Get a hands-on introduction to the Chef, the configuration management tool for solving operations issues in enterprises large and small. Ideal for developers and sysadmins new to configuration management, this guide shows you to automate the packaging and delivery of applications in your infrastructure. Youll be able to build (or rebuild) your infrastructures application stack in minutes or hours, rather than days or weeks.After teaching you how to write Ruby-based Chef code, this book walks you through different Chef tools and configuration management concepts in each chapter, using detailed examples throughout. All you need to get started is command-line experience and familiarity with basic system administration.Configure your Chef development environment and start writing recipesCreate Chef cookbooks with recipes for each part of your infrastructureUse Test Kitchen to manage sandbox testing environmentsManage single nodes with Chef client, and multiple nodes with Chef ServerUse data bags for storing shared global data between nodesSimulate production Chef Server environments with Chef ZeroClassify different types of services in your infrastructure with rolesModel life stages of your application, including development, testing, staging, and production


Background: Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) is a solvent most broadly used as a cryopreservative agent. Antitumor effects of DMSO is a recently recognized phenomenon. In this study, cytotoxic effects of DMSO on human monocytes and T leukemic cell lines has been investigated in vitro. Methods: Human leukemic T cells (Molt-4 and Jurkat) and monocytes (U937 and THP1) were cultured in complete RPMI mediums. The cells at different logarithmic growth phases were incubated with different concentrations of DMSO (0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2 and 5%). Then viability and proliferative response of leukemic cell lines was assessed by trypan blue dye exclusion (TB test) and MTT assays, respectively. Results: DMSO has a cytotoxic effect on the leukemic cells used in this study; dose and time-dependently. This cytotoxicity for all of these leukemic cells was shown at ≥ 2% concentrations of the DMSO after 24, 48 and 72 hours' incubation time. Moreover, there was not any significant difference between DMSO cytotoxicity in these different leukemic cell lines. Conclusion: All of the used leukemic cells showed sensitivity to DMSO at ≥2% concentrations time dependently. This sensitivity significantly increased with time. DMSO might be a cytotoxic agent for leukemic cells. It might be a useful candidate in design of chemotherapeutic protocols for leukemia as well as other cancers.


This volume of Information System Development, Towards a Service Provision Societyis the published proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Information Systems Development (ISD2008) that was hosted by the Department of Computer Science of the University of Cyprus at the Annabelle Hotel, Paphos, Cyprus from August 25-27, 2008. The theme of the conference was "Towards a Service Provision Society". In total, 131 delegates from 34 different countries registered for the conference, making it a truly international event. Papers presented at the conference strongly reflected the conference theme. Of 165 papers submitted, 99 were presented at the conference, representing an acceptance rate of approximately 60%. All papers were peer reviewed by three or four referees (a total of 543 review reports were submitted, corresponding to an average of 3.29 reviews per paper). Over the course of three days, 28 paper sessions were held, covering a range of areas such as: "Information Systems Engineering & Management", "Business Systems Analysis & Design", "Intelligent Information Systems", "Agile and High-Speed Systems Development Methods", "Enterprise Systems Development & Adoption", "Public Information Systems Development", "Information Systems Development Education", "Information Systems Development in Developing Nations", "Legal and Administrative Aspects of Information Systems Development", "Information Systems Research Methodologies", "Service-Oriented Analysis and Design of Information Systems", "IT Service Management", "Philosophical and Theoretical Issues in Information Systems Development", "Model-driven Engineering in ISD", "Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in Information Systems Development". The book is organised by order of the conference sessions. While all the presented papers were of high quality, we have selected two of them to share the Best Paper Award. The first one is: "Modeling the contribution of enterprise architecture practice to the achievement of business goals" by Marlies van Steenbergen & Sjaak Brinkkemper. The second one is: "Why cant we bet on ISD Outcomes?: ISD "Form" as a Predictor of Success" by Mike Newman, Shan L Pan & Gary Pan. Furthermore, to acknowledge the quality of the reviews he completed, the quality of the paper he submitted, his role as a track and session chair, and his general participation in the conference, we have awarded an Ovreall Contribution Award to Michael Lang of the National University of Ireland, Galway. Details of these awards can be found on the conference Web site at http://isd2008.cs.ucy.ac.cy. Our gratitude is extended firstly to all those who attended and authored work for the conference. The contribution of the International Program Committee was invaluable in identifying track chairs and reviewers to commit to doing vital work. While volunteering to host a conference is a highly personal undertaking, without support it would be impossible. Thus, we wish to thank our sponsors for their financial support and other aid. The ISD conference community has developed over the years a real sense of collegiality and friendliness, perhaps unusually so for a conference. At the same time it has been a stimulating forum where a free exchange of views and perspectives is encouraged. Perhaps what brings the community together is a belief that the process of systems development is important; whether it is systematic or structured or improvised or spontaneous, there is something about the process and the outcomes that excites us. We form a spectrum of thought from those who see the activity as somewhat scientific to others that see it as wholly sociological; we span a divide between abstract and conceptual, to hard code and artefacts somewhere in-between lies the truth. If our work is to make a meaningful contribution to both practice (by teaching students) and research (by sharing our experiences and studies with others), then hopefully this conference will have done a little of the former and much for the latter.


Abstract.
 The nuculanid bivalve Costinuculana magharensis new genus new species is described from the middle to upper Bathonian Kehailia Formation of Gebel Maghara, North Sinai, Egypt. Costinuculana differs from other genera of the family Nuculanidae by the presence of opisthocline ribs along the rostrum. These ribs are variable in shape and size, straight to folded posteriorly, bifurcate ventrally and occasionally postero-dorsally, and cover an area ∼45% of the total valve length from the posterior end. The life position of C. magharensis n. gen. n. sp. is reconstructed on the basis of a functional interpretation of its morphology and by comparison with closely related Recent forms. The asymmetrical commarginal ribs facilitated the burrowing process. The posterior oblique ribs are asymmetrical in cross-section with a steeply concave side in the burrowing direction and slightly convex side in the opposite direction. They probably kept the bivalve in a stable position once the desired depth had been reached. The thick oblique ribs probably also increased the strength of the rostrum and offered resistance against durophagous predators, being presumably partly exposed above the sediment-water interface. Based on the associated fauna, Costinuculana n. gen. lived in a low-energy environment characterized by a fine-grained, soft substrate.


Following the 2008/9 global financial crisis and ensuing economic uncertainty, the roll out of austerity politics has seen significant welfare retrenchment and a recalibration of the state-citizen relationship which can arguably be characterised by a process of punitive Neoliberalism. Nevertheless, the impacts of austerity politics are proving to be geographically uneven: spatially, there is significant evidence that the northern and western parts of Britain, particularly towns and cities therein, are especially prone to the punitive impacts of neoliberal austerity politics, while socially, some parts of society (e.g. the young, the disabled) find themselves exposed to the worst effects of austerity. Conducted under the period of a Conservative-Liberal Democrat UK Coalition Government (2010-2015) this thesis starts by considering the degree to which punitive austerity policies are economically necessary or driven by political ideology. Alongside this it determines whether austerity politics is a (re)new(ed) approach to welfare provision and the state-citizen relationship. The empirical parts of the thesis examine the tactics and strategies utilised by those conducting (the state), implementing (welfare providers and employers), and recipients (people and employees) of welfare-to-work policies, before considering what adaptations, innovations, co-operation, resistance and coping strategies are being employed by these stakeholders in response to austerity politics. In the final part, I argue that whilst many of the neoliberalised policies devised by the Coalition Government have been a renewal and reinvention of those already in place, this is part of a broader trend which is marked by the emergence of a more punitive Neoliberalism associated with a work-first welfare regime.


When fimbriate (Fim +) strains of Salmonella typhimurium were grown in static broth, many bacteria were in the fimbriate phase and bore fimbrial mannose-sensitive haemagglutinin (MSHA) that enabled them to adhere to guinea-pig and other erythrocytes and to agglutinate them in rocked tile and static settling tests. When either Fim+ or Fimstrains were grown on phosphate-buffered nutrient agar, the bacteria formed a diffusible, mannose-resistant haemagglutinin (MRHA) that gave dispersed sediments with sheep and pig erythrocytes in static settling tests, but without evidence of bacterial adhesion to the erythrocytes. On exposure, from above or from below, to cultured HEp2 and HeLa cells for 30 or 90 min at 37"C, motile MSHA-rich, MRHA-negative broth-grown bacteria adhered to the cells in large numbers (e.g., 20-100/cell), but motile MSHA-negative, MRHA-negative broth-grown bacteria and non-motile MSHA-negative, MRHA-rich agar-grown bacteria adhered in only small numbers (usually < l/cell). Thus, strong adhesiveness of bacteria for cultured cells in vitro appears to depend upon the presence of MSHA, not MRHA, and as Fim(MSHA-negative) strains of S. typhimurium are known to be highly infective in animals, a strong-reaction in the in-vitro model does not reflect a property of the bacteria essential for infectivity in vivo.


Femoral access is considered less safe for access site complications than the radial access. Cardiovascular procedures have not been studied taking operator experience, defined as American Board of Internal Medicine, Interventional Cardiology certification or equivalent qualification in another country, into account. We hypothesize that the procedural results are operator dependent and excellent results are obtained when procedures are performed by experienced operators. Femoral access is higher risk than radial access based on American College of Cardiology (ACC) guidelines. Femoral access is less forgiving, as opposed to radial, as it is an end-artery, lacks easy compressibility and is more likely to cause morbidity when injured. Hence, radial is recommended over the femoral approach according to ACC practice guidelines. These guidelines are often based on the randomized studies from academic centers where trainees, with variable arterial access experience, perform the initial access stick and arterial closure device deployment. Methods: We performed a single center retrospective review of 32,446 consecutive patients undergoing invasive cardiovascular procedures done from the femoral approach using American College of Cardiology/National Cardiovascular Data Registry (ACC/NCDR) from January 1, 2006 to June 30, 2013. Only experienced operators performed the actual access site stick and the reminder of the invasive procedure. Results: Total bleeding and vascular complications were less than 1%. We define outcomes as excellent if the total bleeding and vascular complication risk is less than 1% based on previous studies discussed in the ACC guidelines. Conclusion: Excellent outcomes can be obtained from the femoral access if experienced cardiologists perform the procedure. Hence, radial arterial access over the femoral access may be selectively rather than universally recommended considering the possibility of varying level of femoral access expertise of different practices.


In a competitive market, mani company can't avoid the competition. The right technology systems changes the way of company in running it's business and making some new things in organization. Nowdays, the progress in information system, follower by the progress in information technology. So, information technology being information strategic business tools, frequently essensial to a firm and central to it's competitive strategy. How can an information technology-based strategy confer sustainable competitive advantage? The answer is up to the management team of the firm. They have to use potential power of the information system to leverage their unique strategic resource by transformation technology of the firm the gain leader advantage and first mover advantage.


Solar electricity produced bj. photovoltaic (PV) solar cells is one of the promising
sources of power for solar refrigerator. Presently, solar PV is used to power
conventional vapor compression or Rankine refrigerators. In this work, three
photovoltaic freezers with different capacities and volumes of 100, 230 and 330
liters have been designed and tested. The freezers used the conventional vapor
compression Rankine cycle. For the 100-liter freezer a minimum cabinet
temperature of -20.1°C was obtained. The maximum and minimum cooling
capacity were semi-empirically computed to be 304W and 85.8W and the
corresponding power consumptions were 139W and 70.1 W respectively.
Coefficient of performance was calculated to be 2.19 and 1.22 respectively at the
maximum and minimum temperatures. For the 230-liter freezer, a temperature of
-1 5.2"C was achieved. The cooling capacity. power consumption, coefficients of
performance \+ere obtained semi-empiricall!~. Similar experimental analysis was
done on the 330-liter freezsr to achieve a temperature of -5°C. All these freezers
were tested for condenser teniperati~reo f 54°C and ambient temperature of 38°C.Limitations of the vapor compression refrigerator were highlighted; these include
insufficient power from the 75W solar panel to run the refrigerator's compressor
and therefore a backup battery is always required. But, battery is expensive and
has a limited charge /discharge cycles.
To allow for the use of photovoltaic module to power bigger size refrigerator, a
new age of refrigeration technology such as a free piston Stirling cooler is used to
replace the vapor compression refrigerator. The free piston Stirling cooler uses
small amount of power effectively besides elimination of battery since free piston
Stirling cooler can use phase change material to store cooling when there is
insufficient power (low solar insolation and night time operation).
The general principle in which a Stirling machine self-limits its operation was
presented. The proposed design of the Stirling cooler was described and 'the
performances of the cooler were simulated using the MATLAB computer
software. Three types of analyses were carried out i.e. ideal adiabatic, Schmidt
and non-ideal adiabatic.
Results from the ideal adiabatic analysis showed that the total power output was
101.2W. Coefficient of performance of 3.6 was obtained, which was found to be
about 21.5% of the Carnot COP. The COP was calculated for cold space
temperature of -1 0°C and warm space temperature of 27°C. The heat absorbed by
the acceptor was found to be 44.28W while the heat released by the rejector was
computed to be 56.51 W.For isothermal conditions of the working space and heat exchangers, Schmidt
analysis was carried out for cold space temperature of -lO°C and warm space
temperature of 23OC. From the MATLAQ results, work done on the expansion and
by the compression spaces were found to be 8.813~10" and -9.283~10-'J
respectively. Total work done was calculated to be 1.1451~0 -'J.
The effects of the non-ideal heat exchangers and the difference in the working gas
and wall temperatures were determined through a non-ideal adiabatic analysis.
The gas temperature was obtained through iteration until convergence was
achieved. Coefficient of performance of 3.8 was obtained for ideal regenerator
and then reduced to 2.4 for a non-ideal regenerator when pumping loss was taken
into account for the same temperatures of the working spaces.
Performance of operation, in terms of power consumption and cooling capacity, of
the vapor compression refrigerator and Stirling type refrigerator was carried out.
The comparison was based on the experimental data obtained for the vapor
compression refrigerator and output data derived from MATLAB analysis for the
Stirling refrigerator. The power consumption of the Stirling refrigerator was
calculated to be 20W while that of the vapor compression was computed to be
139W.


Background : The primary causes of undernutrition in India are its large population, socio-economic differences and inadequate access to health facilities. Nutritional assessments among adolescents are important as they are the future parents and constitute a potentially susceptible group. Studies on the assessment of nutritional status of adolescents are less in number and a National database has not yet been developed. The present cross-sectional investigation evaluates the prevalence of undernutrition among rural adolescents (10 years - 17 years) from Darjeeling District, West Bengal, India. Methods : The present investigation was conducted among 726 rural school-going adolescents (376 boys and 350 girls) belonging to the Rajbanshi, Bengali Muslim and Bengali Caste communities. The nutritional status was assessed in terms of stunting (Height-for-age below 3rd percentile) and thinness (BMI-for-age below 5th percentile). Results : The overall prevalence of stunting and thinness were found to be 46.6% and 42.4% respectively. A high prevalence of stunting was found among boys (43.1%) and girls (50.3%) (p>0.05). The highest prevalence of stunting was observed among boys of 17 years (63.6%) and among girls of 15 years (70.0%). The overall mean BMI for girls was slightly higher than boys (16.8 ± 3.4 kg/m2 and 15.9 ± 2.1 kg/m2 respectively). A higher prevalence of overall thinness was found among boys (53.1%) than girls (32.0%) (p<0.05). Conclusions : There was a very high prevalence stunting and thinness among the boys and girls. There was a significant difference in the prevalence of undernutrition in terms of age and sex amongst them. Nutritional intervention is necessary to ameliorate their nutritional status. The results of the present investigation will help policy makers to formulate various developmental and health care programmes.


Hepatocellular carcinoma is a cancer of high mortality; therefore, the effective therapy on this cancer is an imperative issue. Recently, anticancer agent combined with natural products has been demonstrated to increase apoptosis of various cancer cells effectively. Accordingly, we investigated the apoptotic effect and possible mechanism of the ethanol extract from Taiwanofungus salmoneus (=Antrodia salmonea) mycelium (TsE) alone or in combination with cisplatin in SK-Hep-1 cells. In this study, the proliferation of SK-Hep-1 cells could be inhibited at various concentrations of TsE for 24 h whereas TsE combined with cisplatin would inhibit the cell proliferation more notably. Moreover, the DNA damage and the interruption of cell cycle of SK-Hep-1 cells would be effectively raised after incubation with TsE combined with cisplatin for 24 h. The apoptosis of cells was dramatically induced, and the expression of caspases 3, 8, and 9, apoptosis-related protein, were significantly upregulated. Therefore, we proposed that the TsE combined with cisplatin inhibited cell proliferation by elevating sub-G1 phase, inducing DNA damage, activating caspases 3, 8, and 9 activities, and triggering cells apoptosis. These results reveal that TsE could be a potential adjuvant chemotherapeutic agent.


Four methods of statistical downscaling of daily precipitation were evaluated on three catchments located in southern, eastern, and central China. The evaluation focused on seasonal variation of statistical properties of precipitation and indices describing the precipitation regime, e.g., maximum length of dry spell and maximum 5‐day precipitation, as well as interannual and intra‐annual variations of precipitation. The predictors used in this study were mean sea level pressure, geopotential heights at 1000, 850, 700, and 500 hPa, and specific humidity as well as horizontal winds at 850, 700, and 500 hPa levels from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis with 2.5° × 2.5° resolution for 1961–2000. The predictand was daily precipitation from 13 stations. Two analogue methods, one using principal components analysis (PCA) and the other Teweles‐Wobus scores (TWS), a multiregression technique with a weather generator producing precipitation (SDSM) and a fuzzy‐rule‐based weather‐pattern‐classification method (MOFRBC), were used. Temporal and spatial properties of the predictors were carefully evaluated to derive the optimum setting for each method, and MOFRBC and SDSM were implemented in two modes, with and without humidity as predictor. The results showed that (1) precipitation was most successfully downscaled in the southern and eastern catchments located close to the coast, (2) winter properties were generally better downscaled, (3) MOFRBC and SDSM performed overall better than the analogue methods, (4) the modeled interannual variation in precipitation was improved when humidity was added to the predictor set, and (5), the annual precipitation cycle was well captured with all methods.


The access control problem, including authentication and authorization, is critical to the security and privacy of the IoT networks. In this paper we present NDN-ACE, a lightweight access control protocol for constrained environments over Named Data Networking (NDN). NDN-ACE uses symmetric cryptography to authenticate the actuation commands on the constrained devices but offloads the key distribution and management tasks to a more powerful trusted third party. It utilizes hierarchical NDN names to express fine-grained access control policies that bind the identity of the command senders to the services they are authorized to access. The key management protocol in NDN-ACE allows the senders to update their access keys periodically without requiring tight synchronization among the devices. The evaluation shows that NDN-ACE has fewer message exchange and uses fewer components in the overall network architecture compared to the IP-based alternatives. The "proof-of-concept" prototype also demonstrates the feasibility and efficiency of the NDN-ACE framework.


We study static solutions of a D-dimensional modified nonlinear Schrodinger equation (MNLSE) which was shown to describe, in two dimensions, the self-trapped (spontaneously localized) electron states in a discrete isotropic electron–phonon lattice [1, 2]. We show that this MNLSE, unlike the conventional nonlinear Schrodinger equation, possesses static localized solutions at any dimensionality when the effective nonlinearity parameter is larger than a certain critical value which depends on the dimensionality of the system under study. We investigate various properties of the equation analytically, using scaling transformations, within the variational scheme and numerically, and show that the results of these studies agree qualitatively and quantitatively. In particular, we prove that, for various values of D, when the coupling constant is larger than a certain critical value (which depends on D), this equation has two solutions, a stable (metastable) and an unstable one. We show that the solutions can be well approximated by a Gaussian ansatz and we also show that, in two dimensions, the equation possesses solutions with a nonzero angular momentum.


This essay introduces the philosophy of legal information (PLI), which is a response to the radical changes brought about in philosophy by the information revolution. It reviews in some detail the work of Luciano Floridi, who is an influential advocate for an information turn in philosophy that he calls the philosophy of information (PI). Floridi proposes that philosophers investigate the conceptual nature of information as it currently exists across multiple disciplines. He shows how a focus on the informational nature of traditional philosophical questions can be transformative for philosophy and for human self-understanding. The philosophy of legal information (PLI) proposed here views laws as a body of information that is stored, manipulated, and analyzed through multiple methods, including the computational methodologies. PLI offers resources for evaluating the ethical and political implications of legal informatics (also known as "legal information systems").

This essay introduces PLI. Parts I and II describe Floridi's philosophy of information. First, Part I introduces the transformation in the concept of information that occurred in the twentieth century through the work of Alan Turning and Claude Shannon. Part II describes Floridi's approaches to traditional questions in epistemology, ontology, and ethics. Part III applies PI to the analysis of legal positivism. It suggests that PLI is a viable project that has potential for transforming the understanding law in the information age.


The present paper uses the parameters revealed by archaeometric investigations of the Foeni group Early Eneolithic pottery from Alba Iulia–Lumea Nouă site, in order to make possible the experimental reconstruction of the black-topped pottery local firing technique. The distinctive features of this fineware category are the well burnished red body, with black (sometimes metallic) look on the rim, as well as on the pot interior. The results indicate the chromatic effect is due to the controlled mixed firing, oxidation and reduction atmosphere, in one step operation technique. This process was carried out using an updraught kiln with a circular base having 0.80 m in diameter and a height of 0.90 m. During firings the temperatures reached did not exceed the temperature indicated by the analyses (700–850°C), and both firing atmospheres had been achieved simultaneously. The experimental samples resembled Foeni vessels completely. The most important aspect of the firing method which we used is the fact that the results are controllable and repeatable.


For the food and beverage industry, climate change is a major threat. For millions of people, it means more extreme weather and greater hunger. The Big 10 companies are significant contributors to this crisis, yet they are not doing nearly enough to help tackle it. In this paper, Oxfam calls on the Big 10 to face up to the scale of greenhouse gas emissions produced through their supply chains, and address the deforestation and unsustainable land-use practices they allow to happen. The Big 10 must set new targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions throughout their supply chains. But they cannot tackle climate risk by acting alone. They have a duty to step off the sidelines and use their influence to call for urgent climate action from other industries and governments.


Ferroelectric glass-ceramics have been investigated from the Bi203-Ge02, BiOl.s-Ge02-B0I.5, Bi0I.5-Ge02-Te02, 5PbO-3Ge02, PbO-Ge02-NbzOs, and PbsGe30u-PbNbz06-Si02+15%Ah03 systems. DTA, XRD and SEM analysis were used to obtain crystallographic and microstructural information. The dielectric properties and ferroelectric hysteresis loop behaviour of selected samples were determined.

The stoichiometric Bjz03:Ge02 (BjzGeOs) composition devitrified on cooling, giving rise to the investigation of new systems BiO\.S-Ge02-B0I.5 and Bi0I.5-Ge02-Te0 2. It was found that the glass-forming region in Bi0I.5-Ge02-Te02 is narrow and good parent glasses for precipitating BjzGeOs crystals were not obtained. However, pure BizGeOs based glass-ceramic can be successfully formed from BiOl.s-Ge02-BOI.5. SEM backscatter imaging of these glass-ceramics showed surface crystallisation and XRD analysis confirmed that the preferred orientation is perpendicular to (311) planes. The dielectric behaviour and ferroelectric hysteresis loop study of the Bi2GeOs based glass-ceramic heat treated at 475°C for 12 hours, showed that this material can be ferroelectric at room temperature with Ps = 14 flC/cm2 and has Curie temperature at about 407°C.

Glasses of compositions PG(PbSGe30I J)-xPN(PbNhz06) (x = 0.5, I, 2 3) were investigated from the PbO-Ge02-NbzOs system. Most of the samples devitrified on cooling and have poor mechanical strength except the sample PG-O.S PN sample which also contains interesting phases: ferroelectric PbSGe3011 and dielectric pyroniobate PhzNhz07. The surface crystallisation of PbSGe3011 with a-axis orientation and the bulk crystallisation of PhzNbz07 phase in this sample could be observed using SEM and XRD analysis. By applying heat treatment at 667°C for 48 hours to this sample, surface crystallisation along the a-axis can be enhanced. The Curie temperature of this heat treated sample is about 166 °C with Ps = 1 flC/cm2 from dielectric measurement and ferroelectric hysteresis loop behaviour. More samples were also investigated but it was difficult to form glass-ceramics containing both PbSGe3011 and PbNbz06 crystals from this PbO-Ge02-NbzOs system.

In order to obtain the multiple ferroelectric PbSGe3011 and PbNbz06 based-glass ceramics, six glasses along the tie line from 62.5 mol%PbO: 25 mol%Ge02: 12.5 mol%Si02 to 40 mol%PbNbz06: 60 mol%Si02 were investigated from the PbSGe3011: PbNhz06: Si02+ 15%Ah03 system. Most of the glasses exhibited glass-in glass phase separation. From DT A analysis and subsequent crystallisation information, the most likely possible parameters, which control the glass-in glass phase separation, may be the NbzOslSi02 ratio for the glasses near the PbSGe3011 rich composition and Ah03 for the glasses near the PhzNhz06 rich composition. This system offered many interesting materials such as cubic pyrocWore PhzNbz07 based glass-ceramics and the orthorhombic PbNbz06 based glass-ceramics, and they are also mechanically robust.


Abstract. Expansion of the geographical and temporal range of Elochelys convenarun (Chelonii Bothremydidae) from de Upper Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula. The Campanian and Maastrichtian chelonian fauna of Western Europe was mainly composed of endemic taxa. The Bothremydidae-represented by the genera Rosasia, Foxemys, Polysternon and Elochelys-are very abundant in this record. Elochelys is known through relatively scarce material consisting only of isolated plates and carapaces, which are presently assigned to two species, i.e., Elochelys perfecta and Elochelys convenarum. In France, two specimens from the Campanian of Fuveau, Provence, have been assigned to the species Elochelys perfecta; one carapace is now taken to be the holotype of the species, while the anterior half of another carapace was described as the paratype. The holotype of Elochelys convenarum consists of a carapace from the upper Maastrichtian at Cassagnau-2 (Haute-Garonne), and specimens from the upper Campanian-lower Maastrichtian at Fox Amphoux, Provence, have been tentatively assigned to this genus. In Spain, the only reference to this genus is ?Elochelys sp. from the upper Campanian fossil site of Laño, in Treviño County, Burgos. Abundant specimens of pleurodiran turtles have been recognized at the new Upper Cretaceous fossil locality of Lo Hueco (Fuentes, Cuenca, Spain). Herein, we refer to Elochelys convenarum a carapace from this site. This carapace is the most complete specimen referred to Elochelys and constitutes the first robust evidence of the presence of this genus in the Iberian Peninsula, expanding the chronostratigraphic distribution of the species to the late Campanian-early Maastrichtian.


Abstract. People often look up information on Wikipedia and generally consider that information credible. The present paper investigates the article Map projection in the English Wikipedia. In essence, map projections are based on mathematical formulas, which is why the author proposes a mathematical approach to them. Weaknesses in the Wikipedia article Map projection are indicated, hoping it is going to be improved in the near future.


Perturbed DNA replication in early stages of cancer development induces chromosomal instability preferentially at fragile sites. However, the molecular basis for this instability is unknown. Using DNA combing, we studied the replication dynamics along two common fragile sites on chromosome 16, FRA16C and FRA16D. We found in FRA16C that under normal growth conditions, the replication along the fragile region shows stress-like dynamics. Replication forks along the fragile site progress significantly slower than in the entire genome, and frequently stall at AT-rich sequences. Interestingly, under these conditions, most of the stalled forks are concentrated near the largest 3.3Kbs AT-rich sequence. Furthermore, the distance between origins along FRA16C are significantly shorter than in the entire genome. Together, these results indicate that even under normal growth conditions, replication along the fragile site is continuously perturbed leading to activation of additional origins to enable replication of the region. Under mild replication stress induced by aphidicolin, the replication rate at the FRA16C region is further slowed down and the frequency of fork stalling at AT-rich sequences is further increased. Strikingly, unlike the entire genome, additional origins are not activated suggesting that all potential origins in the FRA16C region are already activated under normal conditions. These results demonstrate the inability of FRA16C to compensate for replication stress leading to failure of normal replication completion (Ozeri-Galai et al., 2011). To analyse directly, the role of AT-rich sequences in fragile site expression we targeted the 3.3 Kbs long AT-rich sequence derived from FRA16C into a non-fragile genomic region using a homologous recombination-based system. The results of these experiments will be discussed. Replication dynamic analysis of another fragile site, FRA16D, which is enriched with AT-rich sequences, reveals for the first time that a combination of DNA sequences and abnormal origin activation underlies the molecular basis of replication stress sensitivity of a fragile site. Moreover, the results provide a novel mechanism underlying the replication delay and replication stress sensitivity of fragile sites and shed light on the basis of genomic instability during the early stages of cancer development.


Hepatic ketogenesis plays an important role in catabolism of fatty acids during fasting along with dietary lipid overload, but the mechanisms regulating this process remain poorly understood. Here, we show that Cdc2-like kinase 2 (Clk2) suppresses fatty acid oxidation and ketone body production during diet-induced obesity. In lean mice, hepatic Clk2 protein is very low during fasting and strongly increased during feeding; however, in diet-induced obese mice, Clk2 protein remains elevated through both fed and fasted states. Liver-specific Clk2 knockout mice fed a high-fat diet exhibit increased fasting levels of blood ketone bodies, reduced respiratory exchange ratio, and increased gene expression of fatty acid oxidation and ketogenic pathways. This effect of Clk2 is cell-autonomous, because manipulation of Clk2 in hepatocytes controls genes and rates of fatty acid utilization. Clk2 phosphorylation of peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ coactivator (PGC-1α) disrupts its interaction with Mediator subunit 1, which leads to a suppression of PGC-1α activation of peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor α target genes in fatty acid oxidation and ketogenesis. These data demonstrate the importance of Clk2 in the regulation of fatty acid metabolism in vivo and suggest that inhibition of hepatic Clk2 could provide new therapies in the treatment of fatty liver disease.


Abstract : Software developers constantly make assumptions about the interpretation of requirements, design decisions, operational domain, environment, characteristics of input data, and other factors during system implementation. These assumptions are seldom documented and less frequently validated by the people who have the knowledge to verify their appropriateness. Additionally, the business, legal, and operating environments are always changing, as well as the software itself, rendering previously valid assumptions invalid. This technical note explores assumptions management as a method for improving software quality. This exploration covers assumptions management concepts, results of work on a prototype Assumptions Management System, conclusions, lessons learned, and potential work in this area.


The transition of East German agriculture led to major structural adjustments that showed some very particular phenomena. For instance, most of the successors of the former agricultural production cooperatives (LPGs) make slight losses and they operate at a higher employment level than new and re-established farms. In this paper we try to explain these phenomena with the farms' history prior to the transition period. Particular attention is given to sunk costs, the identity of members and employees, and old debts. A Data Envelopment Analysis of 210 financial statements distributed over the financial years 1992/93 to 1995/96 gives evidence that these historical arguments had a decisive impact on the farms' behaviour. However, this impact decreases over time, particularly because of a gradual replacement of assets.


We use numerical minimization of a model free energy functional to study the effects of columnar pinning centers on the structure and thermodynamics of a system of pancake vortices in the mixed phase of highly anisotropic layered superconductors. The magnetic field and the columnar pins are assumed to be perpendicular to the layers. Our methods allow us to study in detail the density distribution of vortices in real space. We present results for the dependence of the average number of vortices trapped at a pinning center on temperature and pinning strength, and for the effective interaction between nearby pinned vortices arising from short-range correlations in the vortex liquid. For a commensurate, periodic array of pinning centers, we find a line of first order vortex lattice melting transitions in the temperature T vs pin concentration c plane, which terminates at an experimentally accessible critical point as c is increased. Beyond this point, the transition is replaced by a crossover. Our results should also apply, with little change, to thin-film superconductors with strong point pinning.


Globalization speeds up competition among nations in various sectors. In terms of multinational and transnational phenomena, countries are seen as inescapable from competition, thus the linking of the term global with "competitiveness." The research described here explores the relationship between the competitiveness of a country and its implications for human development. For this purpose, using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and cluster analysis, 44 selected countries were evaluated. An output-oriented super-efficiency model where global competitiveness indicators are taken as input variables with human development indicators as output variables is utilized. Then cluster analysis depending on the competitiveness and human development indicators is conducted by using self-organizing maps to specify the development levels of the countries. Both analyses are repeated for years between 2005 and 2007. Finally, the relationship between the super efficiency scores and the development levels is analyzed.


INTRODUCTION The facebow is a device used to mount the maxillary cast accurately on the articulator, usually relying on arbitrary located anterior and posterior reference points. Mounting the cast on the articulator in the appropriate position is an operator sensitive procedure, able to reduce the chairside and laboratory time involved. There is little evidence available on the accuracy, validity and reproducibility of articulator mounting of models (Tamaki et al, 1997; Celar et al, 1999). The aim of our study was to assess the reproducibility of the face bow registrations using two different arbitrary facebows.


Poultry meat samples from Slovenian retail market were examined for the presence of thermotolerant campylobacters. The isolates were identified by phenotypic and genotypic methods. ISO 10272 recommendations were followed for phenotypic identification. Different PCR assays, targeting species specific DNA regions in C. jejuni and C. coli, were checked for their applicability in identification. High degree of tested samples was positive (27/33), with significant proportion of C. coli (32 %) among identified strains. High percentage of C. jejuni strains (54 %) were hippurate negative. Phenotypic identification was therefore found to be inconvenient because of the presence of the strains with atypical phenotype and possible misinterpretation of test results. Multiplex PCR, targeting hippuricase gene in C. jejuni and species specific region in C. coli, was found to be an efficient method that allowed fast, simple and accurate identification of C. jejuni and C. coli. FlaA PCR is a reliable method to identify the group C. jejuni/C. coli, but it does not differentiate between the two species. CdtB PCR is inconvenient because of many false negative and some false positive results.


Abstract The computer administered alcohol education program, Alcohol 101, is a popular tool for colleges attempting to foster more responsible drinking in college students. The effectiveness of this program in changing attitudes was assessed by measuring the attitudes of students who completed the program as one of the consequences of disciplinary action for alcohol abuse on campus. Students completed a questionnaire before and immediately after spending an hour with the simulation program. A subsample of 16 participants completed the same questionnaire one week later. Immediately after completing the simulation, responses to the attitude questionnaire were no different than before completing the program. Furthermore, those who complete the questionnaire one week later express less realistic attitudes than at the time of exposure to Alcohol 101. INTRODUCTION The abuse of alcohol by college students is a long-standing problem that seems quite resistant to change. Wechsler and his colleagues (Wechsler, Lee, Kuo, Seibring, Nelson, & Lee, 2002; Wechsler, Lee, Nelson, & Kuo, 2002) summarized the results of four Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Studies, dating from 1993 through 2001. They reported that the level of binge drinking has remained relatively stable across the four surveys. They also reported that students do not feel that their behavior has been affected by educational efforts at their institutions. The good news is that, over the years, there has been a decrease in the proportion of underage students who drink. Alcohol-control policies at the local and state level do seem to be somewhat effective as a deterrent in this regard. Alcohol abuse, however, does constitute a serious problem on campuses. Of the 14,115 students completing a survey for Knight, Wechsler, Kuo, Seigring, Weitzman and Schuckit (2002), 31.6% reported symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of alcohol abuse according to DSM-IV classification standards and an additional 6.3% met the criteria for alcohol dependence. Alcohol abuse leads to problems such as risky sexual behavior, (Cooper, 2002), alcohol-related sexual assault (Abbey, 2002), an increase in aggressive behavior and a greater risk of being the victim of violence (Giancola, 2002). Several studies have suggested that students who expect positive outcomes from drinking are most likely to abuse alcohol. For example, Neighbors, Walker, and Larimer (2003) reported that college students linked the expectation of positive consequences from the consumption of alcohol to higher consumption of alcohol. One such positive outcome some students expect from drinking is the ability to cope with problems (Park, & Levenson, 2002). While a sample of male students identified alcohol and drug use as major problems for their health, their feelings about alcohol tended to be ambivalent. While they recognized potential dangers, they also saw alcohol as having positive benefits, such as a way to cope with problems and a way to increase social confidence (Davies, et al., 2000). Reise and Riley (2002b) found that expectations about positive effects of alcohol, a history of drinking in high school, and membership in Greek organizations, as well as campus rules on alcohol use, and knowledge of skills for safe alcohol use all contributed to predicting how much alcohol students consumed on a weekly basis. In a study investigating how positive and negative expectancies about drinking affect consumption of alcohol, Lee, Greely, and Oei (1999) found that both kinds of expectancies were significantly related to drinking behavior. Those with positive expectancies seemed to drink more per session, while those with negative expectancies drank less per session. This suggests that programs affecting students' expectancies about alcohol (alcohol expectancies) might have some success in dealing with this serious problem. In a review of the empirical literature, Walters and Bennett (2000) concluded that the type of program that is likely to have the greatest impact on student drinking is one that gives skills training, personalized feedback, and attitudinal-based interventions. …


ABSTRACT We examine the role of governments in individual's career development via a sample of Korean women workers. Some government acts have expanded Korean women's career opportunities; these include the ratification of laws such as a quota system for hiring women and maternity leave legislation. On the other hand, the lack of workplace laws such as those promoting equal employment opportunities, equal pay, and denouncing sexual harassment, as well as stringent educational laws and the influx of foreign corporations have restricted women's opportunities in the Korean labor market. INTRODUCTION Governments are a significant player in any effort by society to adjust for changes in circumstance and environment. In this role of policy maker and initiator, a government helps shape the society it governs, and its associated organizations, via the various laws, policies, programs, and institutions it creates. Governments can impact more elaborate human activity as well, such a person's ability to practice religion or establish and operate a small business. In this paper, we choose to study the impact of government on one such complex human process - individual's career development. Some studies document the importance of more macro-level processes in shaping individual's career paths, such as increased life spans, declining birth rates (Astin, 1984) and shifts in key social organizations such as the Social Security Agency (Mitchell & Krumboltz, 1990). However, the government, while sometimes viewed as one of several key macro-level influences on career development (cf., Super, 1990; Mitchell & Krumboltz, 1990), has received little focused attention. In this paper we examine this issue in detail, by studying how Korean workers' careers are shaped by their governing body. We aim to investigate that issue by providing both an analysis of the actions of the Korean government and evidence from a sample of women workers in Korea. We have chosen to focus our model on women workers only, due to wide-ranging support for the idea that the paths of women's and men's careers are differently shaped by environmental forces (Gallos, 1989; Melamed, 1996). KOREAN GOVERNMENT'S ACTIONS AND WOMEN'S CAREERS The Korean government, like many countries, has recently made efforts to provide career opportunities for women. This issue, referred to as "gender equality" by the Korean government, has been a focus for governments in many other countries as well. Japan, England, South Africa, and Canada are all struggling with the challenge to develop opportunities for women ("Government to Launch Panel," 2001; "Present Status of Gender Equality," 2000; Gender Roles," 1998; "Government Urged to Take Lead," 2000; "Survey Highlights Inequality," 1999; "Achieving Gender Equality," 1996). Korea has taken many steps to improve gender equality. Among those are the creation of the Presidential Commission for Women's Affairs, acceptance of the Women's Development Act (1995) and a Five Year Basic Plan for implementation (with the United Nations Development Program), the creation of the Ministry of Gender Equality (2000), a quota system for employing women and a pooling system of preferential hiring for qualified women in government positions (1997), declaring an annual Women's Week (1996), adopting the 21sc Century Gender Equality Charter (2001), declaring Equal Employment Week (2001), and passing such laws as the Gender Discrimination Prevention and Relief Law (1996), and the Framework Law on Women's Development (1999). Of those actions, perhaps the most significant is the development of the Ministry of Gender Equality. President Kirn Dae-Jung identifies this action as one of his most important achievements, along with winning the Nobel Peace Prize, during his term in office (Kim, 2001). The Ministry is charged with handling discrimination issues as well as developing policies to improve opportunities for women. …


A reliable supply of water is required to maintain virtually all forms of life. Plants, which lack the ability to migrate away from harsh environments, have evolved numerous mechanisms to cope with natural fluctuations of water availability. One type of modification is known as stomata, taken from the Greek word for "mouth". Stomata resemble tiny mouths on the underside of leaves, opening and closing to regulate cellular water loss. Research has shown that over expression of NADP Malic Enzyme in transgenic plants causes the stomata to remain more closed. This decreases the amount of organismal water loss via transpiration, ultimately resulting in plants that consume less water. Little is known about the link between NADP-ME and stomatal conductance. In order further characterize this relationship, we have compared enzyme expression between the guard cells and various other tissues of Arabidopsis thaliana. Using gene-specific primers for each of the six isoforms of Arabidopsis malic enzyme, RTPCR was performed on RNA extracted from isolated guard cell protoplasts. The expression pattern of malic enzyme was then analyzed using gel electrophoresis. It was discovered that At5g11670 was the most highly expressed isoform in Arabidopsis guard cells, with significant expression of At5g25860 and At2g13566. Expression of all six isoforms was observed in root, stem, and leaf tissues. We have developed a strategy to more accurately determine the mechanism by which NADP ME overexpression induces a decrease in stomatal conductance. Both the catalytic function and ion-binding activity of NADP-ME have the potential to affect guard cell activity of these transgenic plants, but it is not known which actually plays the significant role. To explore this, we have started work to create a deactivated form of maize NADP Malic Enzyme that retains ion-binding capabilities without catalyzing the malate to pyruvate reaction. The incapacitated enzyme will be introduced into an expression vector and expressed first in E. coli., and then in Arabidopsis thaliana. Stomatal conductance will be measured, answering questions regarding the role of the enzyme in guard cell activity. We hope that these findings may be used in engineering plant water use, further contributing to the success of world-wide agriculture. Degree Type Open Access Senior Honors Thesis


Between 1946 and 1957 computing went from a preliminary, developmental stage to more widespread use accompanied by the beginnings of the digital computer industry. During this crucial decade, spurred by rapid technological advances, the computer enterprise became a major phenomenon. In Computers and Commerce, Arthur Norberg explores the importance of these years in the history of computing by focusing on technical developments and business strategies at two important firms, both established in 1946, Engineering Research Associates (ERA) and Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company (EMCC), from their early activities through their acquisition by Remington Rand.Both ERA and EMCC had their roots in World War II, and in postwar years both firms received major funding from the United States government. Norberg analyzes the interaction between the two companies and the government and examines the impact of this institutional context on technological innovation. He assesses the technical contributions of such key company figures as J. Presper Eckert, John Mauchly, Grace Hopper, and William Norris, analyzing the importance of engineering knowledge in converting theoretical designs into workable machines. Norberg looks at the two firms' operations after 1951 as independent subsidiaries of Remington Rand, and documents the management problems that began after Remington Rand merged with Sperry Gyroscope to form Sperry Rand in 1955.


EDEN, a famous garden, is also an acronym for the Electronic Democracy European Network, a project involving a consortium of public administrations (local authorities), academic institutions and technology companies. The thirty-month project aims to improve communication between the administrations and citizens in decision-making processes to do with urban planning, and at time of writing is in the transition from 'requirements analysis' to implementation of a software toolkit. The EDEN project is concerned, amongst other things, with the mobility of messages to and from urban planning officers in public administrations. Mobility, that is, from people 'outside' a city administration to people 'inside' it via a website, a virtual place from where messages are to be routed to a correct destination. The planning of virtual urban places is a new concern for both urban planners and systems designers working to implement 'information society' initiatives. These two occupations and research fields share similar methodologies, models, and artifacts used to intervene in the practices of their clients. This paper describes how the practices through which planning is made political have been represented in the 'requirements analysis' of the EDEN toolkit. The politics of the project do not just lie in its objective, the reconfiguring of 'virtual' political geographies in parallel with the 'real'. The distinctions made between virtual and real politics are themselves political. Setting aside any essential differences between the two, we will look instead at the politics of representation and representations embedded in the EDEN project and software.


There is a need to conduct a research on identifying the training needs, which is
considered one of the most essential components of a staff development programme.
The present status of planning in-service training programmes and workshops for
Mathematics teachers in Yemen lacks appropriate methodology and a systematic and
comprehensive assessment of the trainees' needs. In addition, no attention has been paid
to systematically identify in-service needs for Mathematics teachers of secondary
schools in Yemen.
The purpose of this study was to identify the training needs of secondary schools
Mathematics teachers in two urban cities Sana'a and Amran. The study focused on
training needs as perceived by secondary school Mathematics teachers, supervisors and
school administrators and identified the teachers' current practices of Mathematics
teaching in secondary schools.The sample of the study was a sample six hundred and twelve consisting of 389
Mathematics teachers, 34 supervisors and 189 school administrators using a stratified
random sampling technique.
To obtain the data two instruments were used: (i) the new questionnaire was designed by
the researcher. The questionnaire classified in-service training needs (59 items) into five
categories which include: implementing of Mathematics instruction, planning of
Mathematics instruction, evaluation of students in Mathematics instruction, diagnosing
students7 needs in Mathematics instruction and classroom management. (ii) The
observation instrument was modified and developed by Shian Leou (1998) which
consisted of 35 items covering four domains, teaching skills, material organization and
presentation, management of the learning environment and teaching attitudes. The
observation was conducted among 30 secondary school Mathematics teachers in the
classes and a video camera was used to record the lessons.
Data were analyzed using the SPSS computer programme. The means, standard
deviations, frequency and percentages were computed for the criteria indicators and
independent one-way ANOVA and t-test were computed to determine significant
differences between the means of the groups.
The findings of the study revqaled that all the training needs represented necessary needs
for Mathematics teachers in secondary schools and the teacher's current practice of
Mathematics teaching was generally weak. These findings indicated highest needs in
implementing of Mathematics instruction, followed by planning of Mathematics instruction, evaluation of students in Mathematics instruction, diagnosing students'
needs in Mathematics instruction and classroom management.
The One-way ANOVA revealed that there are no significant differences in perceptions
of training needs between teachers, supervisors and school administrators in all domains.
As for the variable of experience, a significant difference was found in the domains of
classroom management and evaluation of students in Mathematics instruction.
The effect of the t-test showed that there is no significant difference between male and
female teachers in all domains. However, a significant difference was found between a
variable of with educational and without educational background in the domain of
evaluation of students in Mathematics instruction.
The results of this study were consistent with previous findings in other specialization
studies; therefore, it is recommended that a future study should do a comparative study
on the training needs among Mathematics teachers in secondary schools and primary
schools. A future replication of this study with comparison with other countries is
necessary.


The five research reports that constitute this monograph are a fruit of the collaboration between the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in African (CODESRIA) and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), two institutions with a longstanding interest in the study of youth and social transformations in Africa. Under the collaboration, 12 young African researchers were able to benefit from fellowships, workshops and the expertise of resource persons. The studies contribute significant empirical insights from five different countries (Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Cameroon) to ongoing debates on how youth and social processes in Africa shape, and are shaped, by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.


OBJECTIVE
Tonic immobility is a defensive reaction occurring under extreme life threats. Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reporting peritraumatic tonic immobility show the most severe symptoms and a poorer response to treatment. This study investigated the predictive value of tonic immobility for posttraumatic stress symptoms in a non-clinical sample.

METHODS
One hundred and ninety-eight college students exposed to various life threatening events were selected to participate. The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist - Civilian Version (PCL-C) and tonic immobility questions were used. Linear regression models were fitted to investigate the association between peritraumatic tonic immobility and PCL-C scores. Peritraumatic dissociation, peritraumatic panic reactions, negative affect, gender, type of trauma, and time since trauma were considered as confounding variables.

RESULTS
We found significant association between peritraumatic tonic immobility and PTSD symptoms in a non-clinical sample exposed to various traumas, even after regression controlled for confounding variables (β = 1.99, p = 0.017).

CONCLUSIONS
This automatic reaction under extreme life threatening stress, although adaptive for defense, may have pathological consequences as implied by its association with PTSD symptoms.


The paper broaches the issue of unfair trading practices (UTPs) at the expense of, economically spoken, weaker actors among the food supply chain in context of the EU. For illustrating the concept of UTPs and delivering a theoretical basis for scrutinizing the term of fairness in respective trading practices the paper suggests the three variables 1) bargaining power, 2) market power/anti competitive practices and 3) unequal gain distribution. Subsequently the article presents selected national food-specific legislative based reactions towards UTPs evolved in context of the three variables. Ultimately the paper presents a qualitatively generated hypothesis which presumes that legislative food-specific measurements focussing on protecting suppliers lead to a beneficial monetary share for farmers, by means of influencing the producer price to a monetarily advantageous extent. The hypothesis was generated unprejudiced in the run-up to the paper. The research design which led to the hypothesis mentioned will be presented.


Background This presentation discusses data from a pilot study that investigated inter-professional 'high stakes' simulated patient care in the pre-hospital and peri-hospital environments and how issues of human factors such as communication and hierarchy influence patient care delivery and outcome. Methods This was a pilot study with a single, convenient sample of undergraduate healthcare students. Sixty students met the inclusion criteria with 27 students consenting to participate. The design was to engage participants in a high fidelity simulation exercise where Paramedic students managed an acutely unwell patient in the pre-hospital setting aboard a simulation ambulance (Simbulance) before handing over to ODP students for onward transfer into a high fidelity simulation Emergency Department (ED) facility. The primary outcome was the identification of perceived responsibility for care of the patient and the influences on communication and handover of care. The secondary outcome was to elicit perceived learning and self-efficacy of participants. Data was collected through the analysis of any physiological changes to the manikin during transfer, video observation of participants and analysis of a post-simulation participant questionnaire. Results Over half of the participants' handovers from the Simbulance to the transfer team there were delays in the perception and identification of who was responsible for the care of the patient. Often this delay affected the 'patient' negatively causing changes to the physiology (reduction in temperature/intermittent ventilation/delayed transfer). Conclusions There are debates regarding the effectiveness of learning in simulation.4 However, results from this pilot show that there is often a misguided perception of who is in 'charge' potentially due to a pre-disposed notion of hierarchy based on location. Future studies could investigate the development of human factor awareness in undergraduate learners as well as existing clinicians in order to potentially improve patient safety and clinical outcome. References Rodger S, Webb G, Devitt L, Gilbert J, Wrightson G, McKeenen J. Clinical education and practice placements in the allied health professions: an international perspective. J Allied Health. 2008;37(1):53–62 Department of Health. A framework for technology enhanced learning. In: Health Do, ed. London, 2011 Birch L, Jones N, Doyle PM, Green P, McLaughlin A, Champney C, et al. Obstetric skills drills: evaluation of teaching methods. Nurse Educ Today. 2007;27(8): 915–22 Brindley PG, Dunn WF. Simulation for clinical research trials: a theoretical outline. J Crit Care 2009;24(2):164–7. PubMed PMID: WOS:000266991700002


Residual part of tea as a household waste was effectively used for removal of fluoride from aqueous medium. The variable operating parameters such as pH, initial fluoride concentration, sorbent particle size, agitation time and temperature. The defluoridation capacity increases with increasing adsorbent dose and contact time but decrease with initial concentration of fluoride solution. Moreover, acidic pH (6) showed the highest removal of fluoride . Further defluoridation follows second order kinetics and Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The surface and sorption characteristics were analyzed using FTIR and SEM techniques. For domestic and industrial applications, defluoridation with 100% achievement and subsequent regeneration of adsorbent was performed with a household water filter and fixed bed column respectively.


Although literature contains a huge amount of measures for measuring quality characteristics of software artifacts throughout the development life-cycle, the majority go no further than the step of definition. The key to obtaining valid measures which may be useful in practice is to carry out a definition of these by following a rigorous method. In a previous work we defined a method for obtaining valid measures, called SMDM (Software Measure Definition Method). In this paper we present the extensions and refinements of this method, which has been redefined in the light of seven years of application to various software artifacts, such as OCL expressions, UML diagrams, ER diagrams, Relational database schemas, Datawarehouse conceptual models, etc. In order to illustrate the redefined method, an example of the definition of a measure for the import-coupling of OCL expressions is presented.


Nowadays, medical devices face several limitations concerning rapid, reliable and simultaneous quantification of a set of ions and metabolites from a micro-nanoliter volume of undiluted samples. The development of minimally-sized devices is, therefore, of key importance. In such a context, electrochemical sensors are particularly advantageous because of the simple, low cost and reproducible fabrication procedures and the rapid analytical measurements. Moreover, they provide easy possibilities for continuous monitoring. However, sensitive and selective detection of molecules in the physio-pathological concentration range is very challenging when conventional electrochemical devices are employed, especially for long-term use. Nanostructured electrodes are considered as one of the most promising strategies to overcome issues of sensitivity because of their large surface area and their excellent electrocatalytic properties. They could also address in part the problem of selectivity due to shifts in potential of the measured Faradic currents. In addition, nanomaterials could provide stable and reproducible potential responses when used as solid-contact materials of ion-selective electrodes. Inappropriate nanointegration methods could decrease the sensor performance so that the development of tailored nanostructuration protocols is extremely important to boost the sensor sensitivity, selectivity and stability over time. Objective of this thesis was to design and electrochemical characterise novel carbon and metal nanostructures for medical sensors. First of all, the integration of carbon nanomaterials on specific sensing sites of a microfabricated sensor was considered. Time-consuming, expensive and hardly-reproducible nanostrucuturation approaches contemplate the co-immobilization of carbon nanomaterials and additives whose presence inevitably masks the nanomaterial promising properties and compromises the time-stability in aqueous environments. The selective CVD growth of carbon nanomaterials was considered as a promising method to enable the coupling nanomaterial-electrode. Deposition parameters were optimised to make the process compatible with CMOS temperatures. Then, new protocols based on rapid electrodeposition methods were developed to integrate differently shaped and sized Pt and Pt-Au nanostructures on electrochemical platforms. Template-free electrodeposition was selected because of the durably-anchored and the contaminant-free coatings resulting after the process. Both nanostructuration approaches generated highly-sensitive electrodes to detect human metabolites as compared with the bare counterparts. Unprecedented sensing performance were obtained by both direct and enzyme-mediated detection mechanisms. Selective sensing was achieved thanks to the capability of the proposed nanostructured electrodes to discriminate the detection potentials of biomarkers from those of interfering species. The developed nanostructures were also excellent solid contacts between an electrode and an ion-selective membrane resulting in stable and reliable solid-contact ion-selective electrodes. To prove their stability and reproducibility for long operating lifetimes, these ion-selective electrodes have been successfully used as standard for continuous acute cell death monitoring.


In IR (Impulse Radio) network, the conventional synchronization (also called signal acquisition) method becomes inefficient and results in a certain failure of synchronization when concurrent transmissions are allowed without controlling their powers. The present invention aims to solve this problem by introducing a novel synchronization method. Moreover, the claimed method can replace the conventional one in all IR networks. 5


BACKGROUND & AIMS
The epidemiology of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) has not been studied systematically in the United States. We report the incidence and prevalence of this condition in the general population. We also examined the validity of the Mayo natural history model for PBC among these unselected patients from the community.

METHODS
The Rochester Epidemiology Project entails a computerized index of diagnoses from the health care encounters of residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota. For potential cases identified using this database, the complete (inpatient and outpatient) medical records were reviewed to verify the diagnosis and extract information necessary for the application of the Mayo model. We estimated the incidence and prevalence of PBC in this population and compared the actual survival of patients with PBC in the community with the survival predicted for PBC patients by the Mayo natural history model.

RESULTS
The age-adjusted (to 1990 U.S. whites) incidence of PBC per 100,000 person-years for years 1975-1995 was 4.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.1-5.9) for women, 0.7 (95% CI, 0.1-1.3) for men, and 2.7 (95% CI, 1.9-3.5) overall. The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence per 100,000 persons as of 1995 was 65.4 (95% CI, 43.0-87.9) for women, 12.1 (95% CI, 1.1-23.1) for men, and 40.2 (95% CI, 27.2-53.1) overall. The Mayo natural history model accurately predicted the actual survival of these patients.

CONCLUSIONS
This first description of the epidemiology of PBC in the United States indicates that its incidence and prevalence in this country are among the highest reported. Outcomes among these unselected patients from a community population further validated the Mayo natural history model of PBC.


Abstract : The goals of this study were to assess self-reported occupational sources of stress, as well as levels of burnout, psychological distress, and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among United States Air Force 70th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing (ISRW) intelligence operators and support personnel. A total of 1,822 Airmen responded to the web-based survey, with an estimated response rate of 39%. The study revealed that the main sources of stress among 70 ISRW personnel were organizational in nature, tied to issues with leadership, management, communications, manning, and workload. Both groups also endorsed personal and home life stressors. In general, reported sources of stress were highly consistent among the intelligence operators and support personnel surveyed. The results of the study revealed lower rates of burnout and psychological distress among 70 ISRW personnel when compared to intelligence operators in other arenas of the 25th Air Force (formerly the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency) enterprise. Subtle but notable distinctions between 70 ISRW intelligence operator and support personnel rates of burnout and psychological distress still exist, which bear consideration. Preliminary recommendations are provided for Air Force operational leaders and the medical and mental health providers who support 70 ISRW Airmen. Further research may be required to fully appreciate the complex dynamics affecting these personnel.


The association of primary sclerosing cholangitis and celiac disease was observed in three patients, an association not previously reported. All three patients were men who presented with chronic cholestatic liver disease at ages 32, 46, and 62 years, respectively. In each patient, endoscopic retrograde cholangiography showed the typical findings of primary sclerosing cholangitis. Histologic features of liver biopsy were compatible with the diagnosis. Two patients had associated chronic ulcerative colitis. All three patients complained of frequent loose stools and weight loss; subsequent testing showed severe steatorrhea (204 to 323 mmol/d of fecal fat on a 100 g fat diet). Total villous atrophy was found in all three patients on histologic examination of the small bowel. Celiac disease was diagnosed at the time of presentation in two patients who had primary sclerosing cholangitis and was diagnosed three years after the onset of primary sclerosing cholangitis in the third patient. The celiac disease responded to a gluten-free diet in each patient whereas the primary sclerosing cholangitis was not affected by dietary treatment. The possibility of a chance association of primary sclerosing cholangitis and celiac disease cannot be accurately assessed but seems unlikely given the rarity of both diseases. The relationship between the two diseases remains unknown, although an immunologic connection is suspected. Celiac disease should be considered in the differential diagnosis of severe steatorrhea in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.


The twentieth century was a fascinating period of profound political, social and economic changes in Indonesia. These changes contributed to the diversification of the religious landscape and as a result, religious authority was redistributed over an increasing number of actors. Although many Muslims in Indonesia continued to regard the ulama, the traditional religious scholars, as the principle source of religious guidance, religious authority has become more diffused and differentiated over time. The present book consists of contributions which all deal with the multi-facetted and multidimensional topic of religious authority and aim to complement each other. Most papers deal with Indonesia, but two dealing with other countries have been included in order to add a comparative dimension. Amongst the topics dealt with are the different and changing roles of the ulama, the rise and role of Muslim organizations, developments within Islamic education, like the madrasa, and the spread of Salafi ideas in contemporary Indonesia.


There is a renewed interest in grazing systems in many temperate and subtropical regions of the world. This results from lower inflation-adjusted prices, the proposed removal of some subsidies and tariffs, and rising labour, machinery and housing costs. The utilization of grass by grazing should provide the basis of sustainable livestock systems as grazed grass is the cheapest source of nutrients for ruminants. This is very important in the Irish context as there are approximately 130 000 farmers involved in primary production in Ireland and the value of the goods produced was €5.8 billion in 2008. For the future, the key objective for grazing systems is to ensure high grass utilization, allowing increased output per hectare for all sectors. The primary emphasis in grass breeding needs to be focused on (i) seasonal growth pattern as well as overall annual growth, (ii) nutritive value, including digestibility, particularly in the mid-season period, (iii) ensuring a sward canopy structure that is suitable for grazing, and (iv) development of persistent cultivars that perform under farm conditions. Evaluation programmes should also consider including an estimate of production potential at the field as well as at plot level, and evaluation under grazing management systems as well as under mixed grazing/silage management systems. It is difficult to accurately quantify the breeding achievements for grass mainly because its value, whether grazed or conserved, must be indirectly realised through the output of animal product. Grass evaluation and breeding need to better accommodate the requirements of the grazing ruminant. This will necessitate the application of new approaches and knowledge, which will ultimately enable further increases in animal output per hectare to be achieved.


Even in the absence of external stimuli there is ongoing activity in the cerebral cortex as a result of recurrent connectivity. This paper attempts to characterize one aspect of this ongoing activity by examining how the information content carried by specific neurons varies as a function of brain state. We recorded from rats chronically implanted with tetrodes in the primary visual cortex during awake and sleep periods. Electro‐encephalogram and spike trains were recorded during 30‐min periods, and 2–4 neuronal spikes were isolated per tetrode off‐line. All the activity included in the analysis was spontaneous, being recorded from the visual cortex in the absence of visual stimuli. The brain state was determined through a combination of behavior evaluation, electroencephalogram and electromyogram analysis. Information in the spike trains was determined by using Lempel–Ziv Complexity. Complexity was used to estimate the entropy of neural discharges and thus the information content (Amigóet al. Neural Comput., 2004, 16: 717–736). The information content in spike trains (range 4–70 bits s−1) was evaluated during different brain states and particularly during the transition periods. Transitions toward states of deeper sleep coincided with a decrease of information, while transitions to the awake state resulted in an increase in information. Changes in both directions were of the same magnitude, about 30%. Information in spike trains showed a high temporal correlation between neurons, reinforcing the idea of the impact of the brain state in the information content of spike trains.


In this paper, we propose fuzzy pD* semantics which generalizes pD* semantics to reason over fuzzy RDF data using OWL vocabulary. We first define the notions of fuzzy RDF graph and fuzzy pD* interpretation. We then present a set of fuzzy pD*entailment rules and define the Best Degree Bound (BDB) of a triple derived from a fuzzy RDF graph. We show the existence of the BDB of an arbitrary triple. After that, we generalize the partial and full pD* closures to obtain the BDBs of derived triples. We show that the partial fuzzy closure exists and can be computed within polynomial time. Finally, we prove soundness and completeness results for the entailment relation. We also prove that the consistency checking is in P, the entailment is NP-complete, and in P if the target fuzzy RDF graph is ground. Therefore, extending the pD* semantics with fuzzy semantics does not increase the computational complexity.


This study evaluated nutrition and growth in relation to plasma adipokine levels in 21 very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) children with radiographic bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), 19 VLBW controls, and 19 term controls with a median age of 11.3 years. We took anthropometric measurements; assessed plasma levels of adipsin, resistin, adiponectin, and leptin; and analyzed the children's 3-day food records. Children with BPD had a smaller age-adjusted head circumference and more microcephaly but no other significant growth differences. Daily recommended nutritional intake levels were poorly met but did not differ between the groups. Leptin levels correlated positively with the body mass index standard deviation score in VLBW children. No other associations between adipokine concentrations and growth were found. There were negative correlations between leptin concentrations and fat intake, resistin levels and carbohydrate intake, and adiponectin, adipsin, and leptin levels and energy intake.


Many children in Jamaica are exposed to violence of various forms in settings where they should be protected, namely, their homes, schools and communities. Schools in particular which were once seen as safe havens have been in the media with reports of student on student violence, student on teacher violence, teacher on student violence and community on school violence. This paper presents research findings over the last 15 years out of The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Jamaica on the nature and prevalence of violence exposure, outcomes and associated risk and protective factors. It also highlights psychologically-driven interventions and policy papers addressing violence exposure coming out of the Department of Child and Adolescent Health, UWI, Mona, during the past decade.


This paper addresses the issue of how to design the institutional structure of an industry which provides two differentiated products. One good is supplied by a regulated monopoly and the other is produced in a competitive (unregulated) segment. Two possible institutional patterns are compared. Under "concentration" the regulated firm can enter the competitive segment by owning one firm which operates there (even though the two firms must be legally unbundled). Theregime of "separation" implies that regulated activities are totally unbundled from the unregulated ones, that is, common ownership is not allowed. When the regulator does not know the regulated monopoly's cost of production, we find that the pattern of separation improves (expected) social welfare as long as goods are substitutes. Conversely, concentration performs better in case of complementarity.


This study investigates dependence structure changes between the Hong Kong and Chinese stock markets as a result of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA). Four copulas, Gaussian, student t, Gumbel, and Clayton are used to search for unknown dependence structure changes. This study presents two main findings. First, the dependence between the Hong Kong and Chinese stock markets increased significantly following the structure change that occurred on February2, 2005, about one year after CEPA took effect. Second, the distribution of dependence structure altered from Gumbel copula before the structure change to t copula after the structure change. CEPA's effects not only changed the dependence parameters but also changed the dependence structure's distribution.


This symposium Article explores the previously overlooked role of relational contracting in forming and maintaining public-private partnerships. Relational contracting generally describes firms using formal but legally non-binding agreements to collaborate on shared objectives. Why do parties invest in forming elaborate contracts that they do not—and cannot—enforce in court? Contract theory suggests that the very act of contracting is relationship-building; it generates commitment, trust, cooperation, a win-win philosophy, and strengthened communication. Writing down goals and intentions allows parties to clarify expectations while maintaining flexibility for unforeseen conditions. This Article demonstrates that agencies also use relational contracting—creating unenforceable written agreements to build relationships with external actors.

To shed light on agencies' use of relational contracting, this Article provides a novel review of the recovery planning process required by the Endangered Species Act. A surprising finding emerges: private groups are providing cru- cial resources and logistical support to prevent the extinction of endangered species. Tribes, states, nongovernmental organizations, and sportsmen's groups are providing necessary resources to further agency action. By orches- trating private action through recovery planning documents, the agency can garner the resources necessary to undertake species translocations, which it could not unilaterally facilitate. Although the plans are not judicially enforceable, they nevertheless play a coordinating and commitment-generating role in facilitating private actors to engage in recovery efforts. This example high-lights the broader trend of relational contracting building and formalizing re-lationships between agency and non-agency actors.

Environmental impact statements, forest management plans, and recovery plans for endangered species are all examples of such "relational contracts" governing inter-agency and private-public collaborations. Viewed in this light, seemingly prosaic planning documents are, in fact, a crucial component in facilitating many agency collaborations. Descriptively, this account adds institutional detail to literatures on new governance and public-private partnerships. Normatively, it raises questions about whether the benefits of contracting offsets the potential distributional inequities and mechanisms to shroud government actions created by the practice.


Supply chain (SC) management challenges impose high pressure on the firm experts to explore innovative techniques to achieve better understanding of the impact of decisions on SC network performance. High complexity and dynamism of SC reflect on the limitations of traditional learning methods. Serious games have recently been identified as a potential learning approach for complex systems. This paper aims to develop an integrated simulation-based serious game (AUSUM) which incorporates optimisation techniques in an attempt to minimise risks and deliver better learning experience. The proposed game can be used for training and education purposes.


Abstract The effect of moisture source and diet on the development and reproduction of the pirate bugs, Orius thripoborus (Hesse) and Orius naivashae (Poppius) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) was examined in the laboratory. Both species had been collected in and around sugarcane fields in South Africa. Supplementing eggs of the flour moth Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) with a green bean pod as a moisture source yielded better nymphal survival and faster development, as compared with free water encapsulated in Parafilm, suggesting that the predators may extract extra nutrients from the bean pod. The impact of two factitious foods and moist honey bee pollen on developmental and reproductive parameters of both predators was also investigated. The overall performance of both Orius species on E. kuehniella eggs and cysts of brine shrimp, Artemia franciscana Kellogg (Crustacea: Artemiidae) was better than on pollen. Nonetheless, a pollen diet alone allowed 66 and 78% of the nymphs of O. thripoborus and O. naivashae, respectively, to reach adulthood. Overall, developmental and reproductive performance of O. thripoborus on the tested diets was superior to that of O. naivashae. The implications of these findings for the mass production of these predators and their potential role in biological control programs in southern Africa are discussed.


The advent of artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), powerful computational hardwares like graphics processing units, affordable sensing devices like smart bands, wearables, smartphones pave ways for large number of useful and intelligent applications hitherto never commonly envisaged. However, it is felt that applications, which positively influence human life and society, need distinct attention from the perspective of the researchers, application developers as well as industry. It is understood that knowledge-driven initiatives in terms of technology, application and practical deployment have strong capability to enable long term human-centric convergence of cyber-physical systems. Our endeavor is to discuss those finer details, research directions and application development aspects of analytics and systems intended for impacting human quality of life.


Extracted from text ... Fortunately, rabies is a relatively rare disease in South
Africa, although the National Institute for Communicable
Diseases received several possible reports of the disease in
July and August 2005. These were mainly in the Eastern
Cape and Limpopo. However, in Britain, rabies is only
known as a disease contracted by travellers or by infection
with the European bat Lyssavirus. India possibly has one of
the highest incidences of rabies in the world. The British
Medical Journal carries an interesting report of an apparently
trivial contact with a puppy in Goa, India, resulting in a
woman's death.
A woman in ..


Ganymede's surface exhibits great geological diversity, with old dark terrains, expressed through the surface composition, which is known to be dominated by two constituents: H2O-ice and an unidentified darkening agent. In this paper, new investigations of the composition of Ganymede's surface at global scale are presented. The analyses are derived from the linear spectral modeling of a high spectral resolution dataset, acquired with the near-infrared (1.40 – 2.50 μm) ground-based integral field spectrometer SINFONI (SINgle Faint Object Near-IR Investigation) of the Very Large Telescope (VLT hereafter) located in Chile. We show that, unlike the neighboring moon Europa, photometric corrections cannot be performed using a simple Lambertian model. However, we find that the OrenNayar (1994) model, generalizing the Lambert's law for rough surfaces, produces excellent results. Spectral modeling confirms that Ganymede's surface composition is dominated by H2O-ice, which is predominantly crystalline, as well as a darkening agent, but it also clearly highlights the necessity of secondary species to better fit the measurements: sulfuric acid hydrate and salts, likely sulfates and chlorinated. A latitudinal gradient and a hemispherical dichotomy are the strongest spatial patterns observed for the darkening agent, the H2O-ice, and the sulfuric acid: the darkening agent is by far the major compound at the equator and mid-latitudes (≤ ± 35°N), especially on the trailing hemisphere, while the H2O-ice and the sulfuric acid are mostly located at high latitudes and on the leading hemisphere. This anti-correlation is likely a consequence of the bombardment of the constituents in the Jovian magnetosphere which are much more intense at latitudes higher than ± 35°N. Furthermore, the modeling confirms that polar caps are enriched in small, fresh, H2O-ice grains (i.e. ≤ 50 μm) while equatorial regions are mostly composed of larger grains (i.e. ≥ 200 μm, up to 1 mm). Finally, the spatial distribution of the salts is neither related to the Jovian magnetospheric bombardment nor the craters. These species are mostly detected on bright grooved terrains surrounding darker areas. Endogenous processes, such as freezing of upwelling fluids going through the ice shell, may explain this distribution. In addition, a small spectral residue that might be related to brines and/or hydrated silica-bearing minerals are located in the same areas.


We have conducted the first airborne hygro-scopic growth closure study to utilize data from an Aero-dyne compact Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (C-ToF-AMS) coupled with size-resolved, multiple-RH, high-time-resolution hygroscopic growth factor (GF) measurements from the differential aerosol sizing and hygro-scopicity spectrometer probe (DASH-SP). These data were collected off the coast of Central California during seven of the 16 flights carried out during the MASE-II field campaign in July 2007. Two of the seven flights were conducted in airmasses characterized by continental origin. These flights exhibited elevated organic volume fractions (VF organic =0.56±0.19, as opposed to 0.39±0.20 for all other flights), corresponding to significantly suppressed GFs at high RH (1.61±0.14 at 92% RH, as compared with 1.91±0.07 for all other flights), more moderate GF suppression at intermediate RH (1.53±0.10 at 85%, compared with 1.58±0.08 for all other flights), and no measurable GF suppression at low RH (1.31±0.06 at 74%, compared with 1.31±0.07 for all other flights). Organic loadings were slightly elevated in above-cloud aerosols, as compared with below-cloud aerosols, and corresponded to a similar trend of significantly suppressed GF at high RH, but more moderate impacts at lower values of RH. A hygroscopic closure based on a volume-weighted mixing rule provided good agreement with DASH-SP measurements (R 2 =0.78). Minimization of root mean square error between observations and predictions indicated mission-averaged organic GFs of 1.22, 1.45, and 1.48 at 74, 85, and 92% RH, respectively. These values agree with previously reported values for water-soluble or-ganics such as dicarboxylic and multifunctional acids, and correspond to a highly oxidized, presumably water-soluble, organic fraction (mission-averaged O:C=0.92±0.33). Finally , a backward stepwise linear regression revealed that, other than RH, the most important predictor for GF is VF organic , indicating that a simple emperical model relating GF, RH, and the relative abundance of organic material can provide accurate predictions (R 2 =0.77) of hygroscopic growth for the California coast.


A cross-sectional and multicenter study was undertaken to analyze the clinical and immunological characteristics at diagnosis associated with nephritis in northwestern Colombian patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Thirty-nine patients with lupus nephritis were included and were compared to 100 SLE patients without nephritis. A multivariate analysis was performed. The patients who developed nephritis had a higher frequency of oral ulcers (41% vs. 21%, OR = 3.1, 95% CI: 1.3-7.5 p = 0.01) and malar erythema (77% vs. 45%, OR = 4.4, 95% CI: 1.8-10.8 p = 0.001). Lupus nephritis was observed in 77% of cases during the first year of the disease. The frequency of anti-DNA antibodies was higher in patients with nephritis, however, differences were not statistically significant (83% vs 64%, OR = 2.6, 95% CI: 1.03-6.41, p = 0.06). The presence of other autoantibodies (anti-Ro, anti-La, anti-RNP, anti-Sm and anticardiolipin) at diagnosis was similar in both groups. This autoantibody profile remained unchanged throughout the evolution of the disease. Patients with lupus nephritis had a higher prevalence of arterial hypertension (60% vs 10%, OR = 13.7, 95% IC: 5-37, p = 0.00001) and hyperlipidemia (30% vs 7%, OR = 8.1, 95% IC: 2.5-27, p = 0.0006) at onset. Finally, patients with lupus nephritis required more hospitalizations (> 1) over the course of disease (89% vs 60%, OR = 7.8, 95% CI: 2.1-29, p = 0.002). In conclusion, lupus nephritis appears early during the course of SLE. Malar erythema, oral ulcers, hypertension and hyperlipidemia at onset of disease are associated factors. Lupus nephritis is a major risk factor leading to repeated hospitalizations. This study may help to assist in public health policies in our population in order to improve patient outcomes while simultaneously reducing disease costs.


In this article, I hope to contribute to the ongoing debate on how our society treats the problem of discrimination. Many scholars have criticized the types of antidiscrimination statutes we have enacted as well as the ways in which the courts have interpreted those laws. While I agree with many of these critiques, rather than tackle those very large issues at the outset, I focus on the test the courts currently use to evaluate the evidence to determine whether an inference can be made that discrimination has occurred. I argue that lawyers and courts have become so caught up in this evidentiary test that the test has redefined what discrimination is. The new definition bears little relation to the statutory language of the antidiscrimination laws or to the ways in which discrimination operates in our society. Therefore, I argue, we should discard it in favor of a vastly more simple test that asks at summary judgment simply whether a rational factfinder would be required to find that the challenged employment decision was taken only for reasons unrelated to discrimination or discriminatory beliefs. I draw on civil rights history to trace the development of our legal approach, psychological research on cognitive bias to discuss how we discriminate, and traditional legal analysis to demonstrate how far afield we have gotten from the original principles. I hope that my analysis will contribute to a more straightforward approach to evaluating evidence in discrimination cases, which will make it easier for both plaintiffs and defendants to present their cases. Additionally, it will offer the parties an opportunity to present evidence and to argue about how discrimination should be defined. This opportunity would allow judges and members of the public to better understand the complex ways in which discrimination continues to operate in our society. It will also promote debate on a subject that has remained hidden because the evidentiary test does not address it. As long as that issue remains hidden in discrimination cases, judges and juries can employ their own definitions, which will forever escape public scrutiny.