Cereal paddocks with high incidence of symptoms typical of Rhizoctonia solani infection, but from whose soil no Rhizoctonia solani DNA was detected in three years, were identified in W A. An intensive soil and plant survey was conducted at two such sites (problem paddocks), and one site with high levels of Rhizoctonia root symptoms and high soil DNA. During the 2014 growing season, each of the three paddocks were assessed at monthly intervals to identify changes in pest and disease incidence and severity, for both Rhizoctonia and root lesion nematode (RLN, Pratylenchus neglectus). Between June and October, a series of transect assessments was conducted for soil and plants on and off the cropping row. A 25 cm core was also taken at each transect and the sample divided into five 5 cm sections to determine if the presence of Rhizoctonia and RLN changed with soil depth. Stubble, where present, was also collected. In June, Rhizoctonia DNA was detected at very low levels in only 1 out of 20 transects in the two problem paddocks, while the confirmed paddock had DNA detections in 18 out of 20 transects. Nematodes were detected in low levels at 4 out of 20 transects at one problem paddock, and 19 out of 20 in the other. The confirmed paddock had mostly high levels of nematodes at all 20 locations. On and off row sampling was not significantly different for Rhizoctonia, but was for nematodes. Stubble addition did not change the detection of either Rhizoctonia or nematodes.


IN PHYSICS, "critical mass" refers to the minimum amount of fissionable material required to sustain a chain reaction. The adoption of state education policy isn't often equated with this concept, but occasionally solutions and ideas seem to gather around a common problem. If the solution at hand is simple, easily understood, and strengthened with personal anecdotes, and if someone or some organization tags it with a common name, a solid core of support can quickly emerge in a number of locales. While some critics might presume that states copy one another's legislation, this is rarely the case. However, during the Vietnam War era, states moved almost in unison to provide scholarships to widows and orphans of POWs and MIAs. The adoption of minimum competency testing two decades ago and the more recent embrace of charter schools are two more examples of how simple concepts reach critical mass. Not Your Common Bandwagon Ideas that hinge on a narrow point of view are often picked up and translated into policy. But the initial flurry of state policy is just that -- a flurry that has limited appeal and does not tend to generate high levels of subsequent policy activity. However, when a reform idea hinges on strong evidence and a broader consensus and is replicated widely or successfully, it can generate so much more knowledge and interest that it feeds off of its own growth. Nationally, of course, a large-scale mandate such as a federal law can accelerate the proliferation of policies, but a credible, well-publicized research report can often do the same. Activities generated from such a broad policy base have a much greater chance of reaching critical mass. A bandwagon effect can result when a particular policy forces a solution onto the education scene that initially lacked broad support. In contrast, issues generated from a groundswell of agreement can reach critical mass very quickly. Charter School Laws: A Good Example of Critical Mass The first charter school law was enacted in Minnesota in 1991. By early 1996, 20 states had charter school laws on the books. As of November 2004, 40 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico had enacted charter school laws. Charter school laws vary from state to state, often differing on several important factors, including who is allowed to sponsor charter schools, how much money charter schools receive for operational and facilities expenses, and whether the teachers in a charter school have to be certified. As of January 2004, there were about 3,000 charter schools across the country. The number of schools is certainly not at a critical mass. However, the number of state laws has reached a point where just 10 states do not have a charter school law in place. Restructuring Policies in Abundance Todd Ziebarth, a policy analyst with Augenblick, Palaich, and Associates, recently compiled state policies on restructuring for the Education Commission of the States (ECS). We can glean some idea of how widespread particular policies are from Ziebarth's research: * 12 states have enacted policies addressing the closing and opening of low-performing schools as charter schools; * 27 states have enacted policies related to the reconstitution of the staff of a low-performing school; * 14 states have addressed contracting with an outside entity to operate a low-performing school; * 23 states have enacted policies regarding turning over the operation of a low-performing school to the state education agency; * 12 states have enacted policies addressing other major restructuring of a low-performing school's governance; * 7 states have policies that were enacted because of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and are directly related to NCLB's AYP (adequate yearly progress) time line; and * 24 states have accountability policies that were in place prior to the enactment of NCLB and appear to be unrelated to its AYP time line. …


Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster Wagner) cause extensive damage in agricultural, suburban, and urban environments. Control of these animals has historically relied on the use of anticoagulant rodenticides and zinc phosphide. However, shyness to zinc phosphide baits has reduced its efficacy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the factors involved in zinc phosphide bait shyness through preference testing. Baits were made using a rolled oat base and contained various combinations of the components of zinc phosphide baits such as lecithin, magnesium carbonate and known flavor modulators sodium cyclamate and zinc sulfate. Encapsulation of zinc phosphide was also tested as a potential means to mask undesirable flavor qualities of the compound. Consumption of test baits was measured in four day laboratory feeding trials. Results demonstrated that numerous components of current bait formulations serve as salient cues during conditioned aversions and therefore may contribute to bait shyness. Vole avoidance of zinc sulfate and sodium cyclamate revealed that these potential additives would not decrease bait shyness. Encapsulation of zinc phosphide may have masked some of the negative flavor cues and therefore should be considered in future bait development. This study suggests that, since voles are able to distinguish components of current bait formulations, varying composition of zinc phosphide baits between applications may serve to reduce bait shyness.


The impact of environmental regulation on firm productivity has been long been debated, however, mainly for western economies and with limited firm-level evidence. We study the impact of a large-scale national energy saving program (the Top 1000 Energy-Consuming Enterprises Program, or T1000P, 2006-2010) in China on firm productivity in the iron and steel industry. The T1000P assigned targets for reducing the energy consumption of approximately 1000 most energy-consuming industrial firms. Using detailed data from the China Industrial Census on 5,340 firms for the period of 2003 to 2008, we estimate a positive effect of the T1000P on firms in the iron and steel industry. Specifically, we find T1000P firms are associated with significantly greater annualized TFP change (an increase of 3.1 percent on average), suggesting the competitiveness of treated firms increased. Effects on technical change and scale efficiency change are positive and statistically significant, and contribute about equally to the overall treatment effect. Results are robust to instrumenting for policy exposure and other alternative specifications. Private benefits to firms from the policy likely reflect the combination of incentives and targets applied under the program.


Scarabaeid pests in South Africa and especially KwaZulu-Natal are characterised by a very long larval life cycle and short pupal and adult periods. However, it has nearly always been the adults of the species that have been identified, with very little attention paid to larval identification. This is unfortunate, as it is mainly the larval stage that is found to be associated with crop damage. Inadequate keys for the taxonomy of larvae of these groups, as well as the lack of taxonomists working on these groups have been identified as constraints. Using mitochondrial DNA data variation in the base pair sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase sub unit I (cox 1) gene, sequences of cox 1 from scarabaeid larvae collected from sugarcane fields were compared with sequences from scarabaeid adults of known species in order to identify the species attacking sugarcane. The major groupings delimited specimens belonging to the subfamilies Dynastinae, Melolonthinae and Rutelinae. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of larval specimens was linked with mtDNA of identified adult specimens through phylogenetic analysis. This allowed the identification of those larvae through morphological characteristics unique to certain species. Keys were produced during this study which will allow workers to identify larvae, in many cases to species. Obtaining species identifications for larvae will allow the application of species-specific control measures and also will facilitate analysis of interactions among species. These taxonomic advances are a start to the improvement of knowledge of the species composition of scarabaeid larvae in sugarcane fields, thus making management and biological control of these pests a greater possibility.


When a close colleague is brutally attacked, Inspector John Rebus is drawn into a case involving a hotel fire, an unidentified body, and a long forgotten night of terror and murder. Pursued by dangerous ghosts and tormented by the coded secrets of his colleague's notebook, Rebus must piece together the most complex and confusing of jigsaws. But not everyone wants the puzzle solved - perhaps not even Rebus himself ...


We carried out a systematic investigation of supervised learning techniques for biological age modeling. The biological aging acceleration is associated with the remaining health- and life-span. Artificial Deep Neural Networks (DNN) could be used to reduce the error of chronological age predictors, though often at the expense of the ability to distinguish health conditions. Mortality and morbidity hazards models based on survival follow-up data showed the best performance. Alternatively, logistic regression trained to identify chronic diseases was shown to be a good approximation of hazards models when data on survival follow-up times were unavailable. In all models, the biological aging acceleration was associated with disease burden in persons with diagnosed chronic age-related conditions. For healthy individuals, the same quantity was associated with molecular markers of inflammation (such as C-reactive protein), smoking, current physical, and mental health (including sleeping troubles, feeling tired or little interest in doing things). The biological age thus emerged as a universal biomarker of age, frailty and stress for applications involving large scale studies of the effects of longevity drugs on risks of diseases and quality of life. To be published as Chapter 2 in "Biomarkers of aging", ed. A. Moskalev, Springer, 2019.


Abstract At the beginning of the previous century, Newtonian mechanics was advanced by two new revolutionary theories, Quantum Mechanics (QM) and General Relativity (GR). Both theories have transformed our view of physical phenomena, with QM accurately predicting the results of experiments taking place at small length scales, and GR correctly describing observations at larger length scales. However, despite the impressive predictive power of each theory in their respective regimes, their unification still remains unresolved. Theories and proposals for their unification exist but we are lacking experimental guidance towards the true unifying theory. Probing GR at small length scales where quantum effects become relevant is particularly problematic but recently there has been a growing interest in probing the opposite regime, QM at large scales where relativistic effects are important. This is principally because experimental techniques in quantum physics have developed rapidly in recent years with the promise of quantum technologies. Here we review recent advances in experimental and theoretical work on quantum experiments that will be able to probe relativistic effects of gravity on quantum properties. In particular, we emphasise the importance of using the framework of Quantum Field Theory in Curved Spacetime (QFTCS) in describing these experiments. For example, recent theoretical work using QFTCS has illustrated that these quantum experiments could also be used to enhance measurements of gravitational effects, such as Gravitational Waves (GWs). Verification of such enhancements, as well as other QFTCS predictions in quantum experiments, would provide the first direct validation of this limiting case of quantum gravity. Graphical Abstract


Understanding the strategies that plant populations implement to increase evolutionary responsiveness to better survive environmental changes induced by climate change is a critical challenge for ecology and evolutionary studies. This dissertation investigates the role of hybridization, local adaptation, and phenotypic plasticity in plant population responses to environmental change. Specifically, I utilized meta-analysis techniques to investigate the prevalence of local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity as the two main mechanisms used to adapt to heterogeneous environments, and experimentally explored the genetic pathway of plasticity in phenology traits such as bolting time in Arabidopsis thaliana under high temperatures. Furthermore, A. thaliana was used to create artificial hybrids to test if novel trait combinations allow hybrids to outperform their parental source in novel and stressful environments. In the second chapter, I included reciprocal transplant plant studies and found that local adaptation is more common than adaptive plasticity as an evolutionary response to environmental heterogeneity. Although local adaptation was more common, plastic responses have been reported as a mechanism to tolerate increases in global temperature; however, the underlying genetic and developmental mechanisms are only starting to be elucidated. To address this, the third chapter determined whether alternative splicing of the ambient temperature flowering pathway gene FLOWERING LOCUS-M (FLM), and expression of SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP), can explain flowering time plasticity in ecotypes of A. thaliana under 18°C and 26°C. Although the expression of SVP and FLM-β tracks reaction norms, I failed to find evidence that alternative FLM splicing plays a role in phenotypic plasticity in intraspecific flowering time variation. Intraspecific hybridization (admixture) disrupts divergent genetic architectures between populations to generate phenotypic novelty and raw material for environmental selection to act upon. In order to understand the effect of this disruption to local adaptation of A. thaliana ecotypes separated along geographic and locally adaptive genetic distances, the fourth chapter used experimentally created F1-hybrids between geographically distant ecotypes, and used single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data to estimate (putatively neutral) background and adaptive genetic distances. My results suggest that disruption of locally adaptive genomic loci decreases the performance of offspring between distantly related parents, but that crosses between very closely related parents also reduce performance, suggesting that during admixture selection may have to balance the consequences of disrupting local adaption while also avoiding inbreeding depression. Lastly, I examined the effect of recombination events under limiting and novel growing conditions (i.e. drought, high temperatures, and freezing field overwintering conditions) in A. thaliana F2-hybrids. I provide empirical data for the effect of limiting growing environment on phenology, growth, and fitness traits on the admixed and parental ecotypes. I found that recombination events generate novel phenotypes. Generally, offspring phenotypic variation increases and shifts from the parental ecotype phenotypes, and in some cases, offspring display transgressive segregation, heterosis, or outbreeding depression. This work provides a novel contribution towards understanding mechanisms that plant implement to deal with rapid environmental changes. Specifically, plastic responses and hybridization events may interplay to maintain and increase genotypic diversity.


Trading volume and open interest in options and futures contracts on stock indices, equities, and interest rate instruments traded on world exchanges have experienced remarkable growth. However, this growth has been accompanied by controversy about the proper role of financial derivatives and the potential for abuse. Prominent attention has been given to losses by major corporations, broker-related short-term mutual funds, and municipal agencies.> The public debate about "derivatives" has promoted the impression that the heart of the problem has been a proliferation of brand new ways of making bets on future stock prices, interest rates, and exchange rates. The positive functions of derivatives as means of risk management are almost forgotten.> This article shows that exchange-traded options are really nothing new. Rather, they are repackages of the same traditional financial instruments. The article describes the practical application of the equivalence between exchange-traded options and a traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds. This is done by demonstrating the strategies of dynamic hedging and of portfolio insurance. The first uses options to hedge against stock price movements, while the second uses stocks and bonds to create "synthetic" options.


Many individuals with mid-cervical spinal cord injuries (SCI) rely on wrist supports or orthotics in order to keep their wrists stabilized to grant them more functional ability. However commercially-available wrist supports principally provide support to perform limited activities of daily living (ADL) with cuff attachments. We developed and tested a motor-activated wrist orthotic system, the WristSense, which uses a two-tier gesture recognition approach to assist individuals with SCIs to perform a larger range of ADL. The WristSense was used as a PowerPoint presenter to allow individuals with SCI to present without much hassle. WristSense can be adapted by adding a variety of actuated tools to expand the ability of wearers to perform various ADL.


The southern hemisphere marine Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE 1) was the first of a series of experiments that will quantify the chemical and physical processes controlling the evolution and properties of the atmospheric aerosol relevant to radiative forcing and climate. The goals of this series of process studies are to reduce the overall uncertainty in the calculation of climate forcing by aerosols and to understand the multiphase atmospheric chemical system sufficiently to be able to provide a prognostic analysis of future radiative forcing and climate response. ACE 1, which was conducted from November 15 to December 14, 1995, over the southwest Pacific Ocean, south of Australia, quantified the chemical, physical, radiative, and cloud nucleating properties and furthered our understanding of the processes controlling the aerosol properties in this minimally polluted marine atmosphere. The experiment involved the efforts of scientists from 45 research institutes in 11 countries.


This article contrasts how a robust conception of director independence plays a central role in the corporate law world while, in the mutual fund industry, independence is a shrunken conception playing only a marginal role. Over the last twenty-five years, director independence in corporate law has gained wide acceptance as being desirable and it has become a critical component of fiduciary duty analysis. Within the mutual fund industry, however, independence remains fiercely contested. The more obvious battle over independence has occurred in response to the Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC's") rulemaking effort to alter the standard for granting certain regulatory privileges under the Investment Company Act (the "Act"). The SEC, among other reforms, sought to limit those privileges to companies where at least seventy-five percent of the directors, and the board chairman, are "independent." Twice, those rulemaking efforts have been struck down on procedural grounds. In late 2006, the SEC resolicited public comment on two studies addressing the costs and benefits of the proposals but has not yet reissued a rule. Independence is also important, however, under section 36(b) of the Act, which permits an investor to sue an investment advisor for breaching its fiduciary duty with respect to compensation for managing the mutual fund. In 1982, the seminal Gartenberg case articulated six factors to guide the determination of an excessive fee. One of the factors is independence but, unlike the case in corporate law, over the last quarter of a century it has remained a narrow concept of little significance, being referred to in only 29 of 139 decisions citing Gartenberg and playing no meaningful role in the resolution of any cases. In no case has an investor ever obtained a judgment under section 36(b). This article, after a critical analysis of Gartenberg on its silver anniversary, offers a proposal for reinvigorating independence in the mutual fund litigation context. It cites evidence that a more capacious definition of independence - one going beyond the related but narrower notion of "disinterestedness" - may correlate with the size of advisor fees. It advocates importing into the mutual fund world the fuller-bodied notion of independence that has evolved in Delaware over the last quarter century. There is no statutory or policy reason for the "independence" factor under Gartenberg - seemingly frozen in the early 1980s - not to similarly expand and so play a more significant role in fee litigation under the Act. Doing so will help restore private litigation as a vital component of Congress' regulatory strategy for protecting investors in mutual funds.


Abstract Late Palaeozoic sediments in central Morocco and the High Atlas Mountains document the development of this area during the formation of the Mauretanide part of the Hercynian orogeny. Continental basins formed during the Stephanian and Permian. Although scattered in time, they provide valuable biogeographical and climatic information for the Mauretanides as a link between the Variscides in the east, the Appalachians in the west and the Karoo in the south. New blattid insects in the Souss Basin enable correlation to Early Stephanian B. Furthermore, we document the oldest African tetrapod tracks (Batrachichnus, Dromopus). Litho- and biofacies indicate seasonally wet and dry phases. Wet red beds of the Khenifra Basin have produced tetrapod bones and the tracks Limnopus, Batrachichnus and Dromopus. Macrofloras give a transitional Autunian/Saxonian age. This fits well into the Artinskian wet phase. Similar facies pattern in the Tiddas Basin are correlated by tetrapod tracks as transitional Artinskian to Kungurian. Advanced tetrapod tracks of Synaptichnium and Rhynchosauroides were discovered in the Ikakern Formation of the Argana Basin, dated by pareiasaur remains as Wuchiapingian. Red beds of similar type are known in Europe, for example, from the Late Permian of the Lodève Basin. They originated during the Wuchiapingian wet phase.


The population dynamics of nectar-feeding non-flying mammals are poorly documented. We investigated aspects of the population ecology of the eastern pygmy-possum (Cercartetus nanus) in southern New South Wales. We captured 65 individuals over a 4-year period during 5045 trap-nights and 1179 nest-box checks. The body mass of adult males (mean ± s.e. = 24.6 ± 1.0 g) was marginally not significantly different (P = 0.08) from that of non-parous adult females (28.2 ± 1.9 g). Females gave birth to a single litter each year of 3–4 young during February–May. No juveniles were detected in spring of any year. Mark–recapture modelling suggested that survival probability was constant over time (0.78) while recapture probability (0.04–0.81) varied with season and trap effort. The local population (estimated at ~20–25 individuals) underwent a regular seasonal variation in abundance, with a decline in spring coinciding with the cessation of flowering by Banksia. A population trough in spring has been observed elsewhere. This appears to represent some local migration from the study area, suggesting a strategy of high mobility to track floral resources. Conservation of this species will depend on a more detailed understanding of how flowering drives population dynamics.


In this paper we deal with efficient communication protocols for reliable data collection in sparse sensor networks with mobile sinks. This process is quite critical since the interaction among mobile sinks gathering information and sensor nodes providing the data is generally short, unpredictable and affected by packet loss. Thus it necessitates extremely fast and reliable data exchange with minimal synchronization. In addition, since involved sensor nodes are energy-constrained devices, the communication protocol should be energy efficient. In this perspective, we define the Hybrid Adaptive Interleaved Data Transfer Protocol (HI), a hybrid protocol based on Reed Solomon codes [9]. By means of simulations we show that the adoption of encoding techniques is beneficial to support reliable and energy-efficient data collection in WSNs with Mobile Sinks.


Parasitoids that encounter a previously parasitized host inspect it externally and internally, sometimes eventually laying additional eggs (superparasitism). The fitness effects of increased clutch sizes generated through superparasitism are widely studied, whereas the consequences of multiple host probings during the inspection received less attention. To address this issue, we offered a host to 1–5 females of the encyrtid wasp Copidosoma koehleri consecutively, or presented it 1–5 times to a single female. We noted whether the hosts died before pupation of either host or wasp, produced parasitoid pupae, or developed into moth pupae. Additional hosts were dissected after varying numbers of probings to determine their parasitoid egg loads. Host rejection rates prior to ovipositor insertion did not differ between treatments. Host rejections after ovipositor insertion, characterized by brief (<10 s) probing durations, were more common in the single- than in the multiple-female treatment. This could reflect avoidance of self-superparasitism, or increased selectivity by host-experienced females. Egg number per host increased with the number of prolonged probings in both treatments. Some hosts that received 1–2 probings (brief or prolonged) yielded moth pupae, while no hosts with five probings survived to pupation. Hosts probed three times (corresponding to <1 and 2.2 eggs in the single- and multiple-female treatments, respectively) produced the largest proportion of parasitoid pupae. The parasitoids' success is thus strongly affected by the number of host probings. Overcoming host defenses through repeated probings is a previously overlooked potential benefit of superparasitism. [Behav Ecol]


The increasing number of IoT devices is prompting the need to investigate digital forensic techniques that can be efficiently applied to solve computer-related crimes involving IoT devices. In digital forensics, it is common for forensic investigators to consider computing hardware and operating systems for forensic data acquisition. However, applying current forensic data acquisition techniques for further digital evidence analysis may not be applicable to some IoT devices. It is becoming increasingly challenging to determine what type of data should be collected from IoT devices and how traces from such devices can be leveraged by forensic investigators. In this paper, we introduce a fog-based IoT forensic framework (FoBI) that attempts to address the key challenges associated with digital IoT forensics. Throughout this paper, we discuss the overall architecture, use cases and implementation details of FoBI. We further use our FoBI framework to provide insights on improving the digital forensics processes involving IoT systems.


What the Dog Saw is the story of a troubled boy as seen through the eyes of his ageing Labrador, Baxter. While there is much that Baxter sees that worries him, there are also moments of humour and joy. Baxter loves playing with his boy and is always ready to listen to him, but he also worries about his boy, and wonders if even the loyalty and friendship of a Labrador will be enough to help him. Baxter's observations provide a unique perspective on his boy's battle with mental illness.


Context: Exposure to smoke from biomass fuel has been established as a causative factor of irreversible airway obstruction in recent GOLD update. India harbouring a vast majority of rural population may have significant population suffering from airway obstruction due to biomass exposure. Research on similarities and differences in airway disease produced by exposure to biomass fuel smoke while cooking vs. smoking tobacco may provide new insights on such entity. The study aims to evaluate women population presenting with COPD symptoms and their spirometry similarities with smoking related COPD.
Settings and design: It was a prospective study conducted in a tertiary care hospital.
Subjects and methods: Stable COPD patients presenting to chest OPD were taken as study group. Equal number of healthy controls were enrolled. COPD patients were subjected to detailed clinical evaluation and lung function test. History of biomass exposure was evaluated from both groups through self-reporting. Biomass related COPD patients were identified, and their prevalence and distinguishing features evaluated.
Results: Of 85 COPD patients, 43 (50.6%) had history of exposure to biomass. Patients with biomass-associated COPD were invariably females while others were males. The airflow limitation was similar in both groups.
Conclusion: BS-COPD constitutes a significant proportion of overall COPD prevalence. In view of its preponderance among females, biomass alternatives must be provided to rural population which can significantly reduce the burden of disease.


Non-timber forest products have often been held out as potential tools for conservation and sustainable development, but sustainability assessments are frequently difficult and time-consuming, especially in conflict areas. Thus, rapid assessments can be useful in providing a broad overview of the harvesting system in order to generate meaningful conservation or development recommendations. Here, we use rapid assessment methodology, including semi-structured interviews and direct observations, to examine the frankincense harvesting system in Somaliland in 2010 and again in 2016 and 2017. We identified significant levels of overharvesting, driven by a breakdown of the traditional management system. Demand for resin and resin prices increased dramatically from 2010 to 2017, at the same time as the tree populations were declining, resource tenure security was weakening, drug use was increasing, and the supply chain was becoming more complex. These factors combine to incentivize short-term unsustainable practices, and the lack of traceability and transparency prevents international buyers from meaningfully engaging with the system. However, new technologies and approaches being employed mean that buyers will soon be able to clearly direct their purchasing in order to incentivize sustainable practices and purchase resin in an ethical manner.


This article considers a two-sided private information model. We assume that two exogenously given qualities are offered in a monopolistic market. Prices are ?xed. A low quality seller chooses to be either honest (by charging the lower market price) or dishonest (by charging the higher price). We discuss the signaling role of the consumer's private information on the equilibrium level of dishonesty, incidence of fraud and trade. We demonstrate that the equilibrium incidence of fraud is nonmonotonic in the buyer's private information when the prior belief favors the low-quality seller strongly enough. This result holds as long as information is noisy and regardless of its private or public nature. Welfare consequences are ambiguous.


We consider the problem of estimating the difference between two undirected functional graphical models with shared structures. In many applications, data are naturally regarded as a vector of random functions rather than as a vector of scalars. For example, electroencephalography (EEG) data are treated more appropriately as functions of time. In such a problem, not only can the number of functions measured per sample be large, but each function is itself an infinite-dimensional object, making estimation of model parameters challenging. This is further complicated by the fact that curves are usually observed only at discrete time points. We first define a functional differential graph that captures the differences between two functional graphical models and formally characterize when the functional differential graph is well defined. We then propose a method, FuDGE, that directly estimates the functional differential graph without first estimating each individual graph. This is particularly beneficial in settings where the individual graphs are dense but the differential graph is sparse. We show that FuDGE consistently estimates the functional differential graph even in a high-dimensional setting for both fully observed and discretely observed function paths. We illustrate the finite sample properties of our method through simulation studies. We also propose a competing method, the Joint Functional Graphical Lasso, which generalizes the Joint Graphical Lasso to the functional setting. Finally, we apply our method to EEG data to uncover differences in functional brain connectivity between a group of individuals with alcohol use disorder and a control group.


It is axiomatic in patent law that an invention must be useful. The utility requirement has been a part of the statutory scheme since the Patent Act of 1790. But what does it mean to be useful? The abstract and imprecise nature of the term combined with the lack of objective criteria for assessing it make utility the most malleable patentability requirement. As the invention landscape has evolved over time, the Patent Office and the courts have exploited this malleability to create technologically specific utility standards — de minimis for some inventions, but considerably more stringent for others. This has led to a bias against granting patents for entire categories of inventions. But this bias has come at a price. The extant utility requirement disconnects patent law from many of the technical communities that it serves and frustrates fundamental goals of the patent system.This Article calls for the elimination of a standalone utility requirement. It proposes a new theory of usefulness based on the normative premise that patent law should be less concerned with useful inventions and more concerned with ensuring that the public gets a useful disclosure. This objective is best obtained not through utility, but rather through compliance with enablement and nonobviousness — patentability requirements rooted in objective, technical factors. This is the first Article to both harshly criticize utility and — by seeking to eliminate it — urge a radical rethinking of what should be included in (or removed from) the patentability calculus. It will hopefully inform the ongoing debate over patent reform and spark further discussions about the extent to which basic patent doctrines actually promote technological progress.


We present an approach to dextrous robot
grasping which combines a purely tactile-driven reactive
algorithm with an implicit representation of grasp experience
to yield an algorithm which can handle arbitrary, partially
unknown grasp situations, i.e. vague object shape and
position. During the grasp movement, the obtained contact
information is used to dynamically adapt the grasping control
by targeting the best matching posture from the experience
base. Thus, the robot recalls and actuates a grasp
it already successfully performed in a similar tactile context.
To efficiently represent the experience, we introduce
the Grasp Manifold assuming that grasp postures form a
smooth manifold in hand posture space. We present a simple
way of providing approximations of Grasp Manifolds
using Self-Organising Maps (SOMs) and study the properties
of the represented grasp manifolds concerning their
smoothness and robustness against clustered training data.


Tin oxide nanoplates and nanoballs were fabricated using a cationic surfactant of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTABr) as an organic supramolecular template and tin(IV) chloride as an inorganic precursor via the hydrothermal and conventional heating methods. Urea, which decomposes to ammonium and hydroxide ions during hydrolysis, was used as the source of slow homogeneous precipitation of Sn4+ with OH- to control the particle size. The influence of different reaction parameters (time, temperature, and ratio of Sn4+ to CTABr) on particle sizes, particle distribution, and morphology was investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. XRD data showed that the size of the SnO2 nanoparticles decreased with increasing reaction time using the conventional heating method, while no significant change was observed with the hydrothermal method. Nanoplates with average sizes of 9.36 nm and nanoballs up to 4.51 nm were prepared using different ratios of Sn+4 to CTABr at different temperatures and reaction times by the hydrothermal and conventional heating methods, respectively. Elimination of surfactant from tin-surfactant composites by calcination yielded a porous tin oxide nanostructure.


Near surface seafloor properties are needed for recreational, commercial, and military applications. Construction projects on the ocean seafloors often require extensive knowledge about strength, deformability, hydraulic, thermal, acoustic, and seismic characteristics for locating stable environments and ensuring proper functioning of structures, pipelines, and other installations on the surface of and buried into the marine sediments. The military is also interested in a variety of seafloor properties as they impact sound propagation, mine impact burial, trafficability, bearing capacity, time-dependent settlement, and stability of objects on the seafloor. Point measurements of sediment properties are done using core samplers and sediment grab devices (with subsequent lab analysis) and in-situ probes. These techniques are expensive in terms of ship time and provide limited area coverage. Sub-bottom acoustic and electromagnetic sensors can provide profiles of near surface sediment information with improved coverage rates. Fusion techniques are being developed to provide areal extent of sediment information from multiple sensors. This paper examines the recent history of techniques used to measure sediment properties in the upper portions of the seafloor and in shallow (≪100m) water.


Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) offer unique insights into ongoing biochemical processes in healthy and diseased humans. Yet, their diagnostic use is hampered by the limited understanding of their biochemical or cellular origin and their frequently unclear link to the underlying diseases. Major advancements are expected from the analyses of human primary cells, cell lines and cultures of microorganisms. In this review, a database of 125 reliably identified VOCs previously reported for human healthy and diseased cells was assembled and their potential origin is discussed. The majority of them have also been observed in studies with other human matrices (breath, urine, saliva, feces, blood, skin emanations). Moreover, continuing improvements of qualitative and quantitative analyses, based on the recommendations of the ISO-11843 guidelines, are suggested for the necessary standardization of analytical procedures and better comparability of results. The data provided contribute to arriving at a more complete human volatilome and suggest potential volatile biomarkers for future validation. Dedication: This review is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Dr. Anton Amann, who sadly passed away on January 6, 2015. He was motivator and motor for the field of breath research.


"Wills' Mineral Processing Technology" provides practising engineers and students of mineral processing, metallurgy and mining with a review of all of the common ore-processing techniques utilized in modern processing installations. Now in its Seventh Edition, this renowned book is a standard reference for the mineral processing industry. Chapters deal with each of the major processing techniques, and coverage includes the latest technical developments in the processing of increasingly complex refractory ores, new equipment and process routes. This new edition has been prepared by the prestigious J K Minerals Research Centre of Australia, which contributes its world-class expertise and ensures that this will continue to be the book of choice for professionals and students in this field. This latest edition highlights the developments and the challenges facing the mineral processor, particularly with regard to the environmental problems posed in improving the efficiency of the existing processes and also in dealing with the waste created. The work is fully indexed and referenced. -The classic mineral processing text, revised and updated by a prestigious new team -Provides a clear exposition of the principles and practice of mineral processing, with examples taken from practice -Covers the latest technological developments and highlights the challenges facing the mineral processor -New sections on environmental problems, improving the efficiency of existing processes and dealing with waste.


This all-in-one guide is designed to better equip clergy and the church leaders to meet their congregations' needs in a spiritually grounded and scientifically sound manner. Succinct, easy-to-read chapters summarize all a pastor needs to know about a given problem area, including its signs or symptoms, questions to ask, effective helping skills, and, most importantly, when to refer to a mental health professional. Synthesizing what research says about treatment approaches for mental health issues, this user-friendly reference is filled with guidelines, case scenarios, key points to remember, resources for further help, advice on integrating scripture and theology with the best available research, and tips on partnering with others to provide the best possible care for each church member. Each chapter is designed for quick lookup by problem area, empowering church leaders to understand and help meet the challenges facing the children, adults, families, and communities that they serve.


Part I: A Rhetoric for Multiple Literacies Chapter 1: What Is Literacy? Chapter 2: Reading and Composing Processes Part II: Readings for Situating Multiple Literacies Chapter 3: Situating Personal Literacies Chapter 4: Situating Oral Literacies Chapter 5: Situating Visual Literacies Chapter 6: Situating Digital Literacies Chapter 7: Situating Popular Culture Literacies Chapter 8: Situating Academic Literacies Chapter 9: Situating Civic Literacies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part I: A Rhetoric for Multiple Literacies Chapter 1: What Is Literacy? Definitions of Literacy Situating Literacy Literacy Purposes Letters of apology from President Clinton regarding the internment of Americans of Japanese descent Literacy Audiences Three excerpts from Malcolm X speeches to different audiences (a Detroit civil rights group, Harvard University students, and the Nation of Islam) Literacy Personas Excerpts from a case study of a student in a sociology class Literacy Mediums Excerpts of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King novel and film script Literacy Genres Song lyrics from Mos Def's "Dollar Day" Literacy Contexts Three advertisements for Coke in three different historical contexts Chapter 2: Reading and Composing Processes Reading Processes Double-entry journal for an analysis of the film Trainspotting Advice for Improving Your Reading Processes Annotated Web screen shot from a review of Trainspotting Reading for Multiple Purposes Article from a student newspaper Reading in Multiple Mediums Excerpts from Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud Newspaper editorial, poster, and link to video for an anti-drunk driving campaign Reading in Multiple Genres Excerpts from a scientific experimental report Reading in Multiple Contexts Brian Turner's poem "Eulogy" Composing Processes in Multiple Literacies Revisions of a lithograph by M.C. Escher One Student's Composing Process Drafts of a student's personal literacy narrative Composing for Multiple Purposes Assignments from First-Year Writing courses Composing in Multiple Mediums Excerpts from interviews with Beck about composing songs Composing in Multiple Genres Examples from student case studies of how genre affected students' composing processes Composing in Multiple Contexts Excerpts from personal essays by Sherman Alexie, Paule Marshall, and Gloria Anzaldua. Part II: Readings for Situating Multiple Literacies Chapter 3: Situating Personal Literacies What Are Personal Literacies? "What's I Got to Do with It? Personal Literacies in the Writing Classroom" by Amy Hodges Hamilton Student Case Study: Composing a Personal Literacy Narrative Personal Literacy Readings CCCC Statement on Students' Right to Their Own Language [position statement] "My Most Spectacular Failure" by Claras Leandre [student personal literacy narrative] "Superman and Me" by Sherman Alexie [essay] "Between the Sheets" by Ellen Wade Beals [poem] "Marginalia" by Billy Collins [poem] "Two Questions" by Lynda Barry [cartoon] Excerpts from "The Poets in the Kitchen" by Paule Marshall [essay] "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan [essay] "Why I Don't Like My Accent" by Miku Rager [student documentary] "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" by Gloria Anzaldua [essay] Personal Literacy Projects Chapter 4: Situating Oral Literacies What Are Oral Literacies? "Oral Literacies: Finding Your Voices" by Alexis Davidson Student Case Study: Composing and Delivering a Speech "Not for Sale" byj Alexandra Giang [speech] Oral Literacy Readings Inaugural Address by President Barack Obama [speech] "The Boss in Common" by Andrew Burgess [student essay] Slam poetry from HBO's Def Poetry Jam [poetry] Excerpt from Talkin and Tesifyin: The Language of Black America by Geneva Smitherman [book excerpt] Excerpts from Mules and Men by Zora Neale Huston [folk tales] Excerpt from Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide by Donald Ritchie [book excerpt] Interview with Jerry K. Walsh, Vietnam War veteran [oral history] Oral Literacy Projects Chapter 5: Situating Visual Literacies What Are Visual Literacies? "Literacy Is Not Just Words Anymore" by Pavel Zemliansky Student Case Study: Composing a Digital Slideshow Visual Literacy Readings Excerpt from Picture This: How Pictures Work by Molly Bang [book excerpt] Excerpts from Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture by Maria Sturken and Lisa Cartwight [book excerpt] "Pictures in America: It Isn't Just About How Many Words They're Worth" by Cameron Granger [student essay] A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods by Ralph Lengler and Martin J. Eppler Images of Graffiti [graffiti] Nighthawks and Approaching a City and Automat by Edward Hopper [paintings] Visual Literacy Projects "Hopper: The Loneliness Factor" by Mark Strand [essay] Chapter 6: Situating Digital Literacies What Are Digital Literacies? "Surfing, Searching, and Social Networking: Redefining Digital Literacy with Facebook and Wikipedia" by Dustin Anderson Student Case Study: Composing a Web site Digital Literacy Readings Excerpt from "Growing Up Digital" by John Seely Brown [essay] "Effective Web Writing" by Crawford Kilian [essay] "What We're Doing When We Blog" by Meg Hourihan [essay] "A Grand Unified Theory of YouTube and MySpace: Point-and-Click Sites That Don't Tell You What to Do" by Paul Boutin [newspaper article] "Living the Virtual Life: A Second Life" by Peter Hall [student essay] Excerpt from What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy by James Paul Gee [book excerpt] "The Telephone" by Anwar Accawi [essay] Two screen shots from The Webby Awards winners [web sites] Two screen shots from blogs [blogs] Three screen shots from Second Life [virtual reality] "Flying Cars and Endless Playlists" by Amanda Henderson [student digital literacy narrative] Digital Literacy Projects Chapter 7: Situating Popular Culture Literacies What Are Popular Culture Literacies? "A Pop Life" by Stacey A. Suver Student Case Study: Composing an Essay about Pop Culture Popular Culture Literacy Readings "I'll Take My Stand: A Defense of Popular Culture" by Anthony DeCurtis [essay] "Don't Super Size Me...Dumbify Me" by Samantha Calarusse [student essay] "Outpouring over Michael Jackson Unlike Anything Since Princess Di" by Daniel B. Wood [magazine article] "Barbie at 35" by Anna Quindlen [essay] Magazine covers with pop culture icons [magazine covers] Images of Barbie past and present [photos] "Sex and the Single Doll" by Yona Zeldis McDonough [essay] "Larger Than Life" by Jenny Lyn Bader [essay] Graphic Novel Review of Locke & Key (by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez) by Mel Odom [review] Interview with Joe Hill from Graphic Novel Reporter [interview] Excerpt from Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez [graphic novel] Popular Culture Literacy Projects Chapter 8: Situating Academic Literacies What Are Academic Literacies? "Writing Across the University: Academic Discourse as a Conversation" by Fiona Glade Student Case Study: Composing an Academic Research Project Academic Literacy Readings The Council of Writing Program Administrators' Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition [outcome statement] Writing Outcomes Statements from across the Curriculum [outcomes statements] "Letter to an Incoming Freshman-Writing in the Academy" by Aaro Lautamo [student letter] Excerpt from "A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum" by Lucille Parkinson McCarthy Student Writing from across the Curriculum: "Emotional Disturbances: The Effects of Parental Neglect Types on Children" by Nancy Alkema [social science research report in APA style] "Constitutionality v. Morality: San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez" by Harshjit Sethi [essay in MLA style] "Mechanistic and Genetic Causes of Depression and the Effect of SSRIs on the Serotonergic Pathway" by Ashley Nicole Phares [scientific report in CSE style] Academic Literacy Projects Chapter 9: Situating Civic Literacies What Are Civic Literacies? "Writing as Public Power: Civic Literacies" by Catherine Gabor Student Case Study: Composing a Service Learning Project Civic Literacy Readings Excerpt from "Millennials Talk Politics: A Study of College Students' Civic Engagement" by The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement [research report] Excerpt from Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch [book excerpt] Excerpt from Critical Literacy: What Every American Ought to Know by Eugene Provenzo [book excerpt] Guerrilla Girls Posters [posters] Images of Women from Magazines Ads Past and Present [ads] Linguistic Society of America's "Statement on Language Rights" [position statement] Excerpt from the U.S. English Web site [Web text] "Executive Order 13166: Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency" by Bill Clinton [executive order] Civil Literacy Projects


Generative adversarial nets (GANs) are widely used to learn the data sampling process and their performance may heavily depend on the loss functions, given a limited computational budget. This study revisits MMD-GAN that uses the maximum mean discrepancy (MMD) as the loss function for GAN and makes two contributions. First, we argue that the existing MMD loss function may discourage the learning of fine details in data as it attempts to contract the discriminator outputs of real data. To address this issue, we propose a repulsive loss function to actively learn the difference among the real data by simply rearranging the terms in MMD. Second, inspired by the hinge loss, we propose a bounded Gaussian kernel to stabilize the training of MMD-GAN with the repulsive loss function. The proposed methods are applied to the unsupervised image generation tasks on CIFAR-10, STL-10, CelebA, and LSUN bedroom datasets. Results show that the repulsive loss function significantly improves over the MMD loss at no additional computational cost and outperforms other representative loss functions. The proposed methods achieve an FID score of 16.21 on the CIFAR-10 dataset using a single DCGAN network and spectral normalization.


Distance education courses at all academic levels and throughout all disciplines are increasingly being offered by educational institutions. Over 1300 colleges and universities offer degree programs using an online modality. The literature contains several thousand articles comparing online to face-to-face education or discussing various pedagogical strategies for online education. Despite this widespread acceptance, the online learning environment is still quite immature. The software constituting the environment has largely been developed in an ad hoc fashion. Design decisions were largely based on the limitations inherent in the technology rather than user needs and requirements. The development and implementation of most commercial learning management systems have followed a one-size-fits-all approach. This rather casual methodology is inadequate for the broad range of courses now being offered online. This paper is a follow-up of work presented at FIE 2005 in which the development of a requirements specification for an effective asynchronous computer mediated communications system from the student's perspective was reported. This research employed a similar Delphi Process using eight experienced online instructors. An initial list of 39 potential characteristics for the ideal environment, brainstormed by the expert panel in the first round of the process was refined to 37 criteria split into five broad categories


After a prolonged scrutiny of numerous colonies of Millepora in the collections of various museums I found, besides a number of colonies with open ampullae, ten specimens possessing ampullae with their coverings of a trabecular network. The chief details of these ampullae were described in a previous paper (Boschma, 1949 a). Afterwards I had the good fortune to obtain material of different species of Millepora from six localities showing ampullae in an undamaged state. These ampullae are figured and described in the present paper. I am greatly indebted to Mr. Harold Gatty of Suva, who enabled me to visit coral reefs in the Fiji Islands during the time I stayed in this locality (March, 1949). I want to thank Dr. C. H. Edmondson, curator, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, for a specimen collected by him on Johnston Island. I am much obliged to Dr. R. W. Hiatt, University of Hawaii, for presenting to me specimens collected by him at Bikini Island and at Yap Island. To Dr. P. Wagenaar Hummelinck, Utrecht, I owe an interesting specimen collected by him at Bonaire. I further want to thank Professor H. Graham Cannon, University of Manchester, for a specimen from the collection of the late Prof. S. J. Hickson, obtained at Brandewijnsbaai by the late Prof. Max Weber. Finally my sincerest thanks are due to Mr. A. Salverda, Groningen, who with great skill performed the difficult task of photographing of each colony a part of the surface showing numerous ampullae. As even in these excellent photographs in many cases the ampullae are not distinctly showing off against their surroundings, from each photograph a diagrammatic copy of the upper or lower third part was made. These are


Dialkyl α-oxyiminoalkylphosphonates, obtained by treatment of dialkyl acylphosphonates with hydroxylamine or methoxylamine, are mostly mixtures of E and Z isomers. Structural assignments of the oximes were based on X-ray crystallographic analysis of representative compounds: (E)- and (Z)-dimethyl α-hydroxyiminobenzylphosphonates [(E)- and (Z)-(1a)]. The 31P n.m.r. chemical shifts of the E isomers always appear at lower field than those of the corresponding Z isomers. Thermal fragmentation of (1a) affords benzonitrile and dimethyl hydrogen phosphate, with (Z)-(1a) reacting faster than the E isomer. α-Oxyiminophosphonates undergo E⇌Z isomerization catalysed either by acid or by base under certain conditions, the E isomer being the thermodynamically more stable one. An E+Z mixture of dialkyl α-oxyiminophosphonates can be mono-de-alkylated by non-basic nucleophiles (e.g. NaI) to afford monoalkyl oxyiminophosphonates of unchanged isomeric composition. The geometrical isomers of α-hydroxyiminophosphonates differ in their behaviour under basic conditions. While treatment of (E)-(1a) with NaOH in boiling methanol leads, by mono-de-alkylation, to sodium methyl α-hydroxyiminobenzylphosphonate [(E)-(2a)], under the same conditions (Z)-(1a) undergoes fragmentation, by C–P bond cleavage, to benzonitrile and dimethyl hydrogen phosphate. Control experiments established that the fragmentation of (Z)-α-hydroxyiminophosphonates involves an intramolecular attack on the phosphorus atom by the ionized Z oriented oxime oxygen. Similar differences in behaviour are noted between the isomers of the monoanions of α-hydroxyiminophosphonates. MNDO/H Calculations demonstrate the feasibility of forming internal hydrogen bonds in Z isomers, and their possible contribution to conformational preferences. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies of (E)- and (Z)-(1a), and (E)-(2b), clearly identified the geometric isomers and correlated them with the 1H and 31P n.m.r. resonances.


The need for efficient and economical use of the world's water requires the implementation of modern methods to make decisions about water management. This inspired the principal philosophy of the management study of the Hellenic part of the Strymonas River catchment (6400 km 2 ). An important issue in such studies is to simulate the hydrology of the river catchment. The state-of-the-art couple model MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 is a powerful, physically-based distributed hydrological and hydraulic simulation tool. To determine water balance, hydrology and hydraulic functions in the river catchment a water level monitoring network was established. Data collection was performed during 2004 and 2006. The philosophy and main assumptions that underlie the current work are described. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the irrigation networks in the Strymonas River basin is checked. Finally, the negative effect of the current irrigation network on the lake's water level fluctuation is pointed out and simple but effective solutions are proposed.


The expression 'international commercial courts' refers to national judicial bodies set up in the last fifteen years in several jurisdictions throughout the world to suit the specific demands of international commercial litigation. The courts and the proceedings before them share unique features often imported from the common law tradition and the arbitration world, with a view to providing for a dispute resolution mechanism tailored to the subject-matter. This notwithstanding, there is no single model of international commercial court: rather, each of them presents its own distinctive characteristics. This paper summarizes the main traits of several international commercial courts in Asia, Middle East and Europe. At a second stages, it explores their relationship with international arbitration, on the one hand, and among them, on the other, at a time when dispute resolution mechanisms in competition is seen as an incentive for the improvement within justice systems at a global level, and the term 'litigation market' has become common place. In this context, elements such as the language of the process, the possibility of being represented by foreign lawyers, or the existence of a network of instruments for the enforcement of decisions abroad, may prove decisive in the choice of the users to file claim with a court (and which one), or going to arbitration.


Dysphagia, a common clinical corollary following stroke, may contribute to aspiration pneumonia, malnutrition, and dehydration which may significantly impair patient rehabilitation.
Survey
Aim: Establish current clinical practice regarding nurse dysphagia screening.
Method: A cross-sectional regional postal survey was undertaken with 60 nurses and 45 Speech and Language Therapists.
Results: Nurses were taught to use water swallow screening tools but, in reality, used a variety of testing materials.
Conclusion: This demonstrated the need for a clinically useful bedside swallow screening tool.
Pilot Study
Aim: Develop and evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of a new BEdside Swallow Screening Tool (BESST), for use by nurses with acute stroke patients.
Method: A literature search was undertaken to inform the BESST. Face validity was established using an iterative process of semi-structured interviews with eight specialist SLTs and eight nurses. The tool was piloted on 12 purposefully selected stroke patients by comparing the management options chosen by two nurses using the BESST with those of the Specialist SLT using their bedside assessment (gold standard).
Results: The BESST demonstrated excellent sensitivity (100%) but specificity demonstrated by both nurses was poor (< 45% for both).
Conclusion: A larger validation study of a modified BEEST would be appropriate.
Main Study
Aim: Establish the diagnostic accuracy and utility of the BESST.
Method: Ratings by nurses using the BESST were compared with experienced SLT bedside assessment in 124 consecutively admitted stroke patients.
Results: The BESST demonstrated good agreement between nurses (81%) and within nurses (87% nurse 1, 86% nurse 2), 93% sensitivity, 82% specificity; 71% positive
iii
predictive value, 95% negative predictive value; and overall efficiency was 84%. The BESST dictated the same management as the SLT in 75% of cases, and safely allowed 92% of patients modified oral intake when compared to the water swallow screening tool.
Conclusion: The BESST has potential use in clinical practice, but further research is needed.


A chlorotriphenylphosphine gold (AuPPh3Cl) complex was successfully prepared using chloroauric acid and triphenylphosphine (TPP) and was used as a catalyst precursor in the preparation process of a Au-based catalyst. The AuPPh3Cl/AC catalyst was prepared by an incipient wetness impregnation method and its catalytic performance was evaluated in acetylene hydrochlorination reaction. Simultaneously, the AuPPh3Cl/AC catalyst was characterized by BET, TG, XRD, TEM, XPS, ICP, TPR and TPD techniques. The catalytic test result shows that the AuPPh3Cl/AC catalyst exhibits superior activity and stability with an acetylene conversion of 85% after 200 h of reaction under the conditions of 170 °C and an acetylene gas hourly space velocity of 360 h−1. The characterization results show that the presence of TPP can enhance the stability of Au+ and inhibit the reduction of Au3+ or Au+ species to Au0 species. In addition, the interaction between Au and TPP ligand can reduce the loss of Au species and inhibit the agglomeration of gold particles, thereby improving the catalytic activity and stability.


The three new complexes Tp(Py)Ln(CH3CO2)2(H2O) (Ln = Eu (1), Gd(2), or Tb (3)) were prepared and characterized crystallographically. In the crystal lattices of these complexes, separate molecules are connected in infinite chains by π-stacking interactions. Complexes 1 and 3 display intense photoluminescence and triboluminescence (red and green respectively), while compound 3 exhibits electroluminescence commencing at 9 V in an ITO/PVK/3/Al device (ITO = indium-tin oxide, PVK = poly(N-vinylcarbazole)). A series of Eu/Tb-doped Gd compounds was prepared by cocrystallization from mixtures of 1 and 2 or 2 and 3, respectively. It was shown that π-stacking interactions are involved in increasing the efficiency of energy transfer from the gadolinium complex to emitting [Tp(Py)Eu](2+) or [Tp(Py)Tb](2+) centers, and this energy transfer occurs through hundreds of molecules, resembling the process of energy harvesting in chloroplast stacks.


A paradox of dynamic routing in the Cohen-Kelly network is studied. Intuitively, we expect that adding capacity to a network improves the performance of the users. Braess showed an example wherein the opposite occurs. We refer to such a situation as a paradox. In this paper, we deal with a class of queueing networks in which Cohen and Kelly discovered a paradox in static routing. We consider the dynamic routing problems in the above mentioned class of networks, and show the existence of a paradox in dynamic routing of the above mentioned class of networks through simulation experiments analogous to what Cohen and Kelly showed.


The variety of data is one of the important issues in the era of Big Data. The data are naturally organized in different formats and models, including structured data, semi-structured data, and unstructured data. Prior research has envisioned an approach to abstract multi-model data with a schema category and an instance category by using category theory. In this paper, we demonstrate a system, called MultiCategory, which processes multi-model queries based on category theory and functional programming. This demo is centered around four main scenarios to show a tangible system. First, we show how to build a schema category and an instance category by loading different models of data, including relational, XML, key-value, and graph data. Second, we show a few examples of query processing by using the functional programming language Haskell. Third, we demo the flexible outputs with different models of data for the same input query. Fourth, to better understand the category theoretical structure behind the queries, we offer a variety of graphical hooks to explore and visualize queries as graphs with respect to the schema category, as well as the query processing procedure with Haskell.


Interviews are a commonly utilized research method within most qualitative inquiries. This method can provide a great amount of insight into the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of an individual surrounding her or his experiences. Often parents are used as proxies to their children in cases where the child has a disability and is unable to effectively communicate in ways that researchers can capture. However, simply asking the "good" questions is often not enough to provide useful insight into their world. So, how does a researcher communicate with parents to allow for insightful inquiry and build interpretation? This article discusses the necessity for thoughtful inquiry when conducting interviews, in order to ensure trustworthy, usable evidence. By providing insight on past literature, key interviewing concepts are explored to provide suggestions that will assist in guiding the development of the interview itself, as it is often an overlooked and ill-reported on this facet of interview research. These suggestions are contrasted using prior physical activity research involving parents of children with disabilities to provide further insight into how to effectively conduct and report an interview. Subscribe to PALAESTRA


The overall theme of NASS XI is «Anticipation and change». Relevant topics include – but are not limited to – the semiotics of child development and human development in general, social change, cultural change, environmental change, ontogeny, and evolution. The anticipatory aspect implies that future studies and the power of imagination are also relevant topics, as are, potentially, learning and perception, expectation and prediction, foresight and preconception. We have welcomed abstract proposals that approach these topics from a semiotic perspective and draw on interdisciplinary relations between semiotics and other disciplines.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the expression of the integrin alpha6beta4 in experimental allergic neuritis (EAN) and the relationship of the integrin alpha6beta4 with functional states of Schwann cells (Sc) as well as the injury and repair of the myelin during EAN.

METHODS
EAN was induced in Lewis rats and sciatic nerves were resected in 18 EAN and 3 normal rats. The expression of tissue integrin alpha6beta4 was analyzed during the course of EAN induction and in controls by in situ hybridization and semi-quantitative RT-PCR.

RESULTS
The detection of integrin alpha6 and beta4 subunit by hybridization in situ demonstrated that expression of alpha6 subunit present no significant changes during the course of EAN, while expression of beta4 declined in the early phase, showing less positive signals than those of the control, and restored its expression in the later or recovery phase. The changes of expression of integrin alpha6 and beta4 in EAN were confirmed by semi-quantitative PT-PCR, using GAPDH as the internal standard.

CONCLUSIONS
The degeneration and injury of Sc caused by inflammation affect the expression of integrin, which shows similar changes in Sc during embryogenesis, indicating alpha6beta4 may be a marker of Sc differentiation and at least an important molecule to mark the course of EAN. The expression of alpha6beta4 correlate with the injury and repair of myelin during EAN.


This paper investigates the effectiveness of two instruments designed to defer termination in the centipede game: an insurance against termination by the opponent, and an option to offer the opponent a bonus for not terminating the game. The rational prediction in both cases is passing until close to the end. Empirically, however, only the bonus option is used by the subjects. The results indicate that subjects readily understand the strategic effect of the bonus, which, once offered, renders passing until close to the end the strictly dominant strategy for both players. Yet, they fail to realise the slightly more involved strategic signal entailed in the insurance, namely that passing until close to the end is a strictly dominant strategy for an insured player. In order to further investigate this effect, we propose a simple behavioural model based on level-k thinking and show that it is largely consistent with the data.


Recent researches of Xinjiang Uyghur young children's bilingual development provide little empirical evidence of the relationship between Uyghur children's first language (Uyghur) and second language (Mandarin Chinese). This study was designed to explore how children's Uyghur vocabulary impacts Chinese vocabulary development. Using a randomized sample of 379 Uyghur children aged 4–6 from Urumqi and Turpan city of Xinjiang, we tested children's Chinese receptive vocabulary, Chinese expressive vocabulary, Uyghur receptive vocabulary, and Uyghur expressive vocabulary. Results of multilevel regression models showed that after controlling for Uyghur children's age and kindergarten level, their Chinese receptive vocabulary and Chinese expressive vocabulary can be significantly predicted by Uyghur receptive vocabulary. When Uyghur receptive vocabulary increases by 1 standard deviation, children's Chinese receptive vocabulary will significantly increase by 0.31 standard deviations, while Chinese expressive vocabulary will significantly increase by 0.18 standard deviations after controlling for children's age and kindergarten level. However, young children's Uyghur expressive vocabulary cannot predict either Chinese receptive vocabulary or Chinese expressive vocabulary. Path analysis showed that there were significant direct effects from Uyghur receptive vocabulary to Chinese receptive vocabulary and Chinese receptive vocabulary to Chinese expressive vocabulary. Also, there was a significant indirect effect from Uyghur receptive vocabulary via Chinese receptive vocabulary that impacts Chinese expressive vocabulary. We found that Chinese receptive vocabulary was a full mediator and an important pathway from Uyghur children's first language vocabulary to second language vocabulary. Findings of this study provide empirical evidence for psychological education researchers to create new curricula to improve young Uyghur children's second language learning.


This publication contains a set of 26 EU Cross-Border Insolvency Court-to-Court Cooperation Principles ('EU JudgeCo Principles') along with 18 EU Cross-Border Insolvency Court-to-Court Communications Guidelines ('EU JudgeCo Guidelines'). These EU JudgeCo Principles will strengthen efficient and effective communication between EU Member courts in insolvency cases with cross-border effects. They have been produced in a period of two years (2013-2014), developed by a team of scholars at Leiden Law School and Nottingham Law School, in collaboration with some 50 experts, including 25 judges representing just as many different EU countries. The principles are set in EU stone, in that they especially function within the framework of the EU Insolvency Regulation. The texts have been aligned with the text of the recast of the Regulation, as published early December 2014. The EU JudgeCo Principles try to overcome present obstacles for courts in EU Member States, such as formalistic and detailed national procedural law, concerns about a judge's impartiality, uneasiness with the use of certain legal concepts and terms, and evidently language. The texts further build on existing experience and tested resources, especially in cross-border cases in North America, but are tailor made into an EU insolvency law context. These Principles include a set of very practical EU JudgeCo Guidelines to facilitate communications in individual cross-border cases. The project was funded by the European Union and the International Insolvency Institute (III) (www.iiiglobal.org) and we thank both sponsors for their continued support. *** Librarians: ebook available on ProQuest and EBSCO (Series: European and International Insolvency Law Studies [EIILS] - Vol. 1) [Subject: EU Law, Insolvency Law, Commercial Law, Comparative Law]


Paul Flato: Jeweler to the Stars celebrates the work of Hollywood's first celebrity jeweller. This lavishly illustrated book shows Flato's exquisite pieces in all their glory, sparkling on the page alongside the stars, socialites and heiresses who wore them. At the height of Flato's career, he was more famous than Tiffany & Co. or Harry Winston. Branching into Motion Pictures at the pinnacle of Hollywood's Golden Era, Flato designed jewellery for a total of six films, including Holiday (1938) with Katherine Hepburn and the disastrous flop, Two Faced Woman (1941), the last film Greta Garbo ever made. But, in 1943 at the peak of his celebrity, Flato found himself facing financial ruin and heading "up the river" to the infamous Sing Sing Prison as his career and reputation plummeted. Now, more than a half-century later, Flato's distinctive jewellery, still fresh and chic, has reemerged to captivate a new audience. As well as images of the jewellery itself, sourced from auction houses and private collections, Paul Flato: Jeweler to the Stars includes previously unpublished photographs from the Flato family archives, images of glamarous New York and Hollywood clients wearing Flato's designs, fascinating film stills, and studio portraits, as well as many original design sketches. This tribute to one of America's greatest jewellers with enchant jewellery connoisseurs, collectors and Hollywood film buffs alike.


This paper addresses the problem of learning similarity-preserving binary codes for efficient similarity search in large-scale image collections. We formulate this problem in terms of finding a rotation of zero-centered data so as to minimize the quantization error of mapping this data to the vertices of a zero-centered binary hypercube, and propose a simple and efficient alternating minimization algorithm to accomplish this task. This algorithm, dubbed iterative quantization (ITQ), has connections to multiclass spectral clustering and to the orthogonal Procrustes problem, and it can be used both with unsupervised data embeddings such as PCA and supervised embeddings such as canonical correlation analysis (CCA). The resulting binary codes significantly outperform several other state-of-the-art methods. We also show that further performance improvements can result from transforming the data with a nonlinear kernel mapping prior to PCA or CCA. Finally, we demonstrate an application of ITQ to learning binary attributes or "classemes" on the ImageNet data set.


In present research, a three dimensional welding process phenomenon is simulated using a commercial finite element package ANSYS® in order to study the heat distribution and residual stress in SAE 1020 fillet joint.Heat distribution in different points of weldment shows that peak temperature at the nods near weld line is higher than peak temperature at nods which are located further. Also, temperature shapely increases when it subject to heat input and then falls down with a relatively lower rate after peak temperature.Longitudinal residual stress which is most important stress field in the specimen, in HAZ region and near the weld line is tensile with maximum values but with increase of distance from weld line the stresses decrease. Contractual resistance of material at the beginning of cooling process is a reason for generating the tensile stress.Transverse residual stresses perpendicular to the weld line, at the beginning and end of fillet joint is compressive due to constraints and changes to tensile in the middle of weld line. Maximum transverse residual stress will be happened at the middle and by increasing the distance the stress values approach to zero. Although, transverse residual stress values are lower than longitudinal residual stress but those should be considered as a main factor in weld deign.As a matter of fact, in present research maximum longitude stress (100 MPa) and transverse stress (30 MPa) satisfy AWS D1.1 weld design code requirements. According to Structural Welding Code-Steel, AWS D1.1, tension or compression parallel to axis of weld shouldn't exceed base metal tensile strength i.e 420 MPa for SAE 1020. Further, shear on effective area should be less than 0.3 of nominal tensile strength of filler material i.e 126 MPa


Many language planners and language scholars in the Philippines suffer from imperial amnesia —the inability or refusal to confront the complexity of history from which emerged various discourses onlanguage and education in the country. Work on language planning is ideologically and politically positionedthrough various discursive strategies of forgetting. Forget the War. Forget the Pain. Forget the Fight.An examination of these strategies will enable us to understand why language planning practitioners in thePhilippines argue the way they do concerning critical language issues in the country. However, it takes morethan changing (historical) consciousness to change the world. In the case of the Philippines, such discursivestrategies of forgetting are deployed across complex structures of relations shaped by decades of colonization,Filipino elite collaboration, and current neocolonial and global conditions. This paper argues for a criticalhistoriography of our ideas and work on language because, after all, whether we like it or not, we are bothproducts and makers of our own histories. In language planning, we need toremember.


Originally published in 1965, "The Painted bird" established Jerzy Kosinski as a major literary figure. Called by the Los Angeles Times "one of the most imposing novels of the decade, " it was eventuallly translated into more than thirty languages. A harrowing story that follows the wanderings of a boy abandoned by his parents during World War II, "The Painted Bird" is a dark masterpiece that examines the proximity of terror and savagery to innocence and love. It is the first, and the most famous, novel by one of the most important and original writers of this century.


The potential of technology in digital society offers multiple possibilities for learning. E-books constitute one of the technologies to which great attention has to be paid. This article presents a case study on the perceptions held by a teacher and his students on the use of e-textbooks in a Primary education classroom. It examines students' meaning-making practices and the perceptions that teachers and students have towards their engagement in learning activities in this context. In the analysis of the data generated, the classroom is considered a multimodal learning space, where virtual, physical and cognitive environments overlap, allowing students to negotiate meaning across multiple contexts and reflect upon it. Results show that e-textbook users' perceptions greatly depend on the institutional culture in which they are embedded. While the adoption of e-textbooks does not necessarily mean a transition from traditional textbooks to e-textbooks, students and teachers may develop a more demanding range of criteria which must be met by e-textbook providers. By doing this, e-books become a real alternative to free internet resources. Although e-textbooks favor a communicatively active style of learning, there are still real challenges to be overcome by publishers so that e-textbooks do not become the next forgotten fad.


The Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) was initiated in 2002 to quantify the potential benefits of conservation management practices throughout the nation. Within the Central Claypan Region of Missouri, the Salt River Basin was selected as a benchmark watershed for soil and water quality assessments. This study focuses on two objectives: (1) assessing soil quality for 15 different annual cropping and perennial vegetation systems typically employed in this region, and (2) evaluating relationships among multiple measured soil quality indicators (SQIs). Management practices included annual versus perennial vegetation, and varying grass species composition (cool-season versus warm-season), tillage intensity (no-till versus mulch-till), biomass removal, rotation phase, crop rotation (corn [Zea mays L.]–soybean [Glycine max L. Merr] versus corn–soybean–wheat [Triticum aestivum L.]) and incorporation of cover crops into the rotation. Soil samples were obtained in 2008 from 0 to 5 cm (0 to 2 in) and 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 in) depth layers. Ten biological, physical, chemical, and nutrient SQIs were measured and scored using the Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF). Across SQIs, biological and physical indicators were the most sensitive to management effects, reflecting significant differences in organic carbon (C), mineralizable nitrogen (N), β-glucosidase, and bulk density. In the 0 to 5 cm layer, perennial systems demonstrated the greatest SMAF scores, ranging from 93% to 97% of the soil's inherent potential. Scores for annual cropping systems ranged from 78% to 92%: diversified no-till, corn–soybean–wheat rotation with cover crops (92%) > no-till, corn–soybean rotation without cover crops (88%) > mulch-till corn–soybean rotation without cover crops (84%). Conversely, in the 5 to 15 cm layer, no-till cropping systems scored lower for overall soil function (58% to 61%) than mulch-till systems (65% to 66%). In the 0 to 5 cm layer, biological soil quality under the diversified no-till system with cover crops was 11% greater than under no-till without cover crops, and 20% greater than under mulch-till without cover crops. The effect of rotation phase was primarily reflected in 64% lower mineralizable N following corn relative to soybean. Additionally, soil nutrient function was significantly affected by biomass removal. The results of this study demonstrate that the benefits of conservation management practices extend beyond soil erosion reduction and improved water quality by highlighting the potential for enhanced soil quality, especially biological soil function. In particular, implementing conservation management practices on marginal and degraded soils in the claypan region can enhance long-term sustainability in annual cropping systems and working grasslands through improved soil quality.


West Antarctica is generally thought to have behaved as a single terrane since mid-Cretaceous time. Subsequently some limited internal deformation, below the resolution of paleomagnetic methods, may have taken place, and there has been some extension between East and West Antarctica. However, the most dynamic part of the Antarctic plate during Late Cretaceous and Tertiary times was the Pacific margin of West Antarctica and adjacent oceanic areas. Unfortunately this is one of the least studied sectors of the Antarctic margin, due to its remoteness and inaccessibility. We present reconstructions of the Pacific margin of Antarctica based on constraints from marine magnetic data and regional free-air gravity fields. Recent results from interpretation of seismic reflection, seismic refraction and gravity profiles collected in the Amundsen and Bellingshausen seas are also incorporated. The reconstructions show regional constraints on the complex tectonic evolution of the Amundsen and Bellingshausen seas during and after the breakup between New Zealand and West Antarctica. The Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary development of the region involved interactions between the Pacific, West Antarctic, Phoenix (Aluk), Charcot and Bellingshausen plates. The West Antarctic margin consists of two main sectors. The western sector comprises the parts of the margin that Chatham Rise and Campbell Plateau separated from at about 90 Ma and 80 Ma, respectively. Part of this sector, probably including much of the Amundsen Sea continental shelf, was subsequently affected by independent motion of the Bellingshausen Plate. In the eastern sector, Phoenix Plate subduction continued through the Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary, then terminated progressively from southwest to northeast as segments of the AntarcticPhoenix Ridge migrated to the Antarctic Peninsula margin. Between these two sectors is an area with complex gravity anomalies near Peter I Island. We suggest that a fragment of the former Charcot Plate, containing the oldest ocean floor adjacent to West Antarctica, is preserved in this area.


Customers have over the years been used to buying products and services in shops or by ordering over the phone. By the end of the last century shopping over the Internet was added as a new important channel for commerce. As a result, it has become more and more important for organizations to attract customers and their site on the Internet; the interface, is one part of this. In the discourse of marketing there is a field named servicescape and a related field named e-servicescape. For the providers of information systems the different views of service, servicescape and e-servicescape can be confusing. Hence it has to be considered interesting if the intention is to build not only reliable and trustable systems but also information systems that are in accordance with what the e-servicescape user needs and demands. The question raised in this paper is whether there is a need for further research on the relation and connection between the terms servicescape and e-servicescape. To determine if e-servicescape is fully possible, plausible or not possible in comparison with servicescape the Conceptual model of servicescape by Harris and Ezeh (2008, p. 393) is used.


Abstract : In this paper we describe the most recent MIT Lincoln Laboratory language recognition system developed for the NIST 2015 Language Recognition Evaluation (LRE). The submission features a fusion of five core classifiers, with most systems developed in the context of an i-vector framework. The 2015 evaluation presented new paradigms. First, the evaluation included fixed training and open training tracks for the first time; second, language classification performance was measured across 6 language clusters using 20 language classes instead of an N-way language task; and third, performance was measured across a nominal 3-30 second range. Results are presented for the overall performance across the six language clusters for both the fixed and open training tasks. On the 6-cluster metric the Lincoln system achieved overall costs of 0.173 and 0.168 for the fixed and open tasks respectively.


Another hominid skull has been recovered at Dmanisi (Republic of Georgia) from the same strata in which hominid remains have been reported previously. The Dmanisi site dated to ∼1.75 million years ago has now produced craniofacial portions of several hominid individuals, along with many well-preserved animal fossils and quantities of stone artifacts. Although there are certain anatomical differences among the Dmanisi specimens, the hominids do not clearly represent more than one taxon. We assign the new skull provisionally toHomo erectus (=ergaster). The Dmanisi specimens are the most primitive and small-brained fossils to be grouped with this species or any taxon linked unequivocally with genusHomo and also the ones most similar to the presumedhabilis-like stem. We suggest that the ancestors of the Dmanisi population dispersed from Africa before the emergence of humans identified broadly with the H. erectus grade.


We present a novel method for the development of a micro lenslets hexagonal array. We use gradient index (GRIN) micro lenses where the variation of the refraction index is achieved with a structure of nanorods made of 2 types of glasses. To develop the GRIN micro lens array, we used a modified stack-and-draw technology which was originally applied for the fabrication of photonic crystal fibers. This approach results in a completely flat element that is easy to integrate with other optical components and can be effectively used in high refractive index medium as liquids. As a proof-of-concept of the method we present a hexagonal array of 469 GRIN micro lenses with a diameter of 20 µm each and 100% fill factor. The GRIN lens array is further used to build a Shack-Hartmann detector for measuring wavefront distortion. A 50 lens/mm sampling density is achieved.


Moringa oleifera (MO) is reported to have various medicinal properties. The aim of
this study is to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of MO leaf extract against
acetaminophen (APAP) induced liver damage in rats. A dose of 3g/kg APAP was
selected to induce liver damage. Seventy male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=70) were
divided into seven groups. Five groups of animals were given various oral
pretreatments of 200mg/kg MO, 800mg/kg MO and 200mg/kg Silymarin (Sil) in
distilled water at 3ml/day for fourteen days. Meanwhile, two groups served as
hepatotoxicity (3g/kgAPAP) and vehicle (40% sucrose) control groups were given
distilled water in the similar manner. On day 15, the animals were challenged with
3g/kg APAP in 40% sucrose except for rats in the vehicle (40% sucrose) and MO
control groups which received 40% sucrose solution. After 24 and 48 hours blood
was withdrawn and livers were harvested. Plasma was prepared and liver function
was carried out to determine levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate
aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Liver samples were taken
for histopathalogical examination, measurement of hepatic reduced glutathione (GSH) content, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and
glutathione reductase (GR) activities as well as determining malondialdehyde
(MDA) levels. Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variance
(ANOVA) and Kruskall Wallis analysis of variance coupled with the Mann–Whitney
U-test. APAP treatment caused significant elevation (p<0.05) of ALT, AST after 24
and 48 hours. Histopathological observations substantiated these findings showing
significant (p<0.05) liver damage. APAP treatment caused marked reduction
(p<0.05) in hepitic GSH content, GST and GPx. activities coupled with significant
increase (p< 0.05) in lipid peroxidation index. The changes observed were
time dependent with more changes were noted after 48 hours. Significant (p<0.05)
elevation of ALP and significant (p<0.05) decline of GR activity was only noted
after 48 hours compared to other groups. 200mg/kg and 800mg/kg MO extract
equally showed a significant (p<0.05) amelioration of ALT, AST and ALP levels and
a significant reduction (p<0.05) of pathological alteration in a manner similar to Sil.
MO extracts showed no signs of toxicity up to a dose level of 800 mg/kg. MO alone
significantly increased (p<0.05) GSH content and restored GSH level (p<0.05) in the
groups given MO and challenged with APAP. MO alone showed insignificant
increase of GST, Gap and GR activities. The significant increase (p<0.05) of these
antioxidant enzymes observed in groups received MO extracts and challenged with
APAP. Lipid peroxidation was significantly (p<0.05) inhibited by the extracts in
dose independent manner. A significant (p<0.05) increase of GST activities by
200mg/kg and 800mg/kg MO extracts to the level higher than vehicle group were
observed as early as 24 hours in comparison with rats given pretreatment of
Silymarin. On the other hand, 200 mg/kg MO significantly (p<0.05) showed similar
increase in GPx activity to the level higher than vehicle group in comparison with groups that given 200mg/kg Sil and 800mg/kg MO pretreatment. Prevention of
enzyme leakage, preservation of hepatocytes structural integrity, prevention of GSH
depletion, restoration of antioxidant enzymes activity that is essential in accelerating
detoxification and excretion of APAP toxic metabolites, as well inhibition of lipid
peroxidative processes reveals that the extracts of MO leaves possesses potential
hepatoprotective activity against APAP induced damage in rats.


Background: Vaccination programs are one of the priority health interventions, and all children in every country should be vaccinated. The World Health Organization (WHO) aims for 90% coverage of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) by the age of 12 months. The CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) Ethiopia implemented interventions in pastoral and semi-pastoral regions to increase routine immunization coverage and support supplemental immunization campaigns.
Objective: Assess vaccination coverage, estimate dropout rates and identify associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study using the modified WHO EPI cluster survey method was conducted as part of the mid-term evaluation in 2015 in six pastoral and semi-pastoral zones in Ethiopia. A sample of 600 children age 12 to 23 months was selected, and mothers/caregivers were interviewed at home using face-to-face interviews, supported by mobile data collection using the Open Data Kit (ODK) system. Data were exported from the server, cleaned, and analysed using STATA 12.0.Both descriptive analytical methods were used and p-values less than 0.05 were used to declare statistical significance.
Results: Of the estimated sample, 577 (96.6%) children were included in the analysis. The overall rate of full vaccination was estimated to be 44.0% (21.2% in pastoral areas and 71.6% in semi-pastoral areas). With vaccine specific coverage of 53.7% for Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG); 58.8% for oral polio vaccine 3 (OPV 3); 58.8% for pentavalent 3; 56.3% for OCV 3 and 53.6% for measles. Mothers'/caregivers' residence, age and education were found to be significant predictors for children not being fully vaccinated, i.e. children of mothers living in pastoralist communities, young age, and with no education were at a significantly higher risk of being not fully vaccinated. Among those children who had at least one vaccine, 20.5% failed to take at least one of the next higher doses. Specifically, among those who took BCG and pentavalent 1, 10.1% and 14.1%, respectively, failed to take the measles vaccination.
Conclusions and recommendations: The proportion of children who were fully vaccinated in pastoral and semipastoral zones was low. Dropout rates for measles, BCG and pentavalent 1 immunization were above the acceptable rate of less than 10%. Therefore, efforts should focus on mobilizing the community to complete all child vaccinations, and community-based approaches with the integration of community volunteers, health extension workers and health center staff should be strengthened so that dropout children can be traced so that they can complete their vaccinations. More information is also required on why mothers/caregivers fail to ensure that their children take all available vaccinations. [Ethiop.J. Health Dev. 2019;33(Special issue):3-9]
Key words: Vaccination coverage, vaccination dropout, pastoralist, semi-pastoralist, CGPP, Ethiopia


A low cost, compact Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT)
based Electronic Travel Aid (ETA) to identify obstacle has been proposed. The aim is to
enable free movement of the blind in an environment ridden with stationary obstacles with a
target distance of 1-2m. In the present work, SU-8 has been chosen as the membrane
material of the CMUT. This has enabled drastic reduction in the DC operating voltage to
just 22V- an essential limit for handheld devices to be carried by the user. The CMUT is
designed to operate at around 70kHz which minimises frequency dependent loss in air. The
simulations are carried out in CoventorWare and COMSOL. The results show that on
superimposing an AC of 0.5V on the DC, displacements as large as the gap distance of 5um
are obtained resulting in output pressures of 140dB on surface of CMUT. On travelling a to
and fro distance of 2m, this pressure drops to about 1uPa. To be able to sense this small
pressure, a receiver with thin membrane is designed. A circuit has been implemented off
chip to process the received signal and generate a PWM signal to drive the vibrator.