The main aim of this research was to investigate the conditions that influence and shape the occupational perceptions of principals; systematically observe primary school principals in the islands of Malta, and to contrast these findings with the perceptions of a group of deputy principals. To achieve this aim three studies were conducted. The first study employed a self-administered questionnaire survey method employed with all principals in primary schools (i. e. state, church and private). 'Discussions with parents', 'discussions with staff' and 'desk work' have been highlighted as the major job functions taking up most of the principals' time. Half of the respondents rated 'desk work' as their majorjob function. The Maltese principal tended to perceive his/her role as falling within the chief executive model. The principal's duties related largely to the division and allocation of work, the co-ordination and control of organisational activities, communication with parents and staff, maintaining discipline and order, and maintaining the level of resources and plant upkeep. This survey, however, shows that principals wanted to take on functions within the leading professional model. In the second study, an observational study was conducted with the aim of checking out some of the perceptions principals held towards their role and to add another dimension to the overall picture by identifying what principals actually did in their daily life at work. The study explored the work patterns of eight primary school principals in the state sector. The observational study attested to the multi-varied nature of the principal's role. The principal's day was generally hectic in pace, varied in its composition, discontinuous and superficial in any pursuit of tasks, with the unexpected always as one of the few certainties of thejob. The principal's energy was observed as being devoted to keeping the school ticking over in the short run with hardly any time being devoted to discuss matters of direct relevance to the teaching-learning process, such as classroom practice, curriculum review and update. The dominant model was that of the transactional leader who is fixing things, managing and coping in order to maintain the smooth operation of C. 00 the organisation. As highlighted in the questionnaire survey principals devoted their time to administration, pastoral care and communication with parents. Little to no time was stated as being devoted to high value tasks such as strategic planning and curriculum review. The portrayal of Maltese primary school principals is that they are not so much reflective or transformational leaders, rather they are chronically busy, reactive as against proactive, and caught up in, and tied down by the unceasing demands of others for their attention. The present research seems to have identified the transactional nature of leadership as the main medium of interaction that the primary school principals opted for. Bearing in mind the present period of changes and development of school management practices in Malta, it was felt appropriate to seek feedback from deputy principals whose own role was undergoing change. A small group of twenty newly-appointed deputy principals were approached to view how they perceived the role of the principal. At the'same time it sought to identify their perceptions of their own role, and get an indication of how they viewed tomorrow's principalship. This, it was felt, would provide data as to. how Maltese administrators in general viewed their Tole., Deputy principals presented similar feedback to that presented by principals. The major difference being in the way deputy principals perceived tomorrow's principalship one which went beyond the transactional model of principal as administrator to the transformational model of principal as leading professional. However, nothing conclusive can be drawn out. There is a strong indication that principals and deputy principals desire this move but some responses express a certain degree of inconsistency which shows that the implications behind the transformational model are not well and truly understood by the participants of this survey. , The implications of the findings for today's and tomorrow's principalship were discussed.


The motivation for this research was the publication in 1995 of the Calman-Hine report. This provided a strategic framework for the delivery of cancer care by creating a network of cancer care centres in England and Wales to enable patients to receive a uniformly high standard of care. The report acknowledged the fact that although the evidence on optimal cancer care used to prepare the report was based on two key sources (i) medical literature and (ii) audit data provided by UK cancer registries, they did not lend themselves to controlled experiments as most information came from retrospective analyses; hence they were subject to a number of possible flaws and biases.

Yet the report recommended some key structural changes to be implemented. The focus of the research described in this thesis was centred on the recommendation of a multidisciplinary team (MDT) review of patients prior to a treatment decision, both in general cancer units as well as in specialised cancer centres. Given the mandate to implement these recommendations, the research questions addressed were "can the current configuration support this recommendation?", "what evidence was there to support the effectiveness of the MDT?" and "was there a model of care to support the service delivery of cancer care?" A literature review established that there was no existing template upon which MDT services could be set up. This research therefore set out to develop an MDT model to support operational delivery of care in the setting of a cancer centre. The clinical specialty in which this research was undertaken was that of lung cancer.

The research successfully developed a conceptual model. However, in the process, a number of operational and practical constraints were identified within the revised service configuration designed to deliver high quality cancer care through the incorporation of the MDT service, and this ultimately limited the extent to which the model could be deployed in the particular clinical setting. Nevertheless, the modelling process did enable a range of core issues to be identified, enabling design solutions to be formulated and tested, thereby confirming the effectiveness of the MDT model. In particular, the adoption of a soft modelling approach was shown to be beneficial in addressing operational problems. By engaging clinical and other end-users right from the start in the modelling process, the models did become operationally accepted, allowing resistance to change to be overcome and the solution to be integrated into the business process.

MDT services are now well established, both in cancer units and cancer centres and published data on their effectiveness in the treatment of lung cancer, although not conclusive; demonstrate an increase in resection rates. However, assessing the long-term impact of MDTs on lung cancer outcomes remains a topic for future research.


This opinion provides guidance in the area of comparators taking into account the requirements for the molecular characterisation, the food and feed and the environmental risk assessments. A key step in the risk assessment of genetically modified (GM) plants and derived food and feed is the identification of intended and unintended differences and equivalences between the GM plant and its comparator(s), taking into account the range of natural variation. In line with Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 and Directive 2001/18/EC, the EFSA GMO Panel has, to date, required the use of non-GM lines with comparable genetic background as comparators. In the case of vegetatively propagated crops, these are the isogenic lines. In the case of sexually propagated crops these are non-GM lines as close as possible genetically to the GM plant under assessment. The identification and production of such comparators is becoming increasingly challenging due to the increasing complexity of GM plants, e.g. those developed by combining (stacking) events through conventional crosses, or those in which extensive compositional changes are targeted. Consequently, the EFSA GMO Panel has developed this guidance on the selection of comparators for the risk assessment of GM plants and derived food and feed. Whilst considering the requirements of Directive 2001/18/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003, the EFSA GMO Panel provides options which introduce flexibility in the selection of comparators based on sound scientific principles. This document addresses the selection of comparators for GM plants containing single or multiple events stacked by either conventional breeding, or by other approaches such as re-transformation, co-transformation and the use of multiple gene cassettes. The EFSA GMO Panel also considers situations where additional comparators may be required on a case-by-case basis and scenarios where appropriate comparators are not available (e.g. where extensive compositional changes are targeted). The EFSA GMO Panel recognises the different requirements for comparators for the molecular characterisation, food and feed and environmental components of the risk assessment.


We developed a microsimulation model, Care & WorkMOD, to estimate the economic costs of early exit from the labour force, both for informal carers and the government, from 2015 to 2030. In this paper, we describe the methods used to create the model Care & WorkMOD, and the sources of data and model assumptions. Care & WorkMOD is based on the unit record data of people aged 15-64 years in the three Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Surveys of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC) 2003, 2009 and 2012. Population and the labour force projections from the 2015 Intergenerational Report and the outputs of an Australian microsimulation model APPSIM were used for the static aging of the base data to every five years from 2015 to 2030. The 2015 output dataset of another microsimulation model STINMOD was linked with Care & WorkMOD base data using synthetic matching. The matching process has added data on further economic variables from STINMOD into Care & WorkMOD, which are not available in SDACs. Economic data were indexed based on long-term trends on economic variables to capture the projected economic growth from 2015 to 2030. Care & WorkMOD can provide the long-term estimates of the lost labour productivity due to informal caring responsibilities and the related economic burden both at the individual and national level, and has the potential to "fill the gaps" in the current body of evidence on the costs of chronic diseases, particularly related to informal carers.


This report presents findings of a joint research project between the Leiden Asia Centre and the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ). The project was initiated and financially supported by Leiden Asia Centre under their research scheme "Aging Japan: Leading the way into the future".

The project on "Ageing in Japan: Domestic Healthcare Technologies in Japan" was conceptualised and conducted at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ). DIJ also prepared this report, partially under its research scheme of "The Future of Local Communities in Japan. Risks and Opportunities in the Face of Multiple Challenges".

We are particularly grateful for the valuable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript by Professor Kasia Cwiertka, Professor Franz Waldenberger and Dr. Barbara Holthus. Our grateful thanks are extended to Dr. Michel H.C. Bleijlevens, Dr. Kazue Haga, Ms Rie Masuda, Ms Junko Sakurai, Ms Miki Akaike, Ms Josine Schouwstra and Ms Anne-Sophie Konig for giving advice or providing research assistance at various stages of the project. We also wish to acknowledge the great administrative support offered by Ms Elisabeth Jakubassa.

We would like to express our great appreciation to the following institutions and organisations for their assistance with the collection of our data or for allowing us to visit their workplaces or laboratories: Robot Safety Center, Mobilika, Panasonic Age Free, Sekisui House, Fukui Prefecture, Iida City and all the interlocutors, who shared their valuable expertise and knowledge, which greatly enhanced the research.


In this paper, we consider the distributive queue-aware power and subband allocation design for a delay-optimal OFDMA uplink system with one base station, K users and NF independent subbands. Each mobile has an uplink queue with heterogeneous packet arrivals and delay requirements. We model the problem as an infinite horizon average reward Markov decision problem (MDP) where the control actions are functions of the instantaneous channel state information (CSI) as well as the joint queue state information (QSI). To address the distributive requirement and the issue of exponential memory requirement and computational complexity, we approximate the subband allocation Q-factor by the sum of the per-user subband allocation Q-factor and derive a distributive online stochastic learning algorithm to estimate the per-user Q-factor and the Lagrange multipliers (LM) simultaneously and determine the control actions using an auction mechanism. We show that under the proposed auction mechanism, the distributive online learning converges almost surely (with probability 1). For illustration, we apply the proposed distributive stochastic learning framework to an application example with exponential packet size distribution. We show that the delay-optimal power control has the multilevel water-filling structure where the CSI determines the instantaneous power allocation and the QSI determines the water-level. The proposed algorithm has linear signaling overhead and computational complexity O(KNF), which is desirable from an implementation perspective.


Cardiovascular disease from atherosclerosis remains a major cause of death in Australia. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) strongly correlates with improved cardiovascular risk in. Although statin based therapy remains our most effective and first line therapy, certain cohorts remain refractory to their benefits. Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), a monoclonal antibody, is currently under research as a novel non-statin based therapy in multiple clinical trials. PCSK9 targets low-density lipoprotein receptors for internalisation and lysomal degradation. This affects cholesterol homeostasis by reducing the cells ability to internalise circulating apoliprotein B. Early trials have shown clear benefits in LDL-C reduction without major adverse incidence in populations intolerant to statins, those with familial hypercholesterolaemia and patients requiring additional treatment to meet cholesterol targets despite statin based therapy. This article is a clinical focus reviewing the current phase I, II and III trials being conducted and the potential benefits a monoclonal antibody to PCSK9 may hold for cholesterol regulation in the future.


Toby Hood, a young Englishman, shuns the politics and the causes his liberal parents passionately support. Living in Johannesburg as a representative of his family's publishing company, Toby moves easily, carelessly, between the complacent wealthy white suburbs and the seething, vibrantly alive black townships. His friends include a wide variety of people, from mining directors to black journalists and musicians, and Toby's colonial-style weekends are often interspersed with clandestine evenings spent in black shanty towns. Toby's friendship with Steven Sithole, a dashing, embittered young African, touches him in ways he never thought possible, and when Steven's own sense of independence from the rules of society leads to tragedy, Toby's life is changed forever.


This paper presents a review of groundwater models capable of simulating solute transport ( i.e . advection-dispersion) and equilibrium chemistry processes. Introductory, basic model components are discussed including a physical and a chemical model component and the coupling between the two components. However, emphasis is placed on the chemical model component, since this represents the recent addition to solute transport modeling. Several ways exist of formulating either model component. For the physical model component this may include a continous description based on the governing mass balance equations or a discontinous description by a mixing cell approach. For the chemical model component, i.e . processes such as ion exchange, adsorption, complexation, precipitation/dissolution and open/closed carbonate system reactions, local equilibrium is usually assumed. The assumption of local equilibrium is investigated. The relation between the continuous formulation and a coupling/decoupling of the physical and chemical components and the resulting nature of the mathematical problem and its numerical strategy is briefly discussed. In all, 27 models have been surveyed in terms of their physical and chemical model components, their verification and applicability to field scale problems. Due to a lack of actual field applications it has not been possible to evaluate all models in natural settings and hence, each model will, in theory, be valid when the constraints given by the assumptions and limitations taken in developing the model are met. The models show great diversity with respect to complexity and general applicability to field scale problems. Most of the models were developed for specific purposes and it is difficult to point out one or more »general« models. However, it may be concluded that there exist many ways of formulating a model both with respect to transport and chemical calculations, but also to numerical techniques. Many of the models are very complex and future research should be directed towards validation studies of these models on a field scale, rather than developing still more complex models.


Water and energy demands associated with bioenergy crop production on marginal lands are inextricably linked with land quality and land use history. To illustrate the effect of land marginality on bioenergy crop yield and associated water and energy footprints, we analyzed seven large‐scale sites (9–21 ha) converted from either Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) or conventional agricultural land use to no‐till soybean for biofuel production. Unmanaged CRP grassland at the same location was used as a reference site. Sites were rated using a land marginality index (LMI) based on land capability classes, slope, soil erodibility, soil hydraulic conductivity, and soil tolerance factors extracted from a soil survey (SSURGO) database. Principal components analysis was used to develop a soil quality index (SQI) for the study sites based on 12 soil physical and chemical properties. The water and energy footprints on these sites were estimated using eddy‐covariance flux techniques. Aboveground net primary productivity was inversely related to LMI and positively related to SQI. Water and energy footprints increased with LMI and decreased with SQI. The water footprints for grain, biomass and energy production were higher on lands converted from agricultural land use compared with those converted from the CRP land. The sites which were previously in the CRP had higher SQI than those under agricultural land use, showing that land management affects water footprints through soil quality effects. The analysis of biophysical characteristics of the sites in relation to water and energy use suggests that crops and management systems similar to CRP grasslands may provide a potential strategy to grow biofuels that would minimize environmental degradation while improving the productivity of marginal lands.


Background: Constructed wetlands are a promising, cheap and effective wastewater treatment in small communities. The studies on these systems have been reported mainly from cold, tropical or subtropical climate regions. In this work we constructed a pilot plant with six horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (HSSF CWs) with a surface area of 2 m 2 and a depth of 0.6 m each, planted with Typha latifolia or Scirpus sp . , and filled with gravel (G) or fine gravel (FG) of 2.8 and 1.2 cm of diameter respectively, continuously fed with raw domestic wastewater. This experimental setup was evaluated over 280 days for the removal of organic matter and nutrients in a Mediterranean climate, near Valparaiso, Chile. The removal of total COD, NH 4 + -N and PO 4 -3 -P was calculated, in order to assess by analysis of variance the effect of initial pollutants concentration, air temperature (season) and plant/support combination on the wetlands performance. Results: The Scirpus /FG combination showed the highest average removal of total COD of about 59%, and Typha /FG shows the highest removal of NH 4 + -N and PO 4 -3 -P (49 and 32%, respectively). Furthermore, the removal of organic matter was independent of influent concentration, while mildly dependent of the season, unlike nutrients removal that was dependent on these two parameters. Media, plant and the plant/media combination influenced positively organic matter, ammonia and phosphorous removal, respectively. Conclusions: Overall, the results demonstrate the potential of wetlands in treatment of wastewater in Mediterranean regions and show how these can help to improve the quality of water in domestic zones without high-throughput technologies.


High unemployment continues to bedevil Poland, although the national picture masks striking spatial differences that this paper seeks to explain using a panel data set for the country's NUTS 4 level powiats. Given the economy's somewhat peculiar configuration throughout its communist epoch, emphasis is placed on rural-urban differences. Finding a random effects estimator to be most appropriate for the observations in question, the results indicate that increases in foreign capital, investment and the concentration of agriculture are associated with lower unemployment while its opposite is characteristic, all else equal, of more rural areas and those placing greater reliance on domestic enterprise.


Seasonal changes and ambiguity in property rights over land and natural resources create conflicts in rural communities in eastern Zambia. This study describes how rural households have minimized such conflicts and protect the economic interests of the poor members of the community through collective agreements on how to manage access to land and natural resources. Specifically, this study describes and evaluates the formulation and implementation of bylaws governing the grazing of animals and the setting of bush fires. First, we describe the background of the social conflicts arising over land and natural resources and the collective agreements to reduce the conflicts, as well as the processes that led to the formulation of the agreements. Using a sample survey of 196 households, we conduct an ex post assessment of the perceived effectiveness of the bylaws, including planned and unplanned impacts of the bylaws. The study shows that collective agreements and dialogues provide important entry points to minimize conflicts over natural resources. Survey results reveal a remarkable increase in the perceived effectiveness of the bylaw on animal grazing over a five year period (from 16 to 46 percent of respondents describing it as "effective†), with a more modest change regarding the bylaw governing bush fires. A number of lessons and recommendations are drawn from the study: (1) collective action can be used to protect the interests of the poor members in the community (especially female-headed households) and raise their voices in matters that affect their livelihood; (2) collective action is not a panacea, especially where power structure is skewed; (3) ex post assessment of the outcomes of collective action is essential to understand planned (positive) and unplanned (negative) outcomes; (4) cultural practices are constantly changing over time and may become opportunities or constraints depending on how communities organize themselves to protect the interests of both the powerful and vulnerable groups


The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) represents a new vision for Africa premised on core principles such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law. It has at its epicentre the reduction and eradication of poverty and the implementation of national strategies for sustainable development in order to halt the marginalisation of Africa.
This long-term vision is dependent on investment that will provide an impetus for Africa's development. The required investment and funding needed to achieve these objectives can only be secured if the commitment, credibility and resolve of African leaders are clearly demonstrated. NEPAD represents such an articulation, though generally formulated. It contains the seminal seeds for the regeneration of the African continent that has been ravaged for long by wars, famine and other innumerable scourges. The task ahead is to concretise the goals and objectives of NEPAD in a way that will ensure its credibility and popularity.
In order to achieve these objectives, Africa must strive to create conditions that are conducive to attracting investment both from outside the continent and inside the continent. NEPAD identifies peace, security, democracy and political governance as core components of such a vision. This paper seeks to build on these elements by focusing on two core components, namely the role NEPAD can play in the mobilisation of investment and trade. Globalisation is characterised by increasingly intensified cross-border trade and increasing financial and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. Though it has helped world growth and wealth in recent years, it has not done so equally for all countries or continents. Potential investors discount the African continent as a location for investment because of the negative image of the region as a whole. A worsening of imbalances between developed and developing countries had impeded development and aggravated poverty. The marginalisation of African countries is reflected in their small share of world trade, that was barely two percent in 2000 with FDI under one percent.
In order to reverse this trend, Africa must, through NEPAD, create conditions to attract investment into prioritised sectors. Small highly fragmented markets further hamper the attractiveness of Africa as an investment destination, apart from factors such as political instability and armed conflict. Africa simply does not compare favourably as regards a number of basic determinants of foreign investment.
NEPAD must influence policy on a range of issues by creating conditions that foster inter alia faster sustainable growth and poverty reduction; improvement in living standards and most importantly - to gain international confidence in Africa as a whole. The focus should be on building civic social capital, addressing the lack of trade openness, lack of capacity and deficient public service; and also mitigating the high aid dependency of African countries. These are all issues where NEPAD is well positioned to influence policy both on a national and continent wide scale.
A greater proportion of foreign capital flows into Africa consists of FDI and portfolio flows, while ODA has decreased since the 1980s. This dynamic indicates the importance in multinational corporations as major investors through FDI. Tariff liberalisation within the context of the WTO has had a marked impact on international trade flows.
Africa's part of international trade has dwindled in the last 25 years. Though Africa has had preferential access the European market through the Lome Conventions, it has not been able to expand its capacity in this regard. Intra-Africa trade is very low, evidenced by the fact that African countries trade much more with the outside world than with themselves. In this regard it is worrying to see the imbalance between trade with South Africa, where the latter's exports are four and a half times its imports from the rest of Africa.
Recent years have seen the emergence of regional economic communities (RECs) with the objective to increase market size and the removal of internal obstacles to African trade. Many of these REC's have progressively moved or are moving to greater liberalisation and integration of their respective economies. Due to different levels of economic development, benefits of integration invariably accrue to the most developed member. No mechanisms exist to address these adverse effects of economic integration, especially where LDCs are concerned. NEPAD is perfectly positioned to address some of the shortcomings in current RECs. Compensation mechanisms to offset such losses may be devised, impact studies in conjunction with UNECA and the African Development Bank (AFDB) may further concretise modalities of integration while also building capacity. Overlapping membership and duplication of functions with RECs may also be addressed under the overarching objectives of NEPAD.
As a political draw-card, the timing of NEPAD may also come to influence the upcoming negotiations between the EU and the ACP on programming for EPAs with the Cotonou Agreement. The political credibility of NEPAD may direct greater synchronicity between the respective RECs vis-a-vis a more harmonised approach with the EU, possibly a single negotiating position. A harmonised approach on this front may yield greater results on especially issues like rules of origin and accumulation and market access. Further, the EPA negotiations also present an opportunity aligning regional outcomes with the multilateral rules of the WTO. Other agreements like AGOA, may similarly be influenced by NEPAD. At the moment, AGOA is not a negotiated agreement, but a unilateral act of Congress that may be amended at any time at the will of the American Congress. This is an unhealthy condition under which the African nations are positioning themselves by adjusting production capacity according to the huge increased demand in areas like textiles. NEPAD is well placed to expand America to commit to greater institutionalisation of AGOA and more security for Africa, not only in terms of access to the American market but also e.g. product coverage, investment issues, technology transfer, technical assistance.


This ethnography traces Appalachian identity through the history of American indie music in order to broaden popular conceptions of Appalachian culture and make largely unexplored connections between Appalachian Studies and an international music underground similarly dissonant with "mainstream" American cultural understandings and projects. This thesis then explores how this history intersects with Boone, North Carolina's local history of alternative music scenes before examining Boone's current experimental scene. In seeking to understand the intentions and motivations of this current "non-Appalachian, Appalachian," music scene, I explored this central question: How does learning happen in a local experimental music scene collectively engaged in negotiating and remaking disparate alternative music worlds?


This paper explores the design and evaluation of a trust model to establish trust management in an open source collaborative information repository for an emergency response environment. The proposed model is an instantiation of the SECURE framework and it is based on the characteristics of trust defined by recent information systems research. Evaluation of the model is based on a case study of a drill conducted by a city in Southern California. The results suggest that the proposed model might be useful to provide timely action plans for specific types of incidents based on the level trust and risk. However, a common terminology among involved organizations must exist prior to implementing the proposed model. In addition, information is volatile in an emergency response environment and rapid changes in conditions influence the consensus among entities. Therefore, verifying the accuracy of the emergency information used by the proposed model is essential to establish trust management in this particular context.


Abstract Background Human cases of highly pathogenic avian-origin influenza A/H5N1 infection continue to be reported to the World Health Organization, and recent outbreaks of human cases of other zoonotic influenza strains highlight the continued need for strategies to mitigate influenza pandemic potential. Methods A Phase II–III randomized, placebo-controlled, observer-blind trial was conducted to assess the immunogenicity, reactogenicity, and safety of two 1.9 μg hemagglutinin doses of AS03B-adjuvanted H5N1 (AS03B-H5N1; A/Indonesia) vaccine in children (6 months to <18 years old) of Thailand, the United States, and Canada (Year 1, published elsewhere). After database lock in Year 1, the trial was unblinded, and children who had been randomized to receive placebo and continued to fulfill the eligibility criteria were invited to participate in an open-label, one-way, crossover safety extension phase, in which they received AS03B-H5N1 vaccine. Here we report the safety analysis in Year 2. Results A total of 155 children were vaccinated in Year 2. The most frequent solicited adverse event (AE) during 7 days post vaccination was injection site pain. Irritability or fussiness was reported in about one-third of younger children (aged <6 years) during 7 days post vaccination and was the most common solicited general AE in this age group. Postvaccination temperature (≥38°C) was reported in 4 (5.1%) children. The most common solicited general AEs in older children (aged ≥6 years) were muscle aches, headache, and fatigue. The AS03B-H5N1 vaccine had a clinically acceptable safety profile up to 385 days post vaccination. Conclusions Safety in the crossover phase was acceptable and consistent with that observed in vaccine recipients in the randomized, blinded phase of the study. Clinical trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01310413.


In an attempt to confer long-term protective immunity, BALB/c female mice were immunized intranasally with 10(4) inclusion-forming units (IFU) of the Chlamydia trachomatis mouse pneumonitis biovar (MoPn). Animals were subsequently challenged in the ovarian bursa with 10(5) C. trachomatis MoPn IFU at 60, 120, or 180 days post-intranasal immunization. Two control groups were included in the study. One control was sham immunized and mock challenged, and another group was sham immunized and challenged with 10(5) C. trachomatis MoPn IFU. Vaginal cultures were collected at regular intervals following the intrabursal challenge. In comparison with the sham-immunized mice, the animals that were intranasally immunized with C. trachomatis had significant protection, as shown by a reduction in the number of animals that had positive vaginal cultures and by a decrease in the intensity and length of the shedding. Furthermore, histopathological characterization of the genital tract following challenge, in the three groups of mice, showed a minimal inflammatory infiltrate in the C. trachomatis-immunized animals, when compared with the sham-immunized control group. Subsequently, the three groups of female mice that were challenged at 60, 120 and 180 days postimmunization were mated at 6 weeks following the challenge. Overall, in the mice intranasally immunized with C. trachomatis the fertility rates and the number of embryos were similar to those in the sham-immunized and mock-challenged group. In contrast, there was a significant increase in infertility in the groups of mice that were sham immunized and C. trachomatis challenged. In conclusion, intranasal immunization with C. trachomatis induces long-term protection against a genital challenge as shown by a decrease in the infection and infertility rates when compared with sham-immunized animals. Thus, this model may help to characterize the parameters of the immune response that are important in maintaining long-term protection and may aid in identifying the antigenic determinants involved in eliciting protection.


In this paper, the modelling of long-span girders under blast loads is presented. Specifically, spans in the range of 80–160 feet, on the order of those used for typical highway girder bridges, are considered. Topics addressed in this paper include (1) applicability of a uniform equivalent load to model blasts acting on long spans, (2) mathematical development of resistance functions and dynamic transformation factors for beams subjected to multiple distributed loads, and (3) comparisons of dynamic single degree-of-freedom analyses using both a work-equivalent uniform load and an approximation using three distributed loads of variable lengths relative to a detailed representation of the blast load profile as a function of position and time using finite element analyses. Analytical studies showing the sensitivity of the results to variations in the assumptions used to determine the magnitude and length of the loading pattern are provided. Based on these studies, a new method for approximating the response of long-span girders subjected to blasts with small scaled standoffs is proposed, which differs from the equivalent uniform load approach that is typically utilized. The new method is used to carry out parametric studies of bridge superstructure response predictions as part of research work performed for a state pool-funded bridge security project and an NCHRP project involving blast-resistant bridges.


Breast carcinoma is the most frequent cancer in women worldwide. Diagnosis is made by triple assessment of clinical, radiological and pathological correlation. Of all the types of breast carcinoma diagnosed, infiltrating duct carcinoma constitutes about 75% , invasive lobular carcinoma 5 -15%, medullary carcinoma 1-7%, secretory carcinoma ( rare type ) <1% .


The cytochrome oxidase-rich patches or blobs of the monkey striate cortex have been shown to contain cells that have unoriented receptive fields, many of which are color selective. We studied the functional organization of color opponency in the blob regions of the parafoveal representation of the visual cortex. We also examined the patterns of connectivity among blob and nonblob cells by multiple electrode penetrations and cross-correlation analysis. Some of the color- selective cells in the blobs exhibited receptive fields that were similar to those found in the parvocellular layers of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN): one type exhibited center-surround spatial and chromatic opponency corresponding to the Type I cell found in the LGN; another had center-only chromatic opponency, corresponding to the Type II cell of the LGN. A blob color-selective cell with no LGN counterpart had center color opponency with a nonchromatically opponent surround antagonism. We termed this cell the "modified Type II" cell. Contrary to previous reports, few true double color-opponent cells were found. Some blob cells previously characterized as double opponent probably belong to our modified Type II category and, unlike true double opponent cells, do not respond well to isoluminant color boundaries. Occasional color-selective oriented cells were either intermixed or in close proximity to blob cells. Neighboring electrode penetrations within the same blob yielded cells of the same color opponency, either red versus green or blue versus yellow, suggesting that individual blobs are dedicated to processing one color opponency. Blobs dedicated to red/green color opponency were 3 times more numerous than blue/yellow blobs. Furthermore, the cells in layer 4C lying beneath blobs of a given color opponency had identical color opponency to the overlying cells in blobs. Cross-correlation analysis of pairs of nonblob, oriented cells in the superficial layers showed interactions between cells with matched orientation and eye preference, at varying horizontal separations. Such interactions are consistent with anatomically demonstrated clustered horizontal connections. Positive cross-correlograms were found between blob cells in the same and in adjacent blobs when the cells' receptive field type, color opponency, and ocular dominance matched. Correlograms also indicated monosynaptic connections from Type II to modified Type II cells of the same color opponency, suggesting that Type II cells may contribute to the construction of the modified Type II fields in the cortex.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


The current issue of MMWR (week 39) will be the last to include data from the 122 Cities Mortality Reporting System (122 CMRS) in Notifiable Disease and Mortality Tables, Table III ("Deaths in 122 cities" [http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6539md.htm?s_cid=mm6539md_w#table-17]). Beginning in the publication for the week ending October 8, 2016 (week 40), data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Mortality Surveillance System will replace the information reported in Table III, and the 122 Cities Mortality Reporting System (122 CMRS) will be retired. The NCHS Mortality Surveillance System provides improvements in the data, including reports by the week of death and a consistent pneumonia and influenza (P&I) case definition across all sites. These improvements, along with recent and continuing increases in the timeliness of death certificate data, have led CDC to update the P&I mortality surveillance platform from the 122 CMRS to the NCHS Mortality Surveillance System.


A program was developed to enhance collaboration and exchange between the Masters in Public Administration (MPA) programs at historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) and Indiana State University (ISU). The program sought to promote communications between faculties, develop an awareness about public policy issues associated with the black communities, and enhance cultural diversity. One component of the program involved four professors visiting the ISU campus to lecture and participate in discussion. A national survey of the MPA faculty (143 respondents) on cultural diversity issues found that respondents were enthusiastic about the cultural diversity dimensions of the MPA program, and about collaborative relations with black colleges, and held various opinions on cultural diversity. Overall the impact of the project resulted in the following changes among the ISU MPA student and faculty participants: increased knowledge of research on black populations, interest in hiring women and minorities in MPA programs, desire to see more research on these issues, and desire to explore collaborative research and faculty exchanges with black colleges. A separate report presents detailed preliminary findings of the survey and the survey itself. Appendixes contain publicity material surrounding the events, summaries of lectures, lists of HBCUs, a copy of the faculty questionnaire, and an extensive report on its results, titled "Preliminary Findings of a 1992 Survey of MPA Faculty on Cultural Diversity Issues." A 26-item bibliography features items published from 1971-1991. (JB) REPORT ON A PROGRAM FOR COLLABORATION BETWEEN MPA PROGRAMS IN HISTORICALLY BLACK UNIVERSITIES AND A PREOOMINANTLY WHITE UNIVERSITY (INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY): A CULTURAL DIVERSITY INNOVATION PROJECT SUPPORTED BY NASPAA


The recent successful establishment of a truffle (Tuber melanosporum) industry in Australia has been significantly hampered by the occurrence of a disorder known as truffle rot. Truffle rot occurs at varying levels of severity in all truffle growing regions of the country and losses are believed to amount to over 35% of the annual national harvest. The incidence of rot is strongly related to the depth of truffle formation. Truffles forming within the top 5 cm of the soil profile are over 3 times more likely to become rotten than those forming below 5 cm. The involvement of a particular fungal rot organism is uncertain. Pathogenicity studies using bacteria isolated from within rotten truffles as well as macerated tissue from affected fruiting bodies has failed to demonstrate the induction of symptoms in healthy tissue under both field and laboratory conditions. The use of cultural treatments to encourage truffles to form deeper in the soil profile has shown some promise. Soil tillage using a rotary hoe between the tree rows resulted in a 50% reduction in the amount of truffle affected by rot, although the precise mechanism for this effect requires further investigation. Reducing the rate and frequency of irrigation over the truffle development period only had a minor impact on the proportion of truffles forming at the soil surface. Further research is required to understand the etiology of truffle rot and aspects of truffiere management that can be used to ameliorate truffle rot.


Does the death penalty save lives? In recent years, a new round of research has been using annual time-series panel data from the 50 U.S. states for 25 or so years from the 1970s to the late 1990s that claims to find many lives saved through reductions in subsequent homicide rates after executions. This research, in turn, has produced a round of critiques, which concludes that these findings are not robust enough to model even small changes in specifications that yield dramatically dif ferent results. A principal reason for this sensitivity of the findings is that few state-years exist (about 1 percent of all state-years) in which six or more executions have occurred. To provide a different perspective, we focus on Texas, a state that has used the death penalty with sufficient frequency to make possible relatively stable estimates of the homicide response to executions. In addition, we narrow the observation intervals for recording executions and homicides from the annual calendar year to monthly intervals. Based on time-series analyses and independent-validation tests, our best-fitting model shows that, from January 1994 through December 2005, evidence exists of modest, short-term reductions in homicides in Texas in the first and fourth months that follow an execution-about 2.5 fewer homicides total. Another model suggests, however, that in addition to homicide reductions, some displacement of homicides may be possible from one month to another in the months after an execution, which reduces the total reduction in homicides after an execution to about .5 during a 12-month period. Implications for additional research and the need for future analysis and replication are discussed.


Abstract : This report describes the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Assurance Modeling Framework. It also discusses an initial piloting of the framework to prove its value and insights gained from that piloting for the adoption of selected assurance solutions. The SEI is developing a way to model key aspects of assurance to accelerate the adoption of assurance solutions within operational set-tings for the U. S. Department of Defense (DoD) and other government organizations. As part of that undertaking, SEI researchers have developed an Assurance Modeling Framework to build a profile for an assurance capability area such as vulnerability management with-in an assurance quality such as security. The profile consists of many views developed using selected methods and models. From the analysis of these views, inefficiencies and candidate improvements for assurance adoption can be identified.


Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays carry information about their sources and the intervening medium apart from providing a beam of particles for studying certain features of high energy interactions currently inaccessible at man-made accelerators. They can at present be studied only via the extensive air showers (EAS's) they generate while passing through the Earth's atmosphere, since their fluxes are too low for the experiments of limited capability flown in balloons and satellites. The EAS is generated by a series of interactions of the primary cosmic ray and its progeny with the atmospheric nuclei. The exponential nature of the atmosphere spreads the air showers laterally over several hundreds of meters, thus enabling ground-based arrays of relatively inexpensive detectors to record and study them.
This book describes the EAS phenomenology, the detectors and techniques used, and the latest results on the energy spectrum and composition of the primaries of EAS's and the results on high energy interactions obtained from EAS studies. It also describes the new TeV and PeV gamma ray astronomy (which has been developing over the past decade) and the newly emerging neutrino astronomy, which are related to the origin of cosmic rays.

This book serves as an introduction as well as a reference for researchers in the field.


Young is back with the eagerly awaited follow-up to his account of a hilariously failed attempt to conquer the Manhattan social and professional scene in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. All the elements that turned Toby's earlier memoir into a bestseller from coast to coast and on both sides of the Atlantic are back, too. Well, some things have changed for Toby-he has married his girlfriend from How to Lose Friends and Alienate People and now has two kids, and he has moved from the Manhattan that treated him none too kindly to London. But Toby remains Toby, and what Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair called Toby's "brown thumb" continues to work its magic, transforming opportunities into cringeworthy debacles and leading to situations that are classic Toby Young territory. Toby gleefully recounts such dubious journalistic assignments as posing as a patient at a penis-enlargement clinic and as a greeter at a Wal-Mart. He has misadventures in Los Angeles as a screenwriter for films that never quite get made, he's been a contestant on an abysmal reality show that absolutely no one watched, and he has acted in a one-man play that was utterly savaged by the critics. Yes, Toby has become a dutiful husband and a devoted dad, but he's as relentlessly self-sabotaging as ever, with a demonstrated knack for attracting misfortune, publicity-and devoted readers.


Foliar methanol applications have previously been reported to dramatically increase yields of a variety of crops under arid conditions, including cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Whether methanol is effective in the southeastern USA is not known. In addition, the agronomic and physiological events contributing to the increase are not understood. Therefore, we conducted a series of experiments in 1993 to study the effects of methanol on the gas exchange, water relations, development, growth, and yield of field-grown cotton at three locations in the southeastern USA. Conventional management and irrigation procedures were used. Methanol solutions in water, with and without urea and iron, were applied over the top at midday to cotton. Four to eight applications were made from flowering to late boll filling. Both single-leaf and canopy photosynthesis rates taken 2 h to 6 d after treatment were unaffected by methanol or the nutrients. At one site, CO 2 compensation point was determined, but did not differ among treatments. This finding does not support previous claims that methanol reduces photorespiration. Transpiration and water potential also were not affected by foliar applications of 15 or 30% methanol (v/v). Foliar methanol applications also did not result in faster development of the crop and did not increase yield at any of the locations. Our results do not indicate any positive effect of foliar methanol applications on cotton in the southeastern USA.


What characterizes the EU today is that it is not only a multi-level governance system, but also a multi-context system. The making of Europe does not just take place on different levels within the European political framework, executed by different groups of actors or institutions. Rather, it also happens in different and distinguishable social contexts - distinct functional, historical, and local frameworks of reasoning and action - that political science alone cannot sufficiently analyze with conventional and generalizing models of explanation. The European law is such a context, and it should be perceived as a self-contained sphere of argument and action that generates impetus for integration. Therefore, the role of the European Court of Justice in the process of integration may only be adequately captured by examining European law as an independent space of reasoning and action.


Formal consideration of the links between students' Motivation, Self-Assessment abilities and Tacit Knowledge is shown in this paper to provide a useful model (MSATK) for planning postgraduate, Web-based education. The design of effective e-Learning courses requires a Learning Framework that emphasizes context-analysis within knowledge-mediated processes. Contextual analysis ensures that self-assessment will be effective in complex domains that rely on Web sources of experiential knowledge, usually accessible as Professional practice models that employ diagnostic tools for scenario simulation processes. Demographic trends now facing Japan and Western countries, and the knowledge management support requirements of global e-Learning initiatives are challenging the value of current self-assessment processes. Building a Culture of Critique is highly desirable, but the lack of an Learning Framework that reflects student ownership of their learning process has obscured the need for tools to correctly interpret domain contexts, or for student freedom to drive the need for modified scenarios. The value of a Learning Framework that links motivation, tacit knowledge, self-assessment practice and contextual analysis is examined in this paper with consequential implications for Web support.


Emulinda Pharmacy is a pharmacy that is growing and moving in the field of health care, especially in the case of sale of drugs both prescription and no prescription. Pharmacy plays a very important for the health of the general public. In the process of the sales transaction, Emulinda Pharmacy requires data accuracy and time efficiency when serving customers for consumer satisfaction itself.. In addition there are many issues that arise in the current system, as well as difficulty finding medical supplies and information reporting process and the purchase of medical supplies sales take a long time. So to overcome these problems, designed a information systems and database applications that can accommodate large amounts of data so that when done accessing the data through an application process that is built to make it easier for users to obtain information. The purpose of this research was to determine the Sales and Purchase Information Systems running drugs in Emulinda Pharmacy and give a description of the systems running on this Emulinda Pharmacies, then create system design, implementation, and testing of Information Systems Sales and Purchasing Drugs proposed to to answer or solve the problems faced and to facilitate the work in data management. The design of the system used by the author using data-oriented approach (data oriented) and the development of systems using model prototype, analysis and structured programming as a tool for the process, while the database application development tool using Java programming language Netbeans IDE 7.1, XAMPP MySQL as database / database server, and creating reports using iReport 5.5.0. From the results of the development of the system and the results of this research of the Sales and Purchasing Information System computerized drug that can facilitate in the sales and purchases data processing can be faster also reduces errors in data recording process, and reduce the delay in submission of the report.


Because of the rapid growth of energy demand in developing countries, policies for energy efficiency are receiving increasing attention. Although Energy Efficiency Standards and Labeling (EES&L) is a standard policy tool in many countries, some developing countries, such as Lao PDR, have not yet implemented them fully. In order to understand the potential impact of EES&L, this paper aims at collecting data that contribute to EES&L and at analysing appliance possessions in Vientiane City, Lao PDR. We conducted an interview survey on 600 households in Vientiane City and performed logistic regression analysis that set possession of appliances as the dependent variable. As a result of the analysis, we identified that the income level and the electricity consumption are the principal independent variables and the relationship of these variables with possession rates depends on appliances. Our model helps identify appliances that are expected to be in high demand associated with either economic growth or human population increase in Vientiane City.


We argue that fermion-boson mapping techniques represent a natural tool for studying many-body supersymmetry in fermionic systems with pairing. In particular, using the generalized Dyson mapping of a many-level fermion superalgebra with the SU(2) type of pairing we investigate two kinds of supersymmetry connecting excitations in the systems with even and odd particle numbers: dynamical supersymmetry, which ensures a unified classification of states for both even and odd populations, and invariant supersymmetry with actual degeneracies of states within the same supermultiplet. Dynamical supersymmetries based on the dynamical algebra of the type U(K/2\Omega) (where K and 2\Omega denote the number of fermion-pair and single-fermion states, respectively) naturally arise in the bosonized description of the system. Conditions for invariant supersymmetry are determined in a restricted case of bilinear supercharge operators.


In this Editor's Review, articles published in 2011 are organized by category and briefly summarized. As the official journal of The International Federation for Artificial Organs, The International Faculty for Artificial Organs, and the International Society for Rotary Blood Pumps, Artificial Organs continues in the original mission of its founders "to foster communications in the field of artificial organs on an international level."Artificial Organs continues to publish developments and clinical applications of artificial organ technologies in this broad and expanding field of organ replacement, recovery, and regeneration from all over the world. We take this time also to express our gratitude to our authors for offering their work to this journal. We offer our very special thanks to our reviewers who give so generously of time and expertise to review, critique, and especially provide meaningful suggestions to the author's work whether eventually accepted or rejected. Without these excellent and dedicated reviewers, the quality expected from such a journal would not be possible. We also express our special thanks to our Publisher, Wiley-Blackwell, for their expert attention and support in the production and marketing of Artificial Organs. In this Editor's Review, that historically has been widely well-received by our readership, we aim to provide a brief reflection of the currently available worldwide knowledge that is intended to advance and better human life while providing insight for continued application of technologies and methods of organ replacement, recovery, and regeneration. We look forward to recording further advances in the coming years.


A soft, skin-mounted microfluidic device captures microliter volumes of sweat and quantitatively measures biochemical markers by colorimetric analysis. Better health? Prepare to sweat Wearable technology is a popular way many people monitor their general health and fitness, tracking heart rate, calories, and steps. Koh et al. now take wearable technology one step further. They have developed and tested a flexible microfluidic device that adheres to human skin. This device collects and analyzes sweat during exercise. Using colorimetric biochemical assays and integrating smartphone image capture analysis, the device detected lactate, glucose, and chloride ion concentrations in sweat as well as sweat pH while stuck to the skin of individuals during a controlled cycling test. Colorimetric readouts showed comparable results to conventional analyses, and the sweat patches remained intact and functional even when used during an outdoor endurance bicycle race. The authors suggest that microfluidic devices could be used during athletic or military training and could be adapted to test other bodily fluids such as tears or saliva. Capabilities in health monitoring enabled by capture and quantitative chemical analysis of sweat could complement, or potentially obviate the need for, approaches based on sporadic assessment of blood samples. Established sweat monitoring technologies use simple fabric swatches and are limited to basic analysis in controlled laboratory or hospital settings. We present a collection of materials and device designs for soft, flexible, and stretchable microfluidic systems, including embodiments that integrate wireless communication electronics, which can intimately and robustly bond to the surface of the skin without chemical and mechanical irritation. This integration defines access points for a small set of sweat glands such that perspiration spontaneously initiates routing of sweat through a microfluidic network and set of reservoirs. Embedded chemical analyses respond in colorimetric fashion to markers such as chloride and hydronium ions, glucose, and lactate. Wireless interfaces to digital image capture hardware serve as a means for quantitation. Human studies demonstrated the functionality of this microfluidic device during fitness cycling in a controlled environment and during long-distance bicycle racing in arid, outdoor conditions. The results include quantitative values for sweat rate, total sweat loss, pH, and concentration of chloride and lactate.


The Shakespearean Originals Series takes as its point of departure the question: "What is it that we read Shakespeare?" The answer may seem self-evident: we read the words that Shakespeare wrote. But do we? In the case of all the major editions of Shakespeare available in the market, the fact of the matter is that many of the words that we read in an edition of, say, Hamlet, never appeared in the text as it was printed during or shortly after Shakespeare's own lifetime. They are the interpetations and interpolations of a series of editors who have been systematically changing Shakespeare's text from the eighteenth century onwards. This volume offers the text of Macbeth, as printed in the 1623 First Folio.


In recent years, a number of reinforcement learning (RL) methods have been proposed to explore complex environments which differ across episodes. In this work, we show that the effectiveness of these methods critically relies on a count-based episodic term in their exploration bonus. As a result, despite their success in relatively simple, noise-free settings, these methods fall short in more realistic scenarios where the state space is vast and prone to noise. To address this limitation, we introduce Exploration via Elliptical Episodic Bonuses (E3B), a new method which extends count-based episodic bonuses to continuous state spaces and encourages an agent to explore states that are diverse under a learned embedding within each episode. The embedding is learned using an inverse dynamics model in order to capture controllable aspects of the environment. Our method sets a new state-of-the-art across 16 challenging tasks from the MiniHack suite, without requiring task-specific inductive biases. E3B also matches existing methods on sparse reward, pixel-based VizDoom environments, and outperforms existing methods in reward-free exploration on Habitat, demonstrating that it can scale to high-dimensional pixel-based observations and realistic environments.


Kediri is one of the cities in Indonesia which has a high poverty rate. This study aims to design an integrated program in poverty reduction in Kediri City, the percentage of poor people in Kediri City in 2018 was 7.68 percent, a decrease of 0.81 percent compared to conditions in 2017, namely 8.49 percent, This percentage is still better because it is below the achievements of the Province of East Java and the national level. There have been many poverty reduction programs implemented by the Kediri municipal government. However, the program is still ineffective because: 1) there is no coordination between agencies in running the program, and 2) the program does not reflect the needs of the poor to live properly in urban areas. The research used qualitative methods and was carried out in agencies related to poverty alleviation programs in Kediri City, namely the Research and Development Planning Agency (Barenlitbang), Bapemas and KB, the Cooperative and UMKM Office, Disperindag, Health Office, Manpower Office, Office Social, Education Officer, and Transportation Service. The data collection technique was carried out in 3 ways, namely observation, interviews, and documentation. The results of this study indicate that there are eight priority needs of the poor, namely (1) education, (2) social welfare, (3) health, (4) infrastructure and infrastructure, (5) food security, and (6) the environment. Of the eight priority needs of the poor, it is found that an integrated poverty reduction program design requires good coordination among related agencies.


More than a half-century has passed since Cronbach's distinction between the correlational and experimental approaches in psychology. Yet measurement today is not much better integrated with psychological theory than it was in the late 1950s, and many argue that the traditional psychometric model itself may have introduced constraints that have limited the integration of measurement and theory. "Measuring Psychological Constructs" seeks to break through these constraints by offering conceptual alternatives to traditional item-response theory's fixed-content/multiple-choice models. This edited volume's contributors present groundbreaking explanatory approaches to model-based measurement that provide various psychological constructs with more 'authentic' measures such as constructed-response tasks and performance assessment. These new explanatory approaches not only extend rigorous psychometric methods to a variety of major psychological constructs, but also have the potential to change fundamentally the nature of the constructs that are being measured. Grounded in psychometrics and quantitative assessment, and in the history and major theoretical approaches of psychology, "Measuring Psychological Constructs" is aimed at students, teachers, researchers, and practitioners alike, in variety of psychology subdisciplines that include developmental and geriatric, industrial/organizational, clinical and counseling, educational, social and personality, experimental, neuropsychology, health and rehabilitation, and quantitative psychology.


In some practical situations – e.g., when treating a new illness – we do not have enough data to make valid statistical conclusions. In such situations, it is necessary to use expert knowledge – and thus, it is beneficial to use fuzzy techniques that were specifically designed to process such knowledge. At first glance, it may seem that in situations when we have large amounts of data, the relative importance of expert knowledge should decrease. However, somewhat surprisingly, it turns out that expert knowledge is still very useful in the current age of big data. In this paper, we explain how exactly (and why) expert knowledge is useful, and we overview efficient methods for processing this knowledge. This overview is illustrated by examples from environmental science, geosciences, engineering (in particular, aircraft maintenance and underwater robots), and medicine.


Over two-thirds of Australians are owner-occupiers and a majority of the population holds most of their wealth in housing. Australian taxation privileges homeowners and retirement income policy is built around the assumption that state pensions can be kept low because an overwhelming majority of older Australians are outright homeowners and therefore have a considerable asset base and low housing costs post-retirement, a situation often referred to as 'wealthfare'. However, ageing of the population and falling housing affordability mean that the number of asset-poor older Australians unable to rely on 'wealthfare' – lifetime renters or those who drop out of homeownership – is likely to grow in the future. In this paper we look at housing career pathways into precarious housing in older age, its impact on older Australians' ontological security and coping strategies as they grapple with the housing circumstances that typically accompany asset poverty. Based on 30 interviews conducted with older Australians, the paper reports qualitative findings from a mixed methods research project conducted in Melbourne in 2009–2010.


LCL161, a SMAC mimetic, was tested against the PPTP in vitro panel (1.0 nM to 10.0 µM) and the PPTP in vivo panels (30 or 75 mg/kg [solid tumors] or 100 mg/kg [ALL]) administered orally twice in a week. LCL161 showed a median relative IC50 value of >10 µM, being more potent against several leukemia and lymphoma lines. In vivo LCL161 induced significant differences in EFS distribution in approximately one‐third of solid tumor xenografts (osteosarcoma and glioblastoma), but not in ALL xenografts. No objective tumor responses were observed. In vivo LCL161 demonstrated limited single agent activity against the pediatric preclinical models studied. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2012; 58: 636–639. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


This article addresses one of the more engaging and provocative issues in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess, namely that of the threats posed by fanaticism, fundamentalism, and zealotry. Concentrating on the most relevant episodes and providing a fairly wide survey regarding this theme, it illustrates how the series portrays the way various cults and their leaders can harm communities as well as individuals. This survey will also demonstrate that this is a major moral issue in the series, related to that of violence and aggression, as well as to the issue of self-sacrifice.


A new, simple, rapid, selective, precise and accurate isocratic RP-HPLC assay has been developed for simultaneous estimation of Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride, Ofloxacin, Tinidazole and Ornidazole in tablet formulations. The separation was achieved by using C-18 column (Phenomenax, 250 x 4.6mm i.d.) coupled with a guard column of same material, in mobile phase Acetonitrile: Water: Tri ethylamine (25:75). The pH of mobile phase was adjusted to 6.0 ± 0.1 with 50% ortho phosphoric acid. The flow rate was 1.0 mL.min-1 and the separated drugs were detected using UV detector at the wavelength of 300 nm. The retention time of Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride, Ofloxacin, Tinidazole, and Ornidazole was noted to be 2.7, 3.5, 4.5 and 5.8 min, respectively, indicative of rather shorter analysis time. The method was validated as per ICH guidelines. The proposed method was found to be accurate, reproducible, and consistent. It was successfully applied for the analysis of these drugs in marketed formulations and could be effectively used for the routine analysis of formulations containing any one of the above drugs, or a combination, without any alteration in the chromatographic conditions.


Cholesterol efflux from macrophage foam cells is a rate-limiting step in reverse cholesterol transport. In this process cholesterol acceptors like high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and apolipoprotein (apo)A-I must cross the endothelium to get access to the donor cells in the arterial intima. Previously, we have shown that apoA-I passes a monolayer of aortic endothelial cells (ECs) from the apical to the basolateral side by transcytosis, which is modulated by the ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABC)A1. Here, we analyzed the interaction of mature HDL with ECs. ECs bind HDL in a specific and saturable manner. Both cell surface biotinylation experiments and immunofluorescence microscopy of HDL recovered ≈30% of the cell-associated HDL intracellularly. Cultivated on inserts ECs bind, internalize, and translocate HDL from the apical to the basolateral compartment in a specific and temperature-dependent manner. The size of the translocated particle was reduced, but its protein moiety remained intact. Using RNA interference, we investigated the impact of SR-BI, ABCA1, and ABCG1 on binding, internalization, and transcytosis of HDL by ECs. HDL binding was reduced by 50% and 30% after silencing of SR-BI and ABCG1, respectively, but not at all after diminishing ABCA1 expression. Knock down of SR-BI and, even more so, ABCG1 reduced HDL transcytosis but did not affect inulin permeability. Cosilencing of both proteins did not further reduce HDL binding, internalization, or transport. In conclusion, ECs transcytose HDL by mechanisms that involve either SR-BI or ABCG1 but not ABCA1.


BGP-4 Multiprotocol Extensions [BGP-MP] defines the format of two BGP attributes (MP_REACH_NLRI and MP_UNREACH_NLRI) that can be used to announce and withdraw the announcement of reachability information. This document defines how compliant systems should make use of those attributes for the purpose of conveying IPv6 routing information.


Determination of Fine Particulate Matter Composition and Development of the Organic Aerosol Monitor Paul Michael Cropper Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, BYU Doctor of Philosophy Tropospheric fine particulate matter (PM) poses serious health risks and has a significant impact on global climate change. The measurement of various aspects of PM is challenging due to its complex chemical nature. This dissertation addresses various aspects of PM, including composition, measurement, and visibility. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a new secondary standard based on visibility in urban areas using 24-h averaged measurements of either light scatter or PM concentration. However shorter averaging times may better represent human perception of visibility. Data from two studies conducted in Lindon, UT, 2012, and Rubidoux, CA, 2003, were used to compare different techniques to estimate visibility, particularly the effect of relative humidity on visibility estimations. Particle composition was measured in Salt Lake City during January-February of 2009. One-hour averaged concentrations of several gas phase and particle phase inorganic species were measured. The results indicate ammonium nitrate averages 40% of the total PM2.5 mass in the absence of inversions and up to 69% during strong inversions. Also, the formation of ammonium nitrate is nitric acid limited, while the formation of ozone appears to be oxidant and volatile organic carbon (VOC) limited. Reduction of NOx will reduce ammonium nitrate secondary particle formation, however, a decrease in NOx may increase ozone concentration. Due to the complexity of PM it is poorly characterized. A large fraction of PM is composed of organic compounds, but these compounds are not regularly monitored due to limitations in current sampling techniques. The GC-MS Organic Aerosol Monitor (OAM) combines a collection device with thermal desorption, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to quantitatively measure the carbonaceous components of PM on an hourly averaged basis. A compact GC and simple pre-concentrator were developed for the system to decouple separation from manual injection and enhance separation of environmentally-relevant polar organic compounds, such as levoglucosan. The GC-MS OAM is fully automated and has been successfully deployed in the field. It uses a chemically deactivated filter for collection followed by thermal desorption and GC-MS analysis. Laboratory tests show that detection limits range from 0.2 to 3 ng for many atmospherically relevant compounds. The GC-MS OAM was deployed in the field for semi-continuous measurement of the organic markers, levoglucosan, dehydroabietic acid, and several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during winter (January to March), 2015 and 2016. Results illustrate the significance of this monitoring technique to more fully characterize the organic components of PM and identify sources of pollution.


Out Stealing Horses has been embraced across the world as a classic, a novel of universal relevance and power. Panoramic and gripping, it tells the story of Trond Sander, a sixty-seven-year-old man who has moved from the city to a remote, riverside cabin, only to have all the turbulence, grief, and overwhelming beauty of his youth come back to him one night while he's out on a walk. From the moment Trond sees a strange figure coming out of the dark behind his home, the reader is immersed in a decades-deep story of searching and loss, and in the precise, irresistible prose of a newly crowned master of fiction.


The objectives of this research were to investigate the interrelationships among some mineral concentrations (Fe, Zn, B, Mn, Cu, Mo, K, Mg and Ca) in grain and to evaluate different eastern Anatolian bread landraces with application of the genotype × trait (GT) biplot methodology in visualizing research data. 69 bread wheat genotypes (67 pure lines and 2 cultivars). Fe, Zn, B, Mn, Cu, Mo, K, Mg and Ca contents of bread wheat genotypes changed at the levels between 32.54 and 51.25 mg kg-1, 23.00 and 37.16 mg kg-1, 6.62 and 14.67 mg kg-1, 30.17 and 50.00 mg kg-1, 4.04 and 6.88 mg kg-1, 0.88 and 1.23 mg kg-1, 2.19 and 5.62 g kg-1, 1.04 and 1.72 g kg-1, and 0.37 and 0.55 g kg-1, respectively. Among minerals, B, Zn and Fe concentrations were the most discriminating with the longest vectors from the origin in the biplot. Landraces L10, L48, L2, L55, L17, L14, L36, L16, L53, L22, L32, L53 L65 and Kirik cultivar were the best or the poorest landraces in some or all of the traits since they had the longest distance from the origin of biplot. Among the mineral contents, Fe content was positively correlated with Zn and Mn content. The association of Zn with Mn was positive and significant. B content positive and significant correlated with Mo content. Both Zn and Fe content was negative significant correlated with Ca. The GT biplot method can be used to identify both ideal genotypes and mineral contents in other crops.


We initiate the study of "privacy for the analyst" in differentially private data analysis. That is, not only will we be concerned with ensuring differential privacy for the data (i.e. individuals or customers), which are the usual concern of differential privacy, but we also consider (differential) privacy for the set of queries posed by each data analyst. The goal is to achieve privacy with respect to other analysts, or users of the system. This problem arises only in the context of stateful privacy mechanisms, in which the responses to queries depend on other queries posed (a recent wave of results in the area utilized cleverly coordinated noise and state in order to allow answering privately hugely many queries). We argue that the problem is real by proving an exponential gap between the number of queries that can be answered (with non-trivial error) by stateless and stateful differentially private mechanisms. We then give a stateful algorithm for differentially private data analysis that also ensures differential privacy for the analyst and can answer exponentially many queries.


Location is of paramount importance within the retail sector, yet retail locational obsolescence remains an overlooked area despite significant concerns over the long term viability of parts of the retail sector. This paper explores the idea of retail locational obsolescence in depth and, through this, for the first time determines a definition and sets out a conceptual model. It is argued that, only by undertaking such an analysis, can the problem of disequilibrium in demand and supply be fully understood and, therefore, tackled. The analysis focuses on a number of areas, including the distinction between causes and effects; the multi-spatial nature of the driving forces that range from the global economy, to local markets and sub-markets, right down to individual property-specific factors; and, crucially, the need to disentangle locational obsolescence from other important concepts such as depreciation and functional obsolescence that are often mistakenly used as substitutes. The analysis demonstrates not only the complex nature of retail locational obsolescence but the extensive and disparate nature of the parties with a vested interest in the retail property sector. Through this is becomes clear that any attempts at developing solutions for the difficulties faced by the sector must fully understand the challenge. Numerous reports have been published in the UK, not just the recent high-profile Portas Report commissioned by the Government, but a significant number of others over the past couple of decades. These are explored, using the definition and conceptual model developed above, to shed light on how the various efforts have been focused. Through this, a research agenda is suggested to better understand and focus future work on the health of the retail sector.


We analyze the elongation (the scaling properties of drainage area with mainstream length) in optimal channel networks (OCNs) obtained through different algorithms searching for the minimum of a functional computing the total energy dissipation of the drainage system. The algorithms have different capabilities to overcome the imprinting of initial and boundary conditions, and thus they have different chances of attaining the global optimum. We find that suboptimal shapes, i.e., dynamically accessible states characterized by locally stationary total potential energy, show the robust type of elongation that is consistently observed in nature. This suggestive and directly measurable property is not found in the so‐called ground state, i.e., the global minimum, whose features, including elongation, are known exactly. The global minimum is shown to be too regular and symmetric to be dynamically accessible in nature, owing to features and constraints of erosional processes. Thus Hack's law is seen as a signature of feasible optimality thus yielding further support to the suggestion that optimality of the system as a whole explains the dynamic origin of fractal forms in nature.


For many educational applications such as learning tools for argumentation, structured diagrams are a suitable form of external representation. However, student-created graphs pose some problems to ITS designers, especially in defined domains. This paper demonstrates a graph-grammar-based approach for ITS construction in domains that benefit from diagram representations. For these, graph grammars offer some helpful affordances. They make it easy to express possible manipulations by which a student might create a diagram, they facilitate the definition of structurally complex and pedagogically interesting constellations of graph elements to which an ITS should respond with feedback messages, and they offer a general parsing mechanism that allows the analysis of student-created diagrams by recognizing these constellations in graphs.


The following research is devoted to the study of the morphological and biochemical features of blood under conditions of hypovolemia due to multiple traumas of the pelvic limbs in dogs. The correlation between the changes of the structure of the erythrocytes under conditions of infringement of metabolism, tissue disintegration and redistribution of fluids and the biochemical indicators of the blood serum, which characterize the emunctory capability of the kidneys under conditions of hypoxia of the organ, was detected. A systemic approach has been presented in the article to the study of the processes occurring in the organism of dogs under the influence of posttraumatic hypovolemia. An exploration of the dynamics of the biochemical and hematological changes in the organism were carried out, giving the characteristics of the changes of the erythrocytes in the acute posttraumatic period. The dependency of the structural characteristics of erythrocytes from the degree of diminution of the volume of the circulating blood and the level of certain metabolites of the blood serum are presented. It has been established, that the development of prerenal insufficiency, which develops under acute hypovolemia, promotes the change in the structure and function of the erythrocytes, which, in turn aggravates hypoxia of tissues and organs.


Synchronization of local and distributed neuronal assemblies is thought to underlie fundamental brain processes such as perception, learning, and cognition. In neurological disease, neuronal synchrony can be altered and in epilepsy may play an important role in the generation of seizures. Linear cross-correlation and mean phase coherence of local field potentials (LFPs) are commonly used measures of neuronal synchrony and have been studied extensively in epileptic brain. Multiple studies have reported that epileptic brain is characterized by increased neuronal synchrony except possibly prior to seizure onset when synchrony may decrease. Previous studies using intracranial electroencephalography (EEG), however, have been limited to patients with epilepsy. Here we investigate neuronal synchrony in epileptic and control brain using intracranial EEG recordings from patients with medically resistant partial epilepsy and control subjects with intractable facial pain. For both epilepsy and control patients, average LFP synchrony decreases with increasing interelectrode distance. Results in epilepsy patients show lower LFP synchrony between seizure-generating brain and other brain regions. This relative isolation of seizure-generating brain underlies the paradoxical finding that control patients without epilepsy have greater average LFP synchrony than patients with epilepsy. In conclusion, we show that in patients with focal epilepsy, the region of epileptic brain generating seizures is functionally isolated from surrounding brain regions. We further speculate that this functional isolation may contribute to spontaneous seizure generation and may represent a clinically useful electrophysiological signature for mapping epileptic brain.


In this research, an ultrasonic probe (5.5 mm in diameter), which has a concave PZT transducer at its tip, was fabricated for ultrasonic treatments such as sonoporation and sonodynamic therapy in the human body using a catheter and/or endoscope. Ultrasound has the potential to enhance cytotoxicity of drugs such as porphyrins, a process referred to as sonodynamic therapy, and also to deliver macromolecules such as plasmid DNA, a process referred to as sonoporation. The fabricated probe was then experimentally characterized by measuring the acoustic intensity distribution around the focal point, using a PVDF needle-type ultrasonic hydrophone. When the PZT transducer was driven by a 120 Volts peak-to-peak AC signal at 1.83 MHz, the ultrasound output was successfully focused at the focal point, with a peak intensity of 24.9 W/cm2 (0.87 MPa). Using the fabricated probe, cultured Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells were exposed to ultrasound (1.83 MHz, continuous wave, peak acoustic pressure of 0.5 MPa) for 2 s in the presence of microbubbles MB-3 and Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) plasmid DNA. As a result of sonication, the expression of GFP was observed in CHO cells.


Abstract : Before an Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability EvaluationSM (OCTAVESM) can be conducted, there are preliminary activities that need to occur, or should occur. This volume provides materials to support those activities. In general, it is assumed that an internal champion and the analysis team would be involved in these activities. An internal champion is assumed to be someone who is interested, motivated, and influential enough to convince management to proceed with an OCTAVE.


In this paper, we consider a spectrum sharing system where a secondary user (SU) transmitter (SU-Tx) communicates with an SU receiver (SU-Rx) with the help of multiple secondary relays (SRs) in the presence of a single primary network link. In particular, the SU-Tx and SR are subject to their maximum transmit power limits and the timeout constraint of the primary user (PU). Moreover, we assume that the relay selection is based on either best relay selection (BRS) or max-max relay selection (MMRS). In BRS, a single relay having the best end-to-end channel condition among the SRs is selected for cooperation between the source and the destination. However, the selected relay may not experience the best source-relay channel and relay-destination channel at the same time. To overcome the limitation of selecting the same relay for both reception and transmission, MMRS uses the best relay of the SU-Tx→SR link for reception at the relay and the best relay of the SR→SU-Rx link for transmission to the destination. Specifically, we compare the performance for BRS and MMRS in terms of the outage probability, and study the impact of the number of SRs, PU transmit power and different channel mean powers of interference links on the secondary network performance. Furthermore, based on the performance of the MMRS and assuming that automatic repeat request (ARQ) is implemented for packet retransmission, we investigate the outage probability for delay limited applications. The numerical results indicate that the MMRS outperforms BRS when more than one SRs are deployed. The secondary network outage probability is reduced when the number of SRs and the number of retransmissions become large. It is also shown that the interference from the PU has a significant impact on the secondary network performance.


Investors traditionally rely on credit ratings to price debt instruments. However, rating agencies are known to be prudent in their approach to rating revisions, which results in delayed ratings adjustments to mutating credit conditions. For a large set of eurobonds we derive credit spread implied ratings and compare them with the ratings issued by rating agencies. Our results indicate that spread implied ratings often anticipate future movement of agency ratings and hence could help track credit risk in a more timely manner. This finding has important implications for risk managers in banks who, under the new Basel 2 regulations, have to rely more on credit ratings for capital allocation purposes, and for portfolio managers who face rating-related investment restrictions.


Standardized product classification systems play a major role for searching and comparing offered products on electronic markets. Especially in the case of large multivendor product catalogs classified data becomes an important asset and success factor. The best known systems are UNSPSC and eCl@ss, however they are still developing, and new systems are emerging as well. Classification systems differ not only in content but also in structure from each other. The management and exchange of the systems between market partners must be able to get along with these differences. A common structure model, which can be used to specify XML business documents, is missing so far. The paper discusses the design of classification systems and develops a data model using XML schema. The model can be used for the transmission of classification systems, thus it is an innovative extension of existing product catalog standards.


Applying machine learning to real problems is non-trivial because many important steps are needed to prepare for learning and to interpret the results after learning. This dissertation investigates four problems that arise before and after applying learning algorithms.
First, how can we verify a dataset contains "good" information? I propose cross-data validation for quantifying the quality of a dataset relative to a benchmark dataset and define a data efficiency ratio that measures how efficiently the dataset in question collects information (relative to the benchmark). Using these methods I demonstrate the quality of bird observations collected by the eBird citizen science project which has few quality controls.
Second, can off-the-shelf algorithms learn a model with good task-specific performance, or must the user have expertise both in the domain and in machine learning? In many applications, standard performance metrics are inappropriate, and most analysts lack the expertise or time to customize algorithms to optimize task-specific metrics. Ensemble selection offers a potential solution: build an ensemble to optimize the desired metric. I evaluate ensemble selection's ability to optimize for domain-specific metrics on natural language processing tasks and show that ensemble selection usually improves performance but sometimes overfits.
Third, how can we understand complex models? Understanding a model often is as important its accuracy. I propose and evaluate statistics for measuring the importance of inputs used by a decision tree ensemble. The statistics agree with sensitivity analysis and, in an application to bird distribution models, are 500 times faster to compute. The statistics have been used to study hundreds of bird distribution models.
Fourth, how should data be pre-processed when learning a high-performing ensemble? I examine the behavior of variable selection and bagging using a bias-variance analysis of error. The results show that the most accurate variable subset corresponds to the best bias-variance trade-off point. Often, this is not the point separating relevant from irrelevant inputs. Variable selection should be viewed as a variance reduction method and thus is often redundant for low variance methods like bagging. The best bagged model performance usually is obtained using all available inputs.


Integrated orchestration of the IP+optical transport network has been well studied in recent years and has become a realistic trend in telecommunication network deployments. OpenFlow-based software defined network architecture is among the emerging and intensively investigated unified control plane solutions. Numerous previous works have focused on enabling optical networks to support the OpenFlow control plane, but mostly discussed from the single controller's point of view. In real operational scenarios, however, there may inevitably exist different operators in different network layers/domains, and it is too idealized to have only one controller that is responsible for all devices. In light of this, here we propose and demonstrate an enhanced control plane architecture with hierarchically fabricated OpenFlow controllers. We specify the interworking relationships between different controllers on both IP and optical layers, and by using an IP+optical cross-layer information model, we show the effectiveness of unified routing and scheduling in terms of reducing the service blocking rate. Finally, dynamic cross-layer traffic adjustment and restoration are also successfully demonstrated on our implemented synergistic IP +optical network testbed with coordinated controllers.