Background —The optimal duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after implantation of drug-eluting coronary stents (DES) remains undetermined. We aimed to test whether 6-month DAPT would be noninferior to 12-month DAPT after implantation of DES.

Methods and Results —We randomly assigned 1443 patients undergoing implantation of DES to receive 6-month or 12-month DAPT (in a 1:1 ratio). The primary end point was a target vessel failure (TVF) defined as the composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, or ischemia-driven target vessel revascularization at 12 months. Rates of TVF at 12 months were 4.8% in the 6-month DAPT group and 4.3%  in the 12-month DAPT group (the upper limit of one-sided 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.4%; P =0.001 for noninferiority with a pre-defined noninferiority margin of 4.0%). Although stent thrombosis tended to occur more frequently in the 6-month DAPT group than in 12-month one (0.9% versus 0.1%; hazard ratio 6.02, 95% CI 0.72-49.96; P =0.10), the risk of death or myocardial infarction did not differ in the 2 groups (2.4% versus 1.9%; hazard ratio 1.21, 95% CI 0.60-2.47; P=0.58). In the prespecified subgroup analysis, TVF occurred more frequently in the 6-month DAPT group than in the 12-month one (hazard ratio 3.16; 95% CI 1.42-7.03; P=0.005) among diabetic patients.

Conclusions —Six-month DAPT did not increase the risk of TVF at 12 months after implantation of DES compared with 12-month DAPT. However, noninferiority margin was wide, and the study was underpowered for death or myocardial infarction. Our results need to be confirmed in larger trials.


It has been claimed that the Bristol case will kill internal self regulation.1 The New Zealand experience should serve as a warning against believing that internal self regulation by the medical profession is useless and should be discarded. After the report of the New Zealand cervical cancer inquiry 11 years ago,2 which has similarities with the Bristol case, many new rules were made, some of which have the status of legal regulations, governing both research and medical practice. Yet these apparent improvements in ethical standards represent an unbalanced concentration on an external morality for medicine. Over the same time internal morality, though it had a key role in limiting the harm done to patients in the cervical cancer study, has been thoroughly neglected.

Henk ten Have has described internal morality as those values, norms, and rules that are intrinsic to the practice of medicine.3 Internal morality arises from within a community of practitioners—doctors, nurses, teachers—and it is based on how one should behave in one's daily work. These are shared values that are learnt from one another and may or may not be written down. External morality is the view from outside, reflecting the ethos of the wider society. The recent discipline of bioethics has grown up largely outside medicine and has developed principles of its own. Rules drawn from principles in bioethics and from other ethical doctrines in society are often codified into laws.

The best known written code for practitioners, drawn up by insiders, is the Hippocratic oath.4 A central statement is: "I will use my power to help the sick to the best of my ability and judgment; I will abstain from harming or wronging any person by it." The code is written in the first person—a moral agent is envisaged. The most …


Self-training has shown great potential in semi-supervised learning. Its core idea is to use the model learned on labeled data to generate pseudo-labels for unlabeled samples, and in turn teach itself. To obtain valid supervision, active attempts typically employ a momentum teacher for pseudo-label prediction yet observe the confirmation bias issue, where the incorrect predictions may provide wrong supervision signals and get accumulated in the training process. The primary cause of such a drawback is that the prevailing self-training framework acts as guiding the current state with previous knowledge, because the teacher is updated with the past student only. To alleviate this problem, we propose a novel self-training strategy, which allows the model to learn from the future. Concretely, at each training step, we first virtually optimize the student (i.e., caching the gradients without applying them to the model weights), then update the teacher with the virtual future student, and finally ask the teacher to produce pseudo-labels for the current student as the guidance. In this way, we manage to improve the quality of pseudo-labels and thus boost the performance. We also develop two variants of our future-self-training (FST) framework through peeping at the future both deeply (FST-D) and widely (FST-W). Taking the tasks of unsupervised domain adaptive semantic segmentation and semi-supervised semantic segmentation as the instances, we experimentally demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of our approach under a wide range of settings. Code will be made publicly available.


In this paper, we advocate high-level programming methodology for next generation sequencers (NGS) alignment tools for both productivity and absolute performance. We analyse the problem of parallel alignment and review the parallelisation strategies of the most popular alignment tools, which can all be abstracted to a single parallel paradigm. We compare these tools to their porting onto the FastFlow pattern-based programming framework, which provides programmers with high-level parallel patterns. By using a high-level approach, programmers are liberated from all complex aspects of parallel programming, such as synchronisation protocols, and task scheduling, gaining more possibility for seamless performance tuning. In this work, we show some use cases in which, by using a high-level approach for parallelising NGS tools, it is possible to obtain comparable or even better absolute performance for all used datasets.


This Science Plan and Implementation Strategy sets out the research agenda for the second phase of IGBP. The document describes the IGBP strategy for producing high quality, unbiased, credible, fundamental scientific research in the area of global change: a strategy centered on ten projects, to be carried out by the several thousand scientists worldwide who are part of the IGBP network. Further, the document describes how the organization will communicate the results of this research to different audiences, in order to realize its vision: "to provide scientific knowledge to improve the sustainability of the living Earth".


How can researchers produce work with relevance to theoretical and formal traditions and requirements of public academic knowledge while still remaining faithful to the experiences and accounts of research participants based in private settings? Feminist Dilemmas in Qualitative Research explores this key dilemma and examines the interplay between theory, epistemology and the detailed practice of research. It does this across the whole research process: access, data collection and analysis and writing up research. It goes on to consider ways of achieving high standards of reflexivity and openness in the strategic choices made during research, examining these issues for specific projects in an open and accessible style.

Particular themes examined are: the research dilemmas that occur from feminist perspectives in relation to researching private and personal social worlds; the position of the researcher as situated between public knowledge and private experience; and the dilemmas raised for researchers seeking to contribute to academic discourse while remaing close to their knowledge forms.


The aim of the study was to investigate whether there were differences in the nature of use of technology for selfregulated language learning between learners from high and low proficiency levels. It employed the mixedmethods approach to understand the phenomenon. The quantitative findings indicate that there were no significant differences in the nature of use of technology between these learners. However, the qualitative findings reveal variance in the use of the Internet environments between the two groups of learners. The more proficient learners seemed to be able to regulate their learning experiences better than the low proficient group especially in terms of regulating emotions and social resources. Despite the variance in use, findings indicate that both groups' engagement with technology mainly involves incidental learning. Thus, it is recommended that teachers should foster dialogue and reflection on the out-of-class engagement with technologies so that learners can further benefit from it.


Objective We aimed to delineate the neurodevelopmental spectrum associated with SYNGAP1 mutations and to investigate genotype–phenotype correlations. Methods We sequenced the exome or screened the exons of SYNGAP1 in a total of 251 patients with neurodevelopmental disorders. Molecular and clinical data from patients with SYNGAP1 mutations from other centres were also collected, focusing on developmental aspects and the associated epilepsy phenotype. A review of SYNGAP1 mutations published in the literature was also performed. Results We describe 17 unrelated affected individuals carrying 13 different novel loss-of-function SYNGAP1 mutations. Developmental delay was the first manifestation of SYNGAP1-related encephalopathy; intellectual disability became progressively obvious and was associated with autistic behaviours in eight patients. Hypotonia and unstable gait were frequent associated neurological features. With the exception of one patient who experienced a single seizure, all patients had epilepsy, characterised by falls or head drops due to atonic or myoclonic seizures, (myoclonic) absences and/or eyelid myoclonia. Triggers of seizures were frequent (n=7). Seizures were pharmacoresistant in half of the patients. The severity of the epilepsy did not correlate with the presence of autistic features or with the severity of cognitive impairment. Mutations were distributed throughout the gene, but spared spliced 3′ and 5′ exons. Seizures in patients with mutations in exons 4–5 were more pharmacoresponsive than in patients with mutations in exons 8–15. Conclusions SYNGAP1 encephalopathy is characterised by early neurodevelopmental delay typically preceding the onset of a relatively recognisable epilepsy comprising generalised seizures (absences, myoclonic jerks) and frequent triggers.


Based on ethnographic interviews and historical research, this article describes the birth and growth of a commoner women's exchange network in the Kingdom of Tonga during the twentieth century. The network developed during the first two decades of the century along with other late colonial institutions in Tonga that have been called 'the compromise culture'. The exchange institution started with the inter-island exchange of women's prestige wealth within Tonga; the network soon expanded to incorporate Fijian and Samoan women's groups, to include western commodities and cash and, in the 1980s and 1990s, to involve Tongan migrants who are resident overseas.

The detailed history of the women's exchange network over eight decades recounts an important slice of commoner women's life stories and memories. At the same time, as an account of a compromise institution, the history of the exchange network offers a window on the process of change in the twentieth century. It demonstrates the deeply conservative nature of seemingly radical institutional changes in Tonga, the increasing difficulties over time in trying to isolate 'western'; and 'traditional'; forces, and the profound transformations of Tongan life now underway.


There is a common agreement that education is an essential part of a stable democracy. This is based on the belief that education encourages citizens to participate in democratic processes, and provides them with the knowledge to understand and accept political principles, as well as necessary skills to become politically engaged. A vast body of research has established that there is a correlation between education and voter participation. However, few have been able to estimate the causal effect. We contribute to accumulating research on the causal effect of education on voter participation using the Norwegian school reform from 1960 that extended the years of compulsory schooling from seven to nine, creating an exogenous shock in school attendance among Norwegian pupils. First, we apply the method of instrumental variables (IV). We use Norwegian Election Surveys as our main data source. We find no significant effect of reform implementation on level of education (first stage estimates). Second, we exploit the staggered implementation of the reform in a differences-in-differences approach using municipality level data. We do not find a causal effect of education on voter participation. This is possibly due to the absence of registration laws that represent voting barriers in Norway. Heterogeneity tests reveal a negative effect of education on voter participation in the municipalities with relatively high unemployment and low taxable income per tax payer. These effects are possibly due to citizen migration. ________________________________________________________________________ 6 ________________________________________________________________________ 7


An intimate biography of a great American writer; He rose from a childhood as the illegitimate son of a financial titan to become the man Sartre called "the greatest writer of our time." A progressive writer who turned his passions into the groundbreaking U.S.A. trilogy, John Dos Passos later embraced conservative causes. At the height of his career he was considered a peer of Hemingway and Fitzgerald, yet he died in obscurity in 1970. Award-winning biographer Virginia Spencer Carr examines the contradictions of Dos Passos's life with an indepth study of the man. Using the writer's letters and journals, and with assistance from the Dos Passos family, Carr reconstructs an epic life, one of literary acclaim and bitter obscurity, restless wandering and happy marriage, friendship with Edmund Wilson and feuds with Hemingway. First published to acclaim in 1984, Dos Passos remains the definitive personal portrait of the author.


In this Nuclear Notebook, guest author Timothy McDonnell reviews the five states that developed nuclear weapons outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty—India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, and South Africa—and explores the milestones associated with each country's weapons program. These states tend to have smaller, less technologically sophisticated nuclear arsenals, and have conducted fewer nuclear tests than the five nuclear powers—China, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States. But in some cases, the author writes, the line separating the technical differences between the two groups' nuclear arsenals is starting to blur.


Introduction: Obesity is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. It is one of the defining components of cardiometabolic syndrome. Several indices are there for measurement of obesity, but body mass index (BMI) is relatively better than others and can be measured by the individual himself/herself. There is lack of such study for Jaunsari tribe population of Dehradun district of Uttarakhand. These values can also be used as standard for future reference for Jaunsari population. The study was planned to study parameters related to BMI in adult Jaunsari tribe of district Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The objectives of the study were: (1) to study BMI and the parameters related to it in adult male and female population of Jaunsari tribe of Dehradun district in Uttarakhand, (2) to analyze the sex differences in these parameters, and (3) to analyze statistical significance of the difference. Material and Methods: The study was carried on 100 adult males and 100 adult females of >18 years of age, belonging to Jaunsari tribe, after due approval from the institutional ethical committee and informed consent. The methodology adopted for the anthropometric measurements was of Singh and Bhasin (1968), and concerned measurements were done. Results: The mean weight, height, and BMI are found to be 50.90 ± 9.92 kg and 59.81 ± 10.74 kg, 152.43 ± 5.63 cm and 165.39 ± 7.23 cm, and 21.90 ± 4.05 and 21.85 ± 3.65 in female and male Jaunsari population, respectively, with statistically significant variation in both weight and height across gender with little or no variation in BMI. Standing height of majority of females falls under class short (54%) or very short (39%), whereas 32% of males are tall, 21% are lower medium, and 22% are short. This means that BMI falls into the category of "normal weight". Discussion and Conclusion: Hence, it is concluded that the mean BMI is 21.90 ± 4.05 kg and 21.85 ± 3.65 kg in female and male Jaunsari population, respectively, which falls into the category of "normal weight." This may be attributed to their traditional lifestyle and typical geographical location. This can be used as standard for future reference for Jaunsari population.


In the modern lexicon, money is pure instrumentality, a colorless medium that transparently expresses real value. Contrary to that trope, however, we can get "inside" money: we can reconnoiter it as a structure entailing value that is engineered by certain societies. Taking a "constitutional approach" to money reveals its internal design, the architecture that creates a commensurable unit of value, enables it to travel, and enforces it as the preeminent way to pay. Seeing money's internal design opens up new worlds. We can compare the medieval and early American methods of making money and consider how those methods shaped their markets. More remarkable still, we can locate the radical change in money's design that institutionalized capitalism. That phenomenon arrived when the English government installed the self-interest of commercial actors as the pump at the heart of money creation. The revolutionary redesign produced unprecedented liquidity - the powerful markets and troubling pathologies of modern finance. It also produced an odd and self-protective artifact - the trope that money itself was empty, devoid of design and unworthy of our eye.


Fairness and Freedom compares the history of two open societies - New Zealand and the United States - with much in common. Both have democratic polities, mixed-enterprise economies, individuated societies, pluralist cultures, and a deep concern for human rights and the rule of law. But all of these elements take different forms, because constellations of value are far apart. The dream of living free is America's Polaris; fairness and natural justice are New Zealand's Southern Cross. Fischer asks why these similar countries went different ways. Both were founded by English-speaking colonists, but at different times and with disparate purposes. They lived in the first and second British Empires, which operated in very different ways. Indians and Maori were important agents of change, but to different ends. On the American frontier and in New Zealand's Bush, material possibilities and moral choices were not the same. Fischer takes the same comparative approach to parallel processes of nation-building and immigration, women's rights and racial wrongs, reform causes and conservative responses, war-fighting and peace-making, and global engagement in our own time--with similar results. On another level, this book expands Fischer's past work on liberty and freedom. It is the first book to be published on the history of fairness. And it also poses new questions in the old tradition of history and moral philosophy. Is it possible to be both fair and free? In a vast array of evidence, Fischer finds that the strengths of these great values are needed to correct their weaknesses. As many societies seek to become more open - never twice in the same way, an understanding of our differences is the only path to peace.


What are the paths and obstacles to a practical vaccine? In 2015, 17 million HIV-infected individuals worldwide were on antiretroviral drug therapies, which are remarkably effective in suppressing the virus. Yet, 6000 people a day became newly infected, making the quest for an effective and safe HIV vaccine a major global priority. However, developing a vaccine has been difficult for reasons related to the nature of the virus and its life cycle, including early integration into the host genome and the highly glycosylated, compact, and sequence-variable nature of the envelope (Env) "spike" that is the sole target of neutralizing antibodies (and typically associated with vaccine protection). Where are we, then, on the path to a vaccine?


Neurotransmission is a fundamental communication process between two neurons. Most of the synaptic neurotransmission is chemically mediated across the synapse through neurotransmitters. Synthesis, release, reuptake, destruction, and various other aspects of neurotransmitters play a pivotal role in regulating neurotransmission. Chemical analyses of neurotransmitters are indispensable, as they would provide a fundamental understanding of neuropsychiatric symptoms and also help discover pharmacological agents to alleviate disease conditions. Various malignant tumors such as leukemia, lymphomas, pancreatic cancer, and brain cancer have been related to cystine-glutamate transporter (xCT) expression. The xCT is a membrane bound transporter hypothesized to transport extracellular cystine into the cell in exchange for intracellular glutamate thus maintaining extracellular glutamate levels and functioning as a cystine uptake mechanism for intracellular glutathione (GSH) synthesis. Glutamate, a major neurotransmitter, and GSH, a major antioxidant, are clearly important in regulating normal cell functioning. This dissertation illustrates method developments for chemical analysis in xCT model organisms. In vivo sampling methods enabled 10-2000 nL biological fluid collection from xCT mice and fruitfly model organisms, requiring proficient sample handling and preparation techniques. The three nL-scale, low-dilution assays presented here analyzed for glutamate, cysteine, and glutathione content in 500 nL sample volumes of mouse cerebrospinal fluid and 10-60 nL hemolymph volumes of single D. Melanogaster, to understand xCT regulation. In vivo sample collection and handling of the 10-500 nL sample volumes through their preseparation labeling optimizations at nL scale was achieved using defined lengths of fused silica capillaries. Chemical measurements of oxidative stress precursors like cysteine/cystine and GSH/GSSG emerged from these nL assay method developments implying xCT function under oxidative stress. Glutamate and GSH regulation along with gender based differences were found in comparison studies of xCT mutants and their controls. The usage of in vivo sampling methods along with the developed nL assays for chemical component analysis definitely benefit towards understanding cellular homeostasis and neurotransmission related abnormalities.


Property, perhaps more than any other first-year course, comprises a variety of distinct subject areas. To put the matter more colorfully, Property frequently offers students a plate of appetizers rather than a full meal. Property really is the introductory vehicle to a multitude of upper-level courses, including estates or wills and trusts, real estate transactions, land use and zoning, and housing law. In addition, teachers often weave into Property significant strands of other subjects, such a jurisprudence, intellectual property, environmental law, family law, torts, and constitutional law. Because Property can include such a range of material, planning the syllabus can be a danting task, even for a seasoned teacher. The Property Section of the AALS holds a major conferernce every five years. In preparation for the 1997 conference, we thought it would be useful to make a study of Propery syllabi. We received 40 syllabi from 37 schools. Although we make no claim to scientific accuracy and have no assurance that our small sampling was truly representative, we believe our findings are nonetheless instructive. The purpose of this Article is twofold. First, it documents the findings about the syllabi that we reported at the conference, particularly in comparing coverage reflected in the syllabi with coverage reflected in a 1976 survey of Property teachers. Second, it suggests some broader issues of coverage in first-year Property which grew not only out of our presentations specifically, but also out of the conference generally.


Background. The causes of abdominal surgical emergencies in a particular setting may change because of alterations in demographic, socio-economic or geographical factors. We present the pattern, management and outcome of such emergencies in Zaria, Northern Nigeria.
Methods. This is a retrospective review of prospectively collected data conducted in a tertiary heath centre between 2001 and 2005. Patients aged 14 years and over with abdominal surgical emergencies were consecutively entered into the study at the time of admission. The frequencies of different diagnoses, management and outcome were recorded. The indications for and outcome of operative treatment were compared with a similar study performed about two decades ago in our institution.
Results. There were 3 717 patients, accounting for 29.5% of all emergency surgical admissions. The mean age was 32.5 years. The most common diagnoses were appendicitis (996, 26.8%), nonspecific abdominal pain (871, 23.4%), intestinal obstruction (498, 13.4%) and abdominal trauma (245, 6.6%). In all, 1 788 patients (48.1%) had operations during their emergency admission compared with 37.0% in our previous study. Appendicectomy (903, 50.5%) was the most common operation. Operations for abdominal trauma and typhoid ileal perforation have increased, while operations for strangulated external hernia and perforated duodenal ulcer have decreased. Of the 169 (4.5%) patients who died, 107 (6.0%) died after an operation. Delayed presentation increased mortality.
Conclusions. Operations for appendicitis, infectious diseases and trauma have increased while those for strangulated external hernia have decreased. The expense of surgery contributes to late presentation and delayed intervention, which impact negatively on treatment outcome.


In Sauropterygia, a diverse group of Mesozoic marine reptiles, fossil evidence of viviparity (live‐bearing) only exists for Pachypleurosauria and Plesiosauria, and was assumed to also be the case for nothosaurs. Previous studies have successfully applied an extant squamate model to sauropterygian life‐history traits. In extant squamates, oviparity and viviparity are associated with differences in life‐history trait combinations. We establish growth curves for Nothosaurus specimens based on their humeral histology. We then analyse life‐history traits derived from these curves and compare inferred traits to those of modern squamates and pachypleurosaurs to assess their reproduction mode. We show that birth to adult size ratios (i.e. birth size divided by the mother's size) provide good estimates of clutch sizes in extant squamates and in viviparous extinct marine reptiles, but these ratios cannot discriminate viviparous and oviparous squamates. Thus, large ratios do not indicate viviparity in fossil taxa to which the extant squamate model is applicable. Applying differences in birth size, age at maturation, and maximum longevity that are observed between extant viviparous and oviparous squamates to our Nothosaurus sample, we identified 7 out of 24 specimens as being potentially viviparous. Conversely, they suggested oviparity for many nothosaurs but also for many pachypleurosaur samples. Under the assumption that the entire clade Pachypleurosauria was viviparous, the majority of nothosaurs would also have been viviparous as they comprised trait combinations similar to those seen in pachypleurosaurs. Overall, this suggests that within nothosaurs and pachypleurosaurs both reproduction modes existed in different taxa.


The Amon mud volcano (MV), located at 1250 m water depth on the Nile deep-sea fan, is known for its active emission of methane and non-methane hydrocarbons into the hydrosphere. Previous investigations showed a low efficiency of hydrocarbon-degrading anaerobic microbial communities inhabiting the Amon MV center in the presence of sulfate and hydrocarbons in the seeping subsurface fluids. By comparing spatial and temporal patterns of in situ biogeochemical fluxes, temperature gradients, pore water composition, and microbial activities over 3 yr, we investigated why the activity of anaerobic hydrocarbon degraders can be low despite high energy supplies. We found that the central dome of the Amon MV, as well as a lateral mud flow at its base, showed signs of recent exposure of hot subsurface muds lacking active hydrocarbon degrading communities. In these highly disturbed areas, anaerobic degradation of methane was less than 2% of the methane flux. Rather high oxygen consumption rates compared to low sulfide production suggest a faster development of more rapidly growing aerobic hydrocarbon degraders in highly disturbed areas. In contrast, the more stabilized muds surrounding the central gas and fluid conduits hosted active anaerobic hydrocarbon-degrading microbial communities. The low microbial activity in the hydrocarbon-vented areas of Amon MV is thus a consequence of kinetic limitations by heat and mud expulsion, whereas most of the outer MV area is limited by hydrocarbon transport.


The paper studies the modalities which are used by China in its human resource cooperation with Africa in general, and where relevant with South Africa in particular. It covers the human resource dimensions of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), pledges, paying particular attention to the latest round of commitments from the November 2009 Ministerial Conference in Egypt; it reviews the short and long term capacity building programmes for Africans in China; it considers the unique role of the Confucius Institutes in Africa, as well as the stand-alone education or training projects outside the FOCAC framework; and it briefl y comments on enterprise-based training in Chinese fi rms. This discussion of China's educational aid modalities is embedded in a wider consideration of how China's approaches differ from the current preoccupations of traditional donors about aid harmonisation and country ownership.


Abstract : Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) supports Navy, Marine Corps, Joint and Allied Forceswith their inventory of more than 430,000 items worth $21 billion using several distribution sites. Choosing the optimum order-point and order-quantity for each item is important to meet the stochastic demand while satisfying multiple restrictions such as budget and maximum number of orders. The Site Demand-Based Level Inventory Optimization Model (SIOM) is a mixed-integer, linear program developed at the Naval Postgraduate School to provide NAVSUP planners with guidance on this complex problem. Ongoing tests have been successful, but SIOMs computational run times are long. This thesis introduces anew, faster reformulation (SIOMsQ) that approximates the solution of the same problem by reducing the possible candidate sets of order-points and order-quantities for each item. We find that the solutions suggested by SIOMsQ are better than or very close to those of SIOM in test cases provided by NAVSUP, with substantially shorter computational times. Therefore, we recommend using SIOMsQ versus SIOM.


Abstract In the United States of America, senior centers and public libraries are ubiquitous social institutions found in virtually every municipality. This article analyses these institutions as community-based information infrastructure in the digital learning practices of older adults. Older adults turn to these institutions to learn technology in retirement. How learning takes place in these spaces is shaped both by the institutions, and by the older adults. Negotiations between institutions and older adults shape digital learning. These negotiations are shaped by societal ageism. This article shows that older adults are not passive participants in technology learning, using services provided for them by others, but instead actively shape both how learning services are proffered and the institutional contexts in which these services exist. By learning to embrace the agency of older adults, these under-funded public institutions could powerfully reconfigure themselves for an information society that is also ageing.


Sand boils, which are also known as sand blows or sand volcanoes, are among the most common superficial effects induced by high-magnitude earthquakes. These generally occur in or close to alluvial plains when a strong earthquake (M >5) strikes on a lens of saturated and unconsolidated sand deposits that are constrained between silt-clay layers [Ambraseys 1988, Carter and Seed 1988, Galli 2000, Tuttle 2001, Obermeier et al. 2005], where the sediments are converted into a fluid suspension. The liquefaction phenomena requires the presence of saturated and uncompacted sand, and a groundwater table near the ground surface. This geological–geomorphological setting is common and widespread for the Po Plain (Italy) [Castiglioni et al. 1997]. The Po Plain (ca. 46,000 km2) represents 15% of the Italian territory. It hosts a population of about 20 million people (mean density of 450 people/km2) and many infrastructures. Thus, the Po Plain is an area of high vulnerability when considering the liquefaction potential in the case of a strong earthquake. Despite the potential, such phenomena are rarely observed in northern Italy [Cavallin et al. 1977, Galli 2000], because strong earthquakes are not frequent in this region; e.g., historical data report soil liquefaction near Ferrara in 1570 (M 5.3) and in Argenta 1624 (M 5.5) [Prestininzi and Romeo 2000, Galli 2000]. In the Emilia quakes of May 20 and 29, 2012, the most widespread coseismic effects were soil liquefaction and ground cracks, which occurred over wide areas in the Provinces of Modena, Ferrara, Bologna, Reggio Emilia and Mantova (Figure 1). […]


We discuss quantization effects of hologram recording on the quality of reconstructed images in phase-shifting digital holography. We vary bit depths of phase-shifted holograms in both numerical simulation and experiments and then derived the complex amplitude, which is subjected to Fresnel transformation for the image reconstruction. The influence of bit-depth limitation in quantization has been demonstrated in a numerical simulation for spot-array patterns with linearly varying intensities and a continuous intensity object. The objects are provided with uniform and random phase modulation. In experiments, digital holograms are originally recorded at 8 bits and the bit depths are changed to deliver holograms at bit depths of 1 to 8 bits for the image reconstruction. The quality of the reconstructed images has been evaluated for the different quantization levels.


Psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale -TAS were studied in a sample of 294 inpatients with different pathologies, assisted at a general hospital. Results showed good internal consistency (a = 0,72) and test-retest reliability (r= 0,72). For this population the data were best represented by a three-factor structure. The items on the first factor are associated with the ability to identify one's feelings and to distinguish them from bodily sensations. The items on the second subscale relate to a concrete style of thinking. The items on the third subscale pertain to daydreaming and imagination. In conclusion, alexithymia, as measured by the Portuguese version of the TAS, is multidimensional and not well-represented by a global severity score.


Abstract Background Preterm (born < 37 weeks gestation) and very low birthweight (VLBW; <1.5kg) infants are at the greatest risk of morbidity and mortality within the first 28 days of life. Establishing full enteral feeds is a vital aspect of their clinical care. Evidence predominantly from high income countries shows that early and rapid advancement of feeds is safe and reduces length of hospital stay and adverse health outcomes. However, there are limited data on feeding practices and factors that influence the advancement of feeds among these vulnerable infants in sub-Saharan Africa. Aim To identify factors that influence the time to full enteral feeds, defined as tolerance of 120ml/kg/day, in hospitalised preterm and VLBW infants in neonatal units in two sub-Saharan African countries. Methods Demographic and clinical variables were collected for newborns admitted to 7 neonatal units in Nigeria and Kenya over 6-months. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to identify factors independently associated with time to full enteral feeds. Results Of the 2280 newborn infants admitted, 484 were preterm and VLBW. Overall, 222/484 (45.8%) infants died with over half of the deaths (136/222; 61.7%) occurring before the first feed. The median (inter-quartile range) time to first feed was 46 (27, 72) hours of life and time to full enteral feeds (tFEF) was 8 (4.5,12) days with marked variation between neonatal units. Independent predictors of tFEF were time to first feed (unstandardised coefficient B 1.75; 95% CI 1.16 to 2.34; p value <0.001) and the occurrence of respiratory distress (-1.89; -3.27 to -0.5; <0.007) and necrotising enterocolitis (4.59; 1.16 to 7.92; <0.009). Conclusion The use of standardised feeding guidelines may decrease variations in clinical practice, shorten tFEF and thereby improve newborn outcomes.


Authentication technology in the cloud environment cannot completely prevent the destruction of malicious users to cloud resources. The analysis and evaluation of the user behavior has become the key to effectively improve the security of cloud. This paper improves a multiparameter behavior trust model (MTEM), which based on Beth model and Josang model. The MTEM model introduces a number of parameters involved in the transaction process of users and cloud service providers. Furthermore, we calculate the behavior weight value by using AHP, through fuzzy logic analysis of user behavior. According to the principle of maximum membership degree, we verified the feasibility and validity of the model by simulation. The simulation results show that the MTEM model can improve the detection accuracy of user's malicious behavior and the effectiveness of the users.


The objective of this study is to determine the skeletal muscle mass (SMM) and its relationship
with physical activity and functional status among elderly subjects, aged 60 years and above in the
Home for the Infirm and Aged, Penang. A face-to-face interview questionnaire was used to collect
the information on personal background and health-related characteristics. Activities of Daily
Living (ADL), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) and the International Physical Activity
Questionnaire (IPAQ) were used to assess the functional status and physical activity. Anthropometric
measurements (weight, height, waist, hip, calf and thigh circumferences, body fat mass, body fat
percentage and handgrip strength) were measured using appropriate instruments and standard
procedures. The anthropometric SMM prediction equation by Lee et al. (2000) was used to determine
the SMM value. SMM (kg) = 0.244 x body weight (kg) + 7.80 x height (m) – 0.098 x age (y) + 6.6 x sex
(1= male; 0=female) – 1.2 (Asian) – 3.3. A total of 61 elderly (males=47.5%; females=52.5%)
participated in this study and their age ranged from 61 to 87 years. Weight (55.28 ± 10.47 kg vs
50.56 ± 10.52 kg), height (162.07 ± 6.48 cm vs 152.34 ± 7.74 cm), and SMM (21.17 ± 2.98 kg vs 12.59 ±
2.78 kg) were significantly higher in males than females. According to age groups, younger
respondents (60–69 years) had significantly higher weight (54.27 ± 9.59 kg), Body Mass Index (BMI)
(22.12 ± 3.65 kg/m2), and Waist-Hip-Ratio (WHR) (0.90 ± 0.11) compared to older respondents (>70
years). There was no significant association between SMM and ADL scores, IADL and level of
physical activity. However, SMM was significantly correlated with handgrip strength (r = 0.637, p
< 0.01). Age was not significantly associated with ADL score, IADL score, level of physical activity,
SMM and handgrip strength. In conclusion, males and the younger age group had higher SMM,
functional status, physical activity, BMI, WHR and other anthropometric measurements. With
increasing age, there will be further changes in body composition, decline in functional and
physical ability thus affecting health of the elderly. Therefore, the elderly who are at increased
risk need to be identified and provided with appropriate intervention programmes or activities.


OBJECTIVE To evaluate costs and outcomes of cesarean section performed before onset of labor and before rupture of membranes (elective cesarean section) compared to vaginal delivery among HIV-infected women. DESIGN Cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING Pregnant HIV-infected women in the US who refrain from breastfeeding. INTERVENTION Elective cesarean section versus vaginal delivery by antiretroviral therapy regimen. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Pediatric HIV cases avoided, years of life saved, and direct medical costs for maternal interventions and pediatric HIV treatment. RESULTS Elective cesarean section (versus vaginal delivery) was cost-effective among women receiving zidovudine prophylaxis (US$1131 per case avoided, US$17 per year of life saved) and combination antiretroviral therapy (US$112693 per case avoided, US$1697 per year of life saved), and cost saving among women receiving no antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy (benefit-cost ratio of 2.23). Although elective cesarean section remained cost-effective, results were sensitive to variations in vertical transmission rates and to pediatric HIV treatment costs. Population-based analyses indicated that elective cesarean section could prevent 239 pediatric HIV cases annually with a savings of over US$4 million. CONCLUSIONS Elective cesarean section is a cost-effective intervention to prevent vertical transmission of HIV among women receiving various antiretroviral therapy regimens, who refrain from breastfeeding.


The Second Crusade: Scope and Consequences. Edited by Jonathan Phillips and Martin Hoch. (Manchester: Manchester University Press. Distributed in the United States by Palgrave, New York. 2001. Pp. xxi, 234. Paperback.) This is a collection of ten papers presented at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds in 1998 to mark the 850th anniversary of the fruitless attack on Damascus in July, 1148. Naturally, contemporary chroniclers did not feel much enthusiasm for writing up this expedition in the way their predecessors had done after the First Crusade, but nevertheless the consequences were equally profound. Urban IFs initiative ensured that thereafter papal identity would be tightly bound to the crusades, so that, as Rudolf Hiestand sees it, the Second Crusade was a turning-point for the papacy, plunging it into a crisis as serious as those of 1080, 1130, and 1159. At the same time, Eugenius Ill's negligence in failing to involve the Latins of the East in his original plans meant that, when it all went wrong, the latent rivalry of the great patriarchates reappeared and the Jerusalem Church "started styling itself mater omnium ecclesiarum'' in evident defiance of Rome. This was symptomatic of a wider rift between the Latins of the East and the West, for while crusading by no means ceased, it was sufficiently discredited to make it difficult to mount expeditions of any size. Thus, it is not surprising that, as Timothy Reviter shows, the plan for a crusade in 1150 to repair the damage proved abortive. This did not mean, however, that William of Tyre's assertion that this was the beginning of the decline of the crusader states need be accepted. Martin Hoch points out that, even after the crusade, the Damascenes were still willing to renew the alliance of 1140, while the Franks remained strong enough to take Ascalon in 1153 and to launch a series of expeditions into Egypt in the 1160's.There is indeed good reason to think that the problems which led to 1187 are not really evident until c. 1180, but it might nevertheless be suggested that the Second Crusade did have long-term strategic implications for the crusader states, opening the way for Nur ad-Din to take over Damascus and thus creating a situation in which Prankish intervention in Egypt became imperative. Certainly, as Carole Hillenbrand demonstrates, Zengi's base in Mosul rather than Aleppo meant that Damascus was less important to him than for Nur ad-Din, while his appalling reputation for brutality and treachery strengthened Damascene determination to resist him. …


SUMMARY

On 2008 May 29 an earthquake doublet shook the southwestern part of Iceland. The first main shock originated beneath Mt Ingolfsfjall, located near the western margin of the South Iceland Seismic Zone (SISZ) approximately 40 km east of the capital Reykjavik. Immediate aftershock activity was recorded by the SIL seismic network, operated by the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), with both N–S and E–W structures illuminated over a broad area. A continuous GPS (CGPS) network, also operated by the IMO, recorded coseismic offsets with up to 200 mm of horizontal motion at the closest stations. We estimate the coseismic surface deformation observed by campaign and continuous GPS and satellite radar data (InSAR). We invert the geodetic data to find the optimal geometry, location and slip on the main faults, accounting for variation in the elastic parameters of the crust with depth. Our models indicate that most of the slip occurred on two N–S structures spaced ∼5 km apart. From a joint inversion of GPS and InSAR data for variable slip models we find that most of the slip for the first (Ingolfsfjall) event was concentrated at 2–4 km depth with a maximum of 1.9 m, whereas the slip on the second (Kross) fault was located deeper, at 3–6 km depth with up to 1.4 m of motion. The models give similar geodetic moments for the two main events, equivalent to a moment magnitude of Mw5.8 and Mw5.9 for the first and second event, respectively. Our estimated composite moment therefore equals a Mw6.1 for the doublet, smaller than the Mw6.3 estimated from teleseismic data (e.g. NEIC and Harvard).

The geodetic data support rupture on two main faults and analysis of high-rate (1 Hz) CGPS data suggests that slip on the second fault initiated within 3 s of the first main shock. Static Coulomb failure stress calculations indicate that the first event caused a stress increase in the area of the main asperity (i.e. at the location of the largest slip patch) on the second fault. However, we cannot rule out dynamic stress triggering due to the short time between the two main events. The 2008 May 29 earthquake doublet appears to be a continuation of the earthquake sequence that started in 2000 June, when two Mw6.5 events struck the eastern and central part of the South Iceland Seismic Zone, in the span of 81 hr. The 2000 June–2008 May sequence has released about half of the moment accumulated by plate motion since the previous earthquake sequence in 1896–1912. Therefore, continued earthquake activity with moderate size events rupturing N–S faults in the SISZ in the coming decades is likely.


We study the relationship between regulatory regimes and pharmaceutical firms' pricing strategies using a unique policy experiment from Norway, which in 2003 introduced a reference price (RP) system called "index pricing" for a sub-sample of off-patent pharmaceuticals, replacing the existing price cap (PC) regulation. We estimate the effect of the reform using a product level panel dataset, covering the drugs exposed to RP and a large number of drugs still under PC regulation in the time before and after the policy change. Our results show that RP significantly reduced both brand-name and generic prices within the reference group, with the effect being stronger for brand-names. We also identify a negative cross-price effect on therapeutic substitutes not included in the RP-system. In terms of policy implications, the results suggest that RP is more effective than PC regulation in lowering drug prices, while the cross-price effect raises a concern about patent protection.


Background: The decision regarding delivery in the context of a prior cesarean birth is complex because both trial of labor after cesarean and elective repeat cesarean birth have risks and benefits. Purpose: Our research objective was to understand the perspective of women and obstetricians regarding factors influencing mode of birth for women with a history of prior cesarean. Methods: In February 2020, qualitative data was collected at Coatepeque Hospital in Coatepeque, Guatemala. In-depth interviews were conducted with obstetricians and women at the Center for Human Development in the Southwest Trifinio region. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, translated, and analyzed using conceptual content analysis of key informant interviews to analyze the meaning of themes and concepts related to mode of delivery for women with a history of prior cesarean birth. Results: Women described feeling conflicted about their preferences on the location and attendant of their future births, but suggested that the hospital setting, and physician providers were more capable of managing complications. Physicians felt trial of labor after cesarean was the safer option but described multiple reasons that made repeat cesarean birth the more common mode of birth. Conclusions: There is a need for innovative approaches to patient messaging and education around mode of delivery after a prior cesarean in the Southwest Region in Guatemala. Findings from this study underscore the need to improve the quality and dissemination of the educational information given, medical history collected during prenatal care, and pain control during labor. Finally, there is a need for obstetric training to support vaginal birth in the facility setting for the successful implementation of evidence-based practices around trial of labor after cesarean at Coatepeque Hospital.


One of the central real world derivatives issues is how to get the best volatility prediction. A lot of research has focused on evaluating different forecasting approaches, especially to compare methods based on historical returns data, such as RiskMetrics' exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) technique, against volatilities implied out from option prices in the market. The standard tool in such analyses is the simple regression of realized volatility on forecasted volatility. If the forecast is unbiased, the regression constant and slope coefficient will be 0 and 1.0, respectively. Many investigators have run this regression and found that none of their techniques passes the rationality test: slope coefficients are almost always significantly less than 1.0. Nevertheless, they end up suggesting that the least bad forecast, typically the option-implied volatility, should be used in preference to the others. This is actually rather odd: Having proven that a given forecast is biased, it clearly can not be rational to use it as one's volatility prediction without trying to correct the bias. In this article Harris and Shen explore this issue for bonds, equities, and exchange rates in the U.S., U.K., and Japan. They find that, in all cases, the EWMA forecast is significantly biased as a volatility prediction. But they then take the next step and try to correct the bias using the fitted regression coefficients. This significantly improves forecasting performance, particularly for the value at risk application of predicting the 1% and 21/2% tails of the returns distribution.


Abstract
In 2009, the Third Circuit decided Hydrogen Peroxide, which announced a more rigorous standard under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3) for assessing whether a putative class could establish antitrust injury. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court decided Comcast v. Behrend, a case that carries potentially broad implications for both antitrust cases and Rule 23(b)(3) class actions generally. A review of the case law starting with Hydrogen Peroxide and continuing through Comcast and its progeny reveals the new rigor in antitrust class action decisions and suggests what the future may hold, including the type of arguments that may provide defendants the most likely chance of defeating class certification. After Comcast, rigor under 23(b)(3) can no longer be avoided in assessing all class actions questions, and courts should now apply Daubert fully in the class setting concerning both impact and damages. Courts should also closely evaluate plaintiffs' proposed methodologies for proving impact to determine if they apply to each class member. Finally, courts will inevitably have to determine how rigorously to scrutinize experts' damages methodologies and whether Comcast requires or suggests more scrutiny in assessing common evidence for measuring damages.


Islamic finance is based on ethical principles in line with Islamic religious law. Despite its low share of the global financial market, Islamic finance has been one of this sector's fastest growing components over the last decades and has gained further momentum in the wake of the financial crisis. The paper examines the development of and possible prospects for Islamic finance, with a special focus on Europe. It compares Islamic and conventional finance, particularly as concerns risks associated with the operations of respective institutions, as well as corporate governance. The paper also analyses empirical evidence comparing Islamic and conventional financial institutions with regard to their: (i) efficiency and profitability; and (ii) stability and resilience. Finally, the paper considers the conduct of monetary policy in an Islamic banking context. This is not uncomplicated given the fact that interest rates – normally a cornerstone of monetary policy – are prohibited under Islamic finance. Liquidity management issues are thus discussed here, with particular reference to the euro area. JEL Classification: G21, G28, G34, K21, L4


All English language studies since 1984 of sleep deprivation and house staff performance are reviewed. Manual and computer surveys identified 14 such studies. Our goal is to examine whether the current literature supports the hypothesis that sleep deprivation significantly impairs house staff performance. Our review finds that the current data remain inconclusive. The causes for this uncertainty include different methodologies in assessing performance, the arbitrary definitions of sleep deprived and rested states, and lack of separation of the effects of acute and chronic sleep deprivation. Our review notes striking difference in reported effects of sleep deprivation depending on medical specialty. Surgical studies most frequently show little effect of sleep deprivation. All studies since 1990 support the hypothesis that sleep deprivation significantly impairs performance. Most studies support the impairment of physician mood with increasing sleep deprivation.


The unprecedented growth in mobile device adoption and the rapid advancement of mobile technologies & wireless networks have created new opportunities in mobile marketing and adverting. The opportunities for Mobile Marketers and Advertisers include real-time customer engagement, improve customer experience, build brand loyalty, increase revenues, and drive customer satisfaction. The challenges, however, for the Marketers and Advertisers include how to analyze troves of data that mobile devices emit and how to derive customer engagement insights from the mobile data. This research paper addresses the challenge by developing Big Data Mobile Marketing analytics and advertising recommendation framework. The proposed framework supports both offline and online advertising operations in which the selected analytics techniques are used to provide advertising recommendations based on collected Big Data on mobile user's profiles, access behaviors, and mobility patterns. The paper presents prototyping solution design as well as its application and certain experimental results.


We report a method to selectively fill arbitrary air holes of microstructured photonic crystal fibers with conductive materials through microsphere-assisted fabrication. A photonic crystal fiber with three of its air holes filled with gallium is fabricated and optically characterized. Further it is shown that nanomaterials such as carbon nanotube can be attached to the tip of the conductive channel through additional optical soldering post-processing.


In its essence, Critical Theory is Western Marxist thought with the emphasis moved from the liberation of the working class to broader issues of individual agency. Critical Theory emerged in the 1920s from the work of the Frankfurt School, the circle of German-Jewish academics who sought to diagnose-and, if at all possible, cure-the ills of society, particularly fascism and capitalism. In this book, Stephen Eric Bronner provides sketches of famous and less famous representatives of the critical tradition (such as George Lukacs and Ernst Bloch, Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse and Jurgen Habermas) as well as many of its seminal texts and empirical investigations. Though they shared a Marxist bent, the Frankfurt School's scholars came from a variety of fields-philosophy, economics, psychoanalysis, and even music-and they initially sought not only to do interdisciplinary work but also to combine theory with practice, criticism with empirical data. Forced by the rise of Hitler to flee to the United States, by the late 1930s the Frankfurt School left behind the emphasis on empiricism, beginning instead to specialize in philosophical inquiry into the nature of social control, which combined the work of Hegel, Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche. This VSI is ultimately organized around the cluster of concepts and themes that set critical theory apart from its more traditional philosophical competitors. Bronner explains and discusses concepts such as method and agency, alienation and reification, the culture industry and repressive tolerance, non-identity and utopia. He argues for the introduction of new categories and perspectives for illuminating the obstacles to progressive change and focusing upon hidden transformative possibilities. Only a critique of critical theory can render it salient for a new age. That is precisely what this very short introduction seeks to provide. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.


A 55-year-old woman with a history of excess alcohol intake presented to the acute medical unit following concerns regarding her electrolyte disturbances. During correction of the electrolytes, the patient developed central pontine myelinolysis. The unusual features in the case were the absence of hyponatraemia which is usually associated with central pontine myelinolysis and also the good recovery that the patient made. Looking at the electrolyte changes, we suspect there may be a link to the rapid osmotic shifts occurring during refeeding and central pontine myelinolysis.


In this paper a concurrent version of a published sequential incremental deterministic finite automaton minimisation algorithm is developed. Hoare's Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) is used as the vehicle to specify the concurrent processes. The specification that is proposed is in terms of the composition of a number of concurrent processes, each corresponding to a pair of nodes for which equivalence needs to be determined. Each of these processes are again composed of several other possibly concurrent processes. To facilitate the specification, a new CSP concurrency operator is defined which, in contrast to the conventional CSP concurrency operator, does not require all processes to synchronise on common events. Instead, it is sufficient for any two (or more) processes to synchronise on such events.


In general, laboratories are exercises with a primary focus on the verification of established laws and principles, or on the discovery of objectively knowable facts. In laboratories, students gather data without comprehending the meaning of their actions. The cognitive demand of laboratory tasks is reduced to a minimal level. To prevent these deficiencies, activities in a physics laboratory course were redesigned using problem-based learning. Problem-based learning is an inquiry based instructional design in which experiential learning organized around the investigation, explanation, and resolution of meaningful problems. In activities, instructional strategy is student- centered and learning has to occur in small student groups under the guidance of a tutor. Authentic real world problems are primarily encountered in the learning sequence. To solve the problems, students propose hypothesis, and test their hypothesis with suitable experiment designs. Laboratory design and instruction strategies are very suitable for performing science process skills.


The feasibility of using CMOS technology for RF amplification in atmospheric remote sensing receiver is studied. The design and measurement results of a 200-GHz low-noise amplifier which is fabricated using a 32-nm SOI CMOS technology are presented. The 8-stage amplifier in a common-source configuration achieves a 9-dB noise figure and 25-dB gain with a power consumption of 33 mW.


Literature identifies three business challenges in clouds: (i) little linkage between qualitative and quantitative cloud business frameworks in the same domain; (ii) few structured frameworks to measure cloud business performance and (iii) application portability from desktops to clouds, and later on between clouds offered by different vendors. To address these three problems, we propose the Cloud Computing Business Framework (CCBF), which contains Financial Cloud Framework (FCF), Middleware Framework (MF) and the other two frameworks. FCF and MF are to deal with portability issue. In FCF, we select Monte Carlo Methods (MCM) for pricing and Black Scholes Model (BSM) for risk analysis. In MF, we select OMII-UK's GridSAM 2.3 to demonstrate job submission in clouds, and compare benchmarking results with our MCM and BSM models. Our objective is to demonstrate portability, speed, accuracy and reliability of applications in the clouds, and present how modelling, simulation and benchmarking fit into FCF and MF. Experiments are performed in public and private clouds, where portability, speed, accuracy and reliability from desktop to clouds are successfully demonstrated. Despite X.509 security can be demonstrated, the preferred security is single sign-on and will be dealt with later.


Computer aided simulation of guided acoustic waves in single‐ or multilayered waveguides is an essential tool for several applications of acoustics and ultrasonics (i.e. pipe inspection, noise reduction). To simulate wave propagation in geometrically simple waveguides (plates or rods), one may employ the analytical Global Matrix Method [3]. This requires the computation of all roots of the determinate of a certain submatrix. The evaluation of all real or even complex roots is actually the methods most concerning restriction. Previous approaches based on so called mode‐tracers which use the physical phenomenon that solutions (roots) appear in a certain pattern (waveguide modes) and thus use known solutions to limit the root finding algorithms search space with respect to consecutive solutions. As the limitation of the search space might be unstable in some cases, we propose to replace the mode‐tracer with a suitable version of an interval Newton method based on INTLAB [4]. To apply this interval based method, we extended the interval and derivative computation provided by INTLAB such that corresponding information is also available for Bessel functions used in the circular model (rods) of acoustic waveguides. We present numerical results of a simple acoustic waveguide and discuss extensions required for more realistic scenarios. (© 2012 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Each of the most recent accords of the Basel Committee on Banking Regulation, known as Basel II, 2.5, and II, has embraced a different primary measure of market risk in global banking regulation: traditional value-at-risk (VaR), stressed VaR, and expected shortfall. After introducing the mathematics of VaR and expected shortfall, this note will evaluate how well the reforms embraced by Basel 2.5 and III - stressed VaR and expected shortfall - have addressed longstanding regulatory concerns with traditional VaR.Part I describes the calculation of VaR in its conventional form. For illustrative purposes, Part I will describe parametric VaR on a Gaussian distribution. Part II summarizes known weaknesses in VaR, from inherent model and estimation risk to VaR's failure to perform under extreme economic stress and VaR's failure to satisfy the theoretical constraints on "coherent" measurements of risk. Part III describes how to calculate expected shortfall as an extension of conditional VaR. It further describes how expected shortfall, but not VaR, provides a coherent measure of risk. Part III then reverses field. It explains how VaR, but not expected shortfall (or, for that matter, nearly every other general spectral measure of risk), satisfies the mathematical requirement of "elicitability." Mathematical limitations on measures of risk therefore force regulators and bankers to choose between coherence and elicitability, between theoretically sound consolidation of diverse risks (on one hand) and reliable backtesting of risk forecasts against historical observations.


This paper studies multiple regimes and low-frequency oscillations in the Northern Hemisphere zonal-mean zonal flow in winter, using 55 yr of daily observational data. The probability density function estimated in the phase space spanned by the two leading empirical orthogonal functions exhibits two distinct, statistically significant maxima. The two regimes associated with these maxima describe persistent zonal-flow states that are characterized by meridional displacements of the midlatitude jet, poleward and equatorward of its time-mean position. The geopotential height anomalies of either regime have a pronounced zonally symmetric component, but largest-amplitude anomalies are located over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. High-frequency synoptic transients participate in the maintenance of and transitions between these regimes. Significant oscillatory components with periods of 147 and 72 days are identified by spectral analysis of the zonal-flow time series. These oscillations are described by singular spectrum analysis and the multitaper method. The 147-day oscillation involves zonal-flow anomalies that propagate poleward, while the 72-day oscillation only manifests northward propagation in the Atlantic sector. Both modes mainly describe changes in the midlatitude jet position and intensity. In the horizontal plane though, the two modes exhibit synchronous centers of action located over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The two persistent flow regimes are associated with slow phases of either oscillation.


Abstract : Numerous psychophysical experiments have shown an important role for attentional modulations in vision. Behaviorally, allocation of attention can improve performance in object detection and recognition tasks. At the neural level, attention increases firing rates of neurons in visual cortex whose preferred stimulus is currently attended to. However, it is not yet known how these two phenomena are linked, i.e., how the visual system could be tuned in a task-dependent fashion to improve task performance. To answer this question, we performed simulations with the HMAX model of object recognition in cortex [45]. We modulated firing rates of model neurons in accordance with experimental results about effects of featurebased attention on single neurons and measured changes in the model's performance in a variety of object recognition tasks. It turned out that recognition performance could only be improved under very limited circumstances and that attentional influences on the process of object recognition per se tend to display a lack of specificity or raise false alarm rates. These observations lead us to postulate a new role for the observed attention-related neural response modulations.


We construct a dynamic, general equilibrium model of tax evasion where agents choose to report some of their income. Unreported income requires using a payment method that avoids recordkeeping – cash. Trade using cash to avoid taxes is the theoretical measure of the shadow economy from our model. We then calibrate our model using money, interest rate and GDP data to back out the size of the shadow economy for a sample of 30 countries and compare our estimates to traditional ad hoc estimates. Our results generate reasonably larger estimates for the size of the shadow economy than exist in previous literature.


This article examines whether federalism protects land rights in China from two dimensions. I first compare national law with local institutions of eminent domain, revealing that local governments take much more land than the national government approves, frequently violating, tweaking, and challenging national law. I next examine the impact of interjurisdictional competition on the development of local land institutions, demonstrating that local governments are weakening individual land rights for the benefits of mobile capital. Overall, Chinese federalism weakens rather than strengthens individual land rights and should be called rights-weakening federalism.

This China case also has general theoretical implications. Leading property law scholars in the U.S. have debated whether federalism protects land rights for decades but have achieved no consensus. The existing debate centers around the immobility of land, however, this article argues that land immobility is not an essential factor. The structure and power of local governance, the balance between land and capital in particular, matters much more. Hence, the better question to ask with respect to interjurisdictional competition is who benefits from the competition. This article also poses a more fundamental challenge to the literature on interjurisdictional competition by adopting agglomeration economics, which poses the question of whether such competition constitutes sorting or agglomeration. All the existing literature on property rights and federalism presumes a market of sorting, i.e., that investors are indifferent to location, and are thus attracted by local governments offering the best price or strongest protection. However, urbanization and industrialization in China are actually a process of agglomeration, which determines that a few cities with a natural, or at least initial, advantage are taking over, and the local governments of the remainder will therefore eventually lose in the competition. The implication is that interjurisdictional competition is actually a race to the bottom for most local governments rather than a win-win game as the sorting literature suggests.


Objective: To explore the factors
influencing recruitment and retention of nurses in Lagos State Hospitals.
Background: Despite the perceived efforts made by Hospitals Management in Lagos
State to recruit and retain nurses, there is still inadequate number of nurses
to match the demand of care needed by patients in the hospitals. Methods: The
descriptive study utilized mixed methods to gather data. It consisted of 330
consented and randomly selected nurses for the survey and 14 purposively
selected nurse leaders and Director for the interview. The instruments were
pretested questionnaire, semi-structured interview guide and existing records.
Result: The study revealed that all health institutions in Lagos State were
aware of the standard procedures of recruitment of nurses, but often engages in
replacement rather than proper recruitment. Most of the Nursing leadership
positions in Lagos State were vacant. More than half (68.2%) of the nurse
respondents were not sure if they would still be working in their health
institution in the next five years. It was revealed that the turnover rate of
nurses in the State Health institutions was higher than the Federal health
institutions in Nigeria. Conclusion: Increment in salary and
allowances rated the best influence on recruitment and retention of nurses in
Lagos State. Lack of nursing leadership; sense of job security and work
environment were the major factors influencing recruitment and retention of
nurses. There is need for adequate human resource planning; increased efforts
and formulation of policies that will improve recruitment and retention of
nurses in Lagos State of Nigeria.


Introduction: Every educational system should aim to improve educational skills of its students. This study aims to assess the effect of workshop based compare to lecture based education on the study and learning strategies of nursing and midwifery students of Arak Branch of Azad University Methods: In this experimental study, the two different education method were evaluated with pre and post tests. All nursing and midwifery students who enrolled in nursing and midwifery faculty of Arak Branch of Azad University in 2011 were included. twenty students participated in class group, 25 students participated in workshop group and 17 students participated in the control group. LSSI questionnaire including, attitude, motivation, anxiety, time management, concentration, information processing, selecting main idea, self testing, study aids ,test strategies was used. After completing the questionnaire the intervention groups participated in workshop for 16 hours and in lectures for two hours per week over 8 weeks. The same questionnaire was used for post-test. Results: Mean attitude, information processing, anxiety, time management scores improved after educational class in the intervention compared to the control group. Also after the workshop, mean information processing, anxiety and self testing scores improved. Discussion : In this study educational class and workshop were effective on information processing and anxiety management. We recommend investigation about personal education and educational counseling based on the students' needs and wants.


Water within and surrounding the structure of a biological system adopts context-specific dynamics that mediate virtually all of the events involved in the inner workings of a cell. These events range from protein folding and molecular recognition to the formation of hierarchical structures. Water dynamics are mediated by the chemistry and geometry of interfaces where water and biomolecules meet. Here we investigate experimentally and computationally the translational dynamics of vicinal water molecules within the volume of a supramolecular peptide nanofiber measuring 6.7 nm in diameter. Using Overhauser dynamic nuclear polarization relaxometry, we show that drastic differences exist in water motion within a distance of about one nanometer from the surface, with rapid diffusion in the hydrophobic interior and immobilized water on the nanofiber surface. These results demonstrate that water associated with materials designed at the nanoscale is not simply a solvent, but rather an integral part of their structure and potential functions.


We have identified a novel frog gene, Pintallavis (the Catalan for lipstick), that is related to the fly fork head and rat HNF-3 genes. Pintallavis is expressed in the organizer region of gastrula embryos as a direct zygotic response to dorsal mesodermal induction. Subsequently, Pintallavis is expressed in axial midline cells of all three germ layers. In axial mesoderm expression is graded with highest levels posteriorly. Midline neural plate cells that give rise to the floor plate transiently express Pintallavis, apparently in response to induction by the notochord. Overexpression of Pintallavis perturbs the development of the neural axis, suppressing the differentiation of anterior and dorsal neural cell types but causing an expansion of the posterior neural tube. Our results suggest that Pintallavis functions in the induction and patterning of the neural axis.


Managing technological change in business is difficult. Especially for organisations in technology-based sectors where they are required to rethink and redesign their strategies to ensure they remain competitive in evolving markets.

These organisations are focusing their attention on the use of managerial tools and methodologies to help generate a successful business plan. One such tool is Technology Roadmapping (TRM), whose main objective is the alignment of companies' strategies towards the fulfilment of their business objectives and goals. A better understanding of TRM has resulted in organisations adopting this methodology into their business practices while others perceive its implementation as a complex process requiring a vast amount of information. An adequate framework facilitating the implementation process is lacking.

Therefore, in order to address these needs, and driven by the gaps identified in the literature, an integrated framework supporting organisations in the task of implementing technology roadmapping is developed in this research. It is composed of three major elements. Firstly, the implementation lifecycle, that guides users through activities for implementation and application in their organisations. Secondly, an integrated data-knowledge structure composed of a set of models where data, information and knowledge from the market, product, technology, and R&D stages are identified. And finally, an integrated software tool, based on the structure and a selected roadmapping approach, which supports the execution of processes and activities during a roadmapping exercise.

The framework is tested and validated in a series of case studies in the aerospace industry. The initial studies, conducted during the development of the framework, allowed refinements and improvements to be implemented prior to the second set of case studies, following the completion of this framework. The results from the case studies confirm the feasibility and usability of applying the developed framework into practice as well as providing recommendations for future work.


The ray tracing in a weakly dissipative thermal plasma, in particular, near the electron cyclotron resonance, is investigated. Numerical results obtained by using a self-consistent new ray tracing approach where the local dispersion relation is considered as a complex quantity are presented. It is found that the combined thermal and dissipative effects may induce substantial ray refraction or ray reflection. The obtained power deposition profiles differ completely from those determined within the standard approach where the ray paths are described by the cold plasma dispersion relation. The presented results may have important implications on the EC plasma heating and current drive, in particular, in hot reactor-like plasmas.


ABSTRACT Patsch, K.; King, P.; Reineman, D.R.; Jenkins, S.; Steele, C.; Gaston, E., and Anderson, S., 2021. Beach sustainability assessment: The development and utility of an interdisciplinary approach to sandy beach monitoring. Journal of Coastal Research, 37(6), 1130–1157. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Sandy beaches are valued for various ecosystem services but are increasingly imperiled by anthropogenic stressors. Sea-level rise (SLR), reductions to sand supply, hardening the position of the coastline, and the prevalence of human development along California's coast combine to reduce the fundamental dynamism critical to the resilience of California's beaches. If California continues with business as usual, many of its beaches will erode and eventually disappear. Coastal jurisdictions in California are planning for SLR. However, these coastal managers lack a standardized regional assessment tool that compiles information on the current and likely future condition of sandy beaches. Without such a tool, these managers have limited ability to analyze the integrated impacts of historic decisions or future alternative management scenarios upon beach morphology, ecological functioning, economics, and social utility. This paper presents a study of the Beach Sustainability Assessment (BSA) decision support tool applied to 17 beaches spanning Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties. In addition to scoring and grading geomorphological, ecological functioning, and social utility components, the BSA provides a single, overall grade for each beach. To demonstrate the utility of the BSA, a scenario with 1 m of SLR and a 100-year storm was simulated to assess the changes to the overall grade and component grades. The BSA offers a cost-effective, standardized protocol to monitor the condition of California's sandy beach ecosystems. The metrics support spatial and temporal comparisons on a regional scale, giving coastal managers and stakeholders the ability to assess real trade-offs among management solutions. Current BSA indices indicate that beaches in the Southern California Bight study area are already struggling, with most urban beaches receiving Cs and Ds for ecological functioning. The SLR stressor test indicates that ecological functioning and social utility will continue to decline with increasing sea levels.


The chapter will firstly clarify different interpretations of what mentoring means in the Scottish context. The term is often used for a particular person in an organisation (e.g. the school) who is asked by management to take responsibility for looking after the beginner (e.g. the new teacher in school). The 'appointed' mentor tends to have a more formal responsibility for the induction of the new teacher. There is in most organisations, however, a more naturally occurring kind of mentoring (e.g. from fellow teachers in school) and so this alternative view will also be discussed. The origins of setting up a more systematic support for new teachers in Scottish schools came from the growing awareness within the policy community during the 1990s that too many new teachers were not receiving the stable foundation of teaching experience that they needed. At the same time there was a clear trend of a growing culture of accountability in the form of professional and occupational standards. In the early 2000s, the Scottish Teacher Induction Scheme was established and rolled out nationally, supported by fairly substantial government funding. The scheme has received international recognition but the reasons for its success, such as it is, are not that clear, some claiming it is due to the formal support from mentors and meetings, others from the restoration of stability. Moreover, there have been unfortunate (possibly unforeseen) consequences - a rise in new teacher unemployment and dramatic reductions in intake numbers for Teacher Education Institutions. In exploring what lessons are to be learned from the Scottish experience, the chapter will also draw on a series of research projects and publications by the author and others that will include reference to dimensions and indicators of early professional learning, and the nature of identity formation in new teachers.


The DREAM project is a joint venture between the medical world, university professors and developers with one goal in mind: create an efficient distraction tool to reduce pain and anxiety in children receiving medical treatments. Growing evidence in the medical literature suggests that virtual reality is a very potent and effective way of creating distraction. In turn, distraction has been shown to reduce pain and anxiety in children who are receiving painful medical procedures. The pediatric population offers quite a challenge when it comes to pain control, especially the pain caused by medical procedure. Anxiety and anticipation greatly modulates pain perception and can often jeopardize a treatment if a child's collaboration cannot be obtained. With those premises in mind, our team is trying to create an efficient virtual reality game for distracting kids from their pain. The DREAM game has been tailored for the very specific needs and characteristics of our target population. The experience is optimized for the oculus rift and the controls have been simplified to work in various medical settings with minimal preparation time. Our main concern was to create a game that delivers a potent distractive effect while inciting almost no side effects or cyber sickness. The DREAM project is currently being tested on children with burn injuries. The objective of this short paper is to present the methodology used to validate our hypotheses.


The paper presents the effect of mechanical mounting of optical reference elements on their surface shape. Optical reference surfaces are key elements when traceable, highly accurate and precise optical surface measurements are required. In order to calibrate measuring instruments and compare the metrological capabilities of different metrology institutes, universities and other stakeholders, the reference artefacts were developed. Different measurement instruments require a different way of mounting and the reference artefacts are supposed to be useful for reliable and repeatable calibration of a great majority of the instruments worldwide. However, not only their shape was critical, but also the way of mounting was crucial. FEM analyses followed by experiments have revealed an unacceptable surface shape error in the order of hundreds of nanometres in the case of the commonly used screw mount, even for low applied torques. Other mounting options, such as the collet chuck or the Morse taper, are examined by means of FEM analysis and verified by interferometric measurements. It is shown that only the Morse taper can fulfil the strict criterion of less than 30 nm for surface shape deviation due to mounting, which is required in optical surface shape metrology.


Abstract Expansion of woody plants in North American grasslands and savannas is facilitated in part by root system adaptation to climatic extremes. Climatic extremes are predicted to become more common with global climate change and, as such, may accelerate woody expansion and/or infilling rates. We quantified root biomass and distribution patterns of the invasive woody legume, honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), and associated grasses following a long-term rainfall manipulation experiment in a mixed grass savanna in the southern Great Plains (United States). Root systems of mature trees were containerized with vertical barriers installed to a depth of 270 cm, and soil moisture was manipulated with irrigation (Irrigated) or rainout shelters (Rainout). Other treatments included containerized, precipitation-only (Control) and noncontainerized, precipitation-only (Natural) trees. After 4 yr of treatment, soil cores to 270 cm depth were obtained, and mesquite root length density (RLD) and root mass, and grass root mass were quantified. Mesquite in the Rainout treatment increased coarse-root ( > 2 mm diameter) RLD and root mass at soil depths between 90 cm and 270 cm. In contrast, mesquite in the Irrigated treatment increased fine-root ( < 2 mm diameter) RLD and root mass between 30 cm and 270 cm depths, but did not increase total root mass (fine + coarse) compared to the Control. Mesquite root-to-shoot mass ratio was 2.8 to 4.6 times greater in Rainout than the other treatments. Leaf water stress was greatest in the Rainout treatment in the first year, but not in subsequent years, possibly the result of increased root growth. Leaf water use efficiency was lowest in the Irrigated treatment. The increase in coarse root growth during extended drought substantially increased mesquite belowground biomass and suggests an important mechanism by which woody plant encroachment into grasslands may alter below ground carbon stocks under climate change scenarios predicted for this region.


Background Although the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Oman is high and rising, information on how people were self-managing their disease has been lacking. The objective of this study was therefore to assess diabetes self-management and education (DSME) among people living with type 2 diabetes in Oman. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted in public primary health care centres in Muscat. Diabetes self-management and education was assessed by asking how patients recognized and responded to hypo- and hyperglycaemia, and if they had developed strategies to maintain stable blood glucose levels. Patients' demographic information, self-treatment behaviours, awareness of potential long-term complications, and attitudes concerning diabetes management were also recorded. Associations between these factors and diabetes self-management and education were analysed. Results In total, 309 patients were surveyed. A quarter (26%, n = 83) were unaware how to recognize hypoglycaemia or respond to it (26%, n = 81). Around half (49%, n = 151), could not recognize hyperglycaemia and more than half could not respond to it (60%, n = 184). Twelve percent (n = 37) of the patients did not have any strategies to stabilize their blood glucose levels. Patients with formal education generally had more diabetes self-management and education than those without (p<0.001), as had patients with longer durations of diabetes (p<0.01). Self-monitoring of blood glucose was practiced by 38% (n = 117) of the patients, and insulin was used by 22% (n = 67), of which about one third independently adjusted dosages. Patients were most often aware of complications concerning loss of vision, renal failure and cardiac problems. Many patients desired further health education. Conclusions Many patients displayed dangerous diabetes self-management and education knowledge gaps. The findings suggest a need for improving knowledge transfer to people living with diabetes in the Omani clinical setting.


Taiwan is an example of an orogen involving a doubly vergent critical wedge. Critical-wedge theory predicts asymmetrical tectonic development of the pro- and retro- sides of an orogen. Whereas the consequences for exhumation, peak metamorphism, and erosion have been extensively investigated, the implications for sandstone petrography preserved on either side of an orogen have not been adequately documented. Plio-Pleistocene sandstones from the Western Foothills of Taiwan were deposited in a rapidly subsiding foreland basin recording the collision between a volcanic arc and the Asian passive margin. New data on the evolution of sedimentary petrography and clay minerals preserved in Miocene to Pleistocene sandstone of the western pro-foreland basin record the history of Taiwan's orogenesis. Sandstone petrography of the eastern basin on the retro-side of Taiwan's orogenic wedge had been studied previously. Comparison of the provenance record from the western and eastern basins illustrates the opposing signature of unroofing and recycling, held to be characteristic of an asymmetric orogenic wedge. Sandstone petrography can be used in ancient sedimentary basins to complement other indications of the polarity of subduction.


This is the paperback edition of Robert Stevens' acclaimed study of the English Judiciary from an historical perspective, with especial reference to its changing role in the 20th Century. Though the book was written and originally published before the most recent constitutional reforms were announced, it nonetheless brilliantly anticipated the direction in which the debate would move, and provides much valuable food for thought for those charged with shaping the role of the judiciary within the new constitutional settlement. The centrepiece of the book is a detailed study of the political influences on the judiciary and the influence the judiciary has had on politics in the 20th Century. It concludes with a series of proposed reforms to ensure that the English judiciary will both maintain its strength but enhance its utility in the 21st Century. It offers no simple-minded argument for separation of powers but analyses what is needed to clarify the balance of powers and to advance the debate about the role of an unelected judiciary in an increasingly democratic society.


The article presented here gives a brief illustration of some results of a case study which took place in 1982. This study fits in with the framework of a larger scale project of the SLO (Foundation for Curriculum Development, Enschede): Language competence in primary school.The goal of this research was twofold:- what is the influence of teacher nlanning on the interaction- what is the influence of the interaction, especially with regard to the contribution of the children, on the implementation of the planning.In short, we want to outline the reciprocal influence of nlanning and interaction.The study took place in two classes of a more or less open-plan primary school in Kerkrade. Both linguists and educationalists worked together in a close interdisciplinary co-operation. In addition we worked closely together with the teachers involved and with the curriculum developers.The researchers participated in the classes for two weeks, made videotapes, and transcripts. Also we took Stimulated Recall Inter-views; viewing sessions with researchers and teachers together to obtain teachers' objectives, interpretations and to verify internretations of the researchers. This method should always play an important role in analyzing Classroom interaction.This article focuses on one of the most important results of the study; the model of analysis. Within this model interaction is defined as a process of negotiation. Furthermore we made a distinction between teacher planning before and during the lesson, referred to as pre-active and intra-active planning. A central position in this model is taken up by the notion 'moment of decision'. This notion allows us to make the connexion between interaction and planning visible. A series of these moments establishes the actual interaction. It is in these moments that both the teacher and the children achieve consensus with relation to the organisa-tion and content of the interaction. Each participant negotiates from a certain point of view.Within a language situation the perspectives of the participants are never the same. They depend on the rights and obligations one has within the specific situation. Concerning the classroom situation we point out some aspects of on the one hand the teacher and on the other hand the group of children. We pay attention to the institutional role of the teacher, her intentions, planning, objectives and past educational experiences with or without the same group of children. Children of their own also have intentions and past experiences. For the analysis of a 'moment of decision' we describe both the perspectives of teacher and pupil, and the consensus they achieved.


any drugs have limited penetration through the gastrointestinal tract and therefore cannot be administered orally. The aim of this study was to develop charged liposaccharide absorption enhancers to improve oral bioavailability of model drug tobramycin. In vitro experiments, haemolysis, and cytotoxicity tests confirmed that the synthesized liposaccharides were non-toxic at the concentrations used for oral administration. The partitioning coefficient of tobramycin was improved to an acceptable range for oral delivery (log P = 1-3), when it was mixed with anionic liposaccharides at molar ratio of 1:7.


Countries in Africa are finally realising the benefits of technology being applied on the continent not only for the spreading of knowledge and information, but also the doing of business by being able to do transactions electronically including doing financial transactions over the internet and concluding business over many thousands of kilometers. When they realise this, they were prepared to make investments into infrastructure like broadband and other devices to speed up transactions and making the service they offer to the users more reliable, user friendly, cheaper and more sophisticated. That being the case, the service becomes more popular, the prices come down, there is more money to be invested and the circle takes momemtum.


Background: In radia on therapy, water is the phantom material of choice, both for reference and for rela ve dosimetry measurements. Solid phantoms, however, are more useful for rou ne measurements because they tend to be more robust and easier to set up than water phantoms. Materials and Methods: FLUKA input data cards have been arranged in sequen al order. A simple cylindrical geometry with the axis along the z-direc on was described in the input file. A beam of 1x10 gamma-rays was directed towards the materials in the z-direc on. The results of photon transmission, I/I0, were obtained from output files for each of the material thicknesses using the USRBDX score card. The USRBIN score card was also included in the input file, and the energy deposited by 661.6 keV photons into water and solid phantom materials has been obtained. Results: The values of linear a3enua on coefficients calculated by FLUKA are closer to experimentally obtained ones. The values of the linear a3enua on coefficients derived from XCOM are greater than those derived from the FLUKA transmission data. The values of dose absorbed in Perspex are smaller than those of other materials, which are closer to each other. Conclusion: RMI-457, plas c water and RW solid phantoms can be used for radia on dosimetry of photons in the energy range from 59.5 to 1332.5 keV. From the inves ga on of absorbed dose values versus thickness of absorber, Perspex is not a suitable equivalent to water for the tested energies.