75 mm yr−1.


The role of the right ventricle has often been underestimated in heart failure. It has been thought that the right cavity has a less prominent impact on symptoms, therapeutic approach, and prognosis. Right ventricular dysfunction is a complex issue and its diagnosis has acquired a relevant role, in particular with the improvement of new therapeutic options such as ventricular assist devices. The complex geometry of the right ventricle and its interaction with the left ventricle are still a matter of debate, leaving several open questions about the best therapeutic approach to manage right ventricular dysfunction. Echocardiography remains the first-line imaging technique, but an integrated multimodality evaluation with clinical, biochemical and hemodynamic parameters, and cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging can provide a more comprehensive way to choose the most appropriate treatment for patients with heart failure associated with right ventricular dysfunction.


Results are presented for the occupation probabilities and current densities of bulk and edge states of half-filled graphene in a cylindrical geometry, and irradiated by a circularly polarized laser. It is assumed that the system is closed, and that the laser has been switched on as a quench. Laser parameters corresponding to some representative topological phases are studied: one where the Chern number of the Floquet bands equals the number of chiral edge modes, a second where anomalous edge states appear in the Floquet Brillouin zone boundaries, and a third where the Chern number is zero, yet topological edge states appear at the center and boundaries of the Floquet Brillouin zone. Qualitative differences are found for the high frequency off-resonant and low frequency on-resonant laser with edge states arising due to resonant processes occupied with a high effective temperature on the one hand, while edge states arising due to off-resonant processes occupied with a low effective temperature on the other. For an ideal half-filled system where only one of the bands in the Floquet Brillouin zone is occupied and the other empty, particle-hole and inversion symmetry of the Floquet Hamiltonian implies zero current density. However the laser switch-on protocol breaks the inversion symmetry, resulting in a net cylindrical sheet of current density at steady-state. Due to the underlying chirality of the system, this current density profile is associated with a net charge imbalance between the top and bottom of the cylinders.


Television rights are an essential component of the revenue generated by professional sporting leagues, and protecting the copyright in the broadcasting of matches is therefore of significant importance to these leagues. A Federal Court decision has held that there had been a breach of copyright when Optus allowed its mobile phone users to access matches on a two minute delay. However, European and English Courts have held that the plaintiff's copyright only existed in the anthem, graphics and recorded highlights, not in the actual matches.


To address the power management challenge in multi-core microprocessors, we present a lightweight machine learning based dynamic power management (SmartDPM ) scheme in which the voltage–frequency levels of the cores are dynamically adjusted along with online learning based workload prediction in an observer-controller loop. To enable scalability, our SmartDPM employs a per-application autonomous power management policy, in which online machine learning principles are employed for predicting the workload and capturing sporadic variations under the constraints of accurate yet lightweight. Further, applications are assigned appropriate voltage–frequency level towards an efficient power management. The learning helps in dynamically reducing prediction error. Compared to the non-DVFS implementation, SmartDPM achieves nearly 35% power saving and nearly 15% higher power savings on average compared to the existing machine learning based power management schemes for a microprocessor with up to 32-cores.


Objectives : A prospective study conducted in Basra General Hospital from April 2008 to March 200٩ to find the cause -effect relationship between chronic suppurative otitis media and sensorineural hearing loss . Method : Hearing thresholds of hundred patients with chronic suppurative otitis media were determined using Pure Tone Audiometry. All subjects were less than 40 years old (to exclude Age related hearing loss) , unilateral cases selected (so as the contralateral healthy ear served as a control) . All of them presented criteria of evaluation which exclude the other possible causes of sensorineural hearing loss like : chronic medical illnesses , otological surgeries , hereditary causes , exposure to noise and exposure to systemic ototoxic drugs . Results : The average loss in bone conduction threshold was determined between the affected and healthy ear in relation to the disease duration and in relation to the extent of the pathology . Conclusion : We found that the longer the duration of the disease and the more complicated the pathology, the more the loss in bone conduction .This loss is mostly at the higher frequencies .


Sukaregang Area in Garut District is one of the area developed to be the central of small
industries (CSI) of tannery since 1920. The handling of tanneries wastewater contamination are by
developing wastewater treatment instalation (WWTI) and developed service zones, and the WWTI has
only built in Zone 1 and 2 with the capacity of 300 m3
/day and 400 m3
/day. The lach of land to build
another WWTI, has made the government to increase the service of Zone 2 WWTI, which now not
operated. Operationalization of Zone 2 WWTI for the increase of it service needs to consider the changes
of the wastewater quality and the quantity characteristics. The results of wastewater characteristics
measurement from several tanneries in Zone 2, are the increase of the average wastewater flow into
508,94 m3
/day and the dominant parameters of the mixed wastewater quality from several production
processes of common tanneries are BOD, COD, TSS, and heavy metal Chrom. The assesment to the
suitability of the existing WWTI capacity for the update treatment loading results the recomendation of
selected design as the addition of the capacity of the equalization unit, the changes of the existing
coagulation unit into Chrom reduction-precipitation units, and the modification of sedimentation unit to
increase the laminerity and to decrease flow turbulance, in other hand the exsiting biological treatment
unit is kept considering the operation parameters value still full-filled the criteria, through sludge
recirculation adujstment.
Keywords : tannery, wastewater treatment, assesment,recommendation


How the social and institutional context is structured and represented by its actors has an impact on positive aging representations. This qualitative study explores professionals' views on positive aging, how they promote positive aging in their practice and what disparities occur between their discourses and the actual practice of promoting positive aging. Interviews were conducted with professionals from different active aging promotion services and analyzed with thematic coding. Findings show professionals hold negative views on aging while trying to promote positive views in their work, illustrating an existing theory-practice gap. Strategies used in practice can be integrated in existing agency models and inform interventions and active aging policies.


Pulmonary artery aneurysms (PAAs) are an infrequent condition. Only a few, isolated cases have been reported in the literature worldwide and appropriate management remains unclear. We present the case of a 48-year old patient, with a history of high blood pressure and tobacco use, who was admitted to our center for acute lateral myocardial infarction with subsequent coronary angioplasty of the circumflex artery. Interestingly, chest x-rays showed a sacular image at the level of the left edge second arch. Later, resonance angiography revealed aneurismatic dilatation measuring 53 mm in the pulmonary trunk and 23 mm in the left pulmonary artery (Figure). The patient was discharged at 5 days, opting for conservative management of the aneurysm due to the patient's clinical history (asymptomatic and with no published data to indicate high risk of rupture). At 9 months follow-up, the patient presented no clinical change and resonance angiography showed no difference in the anatomic characteristics of the aneurysm. A review of the literature suggested the etiology of PAAs can be congenital or acquired. Congenital aneurysms are usually associated with cardiac malformations causing pulmonary hypertension, and persistent ductus arteriosus is the most frequent. Other causes include atrial and ventricular defects. Acquired causes can be idiopathic or associated with other processes, like infections (tuberculosis, syphilis), traumatisms, pulmonary valvular stenosis, or diseases affecting collagenous tissue. So, many PAAs coincide with a series of pathologic situations prior to development of the aneurysm: increased pulmonary flow, pulmonary hypertension, and/ or a coexisting pathologic process affecting the vascular wall. In the infrequent cases when PAA is not due to a functional or structural anomaly of the cardiovascular system, it is known as idiopathic PAA. Our patient corresponds to this clinical condition as we excluded causes and factors that predispose development of a PAA. Clinical presentation of a PAA varies. It can be asymptomatic, being a chance finding in a chest x-ray as in our patient. In symptomatic patients, dyspnea, hemoptysis and chest pain are most frequent. Hemoptysis generally indicates instability of the aneurysm and indicates the need for surgical intervention. Diagnosis by transesophageal echocardiography visualizes the trunk and rules out pulmonary hypertension or pulmonary valve infection and intracardiac shunt as secondary causes of the LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


When called upon to host a banquet celebrating the forthcoming Great Exhibition of 1851, the world's first display of international industry, the Mayor of York turned to the period's most renowned chef for the catering. The Frenchman Alexis Soyer, who had recently resigned from his position at the Reform Club in Pall Mall, had made a name for himself in Britain through a combination of extravagant culinary endeavours and popular household cookery books. The banquet at York was an important occasion; joining Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's Consort, was a long list of national luminaries from Victorian high society and the political world. Soyer did not disappoint the Mayor, or his guests. The Times commented that amongst the vast array of international cuisines on offer was featured "one dish, to which turtles, ortolans, and other rich denizens of land and sea had contributed, [which] cost not less than 100l." The paper noted with satisfaction that the feast was consumed before an "emblematical device representing Britannia in her conventional attire receiving the industrial products of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America" ("The Banquet at York" 5). That this emblem provided the backdrop to such cosmopolitan fare was salient: it spoke to the way in which the production and consumption of food would become a crucial motif in the positive representation of globalisation as it was understood at the Exhibition; it also highlighted the important role that the Victorian metropolis would fulfil in the realisation of this new world order. Certainly, the internationalist bent of Soyer's cooking seemed entirely appropriate to the luminaries gathered at the York banquet, and it was no doubt with the French chef's culinary scope in their minds as well as their stomachs that the Exhibition's organisers invited Soyer to submit a tender to provide refreshments at the display itself (Soyer 197).


This edition of the collected poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar includes 60 poems not included in the previous - and now out of print - "Complete Poems". 16 of these were found in manuscript form. Paul Laurence Dunbar's work achieved wide recognition in the first part of this century. The author of six volumes of poetry, as well as novels, liberettos, songs and essays, he was nationally known and accepted by black and white readers alike. The poet's influence has been far-reaching, and reaction to him, at times, controversial. In addition to creating musical renditions of black folk language, both comic and serious, he wrote lyrical poetry in standard English verse, inspired by Shakespeare, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson and the American romantics. Critics in Dunbar's day, however, led by William Dean Howells, noted only his comic dialect poetry, dismissing the standard English poetry and ignoring the subtlety and depth of the dialect work. Disagreements about the significance and meaning of Dunbar's poetry have continued through succeeding generations.


Abstract Jamaican LGBTI youth face tragic disparities, the level of which warrants immediate legislative attention. Jamaica has been characterized as one of the most homophobic and transphobic societies globally. Therefore, LGBTI youth routinely experience widespread discrimination and hostility at from the very social institutions (i.e. family, school, community and government) from which they would expect nurturance, care and protection. Also troubling is the fact that despite the country being a signatory to numerous United Nations human rights agreements, there are no legal protections against the discrimination they face. Considering the wealth of empirical evidence on the dire effects of homophobia and transphobia on youth's well-being, a serious and urgent public health undertaking is necessary to address the homophobia and transphobia and their assumed deleterious outcomes for youth in that context. Comprehensive society-wide measures are obligatory to prevent and reduce the risk of victimization of all youth, but particularly LGBTI youth.


Earthquake early warning systems (EEWSs) are considered to be one of the most effective means for seismic risk mitigation, in terms of both losses and societal resilience, by releasing an alarm immediately after an earthquake occurs and before strong ground shaking arrives the target sites to be protected. To gain experience for the National System for Fast Seismic Intensity Report and Earthquake Early Warning project, we deployed a hybrid demonstration EEWS in the Sichuan–Yunnan border region with micro-electro-mechanical system-based sensors and broadband seismographs and low-latency data transmission. In this study, we described the structure of this EEWS and analyzed its performance in the first 2 yr from January 2017 to December 2018. During this test period, the EEWS detected and processed a total of 126 ML 3.0+ earthquakes, with excellent epicentral location and magnitude estimation. The average location and magnitude estimation errors for the first alert were 4.2±7.1  km and 0.2±0.31, respectively. For the earthquakes that occurred inside and outside the hybrid network, the first alert was generated 13.4±5.1  s and 26.3±13.5  s after the origin time (OT), respectively. We analyzed the performance of the EEWS for the 31 October 2018 M 5.1 earthquake, because it was the largest event that occurred inside the hybrid network during the test period. The first alert was obtained at 7.5 s after the OT, with a magnitude error of 0.1 magnitude unit, a location error of about 1 km, and a depth error of 8 km. Finally, we discussed the main differences between the EEWS's estimates and the catalogs obtained by the China Earthquake Network Center, and proposed improvements to reduce the reporting time. This study demonstrated that we constructed a reliable, effective hybrid EEWS for the test region, which can provide sufficient support for the design of the National EEWS project.


Observations suggest that CII was more abundant than CIV in the intergalactic medium towards the end of the hydrogen reionization epoch (z similar to 6). This transition provides a unique opportunity to study the enrichment history of intergalactic gas and the growth of the ionizing ultraviolet background (UVB) at early times. We study how carbon absorption evolves from z = 10 to 5 using a cosmological hydrodynamic simulation that includes a self-consistent multifrequency UVB as well as a well-constrained model for galactic outflows to disperse metals. Our predicted UVB is within similar to 2-4 times of that from Haardt & Madau, which is fair agreement given the uncertainties. Nonetheless, we use a calibration in post-processing to account for Lyman a forest measurements while preserving the predicted spectral slope and inhomogeneity. The UVB fluctuates spatially in such a way that it always exceeds the volume average in regions where metals are found. This implies both that a spatially uniform UVB is a poor approximation and that metal absorption is not sensitive to the epoch when HII regions overlap globally even at column densities of 10(12) cm(-2). We find, consistent with observations, that the CII mass fraction drops to low redshift while CIV rises owing the combined effects of a growing UVB and continued addition of carbon in low-density regions. This is mimicked in absorption statistics, which broadly agree with observations at z = 6-3 while predicting that the absorber column density distributions rise steeply to the lowest observable columns. Our model reproduces the large observed scatter in the number of low-ionization absorbers per sightline, implying that the scatter does not indicate a partially neutral Universe at z similar to 6.


DBB was originally manufactured and proposed for checking the accuracy of NC machine tools. The device can also be used to study the relations between motion error of trace and the machine motion error for the purpose of error compensation. The nominal angle obtained through rotation feed rate and sampling time was adopted instead of actual angle which cannot be measured by the device. This project examined in details the effect of the angle deviation problem caused by non-perpendicularity between the movements in axis X and axis Y. The analysis and calculation verified that a squareness deviation would lead to more than 3 times error at some special points, decreasing the accuracy of NC machines for error compensation. For this reason, a device called as Two-Dimensional Ball Bar is proposed based on the DBB.


Strategic information systems planning (SISP) pertains to the process of creating plans for the deployment of information systems to fulfill corporate strategic objectives. Though practice of planning for Information Systems is in existence for more than four decades, SISP continues to be one of the major issues in the corporate environment with the increased focus on IS to gain competitive advantage. Numerous research articles have been written in the SISP area dealing with various issues involved therein. Research on SISP has evolved over a period of time with various themes dominating at different times. This research study will systematically examine the published research in the area of information systems planning to deduce the state of the art of the field and provides framework for future research.


Poland is one of the largest global producers and particularly exporters of apples. The export is of great importance to domestic producers of these fruits. The objective of the article was to assess Poland's competitiveness in world trade in apples in the years 2003–2013. In connection with that, in an innovative way ten mutually complementary indices of ex-post competitiveness have been calculated for Poland and analysed. The study presents ranges in which the values of particular indices of competitiveness may be comprised. It also explains the impact which re-export may have on the levels of some of these indices, making it difficult for their correct interpretation. The studies have demonstrated that in the analysed period, Poland was characterised by high and growing competitiveness in foreign trade in apples, particularly in the years 2012–2013.


The thesis consists of two parts, where the last one tries to model the evolution of the universe by using a scalar field. Within this class of models there is a huge amount of freedom and few simple restrictions. Often only examples are studied which are just tested against a subset of the requirements. In a try of being more systematic I developed a simulation for proposing and testing different evolutions of the universe more comprehensively. A large subset of the proposed models pass the tests, and singling out models against observed requirements is like trying to start from the answer. For this reason I began to look for an underlying reason for the expansion of the universe. All conventional scalar field models are based on classical fields. Could the observed accelerated expansion of the universe emerge as a quantum gravitational phenomenon? The goal was a bit farfetched, but would provide a natural explanation for the expansion and could add insight to the field of quantum gravity. After a longer period of unsuccessful tries, it was about time to write down the first draft of the thesis. It consisted of a review of dark energy models and quantum gravitational theory. Shortly after finishing the second revision I found a new way of attacking the problem. After a week of calculations I came to the conclusion that the new approach made sense and started over again, discarding the old draft. The first part, which I regard to be the most important one, contains the new ideas and calculations. Here I studied the effect of uncertainties in the measurement of parallel transported four-vectors. This way of modelling quantum mechanical effects leads to a term which can cancel the vacuum energy contribution. The expansion of space results in an imperfect cancellation leading to a term equal to the observed dark energy. Though the results are not fully rigorous, since they aren't based on a fully developed theory of quantum gravity, they are surprising and give a reasonable basis for further studies.


In 1980, before widespread global use of measles vaccine, an estimated 2.6 million measles deaths occurred worldwide. In 2001, to accelerate the reduction in measles cases achieved by vaccination, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) developed a strategy to deliver 2 doses of measles-containing vaccine (MCV) to all children through routine services and supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) and improved disease surveillance. After implementation of this strategy, the estimated number of annual measles deaths worldwide decreased from 733,000 in 2000 to 164,000 in 2008. In 2010, the World Health Assembly endorsed the following measles objectives for 2015: 1) raise routine coverage with the first dose of MCV (MCV1) for children aged 1 year to ≥90% nationally and ≥80% in every district or equivalent administrative unit, 2) reduce and maintain annual measles incidence at <5 cases per million, and 3) reduce measles mortality by ≥95% from the 2000 estimate. During 2000-2010, global MCV1 coverage increased from 72% to 85% with approximately 1 billion children vaccinated during measles SIAs. Reported measles cases decreased from 2000 to 2008, remained stable in 2009, and increased in 2010. By the end of 2010, 40% of countries still had not met the incidence target of <5 cases per million. Key challenges must be overcome to meet the 2015 objectives, including 1) declining political and financial commitments to measles control, 2) failure to reach uniform high coverage with 2 doses of MCV through routine services or SIAs, and 3) inadequate monitoring subnationally of coverage with the first and second dose of MCV to guide interventions to increase coverage.


To the Editor,

We read with interest the letter by Schuff-Werner and Steiner1 that commented a recently published article dealing with the evaluation of the short- and long-term storage stability of plasma ammonia.2 We were particularly impressed by the authors' claim that blood ammonia values may significantly depend on the activity of γ-glutamyl-transferase (GGT) in plasma. They support this conclusion by reporting experimental results obtained in two samples with low and increased GGT catalytic concentrations stored up to 6 h either at room temperature or at 4°C.1

Several, mostly preanalytical, factors, like haemolysis and poor specimen quality, skin contamination and delayed analysis in general, may cause artificial increase of blood ammonia.3 ,4 If the systematic detection of haemolysis through the automatic photometric measurement of haemolysis index (HI) is now relatively common, it is more difficult for laboratories to keep the time short between blood drawing and analysis. To prevent an artificial increase of ammoniaemia caused by the metabolism of red blood cells due …


The Hongrin north dam is a 125 m-high double curvature concrete arch structure located in the western Swiss Prealps. A hydrogeological study and ground water monitoring revealed the presence of water pressure caused by slight seepage flow through the rock joints in the dam foundation, and this raised a concern about the stability of the right bank abutment. The stability of the abutment was assessed using continuum-discontiniuum analysis. The results of the analysis provide an enhanced understanding of potential failure mechanisms and help in the developement of furthur saftely measures.


This paper investigates the predictive power for future domestic economic activity included in domestic stock prices, using a Granger causality analysis in the frequency domain. We are able to evaluate whether the predictive power is concentrated at the slowly fluctuating components or at the quickly fluctuating components. Using quarterly data for the G-7 countries, we found that the slowly fluctuating components of the stock prices have large predictive power for the future GDP, while this is not the case for the quickly fluctuating components. This finding holds both in a single-country setting and in a multi-country setting. Therefore, macro-economic policy makers could use the slowly fluctuating components of the stock prices to improve their predictions of the future GDP.


Many discussion about the black hole conundrums, such like singularity and information loss, suggested that there must be some essential irreconcilable conflict between quantum theory and classical gravity theory, which cannot be solved with any semiclassical quantized model of gravity, the only feasible way must be some complete unified quantum theory of gravity. In Vachaspati, the arguments indicate the possibility of an alternate outcome of gravitational collapse which avoids the information loss problem. In this paper, also with semiclassical analysis, it shows that so long as the mechanism of black hole evaporation satisfies a quite loose condition that the evaporation lifespan is finite for external observers, regardless of the detailed mechanism and process of evaporation, the conundrums above can be naturally avoided. This condition can be satisfied with Hawking-Unruh mechanism. Thus, the conflict between quantum theory and classical gravity theory may be not as serious as it seemed to be, the effectiveness of semiclassical methods might be underestimated. An exact universal solution with spherical symmetry of Einstein field equation has been derived in this paper. All possible solutions with spherical symmetry of Einstein field equation are its special cases. In addition, some problems of the Penrose diagram of an evaporating black hole first introduced by Hawking in 1975 are clarified.


The Learning and Teaching Creatively project involved collaboration between the Bundanon Trust, the University of Wollongong's Faculty of Education and Shoalhaven Campus and the Australasian Occupational Science Centre. The aim of the project was provide opportunity for Graduate Diploma of Education (Primary) students at the Shoalhaven Campus to experience the creative process, thereby enabling them to develop ways of facilitating creativity in primary school students. Additionally, the project was designed to initiate a long term partnership between the Shoalhaven Campus and Bundanon, a highly valued internationally renowned 'living arts centre' located in the Shoalhaven. The Knowledge Building Community and occupational science, both of which use community engagement to link theory and practice, provided frameworks for the project. The project was funded by a University of Wollongong Community Engagement Grant and in kind contributions from the partners. The project demonstrated the efficacy of living as a learner, which is a key component of the Knowledge Building Community. It also reinforced principles that underpin occupational science, such as the critical relationship between what people do and the context in which they do it, and how doing can be transformative. The project outcomes, as revealed by students' diaries and reflections from the project team members include benefits at the personal and community level. Additionally, the project has fostered a climate for educational and creative aspirations which are considered vital for regional development in the shift towards innovation and knowledge-based economies.


Objective: Lack of social support is linked to lower cognitive function and cognitive decline. We investigated the effects of a specific type of social relationship, family ties, on cognitive trajectories in non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, and Hispanics. Methods: Using multiple-group latent growth curve models, we analyzed associations between the number of children/grandchildren/siblings/other relatives contacted within the past month at baseline and cognitive trajectories in 1420 older adults who were nondemented at baseline. Language, memory, and visuospatial abilities were assessed at baseline and at 18- and 24-month follow-ups for up to six visits. Inferential analyses assessed the differential effects of sex/gender and race/ethnicity for each family tie. Results: Independent of all covariates, contact with more relatives was associated with better initial memory (b = .01) and language functioning (b = .01) across race/ethnicity and sex/gender. Conclusion: The size of peripheral rather than immediate family networks may be more likely to affect cognitive function in older adults.


A review of the literature published in 2013 on topics relating to water reclamation and reuse is presented. This review is divided into the following sections: (1) General: extent of reuse, research needs, guidelines and monitoring, and health effects (2) Treatment technologies: integrated process design, membrane treatment, membrane bioreactors, electrocoagulation, ion exchange and adsorption, wetlands, managed aquifer recharge, and (3) Planning and management: public acceptance and education, economics/pricing, water quality planning and management and project/case studies. It can be seen from this review that much of the treatment technology research has mainly focused on integrated process design, membrane and other innovative technologies.


Using the theory of social and cultural reproduction originally posited by Pierre Bourdieu I test the idea that social status and individual culture affect academic achievement. The data used for this analysis was from the first panel of the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS) a survey sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and based on a nationally representative sample of 16 719 tenth-grade respondents in 2002. As one would expect the measure of student's ability was the only variable that remained significant throughout for both classes and racial groups throughout all statistical models. The difference in the importance of upper class students and lower class is dependent on race. These findings are bolstered by other studies that show parental involvement has been shown to mediate the effects of race and socioeconomic resources in achievement gaps it could also be used as a possible strategy for reducing the achievement gap even in the presence of cultural capital.


Mass media play a significant role in the production and reproduction of identities and lifestyles, values and world-views. They also convey information about the world we live in, as they reflect elements of the broader context within which they come into being. This volume, the first on this topic to be published in Poland, brings together eleven essays that offer a complex approach to both media in the PRC and the way China and the Chinese are presented in the media of other countries. Individual chapters discuss images constructed, persuasive techniques employed, political undertakings and official stances reflected, as well as popular feeling expressed in the Chinese official and popular press, information websites, Internet forums, mainstream Western press, Polish and Italian media, Zambian Internet forums, and Indonesian cinema. Media in China, China in the Media. Processes, Strategies, Images, Identities will be stimulating reading for students and scholars of media and mass communication, political studies, cultural and gender studies, interested in the following topics: the Chinese media discourse, transparency as to government activities, Chinese nationalism, the Chinese diaspora, Sino-African relations.


Results: A substantial proportion (43.5%, 274/630) of safety critical workers with OSA had at least one incident in the three years prior to appointment. The odds of an incident were significantly reduced in those with moderate OSA compared with severe OSA [OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.64-0.98], but not those with mild OSA [OR 0.97, 0.761.24]. There was a statistically significant relationship between combined OSA severity, treatment status and incidents, with the likelihood of an incident increased in those with severe untreated OSA compared with those receiving treatment [OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.16-2.64].


Many practical combinatorial optimization problems under uncertainty can be modeled as stochastic integer programs (SIPs), which are extremely challenging to solve due to the high complexity. To solve two-stage SIPs efficiently, we propose a conditional variational autoencoder (CVAE) based method to learn scenario representation for a class of SIP instances. Specifically, we design a graph convolutional network based encoder to embed each scenario with the deterministic part of its instance (i.e. context) into a low-dimensional latent space, from which a decoder reconstructs the scenario from its latent representation conditioned on the context. Such a design effectively captures the dependencies of the scenarios on their corresponding instances. We apply the trained encoder to two tasks in typical SIP solving, i.e. scenario reduction and objective prediction. Experiments on two graph-based SIPs show that the learned representation significantly boosts the solving performance to attain high-quality solutions in short computational time, and generalizes fairly well to problems of larger sizes or with more scenarios.


Background/Content Policy-makers at the federal and state levels have increased their efforts to implement standards-based accountability reform in early childhood education (ECE) to improve the academic readiness of children for elementary school. As these policies have taken on more prominence within ECE reform, national organizations such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialist in State Departments of Education and the National Institute for Early Education Research have produced guidelines and suggestions for formulating standards. Early childhood researchers have investigated and questioned the purpose, goals, and policy process of early learning standards. These works examine a range of issues such as capacity and capital, curriculum and assessment, and readiness and retention. Focus of Study In this article, I examine how early childhood stakeholders in the state of Wisconsin responded to the current Bush Administration's Good Start, Grow Smart (GSGS) initiative by creating a double-voiced document that answered requirements of the GSGS initiative while at the same time attempting to pique the interest and support of the state's loosely coupled field of ECE to a voluntary set of standards. Examining these stakeholders' response highlights the tensions that exist in attempting to reform ECE and how simple policy solutions such as the GSGS initiative fail to address the complexity that exists within the field of ECE. Research Design This research project is a qualitative instrumental case study that examines the formulation and implementation of Wisconsin's Model Early Learning Standards. Conclusions Even though the Early Learning Standards Steering Committee created a double-voiced document that responded to policy-makers' demands for early learning standards while attempting to attract and unite early childhood programs and practitioners around a collective understanding of the goals of ECE, the future of the field is uncertain. The second-class status of ECE in the realm of policy and the investment of capital that is required to alter the field cause one to question whether systemic reform could ever occur in ECE. Nevertheless, policy-makers' demands for improved student performance will not die down simply because states are implementing early learning standards. Thus, the field of ECE is at a critical point within the history of education reform, and stakeholders must continue to promote a vision of ECE that goes beyond simply protecting current practices and demand structural changes that foster the growth and development of all children.


Ideas and conceptions permeating professional training among UFRN health courses students. This paper presents the conceptions of students of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte health courses about relevant psychosocial aspects related with their training process, such as motives for choosing that course, expectations and professional targets and how the professional-client/patient relationship is conceived. It is believed that the professional training process is a privileged space of study of ideas, values and conceptions permeating the health practices. It is also considered that changes in the actual health practices are possible not only through a structural reformulation of the sector, but also through conceptual and ideological selfevaluation of the way that this future professional conceives his practice. Results point out for a training process that tends to neglect the complexity and multidimensionality of the human life and favor theoretical and technical aspects underrating the human aspects of professional practice.


Our office manages videoconference and TelePresence technology for George Mason University as well as several options for desktop conferencing that are interoperable with our room systems. Currently we are using these different technologies as a means for teaching courses collaboratively with other universities both nationally and internationally, for students who are located across the different Mason campuses, for faculty who are living abroad, and research collaboration with external entities. CVT would like to host a compact session and participate in the poster session. We would explain the technology, how it is being used at Mason to advance opportunities for our faculty and students and have a faculty member present to discuss their experience. This technology is an excellent tool in Mason's mission to be a "university for the world." Our technology affords the faculty and students a creative solution to connect with institutions and organizations on a global level and collaborate in ways they were not previously able to.


WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THIS TOPIC
Definitions and management strategies for septic shock continue to be updated as defined in Sepsis-2, Sepsis-3, and other guidelinesRecent randomized controlled trials of corticosteroids in septic shock report different treatment effects on 90-day mortality but use different inclusion criteria WHAT THIS ARTICLE TELLS US THAT IS NEW: In a post hoc analysis of the Adjunctive Glucocorticoid Therapy in Patients with Septic Shock (ADRENAL) trial, in participants who fulfilled either the Sepsis-3 or -2 inclusion criteria or those with severe septic shock, a continuous infusion of hydrocortisone did not result in a lower 90-day mortality than placebo BACKGROUND:: Two recent randomized controlled trials (Adjunctive Glucocorticoid Therapy in Patients with Septic Shock [ADRENAL] and Activated Protein C and Corticosteroids for Human Septic Shock [APROCCHSS]) of corticosteroids in patients with septic shock reported different treatment effects on 90-day mortality. Both trials enrolled patients who met the criteria for septic shock using the second international consensus definitions for sepsis and septic shock (Sepsis-2), but the APROCCHSS trial mandated a greater severity of shock as an inclusion criterion.

METHODS
The authors conducted post hoc sensitivity analyses of the ADRENAL trial to determine the effects of hydrocortisone versus placebo in subgroups selected using third international consensus definitions for sepsis and septic shock (Sepsis-3) diagnostic criteria or APROCCHSS inclusion criteria.

RESULTS
There were 1,950 subjects (973 hydrocortisone and 977 placebo) who met the Sepsis-3 criteria (ADRENAL-Sepsis-3 cohort) and 905 patients (455 hydrocortisone and 450 placebo) who met the APROCCHSS criteria (ADRENAL-APROCCHSS cohort). At 90 days after randomization, in the ADRENAL-Sepsis-3 cohort, 312 of 963 (32.4%) and 337 of 958 (35.2%) patients assigned to hydrocortisone and placebo, respectively, had died (odds ratio, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.70 to 1.06; P = 0.166). The corresponding figures for the ADRENAL-APROCCHSS cohorts were 187 of 453 (41.3%) and 200 of 445 (44.9%), respectively (odds ratio, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.60 to 1.17; P = 0.303). There was no statistically significant difference in the time to death between the groups during the 90 days after randomization (hazard ratio = 0.87; 95% CI, 0.75 to 1.02; P = 0.082 for ADRENAL-Sepsis-3; and hazard ratio = 0.86; 95% CI, 0.71 to 1.06; P = 0.156 for ADRENAL-APROCCHSS cohorts). In both cohorts, patients assigned to hydrocortisone had faster resolution of shock. In the ADRENAL-Sepsis-3 cohort, patients assigned to hydrocortisone had an increase in the number of days alive and free of mechanical ventilation (57.0 ± 37.2 vs. 53.7 ± 38.2 days; 95% CI, 0.40 to 7.04; P = 0.028) and the number of days alive and free of the intensive care unit (54.3 ± 36.0 vs. 51.0 ± 37.1; 95% CI, 0.82 to 7.24; P = 0.014).

CONCLUSIONS
In a post hoc analysis of the ADRENAL trial participants who fulfilled either the Sepsis-3 or the APROCCHSS inclusion criteria, a continuous infusion of hydrocortisone did not result in a lower 90-day mortality than placebo in septic shock.


Nuremberg as event and as process: what does 'Nuremberg' mean? At the simplest, literal level it refers to the prosecution, in the German city of that name, of twenty-two senior German figures and six organizations before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in 1945–6. It can also represent the tens of thousands of trials of greater and lesser war criminals and collaborators conducted in Europe and Southeast Asia in the post-war period by the Allies, the liberated nations, and even erstwhile perpetrator states themselves. Figuratively, 'Nuremberg' can evoke any trial of transgressors of international humanitarian law anywhere since 1945. Pejoratively, and less often non-pejoratively, it stands for 'the political trial' or 'victor's justice'. To the lawyers, judges and defendants involved, and to the German public of the post-war years, 'Nuremberg' might connote not just the IMT trial but also the twelve subsequent trials before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMTs) conducted in 1946–9 by the American occupation authorities against 'major war criminals of the second rank'. Finally, to those interested not just in the purely legal successes and controversies of the trials, 'Nuremberg' may embrace the political aftermaths, as many convicted war criminals were prematurely released in the changed international circumstances of the 1950s.


This paper describes an analytical model for determining the geometry of laser welds. An earlier model by Lampa and Kaplan, for CO2 laser welding of stainless steel, has been further developed to cover Nd:YAG laser welding of aluminium alloys. This analytical work was followed by experimental verification using a 4 kW Nd:YAG laser. The model was found to be accurate over a wide range of process parameters.This paper describes an analytical model for determining the geometry of laser welds. An earlier model by Lampa and Kaplan, for CO2 laser welding of stainless steel, has been further developed to cover Nd:YAG laser welding of aluminium alloys. This analytical work was followed by experimental verification using a 4 kW Nd:YAG laser. The model was found to be accurate over a wide range of process parameters.


This paper presents a design approach for improving energy-efficiency and throughput of parallel architectures in near- and subthreshold voltage circuits. The focus is to suppress leakage energy dissipation of the idle portions of circuits during active modes, which can allow us to wholly transform the throughput improvement from parallel architectures into energy savings via deep voltage scaling. We begin by investigating the efficacy of parallel and pipeline architectures in the near- and subthreshold circuits. The investigation reveals that active energy dissipation largely undermines the ability of deep voltage scaling to transform excessive throughput into energy savings. Techniques, such as power-gating switches (PGSs), can mitigate active-leakage power dissipation; however, the overhead for entering and exiting sleep modes can offset the energy savings provided by sleep mode, particularly if sleep time is fine grained for suppressing active leakage. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a PGS design technique, inspired by the so-called zigzag supercutoff CMOS, in order to optimize the overheads of mode transitions of PGS in near- and subthreshold circuits. The proposed technique enables to have circuits in sleep mode for as short as a single clock cycle with a negligible amount of energy and delay overheads. We apply our proposed design to parallel multiplier-based test circuits operating at near- and subthreshold voltages. Simulations show a significant improvement in energy-efficiency over baselines at the same throughput.


The absence of short cycles is a desirable property for cryptographic algorithms that are iterated. Furthermore, as demonstrated by the cryptanalysis of A5, short cycles can be exploited to reduce the complexity of an attack. We present an algorithm which uses a SAT-based bounded model checking for finding all short cycles of a given length. The existing Boolean Decision Diagram (BDD) based algorithms for finding cycles have limited capacity due to the excessive memory requirements of BDDs. The simulation-based algorithms can be applied to larger problem instances, however, they cannot guarantee the detection of all cycles of a given length. The same holds for general-purpose SAT-based model checkers. The presented algorithm can handle cryptographic algorithms with very large state spaces, including important ciphers such as Trivium and Grain-128. We found that these ciphers contain short cycles whose existence, to our best knowledge, was previously unknown. This potentially opens new possibilities for cryptanalysis.


This paper suggests a novel success framework for customer relationship management (CRM) based on a conceptual implementation model to identify associated critical factors and their contribution to overall success/failure. Fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) is applied to identify the relative importance of each factor in successful implementation of each stage and the CRM initiative as a unified process. The results illustrate that CRM goals, change management, customer knowledge management, and top management support are the most critical factors for successful implementation of CRM projects within Iranian business contexts. The proposed success framework provides valuable insight into the CRM implementation process and its critical success factors (CSFs). It can be applied as a practical assessment tool that provides a pre-evaluation of the overall success of the CRM implementation project and identifies areas of weakness that negatively affect successful implementation of each stage of CRM initiative. competition and rising customer expectations. Building and maintaining a good relationship with customers are essential to long-term business survival in such an environment (Chang, 2007). Therefore, organizational executives are now turning to formulate appropriate customercentric strategies and focus on managing cusDOI: 10.4018/jcrmm.2011040104 44 International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management, 2(2), 43-62, April-June 2011 Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. tomer relationships to support these initiatives (Wu, 2007). According to Buttle (2009, p. xi), customer relationship management (CRM) can be defined as "the core business strategy that integrates internal processes and functions, and external networks, to create and deliver value to targeted customers at a profit. It is grounded on high-quality customer data and enabled by information technology". CRM is actually a business philosophy that integrates technology, software, processes, organizational change, etc. and is focused on the relationships between organizations and their customers to facilitate the inclusion of the customer as part of the organization (Rigby et al., 2002). It also enhances ability of the organization to improve customer service (Nguyen et al., 2007). CRM incorporates information acquisition, information storage, and decision support functions to provide customized customer service. It enables customer representatives to analyze data and address customer needs in order to promote greater customer satisfaction and retention. It also helps organizations to interact with their customers through various means such as phone, web, e-mail, and salesperson. Customer representatives can access data on customer profile, product, logistics, etc. to analyze problems and provide online and rapid response to customer queries (Torkzadeh et al., 2006). Organizations use CRM to different customer-centric purposes such as creating customer profiles, anticipating customer needs, conducting market research, and prompting customer purchase (Massey et al., 2001). CRM is currently one of the most popular topics in the fields of marketing management and information technology (Wu, 2007). In recent years, many companies around the world have implemented CRM (Bull, 2003) and the number of companies that plan for its implementation is growing dramatically. However, previous studies report high rates of failure in CRM implementation. According to Verhoef et al. (2002), the success rate of CRM implementations varies between 30 and 70 percent. Zablah et al. (2004) and Rigby et al. (2002) have argued that the failure rate of CRM projects is ranging from 35 to 75 percent and Kale (2004) has estimated that 60 to 80 percent of CRM projects fail to achieve their objectives. CRM implementation demands valuable organizational resources such as time, money, and human resources. In addition, a failed CRM implementation damages the relationships between organization and its customers (Lindgreen et al., 2006). Therefore, the high failure rates of the project strongly suggest that researchers and practitioners need to pay much attention to implementation issues (Shum et al., 2008). In current research, a consolidated success model is developed for CRM initiatives to investigate associated implementation issues. A framework is also proposed to identify relative importance of the critical factors considering their inter-relationships. Furthermore, it can be applied as an assessment tool that provides a pre-evaluation of the overall success of the CRM implementation project and helps identifying areas of weakness that negatively affect successful implementation of each stage of the CRM initiative. The reminder of paper is organized as follows: firstly, the previous works in the field are reviewed. Then, success framework for CRM implementation is constructed and the identified critical factors are described. Thirdly, a fuzzy analytic network process approach is proposed to investigate the relative importance of critical success factors in CRM implementations within Iranian business context. The next sections provide discussion on the obtained results and highlight some managerial implications of the study. Finally, the paper ends up with the research conclusions and some directions for future studies.


The profound and extensive studies upon the American Squirrels by Allen 1) and Alston 2), have made this group, we must confess it, one of the best known among the Mammals. At the same time however the named authors have shown that it is almost an impossibility to give a good and exact diagnosis of an American Squirrel, because the specimens of a given species differ, so to say, infinitely in the hairiness of the ears, which are tufted or not tufted, in the length and strength of the body, a. s. o. The difficulty increases as these variations are to be found not constantly in individuals from different localities, but as they often are present in individuals from the same locality and gathered on the same day or in the same season. And this is a rule with only a few exceptions. Here more than ever the accurate knowledge of the specimens is the knowledge of the species. Therefore I abstain from diagnoses of the several species, which moreover sufficiently have been given by Allen and Alston, but on the other hand I will endeavor to describe in terms as short as possible every specimen, which shows an aberrant or remarkable variation in its mode of coloration or otherwise.


An easy ion-exchange route has been utilized to replace the toxic cadmium ions with silver in cadmium sulfide nanowires to obtain silver sulfide nanowires as the end product, since direct deposition of such novel morphology of silver sulfide has been a great challenge. This work is based on the concept of negative free energy of formation. In course of this process, CdS, CdS/Ag2S core–shell heterostructures and Ag2S nanowires as the end product were obtained, and has been employed as supercapacitor electrodes where completely converted Ag2S nanowires showed a highest capacitance of 268.4 F g−1 at 1.5 mA cm−2 current density in 1.5 M NaOH electrolyte. This simple approach promises a new electrode engineering technique just by controlling the reaction stage in the cationic source where a less toxic end product can be obtained with enhanced performance.


Spotted Bass Micropterus punctulatus Rafinesque are a popular sport fish primarily found in the streams and reservoirs of the south. The Wabash River, a large tributary of the Ohio River, contains a naturally reproducing population on the northern boundary of their range. Currently, the lower Wabash River is monitored using two different sampling designs, the Long Term Electrofishing Program monitors community assemblages using stratified random sampling whereas the Illinois Department of Natural Resources uses a fixed sampling design. Due to the wide distribution but low abundance of Spotted Bass throughout this drainage, captures from each design were compared to assess differences in abundance and size structure. Demographic data collected from each sampling design suggests that this population is of low density primarily composed of small individuals specific to particular habitats. The findings of this study suggest random sampling designs should be used when monitoring low density populations of fishes in a large riverine systems because this method provides the greatest spatial coverage of habitats, evaluates heterogeneity in distribution, and provides a representative measure of abundance throughout an entire aquatic system. Black bass, including Spotted Bass, are the top predatory species in most Midwestern rivers and reservoirs. Like many fishes, they exhibit ontogenetic shifts in habitat use and diet, resulting in selection of different prey items and the use of specific habitats throughout their life history. These shifts could lead to different parasite assembladges within different size classes of Spotted Bass. In 20 1 4 and 20 1 5, a subsample of 126 Spotted Bass ranging in size from 34 399 mm were necropsied and examined for helminths. Eleven parasites taxa (1 Acanthocephala, 4 Trematoda, 1 Cestoda, 1 Crustacea, 4 Nematoda) were recovered. All parasites recovered from Spotted Bass have been previously reported and are common within many other fish species. With the exception of Posthdiplostomum minimum centrarchi, prevalence of all other parasites was relatively low. Total length of the host was positively associated with total parasite abundance, parasite richness, and prevalence of individual helminth taxa, all of which are likely due to differences in exposure and changes in diet. Overall, the parasite community in Spotted Bass from the Wabash River exhibited low prevalence, abundance, and diversity resembling the characteristics of an isolationist community.


Objective: Suicide is one of the most important public health problems. Suicide, which needs to be discussed as a part of preventive mental health, has a wide range of causes. Temperament is genetic and structural behavioral characteristics that individuals have in their nature and cannot change for a whole-of-life. On the other hand character is discussed as a concept which is affected by education and environmental factors and can change in the course of time. In this study, we aimed to determine the discriminating personality characteristic of suicide attempters compared to healthy control subjects. Methods: Attempted suicide cases (n=69) who applied to Gaziantep University, Medicine Faculty, Emergency Service between May 2003 and August 2005 and who were asked to be assessed as psychiatric were assessed according to DSM-IV diagnosis criterion and Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI, 240 items), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) were employed to these cases and personality profiles were compared to control group including individuals who do not have mental disorder (n=77) by pairing in terms of age, and sex. Results: Suicide attempters showed higher scores in harm avoidance, self-transcendence and lower scores in self-directedness, cooperativeness, and reward dependence when compared to controls. Beck hopelessness scale is positively correlated with harm avoidance score and reward dependence, persistence, self-directedness, cooperativeness scores negatively correlated in suicide group. In attempted suicide group, in terms of TCI scores between gender responsibility scores for men was higher than women, on the other hand, fear of uncertainty, virtuousness, and mercifulness subscores were higher in women. As for control group sentimentality, attachment and empathy subscores were higher in women. Conclusion: Temperament and character features of suicide attempters show some significant differences compared with healthy control group. Determining personality profile among suicide attempters may be useful in employing different treatment approaches. (Anatolian Journal of Psychiatry 2008; 9:232-237)


As a response to the Paris agreement, Norway is committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50 percent by 2030. Highly energy-efficient buildings have a greater proportion of embodied GHG emissions from material use (55-87%) compared to operational emissions. A new national standard, NS3720:2018 a methodology for greenhouse gas emission calculations for buildings, has harmonised the life cycle assessment (LCA) calculation of environmental impacts arising from Norwegian buildings and has led to an increase in LCAs. This paper aims to collect life cycle GHG emission data on Norwegian building case studies to help form recommendations for national GHG emission requirements and benchmark values that can be used by the Research centre for zero emission neighbourhoods in smart cities (FME ZEN), Futurebuilt and in Norwegian building codes (TEK). To do this, a statistical analysis of a reference sample is carried out to provide bottom-up derived reference values. Empirical life cycle GHG emission data results are collected from Norwegian building case studies in the reference, design and as-built project phases, sampled from Norwegian programmes and research centres such as Futurebuilt, Framtidens Byer, ZEB and ZEN. Altogether 133 Norwegian building cases have been gathered from 2009-2020, covering 1,023,738m2 of heated floor area for 49,360 building users. A functional unit of '1m2 of heated floor area over a building lifetime of 60 years is used. The results show an interquartile range of 240-492 kgCO2eq/m or 4-8.2 kgCO2eq/m/yr, a median of 396 kgCO2eq/m or 6.6 kgCO2eq/m/yr and a mean of 324 kgCO2eq/m or 5,4 kgCO2eq/m/yr for all building typologies in the as-built phase. These results can be used to form initial indications for GHG emission requirements and benchmark values in Norway.


This study imagines a Sephardic archive not as a physical site that houses the artifacts, texts, and history of a nation-state or Empire, but one that allows us to access those objects (or exposes their absence) and to bring artifacts from different official archives into dialogue in a different, virtual space, thus creating an additional, but not exclusionary, epistemic home, namely that of Sephardic studies. In it the author explores the potential advantages and practical limitations, as well as existing models of transnational resources—such as the Friedberg Genizah Project and the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, as well as del Barco and Vegas Montaner's project of cataloguing the Hebrew manuscripts in Spanish libraries—that could be considered when thinking of what form a Sephardic archive could take. This study also explores how issues of language and identity fare when translated into the metadata used to make digitized information available.


We say a ring R is π-Baer if the right annihilator of every projection invariant left ideal of R is generated by an idempotent element of R. In this paper, we study connections between the π-Baer condition and related conditions such as the Baer, quasi-Baer and π-extending conditions. The 2-by-2 generalized triangular and the n-by-n triangular π-Baer matrix rings are characterized. Also, we prove that a n-by-n full matrix ring over a π-Baer ring is a π-Baer ring. In contrast to the Baer condition, it is shown that the π-Baer condition transfers from a base ring to many of its polynomial extensions. Examples are provided to illustrate and delimit our results.


The satellite has yielded new information on the arrangement of irregularities in sheets and the structure of plasma resonances in the ionosphere. Studies of the geographical distributions of the different kinds of spread F, sporadic E, and other phenomena will be facilitated by the satellite. More phenomena will undoubtedly be recognized as the records are studied.


As employees increasingly interact with their professional contacts on online social networks that are personal in nature, such as Facebook or Twitter, they are likely to experience a collision of their professional and personal identities that is unique to this new and expanding social space. In particular, online social networks present employees with boundary management and identity negotiation opportunities and challenges, because they invite non-tailored self-disclosure to broad audiences, while offering few of the physical and social cues that normally guide social interactions. How and why do employees manage the boundaries between their professional and personal identities in online social networks, and how do these behaviors impact the way they are regarded by professional contacts? We build a framework to theorize about how work-nonwork boundary preferences and self-evaluation motives drive the adoption of four archetypical sets of online boundary management behaviors (open, audience, content, and hybrid), and the consequences of these behaviors for respect and liking in professional relationships. Content and hybrid behaviors are more likely to increase respect and liking than open and audience behaviors; audience and hybrid behaviors are less risky for respect and liking than open and content behaviors but more difficult to maintain over time.


We applied the radioactive microsphere method to follow the magnitude and time course (0 to 96 hours) of blood flow changes during development and recovery from anemia in awake rats. Blood flow was also monitored during a 96-hour period after polycythemia was induced (erythropoietin administered subcutaneously [SC]). The possible influence of innervation was also examined. After a blood loss of approximately 50% (hypovolemia), blood flow to the femoral marrow tripled within 12 hours and remained elevated for the entire 96-hour period. The relative increase in blood flow to the femoral bone was even greater. Similar findings were obtained in rats with phenylhydrazine (PHZ) hemolytic anemia (normovolemia). Denervation had no detectable effect on the increased blood flow to either marrow or bone. The augmented blood flow during hemolytic anemia was accompanied by a doubling of the oxygen consumption rate by the marrow, while the glucose uptake was not detectably altered. Erythropoietin supplements (3 x 1,000 IU/kg, SC, 6-hour intervals) increased blood flow to the marrow by approximately 25% after 48 hours, and at 72 hours the blood flow had reached a value twice that obtained under control conditions. These results indicate that blood flow to bone marrow is highly variable and hormonally and/or locally regulated. This may have practical consequences for marrow transplantation technology and for administration of drug therapy to patients with insufficient bone marrow hematopoiesis.


A coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CG-MD) and reactive Monte Carlo (RMC) hybrid method (CG-MD + RMC) has been developed to investigate the hyperbranched polycondensation of 3,5-bis(trimethylsiloxy)benzoyl chloride to poly(3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid). The CG force field to describe the formation of the hyperbranched macromolecules has been extracted from all-atom molecular dynamics simulations by the mapping technology of iterative Boltzmann inversion. In the mapping process branched poly(3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid) in an all-atom description has been employed as a target object to derive the CG force field for hyperbranched polymers. In the RMC simulations, the reactivity ratio of the functional groups has been optimized by fitting experimental data with the iterative dichotomy method (Macromolecules, 2003, 36, 97). Using such a simulation framework, detailed information including the molecular weight, the molecular weight distribution and the branching degree of a specific polymerization process has been derived. Radial distribution functions of the atomistic and coarse-grained systems are in excellent agreement. A good agreement between the present simulations and experiment has been demonstrated, too. Especially, the intramolecular cyclization fraction has been reproduced quantitatively. This work illustrates that the present reactive CG-MD + RMC model can be used for quantitative studies of specific hyperbranched polymerizations.


DNA-damage-induced apoptosis and cellular senescence are perceived as two distinct cell fates. We found that after ionizing radiation (IR)-induced DNA damage the majority (up to 70 %) of senescent human diploid fibroblasts (HDFs) were subjected to controlled cleavage of DNA, resulting in the establishment of a viable and stable sub-G1 population, i.e. deeply senescent cells. We show that in senescent HDFs this DNA cleavage is triggered by modest loss of the mitochondrial membrane potential, which is not sufficient to activate caspases, but strong enough to release mitochondrial endonuclease G (EndoG). We demonstrate that upon? -irradiation in HDFs EndoG translocates into the nucleus playing an essential role in the non-lethal cleavage of damaged DNA. Notably, the established sub-G1 cell population does not contribute to the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), however, it exhibits increased senescence-associated β -galactosidase activity. We show that EndoG knockdown causes an increase in DNA damage, indicating a role of this enzyme in DNA repair. Thus, we conclude that IR-induced deep senescence of HDFs exhibits features of both senescence, such as cell cycle arrest and viability, and apoptosis like reduced DNA content and no SASP, and, resembles uncomplete or stalled apoptosis, a phenomenon we term senoptosis.


Under the current proposals, the EU development cooperation budget would increase by 30%. This paper explores how this potential increase is designed to assist the EU in consolidating its international identity in line with the aims of the Global Strategy (EUGS) by better aligning the money in the development budget to the global ambitions of the EU. This has reignited concerns that this represents further politicisation of the development activities of the EU beyond the Treaty commitment to poverty reduction and once again highlights the tension between development goals and broader strategic goals. This paper explores this tension between development and strategic goals in what is clearly a moving target area. Comparing how the vision for EU development policy has evolved between the 2006 and 2017 Consensus' on Development provides the context for a comparison to broader vision for external action set out in the EU's Global Strategy. The paper then explores the proposed budget reforms in light of this comparison highlighting the implications for the EU as a development actor. It shows how discussions around the size of the EU budget coincide with Brexit and the renegotiation of the EU's relationship with a key group of developing countries, the ACP. It shows that the future negotiations will focus on the overall amount of the EU development budget, how the budget will be used and where – decisions that will shine a light onto the priorities of the EU as a development actor.


Abstract Today's reference librarians are constantly faced with the challenge of orienting users to the complex, ever changing world of the electronic library. A well-structured library instruction program is one important approach to the overall goal of educating users. But library instruction sessions cannot and do not reach all students. Studies indicate that students are most receptive to learning research techniques at the point of need, which most often occurs at the reference desk. Although many reference librarians are committed to "teaching students to fish," they are frequently faced with students whose research needs require in-depth lessons that exceed the time available for most reference desk transactions. This paper offers a way to close the gap by providing a set of techniques and strategies, utilizing behaviors and props, which can be used in those short, one-on-one instruction-based situations.


abstract:Reflecting on his relatives' deaths in the Shoah, Leonard Michaels lets their story unfold through a meditation on how not to tell it. He resists both the consolatory aestheticism he finds in Jorge Luis Borges and the teleological closure of Hegelian-Marxist history. Both modes press something positive out of Auschwitz's absolute negativity. Yet Michaels finds he cannot do without Borges and Marx. As his standpoint emerges from theirs, light falls on what both tacitly teach: the necessity of alienation. Enabling a new reading of this key Marxian term, Michaels's story complements and challenges the revisionary Marxism of Theodor W. Adorno. Adorno's late works convey the awareness that a certain alienation inheres in subjectivity and that emancipation requires us to accept our own self-estrangement. In Michaels's story, Borges and Marx appear as figures for the "nonidentity," the internal contradiction, that every self must own in order to achieve an identity. By foregrounding the mismatch between narrative forms and their content, Michaels affirms narrative itself as "nonidentical." Only through the alienation implicit to literature as self-conscious artifice, he finds, can one hope to grasp an experience in either its singularity or its universality.


The present study aimed to investigate the phenolic contents and antioxidant properties of the various leaf extracts (methanol, ethanol, ethyl acetate) of Clerodendrum volubile. In vitro scavenging activities of the extracts were assessed against 1,1-diphenyl-2 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2- azinobis (3-ethylbenzo-thiazoline- 6-sulfonate (ABTS) radical scavenging ability (ABTS) radicals. The reducing power ability and high-performance liquid chromatography-diode-array detector (HPLCDAD) of the extracts was also determined. The methanol extract had the highest reducing power, DPPH and ABTS radicals scavenging activities, followed by ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts. The HPLC-DAD results revealed the presence of both phenolic acids (caffeic acid, gallic acid) and flavonoids (catechin, quercetin, rutin, quercitrin, kaempferol, luteolin, apigenin) as its major bioactive polyphenolics. The difference in scavenging potential of the extracts may be due to variation in the phytoconstituents extracted using various solvents. The result suggests that the methanol leaf extract of Clerodendrum volubile could serve as a potential source of antioxidants and can be explored as a therapeutic agent in free radical induced diseases.


This paper is part two of the research paper entitled, "AMOVA" ["Accumulative Manifold Validation Analysis"]: An Advanced Statistical Methodology designed to measure and test the Validity, Reliability, and Overall Efficacy of Inquiry–Based Psychometric Instruments" published in the 2015 Journal of Educational Technology. In this narrative AMOVA is operationalized via successful "Process Education: Learning to Learn" (or "PE: L2L"). PE: L2L experiences, whether taught in a camp, course or as professional development requires addressing specific principles, practices, scales, strategies, and concepts that are native to both "Process Education (PE)" and "Learning to Learn" (L2L). PE and L2L were once separate methodologies, but are now combined here to create a novel, innovative, and comprehensive learning practice. This new learning model as an all-inclusive learning strategy uniquely unifies the implementation of L2L experiences using the PE philosophy through the idea of "Transformational Education". Facilitating L2L through the lens of PE requires the implementation and use of a preset of PE: L2L practices and principles that are measureable via AMOVA. L2L has been implemented and researched in Europe and Process Education as a model has been implemented and its concepts have been tested and measured in the United States. This paper provides a unique cohesive perspective that incorporates the best of PE and the best of L2L to create "PE: L2L". PE: L2L is a novel conceptual framework that incorporates the principles, practices, scales, strategies, and concepts of both PE and L2L into a new measurable paradigm. In addition, three triostatistical models are presented in this text as ideal data analysis methods for the measurement of the new PE and L2L unification, they are: 1) Tri–Squared Analysis (Osler, 2012); 2) AMOVA (Osler, 2015); and 3) The Taxonomy of Process Education (Osler, 2015). The philosophical and theoretical foundational narrative in this paper is adapted from the results of successful PE "Learning to Learn Camps"; "Teaching Institutes"; and online PE professional development.

http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/nccu/f/Osler, THE MEASUREMENT OF A NOVEL CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK.pdf


In this article, a rainfall forecasting model using monthly historical rainfall data and climate indices is developed by incorporating the multi‐resolution analysis (MRA) and multiple linear regression (MLR) model. The monthly rainfall anomaly and large‐scale climate index time series are decomposed using MRA into a certain number of component subseries at different temporal scales. The hierarchical lag relationship between the rainfall anomaly and each potential predictor is identified by cross correlation analysis with a lag time of at least one month at different temporal scales. The components of predictor variables with known lag times are then screened with a stepwise linear regression algorithm to be selectively included into the final forecast model. This MRA‐based rainfall forecasting method is examined with 46 stations over South Australia, and compared to the traditional MLR model based on the original time series. The models are trained with data from the 1959–1995 period and then tested in the 1996–2008 period for each station. The performance is compared with observed rainfall values, and evaluated by common statistics of relative absolute error and correlation coefficient. The results show that the proposed MRA‐based model provides considerably more accurate monthly rainfall forecasts for all of the selected stations over South Australia than the traditional regression model. For the MRA‐based method, historical rainfall is consistently useful for all examined stations, while the large‐scale climate signals are only partly useful for some stations.


There is a growing body of research on African Canadians in the 19th century that touches on their experiences in the workforce. Nonetheless, the literature has been largely silent on how labour market opportunities for African Canadians altered over time and, in particular, how members of this community fared with the slow, but nonetheless dramatic, rise of an industrial-capitalist economy. This study uses census data to explore the occupational experiences of African Canadians living in London, Ontario, between 1861 and 1901. Findings suggest that labour market opportunities were better for men of African origins around mid-century but declined noticeably in the succeeding years. African Canadians of both genders were largely excluded from growth areas in the economy, and their labour was highly concentrated in a narrow range of low-skill jobs. Although there is limited evidence of upward occupational mobility over time for some, and a slight broadening of occupational opportunities by 1901, African Canadian men and women were disadvantaged compared to their white counterparts.


Recent neuroscientific findings suggest that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based brain–computer interfaces may be a viable strategy for detecting covert awareness in patients clinically diagnosed as being in a vegetative state. This research may open a promising new avenue for developing neuroimaging techniques that provide prognostic and diagnostic information that complements current behavioral tests for assessing disorders of consciousness, thereby increasing the effectiveness of diagnostic screening. These techniques may also permit patients who are behaviorally nonresponsive yet retain high levels of preserved cognition to meaningfully engage in clinical decision making. Before this application can occur, certain ethical issues associated with decision-making capacity must be addressed. Although it is not currently possible to assess decision-making capacity through neuroimaging methods, it may be in the future, provided that certain conceptual and empirical steps are taken to demonstrate that brain–computer interfaces satisfy requisite criteria of capacity assessment. In this article we lay out the conceptual foundations for a mechanistic explanation of capacity that would allow the necessary empirical steps for incorporating neuroimaging techniques into the standard capacity assessment battery utilized in clinical practice.


This paper proposes an evolutionary self-organized clustering method of genes based on undirected graph expression. In this method, we use the vertices of the graph to represent genes, and regard the weight between two vertices as similarity measurement of two genes. Thus, the similarities among genes can be extracted according to the space feature of graph with immune evolutionary method. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, the method is tested on yeast cell cycle expression dataset; the results suggest that this method is capable of clustering genes.


Hospital healthcare unit strategic piloting is often cost-based. But this piloting appears to be of real relevance. It is perhaps better to seek answers to some basic questions, such as: The reason hospitalization is preferred in the majority of cases; How are health services viewed by the population at large and external stakeholders? Why do patients and their families opt for a particular service in favour of another? What is the level of acceptance in the demand for hospitalization in relation to bed capacity? How to evaluate health status development? What are the consequences on such developments on staff workload, particularly their effects on a daily level? There is need to develop a measurement tool in response to each of these questions.


This paper describes libra, a library to support efficient reliable distributed applications. libra is designed to meet two objectives: to simplify the development of reliable distributed applications, and to achieve fault-tolerance at low run-time cost. The first objective is met by the provision of fault-tolerance transparency and a simple, easy to use high-level message passing interface. Fault-tolerance is provided to applications transparently by libra and is based on distributed consistent checkpointing and rollback-recovery integrated with a user-level network communication protocol. The second objective is met by the use of protocols which minimise communication overhead for taking a consistent distributed checkpoint and catching messages in transit, and impose low overhead in terms of running times. The paper presents measurements backing up these claims.


As far as China's enormous success in her economic reforms and development is concerned, Chinese rural migrant workers indeed have had their biggest share of contributions. Yet ironically in return, they have only received a disproportionate meager share of benefit rewards. These people represent a huge economically deprived group at the bottom of the social totem pole in China's metropolises. On the whole as a social group, their educational attainment is relatively low as compared to their average urban coworkers. As such being the case, their rights to access some of the cost-free cultural and educational enrichment programs in the society are limited and not always assured. Nevertheless and in general speaking, they manifest a strong and consistent desire to acquire all sorts of new and practical knowledge by means of accessing the resources and facilities of their local public libraries. It is suggested in this paper that public libraries are in a good position to give strong support to the central government's strategic planning for the development of a public culture service systema). In implementing such a government initiative with an unswerving purpose of advancing social justice and equality, public libraries should strife to provide as many as possible their library services at no cost to the public, especially to those socially deprived rural migrant workers.


This document defines Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) packages
that enable a Call Agent to authorize and monitor the transition of a
connection to and from Voiceband Data (VBD) with or without redundancy
and FEC (forward error correction). Although the focus is on VBD, the
General-Purpose Media Descriptor Parameter package can be used to
authorize other modes of operation, not relevant to VBD, for a
particular codec. In addition to defining these new packages, this
document describes the use of the Media Format Parameter package and
Fax package with VBD, redundancy, and FEC. This document is not an
Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for
informational purposes.