This paper reviews the empirical evidence on the relationship between fertility and women's employment. In modern, industrialized societies there is generally a negative relationship between the two, but the causal direction is far from clear. No doubt, fertility exerts a negative influence on work-force participation, in the sense that a new-born baby has a dramatic and immediately inhibiting effect on work- force participation for the woman who has just become a mother. This effect tends, however, to be temporary and decreases as the child gets older. On the other hand, the effect of employment on fertility is a much more debated issue, and the author questions whether the presumed negative relationship really holds in most of contemporary Western Europe. The incompatibility of employment and motherhood would seem to have become seriously weakened in recent decades, through the growth of part-time work and the increasing availability of institutionalized child care. From a feminist perspective, it may be argued that the incompatibility of work and motherhood is mainly a consequence of existing gender structures in society and the ensuing power relations within marriage. Countries with modified gender structures would therefore seem to stand a better chance of achieving a birth rate near replacement level.


The study examines the experiences of contemporary older Czech men specifically in their role as grandfathers. Despite the great body of research devoted to the issues of grandparenthood, most attention, both locally and internationally, has been given to women and grandmotherhood. To overcome this shortcoming, we present findings based on eleven qualitative interviews conducted with men with diverse grandparenting experiences and performing various forms of caring practices. Grandparenting is a negotiated, relational, and highly gendered social role, which we explored in our research through our respondents' narratives focused on everydayness and memories of their own experience as a grandchild. Based on their self-reflective narratives we were able to describe the performative potential of grandparenting and define four types of activities through which grandfather roles take shape. On this basis we were also able to describe the spatio-temporal aspects of these practices, which proved to be crucial for understanding of gender issues of grandfatherhood. Although the narratives of the participants in our research reflect an active approach to fulfilling the grandparenting role, their caring practices are still predominantly structured in a gender-stereotyped way. In terms of theory, our research results build on and seek to contribute to one of the most influential theoretical models of grandfathers' involvement proposed by Bates and Taylor.


Americans have long believed that U.S. military officers--trained for high-stakes positions, resilience, and mental agility--make excellent CEOs. That belief is sound, but the authors' analysis of the performance of 45 companies led by CEOs with military experience revealed differences in how the branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps) prepare leaders for business. Those differences reflect the trade-off between flexibility and process that each branch of the armed services must make. Army and Marine Corps officers operate in an inherently uncertain environment. They define the mission but then give subordinates the flexibility to adjust to realities on the ground. This leadership experience tends to turn out business executives who excel in small firms, where they can set a goal and then empower others to work toward it. Navy and Air Force officers, who operate expensive, complex systems such as submarines and aircraft carriers, are trained to follow processes to the letter, because even small deviations can have large consequences. In corporations, these leaders excel in regulated industries and in firms that take a process approach to innovation. The larger lesson that the military can offer the business world is that fit matters. Different circumstances demand different leadership skills. Hire the person who fits the job.


A new technique has been proposed and demonstrated for measuring the pulse-timing fluctuations of mode-locked lasers at low Fourier frequencies. The time interval between the laser pulses is precisely measured by use of zero-dead-time counters referenced to a stable atomic oscillator. By combination of this method with the time-domain demodulation technique, the phase-noise power spectral density of a mode-locked Cr:LiSAF laser has been estimated for the 1-mHz-1-MHz Fourier frequency range, with a 240-dB dynamic range.


This Policy Brief is based on a case study conducted within Work Package 1 of the INEX project on the development of the Schengen Information System II (SIS II), as set out in the author's earlier working document, "The Difficult Road to the Schengen Information System II: The Legacy of 'Laboratories' and the Cost for Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law". The present paper synthesises the key findings from the case study and puts forward a set of policy recommendations for improving policy strategies in the development of large-scale IT systems in the EU's Area of Freedom Security and Justice (AFSJ).


Abstract This paper presents the first systematic investigation of the effect of epidemic shocks on civil violence. The identification exploits exogenous within cell × year variation in conditions that are suitable for malaria transmission using a panel database with month-by-month variation at a resolution of 1∘×1∘ latitude/longitude for Africa. Suitable conditions increase civil violence in areas with populations susceptible to epidemic outbreaks. The effect is immediate, related to the acute phase of the epidemic and largest during short harvesting seasons of subsistence crops. Genetic immunities and antimalaria policies attenuate the effect. The results deliver new insights for prevention and attenuation policies and for potential consequences of climate change.


Gender-assignment and -exponence changed dramatically from Old to Middle English.1 This paper provides insights on the mechanisms and chronology of this change by quantitatively analysing the annals 1129–1154 of the Peterborough Chronicle. A logistic regression reveals substantial effects of formal, semantic and extralinguistic parameters on gender reassignment. Lexical-to-referentialgender transition is largely a directed development in which correspondence of sex and gender plays a major role. At the same time, instances of random gender-reassignment occur and produce gendered noun-phrases incompatible with both the Old English (OE) as well as the Middle English (ME) system of gender-assignment. Pronouns adopt referential agreement before adnominals as a diachronic application of the Agreement Hierarchy (Corbett 1979) predicts.


Max-convolution is an important problem closely resembling standard convolution; as such, max-convolution occurs frequently across many fields. Here we extend the method with fastest known worst-case runtime, which can be applied to nonnegative vectors by numerically approximating the Chebyshev norm $\| \cdot \|_\infty$, and use this approach to derive two numerically stable methods based on the idea of computing $p$-norms via fast convolution: The first method proposed, with runtime in $O( k \log(k) \log(\log(k)) )$ (which is less than $18 k \log(k)$ for any vectors that can be practically realized), uses the $p$-norm as a direct approximation of the Chebyshev norm. The second approach proposed, with runtime in $O( k \log(k) )$ (although in practice both perform similarly), uses a novel null space projection method, which extracts information from a sequence of $p$-norms to estimate the maximum value in the vector (this is equivalent to querying a small number of moments from a distribution of bounded support in order to estimate the maximum). The $p$-norm approaches are compared to one another and are shown to compute an approximation of the Viterbi path in a hidden Markov model where the transition matrix is a Toeplitz matrix; the runtime of approximating the Viterbi path is thus reduced from $O( n k^2 )$ steps to $O( n $k \log(k))$ steps in practice, and is demonstrated by inferring the U.S. unemployment rate from the S&P 500 stock index.


This article presents a qualitative study demonstrating how teachers who are non-native speakers (NNS) of the target language and who have learned the target language in a similar environment as their students can use their past learning experiences as pedagogical tools in their classes. An analysis of transcripts from classrooms with NNS and native speaking (NS) instructors determines that NNS instructors who share the same first language (L1) as their students have a keen ability to identify the learning processes of the students. Additionally, while NS teachers recognize difficult grammatical features in the target language with which students are likely to struggle, they are understandably unable to offer personal strategies for how they learned the target language. Furthermore, the results suggest that NNS teachers readily include themselves in the same speech and cultural community as their students, while NS instructors exclude the students when referencing themselves and other native speakers of the target language.


It has been shown, that smoking results in a lower yield of surfactant associated phospholipids in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). Indirect evidence suggests impaired secretion. In the present study, we investigated the influence of cigarette smoke on surfactant secretion in cultured rat alveolar type II cells. Smoke exposure was achieved by bubbling the smoke of four cigarettes through Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) which was adjusted to a reference absorption value of 1.36 at 320 nm. Cells were preincubated with various dilutions of cigarette smoke-treated medium for 30 min, and were then exposed to this medium for 2 h. After this time, secretion of 3H-choline-labelled phosphatidylcholine (PC) was measured as a marker of surfactant secretion. A 10 fold dilution of cigarette smoke-treated medium inhibited PC secretion stimulated by a combination of terbutaline, adenosine triphosphate and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate by over 50%, but did not alter basal secretion. Exposure to less concentrated cigarette smoke-treated medium resulted in less inhibition. Cellular injury was not observed with the concentrations of cigarette smoke-treated medium used in this study. The gas phase of cigarette smoke was not inhibitory at comparable concentrations. Longer exposure to cigarette smoke-treated medium resulted in increased inhibition of PC secretion. The cigarette smoke ingredients, nicotine and benzo[a]pyrene, failed to inhibit PC secretion. Secretion of type II cells exposed to cigarette smoke-treated medium at lower temperatures was not affected. Addition of antioxidants to medium and cells during the preincubation and secretion period did not alter cigarette smoke-treated medium-induced inhibition of stimulated PC secretion. These results demonstrate a direct inhibitory effect of cigarette smoke constituents on surfactant secretion in type II cells. Inhibition is mediated by compounds contained predominantly in the particulate phase of cigarette smoke. Inactivation of the inhibitory effect by lower temperatures suggests involvement of processes such as enzymatic bioactivation or active transport mechanisms.


ABSTRACT Al-Multaqa Village, located in the province of Al-Amerat, Sultanate of Oman, has experienced a serious situation with odors. Residents of the village have complained about strong odors at night and in early morning for the past two years. Four potentially odor-emitting facilities are located near the village: the SITA & Al-Bashaer Environment (Suez Environment) landfill and leachate pond, Haya's biosolids composting plant, and Be'ah's medical waste treatment facility. This study concentrates on investigating and clarifying which of these facilities is the key contributor to the odor issue in the Al-Multaqa region. The CALPUFF Modeling System was used to model and simulate the dispersion of odors throughout the year. The odor emissions from Be'ah's medical waste treatment plant were below the complaint threshold; therefore, the facility was found not to be a major source of odor. For the three remaining facilities, CALPUFF simulation results revealed that they were major contributors to the odor issue at Al-Multaqa as all three facilities violated the complaint threshold of 5 odor units (OU). Of the four facilities, the landfill was responsible for the greatest contribution. The leachate pond and the composting plant contributed almost equally under peak conditions on most of the modeling days set in this study. It was determined that measures must be taken in order to solve the odor issue and prevent future incidents in the region.


Today's internet is shaped largely by privately operated platforms of various kinds. This paper asks how the various commercially operated communication, market, consumption and service platforms can be grasped as a distinct organizational form of enterprise. To this end, we make a basic distinction between (1) the platform-operating companies as organizing and structuring cores whose goal is to run a profitable business, and (2) the platforms belonging to these companies as more or less extensive, rule-based and strongly technically mediated social action spaces. While platform companies are essentially organizations in an almost archetypical sense, the internet platforms they operate constitute socio-technically structured social, market, consumption or service spaces in which social actors interact on the basis of detailed and technically framed rules, albeit, at the same time, in a varied and idiosyncratic manner. The thesis of this paper is that the coordination, control and exploitation mechanisms characteristic of the platform architectures are characterized by a strong hierarchical orientation in which elements of co-optation and the orchestrated participation of users are embedded. In this hybrid constellation, the platform companies have a high degree of structure-giving, rulesetting and controlling power—in addition to exclusive access to the raw data material generated there. While this power may manifest, at times, as rigid control, direct coercion or enforceable accountability, for the majority of rule-obeying users it unfolds nearly imperceptibly and largely silently beneath the surface of a (supposed) openness that likewise characterizes the platforms as technically mediated spaces for social and economic exchange.


Bacterial microbiomes of incredible complexity are found throughout the world, from exotic marine locations to the soil in our yards to within our very guts. With recent advances in Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies, we have vastly greater quantities of microbial genome data, but the nature of environmental samples is such that DNA from different species are mixed together. Here, we present Opal for metagenomic binning, the task of identifying the origin species of DNA sequencing reads. Our Opal method introduces low-density, even-coverage hashing to bioinformatics applications, enabling quick and accurate metagenomic binning. Our tool is up to two orders of magnitude faster than leading alignment-based methods at similar or improved accuracy, allowing computational tractability on large metagenomic datasets. Moreover, on public benchmarks, Opal is substantially more accurate than both alignment-based and alignment-free methods (e.g. on SimHC20.500, Opal achieves 95% F1-score while Kraken and CLARK achieve just 91% and 88%, respectively); this improvement is likely due to the fact that the latter methods cannot handle computationally-costly long-range dependencies, which our even-coverage, low-density fingerprints resolve. Notably, capturing these long-range dependencies drastically improves Opal's ability to detect unknown species that share a genus or phylum with known bacteria. Additionally, the family of hash functions Opal uses can be generalized to other sequence analysis tasks that rely on k-mer based methods to encode long-range dependencies.


Introduction. Part I: Fundamentals of Pool. Chapter 1: Arriving at the Pool Party. Chapter 2: Getting Down: Building a Solid Stance. Chapter 3: Handling the Cue. Chapter 4: On Target: The Science and Feel of Aiming. Chapter 5: Hit It: Creating a Solid Stroke. Chapter 6: Playing Nice: The Etiquette of the Game. Part II: Controlling the Cue Ball. Chapter 7: Getting Control and Stopping the Cue Ball. Chapter 8: Aim High: Incorporating Follow. Chapter 9: Using Draw: Putting Backspin on the Cue Ball. Chapter 10: The English Effect: Using Sidespin on the CueBall. Part III: Taking Your Shots. Chapter 11: Opening Shots: The Rack and the Break. Chapter 12: Thinking Ahead: Position and Pattern Play. Chapter 13: Shot-making: Tackling the Most FrequentSituations. Chapter 14: Eying Combinations: Making Shots with MultipleBalls. Chapter 15: Billiards and Caroms: Finding New Ways to PocketBalls. Chapter 16: Banks and Kicks: Making the Most of the Rails. Chapter 17: Thinking Defensively: Playing Safe. Part IV: The Games You ll Play. Chapter 18: The Magic of 8-Ball. Chapter 19: 9-Ball: The Hustler s Game. Chapter 20: Pool s Many Other Games. Part V: Gearing Up. Chapter 21: Equipment Check: Looking for Quality Tools. Chapter 22: Pool Is Mental: Winning the Head Games. Chapter 23: Drilling It Home: Practice Techniques. Part VI: The Part of Tens. Chapter 24: Mastering Ten Trick Shots. Chapter 25: Overcoming Ten or So Common Problems. Index.


In this paper we present the design of an optical resonator that produces as the stable transverse mode a flattened Gaussian laser beam by making use of an intra-cavity diffractive mirror. We consider the modal build-up in such a resonator and propose the required dynamic changes to an intra-cavity piezoelectric unimorph mirror for selecting the flattened Gaussian beam order of the stable mode. The feasibility of using a deformable diffractive mirror is demonstrated numerically. An optimization approach is employed to determine the optimal voltage distribution required to deform the mirror into a prescribed shape for the selection of the flattened Gaussian beam order. Good agreement between an ideal static diffractive mirror and the proposed adaptive mirror is achieved.


In the absence of calcium, the penetration of sucrose and viannitol into the rat lens is increased, while that of inulin remains unchanged. The extracellular space of the lens, estimated with inulin, is 6 per cent of the wet iveight of the lens. The active accumulation of potassium and rubidium is 65 per cent of normal in the absence of calcium, while the uptake of a-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) is only 20 per cent of normal. The loss of rubidium from the lens in the absence of calcium is considerably greater than that of AIB. The increased permeability of the lens shown with rubidium is sufficient to account for the change in concentration of potassium and sodium which takes place when the lens is incubated in calciumdeficient media. Sodium penetration into the lens is also calcium dependent, with the sodium Sjjace nearly equal to that of the lens water, in the absence of calcium.


There has been problem of shortage of qualified teachers and poor quality performance in the teaching of art education in primary schools in Kenya, due to diverse introduction of curriculum. Ministerial adoption of new policies on teaching art education in PTCs sought to alleviate the teacher shortage and subsequently improve on teaching of art education in PTCs. The policies which were designed were
on; student enrolments to PTCs, structural duration, admission criteria, coverage of syllabus, mode of assessment, qualification of staff and in-service training attendance. The researcher found it necessary to focus this study and find out whether and what gaps or discrepancies existed in working relationships between stated policies designed to guide PTCs in preparation of teachers of art education in primary schools
in Kenya. The study sought to fulfil five main objectives namely:- to find out whether or not PTCs were implementing government policies of art education in PTCs, how to solve the problem of shortage of teachers trained to teach art education in primary schools, the implications of implementing the stated government policies on art education in PTCs for solution of the problem of shortage of teachers qualified to teach art education in primary schools, the solution of poor quality teaching of art
education in primary schools and the strategies, based on this study, that could be used as recommendations for planned implementation of government policies on art education in PTE programmes in Kenya. Two categories of literature were reviewed regarding; specification of the context of art education in PTE programme- a quasi-historical analytical survey of post 1990 policies and logical predictions – Anticipated outcome from adopted government policies. Literature
review indicated that art education subject was neglected and underfunded. More seriously, according to Phase Two Summative Evaluation report by the Kenya Institute of Education, the subject is neither taught nor examined in KCPE, also materials for
practical work is provided by KIE, by implication, the government policies were not being implemented. The target population of the study was Inspectors of art education, Dean of art education, Coordinators of art education, Tutors of art education and 2nd year students of art education, while the location of the study was PTCs in Kenya,
both private and government sponsored. The data was collected through the questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs) and observation guide. These instruments had been pre-tested with members of the target population and were approved as valid before being administered in the field. The collective case study was found to be suitable for the study since it was going to help the researcher to
examine discreetly how designed government policies on art education were being implemented in sampled PTCs in Kenya. According to the findings of the study, government policies designed to guide the PTCs in improving the quality of teaching and shortage of teachers of art education in primary school in Kenya were not being implemented. Drawing from its findings, the study recommended that; the government, through the MoE ought to reinstate back the subject to be examined by KNEC at the primary school level, the training period in PTCs to be increased to 3 years or reduce the syllabus, basic facilities, materials and equipment in art studios ought to be available and be improved in PTCs in Kenya, Tutors teaching art education should meet the qualification requirement as specified by government policy and finally, regular in-service training for tutors teaching art education was important since it updates their knowledge in the new technique and materials in subject area.


This article examines how the standard of review affects decisions by Delaware courts on motions to dismiss in conflict of interest transactions, focusing on decisions since Weinberger. The standard of review at the motion to dismiss stage significantly affects the likelihood of success. Part I discusses the differences between a third-party merger transaction and a self-interested merger transaction. Part II discusses the standard of review for a motion to dismiss under Delaware law. Part III is an evaluation of third-party and self-dealing transactions, which determines that motions to dismiss will likely succeed in third-party transactions because the business judgment rule applies and that motions to dismiss self-dealing transactions will likely be denied because entire fairness applies. Part IV discusses the case law since Weinberger and concludes that the availability of appraisal will not necessarily eliminate the defendant's burden of proving entire fairness in a cash-out merger, the standard of review depends upon whether the complaint pleads interested transactions not approved by disinterested and independent directors and shareholders, a motion to dismiss likely will succeed absent well-pleaded allegations that board members are not disinterested and independent, uncoerced stockholder approval on full disclosure provides grounds for dismissal, and a controlling stockholder who bargains and receives the same treatment in a cash-out merge as a minority stockholder may still be required to demonstrate entire fairness. In Part V the author argues that the interest of corporations and their shareholders are best served by boards whose members include well-motivated, disinterested and independent directors who accept responsibility for recommending or approving transactions with interested directors or controlling shareholders. This article examines how the standard of review affects decisions by Delaware courts on motions to dismiss in conflict of interest transactions; however, it is not intended to be exhaustive. The summary focuses on cases decided since the seminal case of Weinberger v. UOP, Inc.


Amitriptyline and nortriptyline are widely used tricyclic antidepressant drugs. They have been detected in wastewater, surface runoff, and effluents from sewage treatment plants. As such, they could potentially reach agriculture land through the application of municipal biosolids or reclaimed water. In the absence of data on their fate in the environment, the persistence and dissipation pathways of radiolabeled amitriptyline were determined in three agriculture soils varying widely in texture and chemical properties (loam soil, clay loam soil, and sandy loam soil). Tritiated amitriptyline was added to laboratory microcosms containing soils, and the metabolism of the extractable 3H was monitored during incubation at 30°C. The total solvent extractable radioactivity decreased in all three soils with times to dissipate 50% of material (DT50) ranging from 34.1 ± 3.2 (loam soil) to 85.3 ± 3.2 d (sandy soil). Nortriptyline (N‐desmethyl amitriptyline) and amitriptyline‐N‐oxide were identified as major transformation products in all three soils by high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detector and time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (HPLC‐TOF‐MS/UV). The addition of liquid municipal biosolids to the loam soil had no effect on the dissipation of amitriptyline. The persistence of nortriptyline was evaluated in the loam soil. The DT50 of nortriptyline was 40.5 ± 3.2 d estimated with HPLC‐TOF‐MS/UV. Approximately 10% of added nortriptyline was converted to hydroxylated products after 50 d of incubation. In summary, amitriptyline persisted in agricultural soils with major dissipation mechanisms, including forming nonextractable residues and producing various transformation products including the psychoactive drug nortriptyline. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2013;32:509–516. © 2012 SETAC


Information and knowledge are strategic assets, processed to attain objectives, perform
actions and make decisions. However, technological innovations can change the format of information
and often result in more complicated project information or knowledge management tools whilst this
can provide information to an individual more easily and quickly. Current systems have little or no
regard for the value of the information they contain. As projects draw to a close, some organisations
are now asking what information is worth retaining and how might it be reused. This paper addresses
the problems of information overload and value in the construction industry. Exploratory studies
compared two major consultants in the UK from three perspectives (business, project management
and document management). Major challenges in the current information evaluation practice in the
industry were identified. Information overload does exist in the industry and is getting worse because
of the heavy but often inappropriate use of search and collaborative technologies. Loss of high value
information due to staff leaving is a major problem, but the companies are reluctant to evaluate
recorded information (before or after storage) for future retrieval. From the strategic point of view,
there is a lack of information evaluation tools that quantify the benefits and costs of performing
information evaluation activities and the effects on storage. Based on these findings, a through-life
Information Evaluation Methodology (IEM) has been proposed to allow high value information to be
easily retrievable in the future in order to support through-life knowledge and information management
(KIM) practice.


In a recent article, Professor Orin Kerr examines three approaches courts have taken in determining the consequences of privacy legislation for interpreting the Fourth Amendment. Some courts have used an "influence" model, drawing on legislative wisdom to delineate the contours of Fourth Amendment protection. Other courts have used a "displacement" approach; those courts rely on the existence of privacy legislation as a basis for denying constitutional protection, thus preserving the institutional advantages of regulating searches and seizures through thoughtful statutory directives over the blunt instrument of the Fourth Amendment. Finally, courts have sometimes used an "independence" model, asserting that privacy legislation is irrelevant to Fourth Amendment analysis. Professor Kerr argues that privacy legislation provides a poor indication of the societal values that should arguably inform Fourth Amendment interpretation, that implementation of an influence or displacement approach would entail considerable logistical difficulty, and that the influence and displacement models incentivize legislative and executive gamesmanship that would compromise the benefits of having a dual regime of constitutional and statutory regulation of government searches and seizures. Consequently, he favors the independence model. Professor Kerr raises critical issues that any advocate of influence or displacement must address. Nonetheless, I believe he underestimates the benefits and overestimates the costs of using privacy legislation as a guide to Fourth Amendment protection, particularly under a soft influence model that would rely only on a constellation of statutes reflecting broad national consensus, and only with regard to the question of whether government conduct constitutes a Fourth Amendment search. Courts can use such a model effectively to gauge societal values of constitutional significance. The model would also be consistent with Supreme Court precedent in the Fourth Amendment context and with its approach in other areas of constitutional law. Finally, this model would be unlikely to distort the legislative process. In this essay, I argue that courts should implement such a model to forge a more principled, predictable Fourth Amendment jurisprudence.


Objective To develop a novel prognostic indicator for use in patients with advanced cancer that is significantly better than clinicians' estimates of survival. Design Prospective multicentre observational cohort study. Setting 18 palliative care services in the UK (including hospices, hospital support teams, and community teams). Participants 1018 patients with locally advanced or metastatic cancer, no longer being treated for cancer, and recently referred to palliative care services. Main outcome measures Performance of a composite model to predict whether patients were likely to survive for "days" (0-13 days), "weeks" (14-55 days), or "months+" (>55 days), compared with actual survival and clinicians' predictions. Results On multivariate analysis, 11 core variables (pulse rate, general health status, mental test score, performance status, presence of anorexia, presence of any site of metastatic disease, presence of liver metastases, C reactive protein, white blood count, platelet count, and urea) independently predicted both two week and two month survival. Four variables had prognostic significance only for two week survival (dyspnoea, dysphagia, bone metastases, and alanine transaminase), and eight variables had prognostic significance only for two month survival (primary breast cancer, male genital cancer, tiredness, loss of weight, lymphocyte count, neutrophil count, alkaline phosphatase, and albumin). Separate prognostic models were created for patients without (PiPS-A) or with (PiPS-B) blood results. The area under the curve for all models varied between 0.79 and 0.86. Absolute agreement between actual survival and PiPS predictions was 57.3% (after correction for over-optimism). The median survival across the PiPS-A categories was 5, 33, and 92 days and survival across PiPS-B categories was 7, 32, and 100.5 days. All models performed as well as, or better than, clinicians' estimates of survival. Conclusions In patients with advanced cancer no longer being treated, a combination of clinical and laboratory variables can reliably predict two week and two month survival.


Aims To investigate the role played by amniotic fluid in late fetal nutrition by analysis of infants born with digestive tract atresia. Methods Birth weight (BW), gestational age and gender of infants born with oesophageal (OA), duodenal (DA), jejunal (JA) and ileal atresia (IA) were recorded and BW Z-scores compared. Infants with incomplete obstruction (stenosis), chromosomal or syndromic conditions and multiple congenital malformations were excluded. Term infants admitted with suspected postnatal intestinal obstruction in whom no congenital malformation was found were used as a control group. Results A total of 584 infants were identified comprising 148 OA, 60 DA, 26 JA and 57 IA with 293 in the control group. Infants with OA and DA had statistically significantly lower BW Z-score than controls. However, BW Z-score for infants with more distal atresia (JA and IA) was similar to controls. When compared with infants with OA, BW Z-score for infants with more distal atresia was higher than that for OA. BW Z-score in infants with OA was significantly lower in those born at term compared with those born preterm (mean±SD −0.92±1.0 vs −0.48±0.87; p=0.01) with a significant negative correlation between BW Z-score and increasing gestational age (R2=0.12; p<0.0001). This effect of gestational age was not seen in other atresias. Conclusion These observations support the concept that reduced enteral absorption of amniotic fluid due to high digestive tract obstruction in utero reduces fetal growth. The effect is greater when the obstruction is more proximal and with advancing gestation.


"The Aztec World" is an illustrated survey of the Aztecs based on insightful research by a team of international experts from the United States and Mexico. In addition to traditional subjects like cosmology, religion, human sacrifice and political history, this book covers such contemporary concerns as the environment and agriculture, health and disease, women and social status and urbanism. It also discusses the effects of European conquests on Aztec culture and society, in addition to offering modern perspectives on their civilization.The text is accompanied by colourful illustrations and photos of artefacts from the best collections in Mexico, including those of the Templo Mayor Museum and the National Museum of Anthropology, both in Mexico City, as well as pieces from archaeological sites and virtual reconstructions of lost artwork.


Abstract Introduction Procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker used in the diagnosis and management of bacterial infection and sepsis. The BRAHMS Kryptor ® PCT assay was the first automated assay on the market and was cleared by the FDA in 2008. Siemens and Roche Healthcare diagnostics have partnered with BRAHMS, and their automated PCT assays are now available in South Africa. Aim and Methods The aim of this study was to compare different aspects of the Siemens ADVIA Centaur® PCT and Roche Elecsys ® PCT assays with the existing BRAHMS Kryptor ® PCT assay and to evaluate the analytical performance of the three different methods. Results and Conclusion Although the three PCT assays differ in sample volume required, measuring range, dilution capacity and analysis time, the two new PCT methods from Siemens and Roche correlate well with the existing Kryptor PCT method.


This study examines the relation between corporate social performance and stock returns in the UK. We closely evaluate the interactions between social and financial performance with a set of disaggregated social performance indicators for environment, employment, and community activities instead of using an aggregate measure. While scores on a composite social performance indicator are negatively related to stock returns, we find the poor financial reward offered by such firms is attributable to their good social performance on the environment and, to a lesser extent, the community aspects. Considerable abnormal returns are available from holding a portfolio of the socially least desirable stocks. These relationships between social and financial performance can be rationalized by multi-factor models for explaining the cross-sectional variation in returns, but not by industry effects.


This article develops an understanding of human rights courts as 'norm brokers'. We regard 'norm-brokering' as an exegetic method of judicial reasoning, ultimately concerned with reason-giving and the quality of justification. It entails robust engagement with alternative norms raised in the course of human rights adjudication. Norm-brokering thus involves much more than the mere cataloguing of alternative norms—and, at a minimum, a methodical approach to the question of normative harmonization. We suggest that the process of norm-brokering contributes to 'public reason' by enhancing the intelligibility of judgments. This, in turn, helps confound legitimacy-based critiques of human rights courts. The argument is supported by an analysis of 10 years' worth of European Court of Human Rights judgments, focusing on the ways in which norms from the Inter-American human rights system are relied upon (or not) by the Strasbourg Court.


A common genetic variant near MBOAT7 (rs641738C>T) has been previously associated with hepatic fat and advanced histology in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), however, these findings have not been consistently replicated in the literature. We aimed to establish whether rs641738C>T is a risk factor across the spectrum of NAFLD and characterize its role in the regulation of related metabolic phenotypes through meta-analysis.We performed meta-analysis of studies with data on the association between rs641738C>T genotype and: liver fat, NAFLD histology, and serum ALT, lipids, or insulin. These included directly genotyped studies and population-level data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). We performed random effects meta-analysis using recessive, additive, and dominant genetic models.Data from 1,047,265 participants (8,303 with liver biopsies) across 42 studies was included in the meta-analysis. rs641738C>T was associated with higher liver fat on CT/MRI (+0.03 standard deviations [95% CI: 0.02 - 0.05]) and diagnosis of NAFLD (OR 1.22 [95% CI 1.08 - 1.39]) in Caucasian adults. The variant was also positively associated with presence of severe steatosis, NASH, and advanced fibrosis (OR: 1.32 [95% CI: 1.06 - 1.63]) in Caucasian adults using a recessive model of inheritance (CC+CT vs. TT). Meta-analysis of data from previous GWAS found the variant to be associated with higher ALT (Pz=0.002) and lower serum triglycerides (Pz=1.5×10−4). rs641738C>T was not associated with fasting insulin and no effect was observed in children with NAFLD.Our study validates rs641738C>T near MBOAT7 as a risk factor for the presence and severity of NAFLD in individuals of European descent.


Analysing the structures of solution plans generated by
AI Planning engines is helpful in improving the generative
planning process, as well as shedding light in
the study of its theoretical foundations.We investigate a
specific property of solution plans, that we called linearity,
which refers to a situation where each action
achieves an atom (or atoms) for a directly following action,
or achieves goal atom(s). Similarly, linearity can
be defined for parallel plans where each action in a
set of actions executed at some time step, achieves either
goal atom(s) or atom(s) for some action executed
in the directly following time step. In this paper, we
present a general and problem-independent theoretical
framework focusing on the analysis of planning operator
schema, namely relations of achiever, clobberer and
independence, in order to determine whether solvable
planning problems using a given operator schema have
as solutions optimal (parallel) plans which are linear.
The findings presented in this paper deepen current theoretical
knowledge, provide helpful information to engineers
of new planning domain models, and suggest
new ways of improving the performance of state-of-theart
(optimal) planning engines.


Mindfulness-based research in sport has focused on athletes, while coaches remain unexplored. Research consistently shows that coaches experience high stress, which can lead to burnout, reduced performance, and emotional mismanagement. The present study developed and explored Mindfulness Training for Coaches (MTC), which is aimed at increasing mindfulness and emotional stability while reducing anxiety. Participants were 20 Division I coaches. The mixed-method design included trait and state measures of anxiety, mindfulness, and emotion, along with qualitative semistructured interviews. Trained coaches reported significantly less anxiety and greater emotional stability from pre- to posttraining. The state measures showed trained coaches were lower in anxiety and adverse emotions at each time point. Interviews showed six distinct positive impacts on coaches: anxiety and stress; emotions; mindfulness; coaching; athletes; and personal life. MTC is a promising intervention for coaches to reduce stress, improve...


Tuberculosis is a peculiar infectious disease because of the latent period between the infection and the appearance of the disease which may be prolonged for many weeks , months or years as it is in case of the secondary tuberculosis. Extra pulmonary tuberculosis gained new importance, because it represented a progressively greater proportion of new cases. Multiple extra pulmonary sites were reported rarely except for one anatomical site, which was reported frequently. A 20 yrs old boy was admitted at Dhaka National Medical Institute Hospital with pain at back, buttock and thigh with a swelling at the anterior aspect of upper part of left thigh. He was diagnosed as a case of tuberculosis of spine (D12 and L1) with psoas abscess with tuberculosis of hip joint (lt) and an enquiry and investigation found to have pulmonary TB as well. So this rare involvement of multiple tuberculosis is presented here. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jdnmch.v18i2.16026 J. Dhaka National Med. Coll. Hos. 2012; 18 (02): 61-63


This study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of different levels of mung bean flour as meat substitute on the sensory quality of burger patties, determine the physicochemical properties, and compare production costs of burger patties containing varying levels ofmung bean flour. The mung bean flour was prepared by drying and grinding the mung bean seeds. Five levels (10, 20, 30, 40, 50%) of mung bean was used as replacement for lean meat in the formulation with 0% mung bean flour used as control. The physicochemical composition of the patties was determined. The sensory attributes were evaluated by thirty semi—trained panelists. Data on physicochemical characteristics were analyzed by one—way analysis of variance (ANOVA) while quality description of the sensory attributes were evaluated in combination with the 9-Point Hedonic Scale and the mean acceptability ratings were analyzed using Friedman Test.
Thirty percent mung bean flour substitute is possible to the production of burger patty without significant effect on the sensory attributes, and the burger patty is comparable to the all—meat control. However, proximate composition in terms of crude protein and fat/ether extract contents were comparable to the control only up to 20% level of mung bean powder substitution. Thickness expansion was greatest at 20% substitution, but diameter shrinkage and cooking loss were minimal at 30% and even up to 50% substitution, consequently increasing the cooking yield. Production costs decreased with increasing substitution level of mung bean flour in the formulation. Across all parameters, the optimum level of mung bean flour appears to be at 30% substitution of meat in the burger patty.


Psychosocial Status Equality between Familial and Non‐Familial Breast Cancer Patients Response, Emotional Impact and Expectation of Family Caregiver in Caring For Family Member with Covid‐19: A Qualitative Study


Titanium-based ceramic supports designed for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells were synthesized, and catalytic activity was explored using electrochemical analysis. Synthesis of high surface area TiO_2 and TiO supports was accomplished by rapidly heating a gel of polyethyleneimine-bound titanium in a tube furnace under a forming gas atmosphere. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed anatase phase formation for the TiO_2 materials and crystallite sizes of less than 10 nm in both cases. Subsequent disposition of platinum through an incipient wetness approach leads to highly dispersed crystallites of platinum, less than 6 nm each, on the conductive supports. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)/energy dispersive x-ray analysis results showed a highly uniform Ti and Pt distribution on the surface of both materials. The supports without platinum are highly stable to acidic aqueous conditions and show no signs of oxygen reduction reactivity (ORR). However, once the 20 wt% platinum is added to the material, ORR activity comparable to XC-72-based materials is observed.


OBJECTIVE
Bone marrow oedema (BMO) and HLA-B27 are poor prognostic factors in axial SpA, and psoriasis is a poor prognostic factor in small-joint polyarthropathy. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of HLA-B27, MRI BMO and psoriasis on long-term outcomes in early SpA-related knee joint oligoarthritis.

METHODS
Patients with SpA-related oligoarthritis with knee involvement were recruited. Baseline assessment included ESSG criteria, RF, HLA-B27 and MRI. The degree of MRI BMO was determined on fat-suppression sequences and scored using the whole-organ magnetic resonance imaging score (WORMS) (range 0-45). Patients were treated at the discretion of their rheumatologist and followed up for 10 years. Outcome assessments included joint counts, functional and symptomatic questionnaire, CRP and radiographic assessment for OA.

RESULTS
Forty-four patients were recruited [mean age 32 years (range 15-59 years), 70% male] with a mean disease duration at baseline of 9.75 months (1-48 months). Twenty-six (59%) patients (mean age 43 years, 65% male) returned for follow-up after a mean of 10 years (range 8.4-12.6 years). Ten (38%) patients had persistent clinical synovitis and 31% of knees had secondary radiographic OA. Global outcome was poor/very poor in 69% of cases. The only factor predicting outcome at 10 years was psoriasis, but neither HLA-B27 nor BMO. PsA patients had significantly worse global outcome compared with ReA (P = 0.036), and significantly worse symptomatic (P = 0.001) and functional (P = 0.001) outcome compared with other subtypes.

CONCLUSION
SpA-related knee joint oligoarthritis has significant long-term clinical and radiological morbidity despite standard treatments. HLA-B27 and MRI BMO were not predictors of poor outcome as they are in axial SpA; however, the presence of psoriasis predicted significantly worse outcome.


Historically, high-performance computing has focused on solving tightly coupled computations with high efficiency. This task-oriented perspective is being supplemented more recently by a data-oriented perspective. The cloud computing paradigm leverages the ability to provision computational resources elastically to address data-oriented use cases in machine learning, optimization, and other similar areas. Often, these use cases involve streaming data from sources such as distributed sensor networks or Internet of Things devices that require increasingly sophisticated techniques for ensuring that data is processed in a timely manner. To that end, data has objective value and often may have time-value, and these notions of value represent constraints that must be addressed. As the field of high-performance computing receives more influence from data-oriented use cases, resource management techniques used in supercomputing must adapt to managing resources in relation to new constraints such as the time-value of data while remaining aligned with traditional constraints related to managing resources such as nodes, processors, and I/O. This talk will discuss techniques for effectively managing these constraints in high-performance computing and cloud computing environments.


This book gives a mathematical treatment of the introduction to qualitative differential equations and discrete dynamical systems. The treatment includes theoretical proofs, methods of calculation, and applications. The two parts of the book, continuous time of differential equations and discrete time of dynamical systems, can be covered independently in one semester each or combined together into a year long course. The material on differential equations introduces the qualitative or geometric approach through a treatment of linear systems in any dimensions. There follows chapters where equilibria are the most important feature, where scalar (energy) functions is the principal tool, where periodic orbits appear, and finally chaotic systems of differential equations. The many different approaches are systematically introduced through examples and theorems. The material on discrete dynamical systems starts with maps of one variable and proceeds to systems in higher dimensions. The treatment starts with examples where the periodic points can be found explicitly and then introduces symbolic dynamics to analyze where they can be shown to exist but not given in explicit form. Chaotic systems are presented both mathematically and more computationally using Lyapunov exponents. With the one-dimensional maps as models, the multidimensional maps cover the same material in higher dimensions. This higher dimensional material is less computational and more conceptual and theoretical. The final chapter on fractals introduces various dimensions which is another computational tool for measuring the complexity of a system. It also treats iterated function systems which give examples of complicated sets. In the second edition of the book, much of the material has been rewritten to clarify the presentation. Also, some new material has been included in both parts of the book. This book can be used as a textbook for an advanced undergraduate course on ordinary differential equations and/or dynamical systems. Prerequisites are standard courses in calculus (single variable and multivariable), linear algebra, and introductory differential equations.


The Australian National University has been teaching Sanskrit using a successful web-based model of content delivery since 2006. As the programme grew in sophistication and complexity, and as technology as evolved, five problems emerged: students expected greater mobility, the instructor needed stability of resources, demand for improved multimedia support grew, bandwidth was constraining content delivery, and there is a growing perception that course materials should be in the public domain. In response to these problems, the entire content of the first-year Sanskrit curriculum, incorporating over 1400 text, image, audio and video files, was shifted from a web-based learning management system to an electronic textbook in ePub format using Zipptek's Legend Marker. Copies of the eText were preloaded onto iPads which were distributed to over 20 students worldwide. In addition to solving the five problems such as mobility, stability, multimedia, bandwidth and openness, the eText has resulted in very high levels of student acceptance and may lead to higher retention rates and improved learning outcomes.


Two new junior synonyms, Pseudomesitius Duchaussoy, 1916 syn. nov. and Triglenus Marshall, 1905 syn. nov., for the genus Bradepyris Kieffer, 1905 are proposed and a new diagnosis for the genus is given. Two new species (based on males) from the Saharo-Arabian region are here described: Bradepyris jordanicus , sp. nov. and B. baleariensis , sp. nov. A brief revision, with a key to the males and females of all species of this genus, and the first male genitalia descriptions are also provided.


A recent innovation in assessment of climate change impact on agricultural production has been to use crop multimodel ensembles (MMEs). These studies usually find large variability between individual models but that the ensemble mean (e‐mean) and median (e‐median) often seem to predict quite well. However, few studies have specifically been concerned with the predictive quality of those ensemble predictors. We ask what is the predictive quality of e‐mean and e‐median, and how does that depend on the ensemble characteristics. Our empirical results are based on five MME studies applied to wheat, using different data sets but the same 25 crop models. We show that the ensemble predictors have quite high skill and are better than most and sometimes all individual models for most groups of environments and most response variables. Mean squared error of e‐mean decreases monotonically with the size of the ensemble if models are added at random, but has a minimum at usually 2–6 models if best‐fit models are added first. Our theoretical results describe the ensemble using four parameters: average bias, model effect variance, environment effect variance, and interaction variance. We show analytically that mean squared error of prediction (MSEP) of e‐mean will always be smaller than MSEP averaged over models and will be less than MSEP of the best model if squared bias is less than the interaction variance. If models are added to the ensemble at random, MSEP of e‐mean will decrease as the inverse of ensemble size, with a minimum equal to squared bias plus interaction variance. This minimum value is not necessarily small, and so it is important to evaluate the predictive quality of e‐mean for each target population of environments. These results provide new information on the advantages of ensemble predictors, but also show their limitations.


We introduce a new experimental study on nerve excitability, when surface electrodes stimulate the upper arm in rehabilitative protocols. Nerve excitability is usually described by means of the strength-duration curve, i.e. the stimulation current amplitude versus the pulse duration for threshold activation. With the final aim of designing and validating a nerve model, in the present contribution an extensive experimental session is conducted to investigate how the nerve excitability is influenced by gender, subcutaneous fat layer thickness and FES parameters. Different experiments are conducted and the most appropriate curve-fitting equation for the data is identified. Beside the nerve model validation, the proposed approach can be used for automatic setting of stimulation parameters in FES-based rehabilitation treatments.


Although the Information Age has many upsides, one of its major downsides is information overload. Indeed, the amount of information easily pushes the limit of what people can manage. This conflict drives research to seek a solution to humanity's information woes. As computers have shrunk from room size to palm size, so they have also moved from being passive accessories, such as laptops and personal digital assistants, to wearable appliances that form an integral part of our personal space. Wearable computers are always on and accessible. As the computer moves from desktop to coat pocket to the human body, its ability to help manage, sort, and filter information will become more intimately connected to our daily lives. The paper discusses the principles of wearable computers.


Gram-negative binding protein 3 (GNBP3), a pattern recognition receptor that circulates in the hemolymph of Drosophila, is responsible for sensing fungal infection and triggering Toll pathway activation. Here, we report that GNBP3 N-terminal domain binds to fungi upon identifying long chains of β-1,3-glucans in the fungal cell wall as a major ligand. Interestingly, this domain fails to interact strongly with short oligosaccharides. The crystal structure of GNBP3-Nter reveals an immunoglobulin-like fold in which the glucan binding site is masked by a loop that is highly conserved among glucan-binding proteins identified in several insect orders. Structure-based mutagenesis experiments reveal an essential role for this occluding loop in discriminating between short and long polysaccharides. The displacement of the occluding loop is necessary for binding and could explain the specificity of the interaction with long chain structured polysaccharides. This represents a novel mechanism for β-glucan recognition.


The technical paper showcased a comprehensive study on laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) grooving as breakthrough and ultimate solution in wafer sawing. The project is intended to address various defects such as chippings, metal dangling/peel off, cracks, and other wafer-related defects induced during wafer sawing process. Series of process simulations, actual processing, benchmarking, and collaborations with suppliers are carried out to attain a zero defect in wafer sawing. Critical processes and controls on this new technology are shown and how the mentioned defects are properly addressed.
The laser grooving is the newest and latest developed state-of-the-art technology over conventional mechanical sawing using blades. Sawing process is considered as one of the challenges in the plant as it deals with different wafer technologies. Different blade types also need to be properly maintained. Compared to the conventional and universal mechanical sawing using blades, complex errors and top reject contributor of identified critical processes are corrected and required process capability index is achieved.


Trojans are circumstellar bodies that reside in characteristic 1:1 orbital resonances with planets. While all the trojans in our solar system are small (≲100 km), stable planet-size trojans may exist in extrasolar planetary systems, and the Kepler telescope constitutes a formidable tool to search for them. Here we report on a systematic search for extrasolar trojan companions to 2244 known Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs), with epicyclic orbital characteristics similar to those of the Jovian trojan families. No convincing trojan candidates are found, despite a typical sensitivity down to Earth-size objects. This fact, however, cannot be used to stringently exclude the existence of trojans in this size range, since stable trojans need not necessarily share the same orbital plane as the planet, and thus may not transit. Following this reasoning, we note that if Earth-sized trojans exist at all, they are almost certainly both present and in principle detectable in the full set of Kepler data, although a very substantial computational effort would be required to detect them. Additionally, we also note that some of the existing KOIs could in principle be trojans themselves, with a primary planet orbiting outside of the transiting plane. A few examples are given for which this is a readily testable scenario.


A partitioned-domain multiscale method is a computational framework in which certain key regions are modeled atomistically while most of the domain is treated with an approximate continuum model (such as finite elements). The goal of such methods is to be able to reproduce the results of a fully atomistic simulation at a reduced computational cost. In recent years, a large number of partitioned-domain methods have been proposed. Theoretically, these methods appear very different to each other making comparison difficult. Surprisingly, it turns out that at the implementation level these methods are in fact very similar. In this paper, we present a unified framework in which fourteen leading multiscale methods can be represented as special cases. We use this common framework as a platform to test the accuracy and efficiency of the fourteen methods on a test problem; the structure and motion of a Lomer dislocation dipole in face-centered cubic aluminum. This problem was carefully selected to be sufficiently simple to be quick to simulate and straightforward to analyze, but not so simple to unwittingly hide differences between methods. The analysis enables us to identify generic features in multiscale methods that correlate with either high or low accuracy and either fast or slow performance. All tests were performed using a single unified computer code in which all fourteen methods are implemented. This code is being made available to the public along with this paper.


There are three light rail transit systems (LRT) operating in Metro Manila. A financing structure comparison of the LRT-3 project, a public-private partnership project, and the LRT-2 project, a publicly administered project, showed that the high cost and time overruns of the public project compared to the PPP marginalize the advantages of the low financing rates of overseas development agency (ODA) loans in the public project. Because of increasing demand for efficient public transit service, there is increasing interest in PPPs to ensure the sustained operation of the LRT-3 line. Among the lessons learned from a comparison of these two projects are that linking private-sector investment payments to system availability helps manage operating and maintenance risks, and that linking payment of the maintenance fee to the maintenance provider to system availability also helps to manage operating and maintenance risks. Among the policies that should be considered to foster the development of financially viable transit systems are to strengthen public institutions that develop and implement transit-oriented development with a mission of linking urban growth to development of transit service or catchment areas, to seek a balance between public-sector fiscal discipline and private-sector investment in the development of metro-wide transit systems, and to champion good governance to prevent public-sector hostile expropriation or reverse privatization as experienced in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Manila.


This investigation developed a measure of motor control at the ankle for persons with CP using relative phase. Twenty-nine subjects, 14 with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy (CP group) and 15 without disability (WD group) were tested once. Video data were collected as a seated subject performed four full range of ankle plantar and dorsiflexion movement tasks (right ankle, left ankle, ankles in-phase with each other, and ankles antiphase to each other) at four different frequencies (self-paced, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0 Hz). The relative phase measure was able to discern the differences between the two groups of children. The CP group had poorer motor control than the WD group, based upon the measure. Both groups had more difficulty performing the antiphase than the in-phase movements. The investigation adds to the body of knowledge in that the concept of relative phase was used as a measure of motor control at the ankle in persons with CP. Results indicated that the measure was adequately sensitive to quantify differences between a group with CP and a group without disability. Clinically the measure could eventually be used as both an assessment and outcome tool.


This Essay examines the potential influence of a new breed of actor in the global antitrafficking arena: the venture philanthropist, or "philanthrocapitalist." Philanthrocapitalists have already helped rebrand "trafficking" as "modern-day slavery," and have expressed their ambitions to lead global efforts to eradicate the problem. With their deep financial resources and access to powerful networks, philanthrocapitalists hold tremendous power to shape the future trajectory of the antitrafficking movement. This Essay warns, however, against the possibility that philanthrocapitalists could also reconfigure the landscape of global antitrafficking policymaking, marginalizing or even displacing other actors' efforts to address the problem.


Social reform movements in the communist state are a
simultaneous, dialectical Process of the revival of socioeconomic
dynamism on the one hand, and the abandonment of Party-state
praxes on the other. As a result, the Party-controlled media
system is bound to proceed to organic transformation. However,
by using the medium of television as a key example, this thesis
seeks to demonstrate that, under the conditions of Deng
Xiaoping's particular and contradictory reform programme and in
the context of Chinese society, Chinese mass media have created
their own pattern of media transition that is unparalleled by
that of other communist states, particularly those under the
Gorbachev-style reform programme. The main characteristic of the
Chinese case is that the growth of the industry and the reform
of the media institutions have spontaneously become a twofold
theme governing the whole process of post-Mao media development.
Therefore, its adopted policies and strategies, institutional
transactions, media performance, structural changes and the ways
of delivering resources and increasing productivity, have all
been conducted and constrained within that framework. The style
of media transition in post-Mao China is not radically
revolutionary, but evolutionary. It entails growth that
incrementally redefines reality, producing its own dynamics and
conflicts.
The evidence of the thesis suggests that Deng Xiaoping's reform
formula for the Chinese mass media --- an unintended
contradiction of promoting the growth of the media industry and
rationalizing its performance without allowing the parallel
development of institutional democratization and fundamental
changes of the power structure of Party's media --- cannot obtain
its intended objective. Rather, it tends to produce a boomerang
effect: although it can protract the process of media
democratization, the new social forces, the changing economic
relations and political culture in post-Mao China have provided
the solid foundation for a further change with the overall media
reform tendency continuously gaining momentum. The historical
logic and irony become explicit here: Deng's reform programme,
as a desperate resort to save the Party-state system and to
prevent the advent of democracy, has turned out to be the midwife
of far-reaching societal transformation and democratization in
China. Thus, despite the sufferings and frustration of the 1989
Beijing pro-democracy movement, the present course of social
reform is almost impossible to reverse.


Abstract The discovery of fossil bird tracks from the Cenomanian Kerker Member (Zebbag Formation) in southern Tunisia represents the oldest report of fossil birds from the Cretaceous of continental Africa. Three small bird tracks were discovered in a track-bearing surface dominated by tridactyl dinosaur footprints and are attributed to the ichnogenus Koreanaornis. This represents the first occurrence of this ichnogenus in Africa and indicates a worldwide distribution of these shorebirdlike tracks, previously known only from Asia and North America. Tracks described in this study are also smaller than any other fossil bird track known to date, thus they can be included in the minute size class following modern bird track groups. A comparison with present-day shorebird tracks indicates strong similarities in size, morphology, and environment with extant members of the Actitis genus, commonly known as sandpipers, which inhabit arid central African tidal flats. The occurrence of bird tracks in the early Late Cretaceous of Tunisia also brings important new insight into the paleoecology of an area previously thought to be a site of exclusively marine deposition.


Researchers are often faced with analyzing data sets that are not complete. To properly analyze such data sets requires the knowledge of the missing data mechanism. If data are missing completely at random (MCAR), then many missing data analysis techniques lead to valid inference. Thus, tests of MCAR are desirable. The package MissMech implements two tests developed by Jamshidian and Jalal (2010) for this purpose. These tests can be run using a function called TestMCARNormality. One of the tests is valid if data are normally distributed, and another test does not require any distributional assumptions for the data. In addition to testing MCAR, in some special cases, the function TestMCARNormality is also able to test whether data have a multivariate normal distribution. As a bonus, the functions in MissMech can also be used for the following additional tasks: (i) test of homoscedasticity for several groups when data are completely observed, (ii) perform the k-sample test of Anderson-Darling to determine whether k groups of univariate data come from the same distribution, (iii) impute incomplete data sets using two methods, one where normality is assumed and one where no specific distributional assumptions are made, (iv) obtain normal-theory maximum likelihood estimates for mean and covariance matrix when data are incomplete, along with their standard errors, and finally (v) perform the Neyman's test of uniformity. All of these features are explained in the paper, including examples.


A collaborative project, involving a dialogue between two contemporary artists, the exhibition is organised in such a way as to prompt questions about the meaning and interpretation of their work, exploring the notion of visual experience and sensation, and the nature of perception. Surface ambiguity or "Change of Aspect" as Wittgenstein* puts it, where the viewer sees something differently but contradictorily also sees that something has not changed, raising the question of what is being seen and how it is interpreted.

'Wave Motion- part2': The large paintings explore the relationship of scale and surface, and exploit the relationship between geometric structure and animated surface. The work makes reference to craft through attention to making skills and repetitive action and an importance to time and dedication in the production of the work. The relationship between craft, fine art and the decorative surface are relevant contemporary issues being debated as regards the 'position of painting' today.**

• Gallery space funded partly by the Arts Council to provide a public platform for contemporary art to inform and generate debate.
• DVD documented and produced by the gallery provided insight into the Artists working practices that included the Artists- in- conversation, focussing on the key research issues surrounding their work.
• A fully illustrated catalogue with documentary material of working practices including studio photographs. Documentation of the artists conversation

*Ludwig Wittgenstein, 'Philosophical Investigations', 3rd ed., trans G.E.M. Anscombe (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1968) pp 196-198. He observes that, "the flashing of an aspect on us seems half visual experience half thought".

**'Warped: painting and the feminine', exhibition at the Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham 2001.

Visitor figures 11,800.


Abstract This study explores the bio-psychosocial context of HIV/AIDS in which eleven HIV-positive activist women from Khayelitsha negotiated the process of disclosing their HIV-positive status to significant others, specifically biological household members. The study is based on the narratives of a group of HIV-positive peer-educators in Cape Town, South Africa. The results suggest that community perceptions of HIV/AIDS are shaped by a wide variety of factors particular to the socio-cultural and political context of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The process and outcomes of disclosure to others occurs within this shifting web of meanings, and in turn, reshapes them as people respond to the person who has just disclosed. Eight out of the eleven women disclosed to a close biological household member as these significant-others provided, or had the potential to provide, the appropriate support. Six of the eleven participants disclosed during the symptomatic phases of HIV/AIDS, while five were asymptomatic at the time. Four of the five who disclosed when asymptomatic were diagnosed while pregnant and had never experienced severe opportunistic infections. Additionally, these same four disclosed some time after diagnosis (nine months > t < two years). Of the six who disclosed in a state of ill-health, five disclosed immediately after diagnosis in order to access health-related social support. At this time, concerns regarding health and mortality superseded fears of rejection and discrimination due to AIDS-related stigma. The perceived potential benefits (social and health-related support) outweighed the perceived risks (stigmatisation and discrimination). When participants had never experienced serious illness, they disclosed in order to educate loved-ones, gain emotional support or challenge false popular perceptions of HIV/AIDS.


This study examines the processes undertaken by a state-owned enterprise to overcome limitations and successfully reverse its decline through moderate, gradual and small-scale evolutionary change. This paper utilizes the "social process research model" to analyze and record organizational changes at Jiangnan Resort, and further observes strategic countermeasures employed to address crises and successful management of organizational change. Results from our study suggest that organizational evolutionary change strategies should include institutionalization strategies, development of marketing channels, festival event marketing, placement marketing, product packaging strategies, niche market segmentation, service quality enhancement, and manpower flexibility strategies. Key factors in change management include Total Quality Management (TQM), Management by Objective (MBO), organizational members understanding of urgency and need of change, gaining support through education and communication, employee empowerment and participation, and institutionalizing change. The resulting information can serve as a reference for future qualitative research and development of strategic concepts for organizations planning to adopt evolutionary change into their companies.


On 23 October 2011, and then on 9 November 2011, two earthquakes struck the province of Van in eastern Turkey. One month after the first earthquake, between 25 November and 27 November 2011, a reconnaissance team from the Middle East Technical University, Disaster Management Implementation and Research Center (METU DMC) visited the region. The team focused on disaster management activities such as emergency relief, damage assessment, psychosocial support, and economic impacts. Field observations and personal interviews concluded that deficits in mitigation led to shortcomings in the response and rehabilitation operations in Van. Although search and rescue activities were evaluated as satisfactory, there were problems in the organization of support services, temporary accommodation, and delivery of basic needs. This paper presents a reconnaissance report outlining the observations of the interdisciplinary team in the field. It suggests some policies for improvement in the disaster management system in the future.


History and Philosophy The National Rehabilitation Counseling Association (NRCA) is the oldest and largest professional organization representing rehabilitation counselors. It was founded in 1958 as the first professional division within NRA (NRCA Constitution, 1958). The founding rehabilitation counselors envisioned an organization that would advance rehabilitation counseling as a profession emphasizing the counseling relationship as the basic component of rehabilitation services. This philosophy distinguishes NRCA from other rehabilitation associations. Entering the 21st century NRCA's membership roots have broadened to reflect the expansion of rehabilitation counseling beyond the state-federal program. Today this membership is comprised of rehabilitation counselors who work in a myriad of settings which include private for profit, private non-profit, public sector, and self employment. Despite this expansion of membership the philosophy that led to the chartering of NRCA still holds true: Rehabilitation counseling is a profession, rather than a particular skill area within the context of general counseling or guidance, that transcends the variety of employment settings, for example, state-federal, mental health, drug, and hospital programs. While NRCA is proud of its distinguished history, it recognizes that it must also build on that history in order to flourish. This is the continuing challenge to the National Rehabilitation Counseling Association and the basis of its accomplishments. Purpose and Mission The Preamble to the original constitution states that the purpose of the National Rehabilitation Counseling Association is to provide standards of professional conduct and performance for its members (NRCA Constitution, 1985). Through the years this role has expanded to meet the changing needs of a maturing profession, and to consolidate accomplishments in meeting the professional agenda. There are four major landmarks in the history of NRCA and the professionalization of rehabilitation counseling: The establishment of (1) the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC), and (2) the Council On Rehabilitation Education (CORE); and the development of (3) the Code of Ethics and (4) the Scope of Practice statement. CRCC was developed in 1973 as a joint venture between NRCA and the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association (ARCA) (McAlees, 1993). Their aim was to establish professional standards in order to enhance the quality of service delivery to people with disabilities. CRC certification demonstrates attainment of a specified level of knowledge and supervised work experience relevant to the practice of rehabilitation. Since the founding of CRCC by NRCA and ARCA--the two major organizations representing rehabilitation counselors--a variety of other rehabilitation organizations have joined in support of CRCC and become members of its governing body (McAlees, 1993 & CRCC Certification Guide, 1981). NRCA was one of five major rehabilitation organizations that provided the impetus for the development of CORE. Established in 1971 and incorporated in 1972, CORE provides accreditation of Rehabilitation Counseling Education Programs (CORE, 1994). NRCA maintains representation on the Council, and affirms its continuing commitment to the policy that graduate preparation be considered prerequisite for entry level positions in the profession of Rehabilitation Counseling. CORE's mission is to ensure that graduates attain the requisite knowledge and skills to deliver quality professional rehabilitation services to people with disabilities, promote programs for professional self-improvement for rehabilitation counselors, and help meet employment needs of public and private rehabilitation agencies through providing graduate training. NRCA, ARCA, and CRCC jointly established the Rehabilitation Counseling Code of Ethics and Scope of Practice Statement. …


Second Place winner of poster presentations at the 8th Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) held at the Marcus Welcome Center, Wichita State University, April 18, 2012.


The function of anti-predator signalling is a complex, and often-overlooked, area of animal communication. The goal of this study was to examine the behavioural function of an antipredator acoustic signal in the ocean. We observed the acoustic and defensive behaviours of California spiny lobsters (Palinuridae: Panulirus interruptus ) to a model predator, model conspecific and blank pole, both in the tank and in the field. We found that P. interruptus make a 'rasp' sound once physically contacted by an aggressor, rather than during the approach. The model predator and conspecific elicited no discernable changes in defensive behaviour, but the responses by the lobsters to aggressors in the tank versus field were distinct. Our results indicate that the spiny lobster's rasp is used as a startle or aposematic signal, which may be coupled with visual aposematism of their spines. Alternatively, the rasp may function as a vibratory escape mechanism or as an acoustic analogue to eye-spots. This study offers insights into the role of acoustic signalling in the marine environment and demonstrates a central role for sound production in spiny lobster ecology.


The research reported here is a pilot project which investigated the transitionary period from study to work for entry-level lawyers. The research was designed to identify factors which may assist new lawyers in making this a successful transition.This is crucial research. There is no similar empirical work in Australia focusing on the transition towards a legal professional. The support and endorsement of the Law Society of the Australian Capital Territory ensured that the pilot could provide some valuable preliminary data. The design of the study consisted in tracking a small sample of newly admitted lawyers who volunteered to be followed through their first year. The sample consisted of eleven participants (4 male and 7 female) employed variously in private and public practice in the territory. Their median age was 25 years. They worked in a range of different practices – small, medium and large private firms, and government legal practices, legal aid and community legal centres. Data was collected between 2009 and early 2011. The study used a multi-method qualitative research approach to gather information through interviews, participant observation and self-recording of daily work activity. Data analysis showed the crucial importance of appropriate supervision and mentoring to new lawyers' capacity to gain autonomy and competence. Also notable was new lawyers' need to see their work as intrinsically worthwhile, either when it provided a direct public service or more indirectly. Pro bono work was important to them. New lawyers were also keenly alert to the real ethical climate of the practice in which they worked. The way a practice treated its staff (both professional and support) was seen as a reliable indicator of its ethical culture.


Intent classification (IC) and slot filling (SF) are core components in most goal-oriented dialogue systems. Current IC/SF models perform poorly when the number of training examples per class is small. We propose a new few-shot learning task, few-shot IC/SF, to study and improve the performance of IC and SF models on classes not seen at training time in ultra low resource scenarios. We establish a few-shot IC/SF benchmark by defining few-shot splits for three public IC/SF datasets, ATIS, TOP, and Snips. We show that two popular few-shot learning algorithms, model agnostic meta learning (MAML) and prototypical networks, outperform a fine-tuning baseline on this benchmark. Prototypical networks achieves significant gains in IC performance on the ATIS and TOP datasets, while both prototypical networks and MAML outperform the baseline with respect to SF on all three datasets. In addition, we demonstrate that joint training as well as the use of pre-trained language models, ELMo and BERT in our case, are complementary to these few-shot learning methods and yield further gains.


The efficacy of EMG biofeedback in improving neuromuscular and functional measures of involved lower extremities in an Experimental Group of chronic stroke patients (n = 7) was examined. Differences in pretreatment-posttreatment measures of the Experimental Group were compared with those of groups of chronic stroke patients receiving no treatment (n = 6), biofeedback treatment of the involved upper extremity only (n = 16), and general relaxation training (n = 8). All examinations were performed in a blind fashion. The Experimental Group showed significant improvement in active range of motion at the knee and ankle that appeared to result from increases in EMG output to muscles governing these movements. Experimental patients did not improve substantially in walking speed over different terrains but did require significantly fewer or less complex assistive devices to walk. Limitations in the design and implementation of this study are provided, and suggestions for future investigation are offered.


Diabetic retinopathy (DR) remains the major threat to sight in the working age population. Diabetic macular edema (DME) is a manifestation of DR that produces loss of central vision. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) is a major cause of visual loss in diabetic patients. In PDR, the growth of new vessels is thought to occur as a result of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) release into the vitreous cavity as a response to ischemia. Furthermore, VEGF increases vessel permeability leading to deposition of proteins in the interstitium that facilitate the process of angiogenesis and macular edema. This review demonstrates multiple benefits of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) on DR including DME and PDR at 24 months of follow up. The results indicate that IVB injections may have a beneficial effect on macular thickness and visual acuity (VA) in diffuse diabetic macular edema. Therefore, in the future this new therapy could replace or complement focal/grid laser photocoagulation in DME. In PDR, this new option could be an adjuvant agent to pan-retina photocoagulation so that more selective therapy may be applied. In addition, we report a series of patients in which tractional retinal detachment developed or progressed after adjuvant preoperative IVB in severe PDR.


NORPLANT is the newest contraceptive system to be introduced world-wide, with nearly a million current users. It consists of six Silastic capsules containing levonorgestrel (LNg), which are inserted under the skin in the arm. Release of the steroid commences immediately so that, after several weeks, circulating levels of LNg stabilize between 0.3 and 0.4 ng/ml of plasma, and they persist elevated with a minor decline for over 5 years. The gross cumulative pregnancy rate at 5 years is 2.6 per 100 woman-years. In the majority of women it produces no abnormalities in a variety of clinical chemistry, metabolic, haematological and coagulation parameters. The most common side-effect is disruption of the menstrual bleeding pattern; this is reported by two-thirds of the users in the first months and by one-third by the fifth year. Because it is the most disturbing side-effect for many users, counselling prior to insertion is of paramount importance. NORPLANT exerts varying degrees of gonadotrophin and ovarian inhibition, including anovulation and luteal insufficiency. Endometrial development is irregular and, irrespective of oestrogen levels, cervical mucus is thick and scanty at all times due to the strong antioestrogenic effect of LNg. Inhibition of sperm penetration fully accounts for the antifertility effect of NORPLANT in ovulatory cycles. The high contraceptive efficacy, lack of serious side-effects, reversibility and the convenience of long-term unattended use explain the high acceptability of NORPLANT.


The emergence of antibiotic resistant microorganisms has led to an increased need for the discovery and development of novel antimicrobial compounds. Frequent rediscovery of the same natural products (NPs) continues to decrease the likelihood of the discovery of new compounds from soil bacteria. Thus, efforts have shifted toward investigating microorganisms and their secondary metabolite biosynthesis potential, from diverse niche environments, such as those isolated from marine sponges. Here we investigated at the genomic level two Streptomyces spp. strains, namely SM17 and SM18, isolated from the marine sponge Haliclona simulans, with previously reported antimicrobial activity against clinically relevant pathogens; using single molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing. We performed a series of comparative genomic analyses on SM17 and SM18 with their closest terrestrial relatives, namely S. albus J1074 and S. pratensis ATCC 33331 respectively; in an effort to provide further insights into potential environmental niche adaptations (ENAs) of marine sponge-associated Streptomyces, and on how these adaptations might be linked to their secondary metabolite biosynthesis potential. Prediction of secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (smBGCs) indicated that, even though the marine isolates are closely related to their terrestrial counterparts at a genomic level; they potentially produce different compounds. SM17 and SM18 displayed a better ability to grow in high salinity medium when compared to their terrestrial counterparts, and further analysis of their genomes indicated that they possess a pool of 29 potential ENA genes that are absent in S. albus J1074 and S. pratensis ATCC 33331. This ENA gene pool included functional categories of genes that are likely to be related to niche adaptations and which could be grouped based on potential biological functions such as osmotic stress, defense; transcriptional regulation; symbiotic interactions; antimicrobial compound production and resistance; ABC transporters; together with horizontal gene transfer and defense-related features.


While not collected primarily for research purposes, administrative data gathered as part of normal agency or program operations present unique and vital opportunities for researchers.  However, as with other types of restricted access data, these data are often not made available or require special authorization to access.  The risks of re-identification, social stigma, and privacy violations for individuals represented in the data, especially for special populations, require that data be securely held and access authorization be moderated.  Obtaining this authorization, especially for multiple datasets from one institution or spread across multiple data providers, imposes a significant administrative burden on researchers and data repository staff who must repeatedly and redundantly provide and validate user identities.
This presentation will offer the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research's solution to ease the burden on both researchers and data repository staff -- the Researcher Passport.  The researcher passport will incorporate standardized, community-normed identity verification criteria, data security level interpretations, and restricted data access training requirements.  The researcher passport, using these standards, will be issued by a central authority who carries out the identity verification process and issues a tiered-access passport to users who are authorized for a streamlined data access request process for certain levels of secure data.  Visas issued by data custodians control "entry" by passport holders to particular data sets.   We describe these standards, how they fit into the repository workflow, and how they make the data access process for efficient and effective for administrative data users and providers.


Sugarcane processing generates a large volume of bagasse. Disposal of bagasse is critical for both agricultural profitability and environmental protection. Sugarcane bagasse is a renewable resource that can be used to produce ethanol and many other value-added products. In this study, we demonstrate that cane processed bagasse could be used to produce fuel grade ethanol without saccharification. A chemical pre-treatment process using alkaline peroxide and acid hydrolysis was applied to remove lignin, which acts as physical barrier to cellulolytic enzymes. Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC, strain 765, was used in the experiment. The pre-treatment process effectively removed lignin. Ethanol production in the culture sample was monitored using high performance liquid chromatography. The results indicate that ethanol can be made from the sugarcane bagasse.


Early Senonian radiolarian microfauna and biostratigraphy from the Western Vardar Zone (Western Serbia) The studied deposits represent the sedimentary cover of ophiolitic mélange of the Western Vardar Zone Belt. An association of sediments that correspond to a primary pyroclastic material occurs in the Upper Cretaceous carbonate sediments near the village of Struganik (Western Serbia). This is an interlayer within mainly carbonate sediments represented by limestone, clayey limestone and marlstone. It is made of the following succession: a lamina made of crystalline quartz, sanidine, plagioclase and biotite and a layer of clay. The clay is of the smectite type, highly crystalline. The age of the radiolarian assemblage from the clay layer is assigned to Early Senonian, based on the co-occurrence of radiolarian taxa: Dictyomitra formosa Squinabol, Dictyomitra koslovae Foreman, Dictyomitra torquata Foreman, Alievium sp. cf. A. superbum (Squinabol) and Pseudoaulophacus sp. cf. P. venadoensis Pessagno. The pyroclastic material was brought into the water environment by a cloud that was formed after an explosive eruption whose exact location cannot be determined at the moment. According to geological data, there are no indications of volcanic activity before the Late Cretaceous in the wider studied area. Marine sedimentation continued after gravitational differentiation of pyroclastic material. The results of petrological and sedimentological investigations reveal that Struganik Limestone originated in a deep-water environment and that the sedimentation area was on the continental slope.


Tuberculosis (TB) is a common disease with high mortality and morbidity rates worldwide. Automatic systems to detect TB on chest radiographs (CXRs) can improve the efficiency of diagnostic algorithms for pulmonary TB.The noise reduction performed in chest X-ray image to detect and remove the impulse noises in the image. The features are extracted from the chest image and trained and classified using SVM (Support vector machine) classifier.The performance of the proposed system is analyzed in terms of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. Computer aided detection (CAD) system was developed which combines several subscores of supervised subsystems detecting textural, shape, and focal abnormalities into one TB score. A general framework was developed to combine an arbitrary number of sub- scores: subscores were normalized, collected in a feature vector and then combined using a supervised classifier into one combined score. TB score allows for a necessary adaptation of the CAD system to different settings or different operational requirements.


High-power laser optics can require high-quality polished surfaces for damage resistance. Fabrication efficiency for producing quality surfaces becomes an important cost consideration. Our systematic study of fused-silica polishing conditions has led to the discovery that enhanced removal efficiency and higher quality optical surfaces can be achieved by decreasing the cerium oxide polishing slurry pH to 4. Both hydrochloric acid and citric acid have been used to lower the slurry pH with equal success.


Our purpose was to use whole brain echo planar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify and characterize diffusion abnormalities in acute cerebral ischemia. We studied 40 patients as early as 3 hours after onset of signs and symptoms of cerebral ischemia. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of the entire brain could be completed in 3 seconds or, using seven different diffusion sensitivities (maximum b = 1,271 sec/mm2), in 48 seconds. Measurements and synthetic maps were made of apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC), a physiological parameter that characterizes the self-diffusion of water in tissue. Early ischemic lesions were identified with DWI as hyperintense regions of decreased ADC in all patients who subsequently developed infarction, before changes were evident on conventional MRI in cases studied earlier than 6 hours after onset of ischemic symptoms. Lesions as small as 4 mm in diameter were identified. The extent of lesions within white matter was best defined by controlling for the anisotropic effect of axonal orientation. The mean ADC ( f SD) for control regions in the 36 patients was 7.15 (& 2.71) x lo-* mm2/sec. Mean ADC of ischemic regions was 56% of control values at 6 hours or less and stayed significantly reduced for 3 to 4 days after onset of ischemia. The relative ADC increased progressively over time to be pseudonormalized at 5 to 10 days and elevated in the chronic state, making the distinction of acute lesions adjacent to chronic infarcts readily apparent. DWI with echo planar imaging measures a unique physiological parameter that is sensitive to ischemic changes before conventional MRI. Its potential role in the quantitative study of human stroke pathophysiology and therapeutics is the subject of further investigation.


In the last ten years, new models based on Bayesian Networks (BN) emerged to handle large and complex systems. These new models can be divided in two: the unification with First Order Logic and uncertainty (Markov Logic Networks, Bayesian Logic) and Knowledge Base Construction Models (Probabilistic Relational Models, Multy-Entity Bayesian Networks, Relational Bayesian Networks). SKOOB, a consortium of researchers and engineers in risk management, focuses on Probabilistic Relational Models (PRM). Inference in such models is a much more difficult task than in BN. Structured Value Elimination (SVE) is the state-of-the-art algorithm for PRM models. In this paper, we propose an enhancement of SVE based on a well known complexity reduction technique from BN. We show how to integrate a d-separation analysis in SVE and how this leads to important improvements for the inference task.