When should the government challenge a merger that might increase market power but also generate efficiency gains? The dominant belief has been that the government and courts should evaluate these mergers solely in terms of economic efficiency. Congress, however, wanted the courts to stop any merger significantly likely to raise prices. Substantially likely efficiency gains should therefore affect the legality of mergers to the extent that they are likely to prevent price increases. This standard is more strict than the economic efficiency criterion, because the latter would permit mergers substantially likely to lead to higher prices, if sufficient efficiency gains were substantially likely.The authors analyze the competing price effects of market power increases and efficiency gains in the most relevant context: significant mergers in concentrated markets - oligopoly. They derive four general oligopoly models and evaluate them over all reasonable ranges for their underlying parameters. This methodology avoids biases due to overly restrictive assumptions.By using the Merger Guideline standards and data from mergers that the Federal Trade Commission closely examined, the authors analyze empirically relevant tradeoffs between market power increases and efficiency gains. They find that decreases in marginal costs of 0 to 9% could be necessary to prevent price gains from mergers typical of those the government regularly evaluates. Cost savings in the upper portions of this range are far larger than those that previous authors have suggested would be necessary to compensate for efficiency losses from most mergers. They are also far greater than efficiency gains that one could realistically predict from virtually any merger. Moreover, if a merger significantly increased the probability of collusion, the required cost savings would be even greater.The authors' models and a large number of practical considerations suggest that implicit consideration of efficiency gains, through adjustment of the standards for horizontal mergers, would be better than an explicit case-by-case efficiency defense.


Kawasaki Disease (KD) is a vasculitis mainly affecting children under two years old and harms arterial vessels (especially coronary) causing dilatation, aneurysms and eventual myocardial complications. Though etiology is unknown, a relationship with an infectious agent is suspected.
 Diagnosis is doing by clinical criteria and laboratory support. KD cases reported in Latin America go along abscence of management protocols and it is not considered notifiable disease. In order to contribute to a greater understanding of this disease, a retrospective - descriptive analysis of 75 patients diagnosed with KD at the time of discharge was carried out from January 2005 to August 2014 at Hospital Dr.Hernán Henríquez Aravena, Temuco, Chile. Information was tabulated in Microsof Office Excel 2007 and a statical analysis were performed using STATA 11.0 program.
 Average age 2 years 7 months (range 2 months to 17 years). Sex Male/Female 49%/51%. Prior consultations 85% (64/75). Initial diagnosis KD 51% (38/75). Fever 100% (75/75), 64%(48/75) about 39 ° C. Eye involvement 68% (51/75). Oropharyngeal erythema 87% (55/75). Strawberry tongue 40% (30/75). BCG erythema 19% (14/75). Rash 83% (62/75). Erythema/oedema of hands and foots 73% (55/75). Cervical adenopathy 41% (31/75). Irritability 55% (41/75). Leukocytosis 36% (27/75). Plaquetosis 69%(52/75) and periungual descamation 39% (29/75). Echocardiogram abnormal at startup 28% (21/75), (6/75)8% prior application of IVGG and 5%(4/75)remained with coronary involvement. A single dose of 2g/kg of Intravenous Gamma Globuline (IVGG) was administrated to 97%(73/75). Aspirin 50 mg/kg initial and 5 mg/kg during the following. A second dose of IVGG was required in 13% (10/75). Two patients were treated with anticoagulant for giant aneurysms and in one case, bilateral brachial aneurysms. Tipycal KD in 73% (55/75) and 27%(20/75) incomplete.
 Further clinical suspicion is needed, because a high percentage of patients had coronary involvement at diagnosis. Those who received early IVGG coronary involvement were lower. Prominent among coronary involvement factors are extreme age, atypical or incomplete forms and high RCP. Needed be considered KD as a notifiable disease, considering the economic and social implications.


This paper provides original empirical evidence on the evolution of education inequality for all Latin American countries over the decades of 1990 and 2000. The analysis covers a wide range of issues on differences in educational outcomes and opportunities across the population, including inequality in years of education, gaps in school enrollment, wage skill differentials and public social expenditure. The evidence indicates a significant difference between the 1990s and the 2000s in terms of both the assessment of the equity of the education expansion and its impact on the income distribution. In particular, the changes in the 2000s seem to have had a full equalizing impact on earnings given the more pro-poor pattern of the education upgrading and a more stable or even increasing relative demand for low skill labor.


The present study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of using the educational Robot in the Computer Course in the development of scientific thinking skills among first year secondary students. The researcher used the quasi-experimental design with two groups: experimental and control with 30 students each. The sample was selected purposively from the 4th Secondary School in Jeddah City. The study tool consisted of a testing scale of the unit "Digital Control and the Robot" to assess scientific thinking skills for the pre and the post tests after studying the unit for both groups. The statistical analysis of results showed the following: there were statistically significant differences between students' achievement in the pre and the post tests in the scientific thinking skills. This suggests that there is some development in scientific thinking skills in favor of the post test of the experimental group. The calculated (t) value was (6.97). The researcher recommended; first, curriculum designers should use the educational Robot in curricula design in order to create integrity between different fields. Second, decision makers should design training courses for teachers in the building and designing of Robot programming and to assess the effectiveness of using the educational Robot in the development of the skills of students with Special Needs.


Works exhibited were the large painting 'The Temperature of Black (1972)' and two smaller combine paintings, 'Alas, Snow White' and 'Medulienka'. These works held very specific references to events at the 1972 Munich Olympics. 'The Temperature of Black (1972)' was based on the octagonal design of the wrestling arena, and referenced the attack by the Black September Group on the Israeli team, several of whom were members of the wrestling and weight-lifting squad. 'Alas, Snow White' also made reference to this same event. This smaller work utilised what may be considered a more purely abstract composition (in comparison with McKenzie's other work) but in fact worked on the idea of an aerial view of the same wrestling arena. Coupled with this monochrome painting was a more colourful dress garment, incorporating a spectral and speckled white pattern that resembled falling snow. 'Medulienka' followed a very similar format- in the case of this work it referenced the controversial basketball final between the USSR and USA. Each of these works continued to highlight McKenzie's ongoing interest in painting as a history subject, and its relationship to news and broadcasting media.


When Diane Paulus, artistic director and CEO of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) first started in 2008, she attracted media coverage around an aesthetic that aimed to give the audience more ownership over the theater experience, excited theatergoers by experimenting with new venues and received critical recognition for the breadth and range of the work she staged. Paulus also recognized the changing realities in theater, which included dropping subscription numbers and an increase in single ticket buyers. Paulus, inspired by the mission of the A.R.T. - to expand the boundaries of theater - hastened a shift in the A.R.T. business model. Her new plans included operating two unique segmented venues, creating and presenting varied content that aimed to be both challenging and popular, and driving a sales and marketing campaign focused on single ticket buyers, memberships and dynamic pricing. Early results showed some promise; the A.R.T. was closer to break-even than in previous years. However, some questioned if the A.R.T. was beginning to look like a commercial theater, focused on presenting theater that sold, rather than truly expanding boundaries. Despite the questioning, Paulus remained committed to fulfilling her vision of the A.R.T. mission in order to solidify A.R.T. as a leading and financially stable not-for-profit regional theater. Learning Objective: Illustrate how leaders manage their organizations to effectively overcome the barriers to high performance; Illustrate how leaders are working to transform the current nonprofit operating environment to make it more supportive of and focused on organizational performance; Illustrate a non-profit connecting mission, and effective strategy; Illustrate leading change at a nonprofit organization that delivers on its mission.


Who makes sport policy and why do we need it? What is the purpose of sport development programmes? "Sport Policy and Development" answers these questions and more by closely examining the complex relationships between modern sport, sport policy and development and other aspects of the wider society. These important issues are explored via detailed case studies of key aspects of sport policy and sport development activity, including: school sport and physical education; social inclusion; health; elite sport; and, sporting mega-events. Each case study demonstrates the ways in which the sport policy and development fields have changed, and are continually changing in response to the increasing political, social and cultural significance of sport. The book helps the reader to understand the complexities of the sport policy-making process, the increasing intervention of government in the sport policy and development fields, and how the short-term, ever-changing and frequently contradictory political priorities of government come to impact on the practice of sport policy and development. Accessible and engaging, this textbook is an invaluable introduction to sport policy and sport development for students, practitioners and policy-makers alike.


Background Dendritic cells (DCs), professional antigen-presenting cells with the unique ability to initiate primary T-cell responses, are present in atherosclerotic lesions where they are exposed to oxidative stress that generates cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). A large body of evidence indicates that cell death is a major modulating factor of atherogenesis. We examined antioxidant defence systems of human monocyte-derived (mo)DCs and monocytes in response to oxidative stress. Methods Oxidative stress was induced by addition of tertiary-butylhydroperoxide (tert-BHP, 30 min). Cellular responses were evaluated using flow cytometry and confocal live cell imaging (both using 5-(and-6)-chloromethyl-2,7-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate, CM-H2DCFDA). Viability was assessed by the neutral red assay. Total RNA was extracted for a PCR profiler array. Five genes were selected for confirmation by Taqman gene expression assays, and by immunoblotting or immunohistochemistry for protein levels. Results Tert-BHP increased CM-H2DCFDA fluorescence and caused cell death. Interestingly, all processes occurred more slowly in moDCs than in monocytes. The mRNA profiler array showed more than 2-fold differential expression of 32 oxidative stress–related genes in unstimulated moDCs, including peroxiredoxin-2 (PRDX2), an enzyme reducing hydrogen peroxide and lipid peroxides. PRDX2 upregulation was confirmed by Taqman assays, immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry. Silencing PRDX2 in moDCs by means of siRNA significantly increased CM-DCF fluorescence and cell death upon tert-BHP-stimulation. Conclusions Our results indicate that moDCs exhibit higher intracellular antioxidant capacities, making them better equipped to resist oxidative stress than monocytes. Upregulation of PRDX2 is involved in the neutralization of ROS in moDCs. Taken together, this points to better survival skills of DCs in oxidative stress environments, such as atherosclerotic plaques.


In recent years, the importance of location-based services and indoor positioning systems increased significantly for both, research and industry. Visual localization systems have the advantage of not depending on dedicated infrastructure and thus they are interesting for navigation within buildings. While there are already approaches which are using pre-recorded databases of reference images to obtain an absolute position for a given query image, suitable applications which are estimating the relative movement of pedestrians out of a first person perspective video are still missing. This paper presents a novel approach for a pedometer as well as for an activity detector using a such a first person perspective video stream of a pedestrian as input data. The system counts the number of steps and furthermore detects current activities of a user. Therefore, we analyze all video input data with the SURF algorithm in order to extract robust feature points. Especially the orientation and scaling properties of this feature points are used for an accurate measurement.


How have health systems in Europe responded to the crisis? How have these responses affected health system performance and population health? And what are the implications of this experience for health systems facing economic and other forms of shock in the future? This new document summarizes the findings of a joint study by WHO Europe and the Observatory analyzing the impact of health policy responses to the crisis in Europe from 2008 to 2013. It is a key part of a wider initiative to monitor the effects of the crisis on health systems and health, to identify the policies most likely to sustain the performance of health systems facing fiscal pressure and to gain insight into the political economy of implementing reforms in a crisis. The study was supported by the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the UK Department for International Development. It will be published by the Open University Press in January 2015 and will be downloadable from this site soon afterwards.


The rich variety of human upper limb movements requires an extraordinary coordination of different joints according to specific spatio-temporal patterns. However, unvealing these motor schemes is a challenging task. Principal components have been often used for analogous purposes, but such an approach relies on hypothesis of temporal uncorrelation of upper limb poses in time. To overcome these limitations, in this work we leverage on functional Principal Component Analysis (fPCA). We carried out experiments with 7 sbjects performing a set of most significant human actions, selected considering state-of-the-art grasp taxonomies and human kinematic workspace. fPCA results show that human upper limb trajectories can be reconstructed by a linear combination of few principal time dependent functions, with a first component alone explaining around 60/70% of the observed behaviours. This allows to infer that in daily living activities humans reduce the complexity of movement by modulating their motions through a reduced set of few principal patterns. Finally, we discuss how this approach could be profitably applied in robotics and bioengineering, opening fascinating perspectives to advance the state of the art of artificial systems, as it was the case of hand synergies.


Abstract The Mamil Choique halloysite deposits of Patagonia, Argentina, contain randomly distributed green clay inclusions and patches within the halloysite mass. Halloysite has been formed from the thorough alteration of rhyolitic to dacitic ash fall tuffs and ignimbrites of the Huitrera Formation, Eocene age, under ambient conditions. The smectites present in the clay inclusions have been determined as ferruginous beidellites with variables amounts of Fe3+ in octahedral sites. The weathering activity that caused the formation of halloysite was also responsible for the genesis of the iron-bearing clay minerals, the formation of which was controlled mainly by permeability. Textural variations within the rock indicate favourable local geochemical environments for the formation of the green clay minerals.


The common practice in optical networks is to deploy them statically in a future proof approach and to operate them with only traffic/fault driven changes. Lightpaths are overprovisioned with high quality of transmission (QoT) margins to anticipate future degradations, due to interference, aging, and maintenance operations, and to account for inaccuracies in QoT estimation. Such assumptions decrease network efficiency and increase the cost. Moreover, transponders and regenerators are assigned once to demands, yielding low efficiency if traffic varies significantly. Elastic optical technology, feedback from software monitors, and software defined networking enable the dynamic operation of the network. We propose an algorithm that takes into account the actual physical layer and traffic conditions and provisions new or adapts existing lightpaths with actual (just-enough) margins, optimizing placement and transmission parameter decisions for the transponders and regenerators. Using the proposed algorithm in a multi-period scenario, we quantify the benefits that can be achieved when planning with actual margins and varying levels of traffic dynamicity.


ABSTRACT Fuel contamination of soils display complex and variable hydrocarbon mixtures with different volatility and toxicity characteristics. A recently suggested headspace procedure for the structure-based quantification of volatile hydrocarbons is evaluated regarding repeatability, reproducibility, and practical robustness. Three aliphatic and three aromatic fractions covering the boiling range between 69 and 216°C were defined as summation parameters by their respective equivalent carbon number ranges. A standard mixture of 35 aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons was used for calibration on basis of selected mass fragments specific for the aliphatics and aromatics, respectively. Two standard soils were fortified with the standard mixture or different fuels, respectively, and submitted to the analytical procedure. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were for all fractions lower than 0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg, respectively. Analyte recovery was linear up to between 20 and 110 mg hydrocarbons/kg soil depending on the fraction. Hydrocarbon recovery ranged between 80% and 110% depending on the fraction and the repeatability was typically better than 10%. Finally, the impact of extraction solvent variation, column solid-phase polarity, and alternative summation of fractions were investigated. The procedure was applied to liner samples taken from a site contaminated with aviation fuel and its practicability is discussed.


Contributors Preface 1 What Do APRN Prescribers Need to Understand? Marie Annette Brown and Louise Kaplan 2 Embracing the Prescriber Role as an APRN Nancy J. Crigger, Elizabeth K. Kessler, Louise Kaplan, and Marie Annette Brown 3 Creating a Practice Environment for Fully Autonomous Prescriptive Authority Marie Annette Brown and Louise Kaplan 4 Strategies for Assessing, Monitoring, and Addressing Special Considerations with Controlled Substances Pamela Stitzlein Davies 5 Managing Difficult Patient Situations Donna Poole, Marie Annette Brown, and Louise Kaplan 6 The Influences of Pharmaceutical Marketing on APRN Prescribing Elissa Ladd 7 Regulation of Prescriptive Authority Tracy Klein 8 Legal Aspects of Prescribing Carolyn Buppert 9 The Role of Cultural Competence in Prescribing Medications Mary Sobralske, Louise Kaplan, and Marie Annette Brown Index


The 2009 Spinal Model of Care published by the Western Australian Health Department via the Musculoskeletal Health Network would benefit from an update. Best-evidence synthesis and cost-risks-benefits estimations suggest that such guidelines should provide: (1) the early assessment of patients with non-malignant spinal pain (particularly low back) by a musculoskeletal clinician, be it a chiropractor, musculoskeletal physician, osteopath or musculoskeletal physiotherapist with referral within the early stages of the disorder; and (2) the provision of manipulative therapy, where indicated, as a first-line treatment while also providing rehabilitation, health promotion, and contemporary wellness/wellbeing management with the intention of avoiding chronicity. Emerging workforce capacity suggests that early assessment and evidence-based management of non-malignant spinal pain is feasible, leading to better patient outcomes. The authors and the association are hopeful that providing this submission in open access may prove useful for advocates of the chiropractic profession in other jurisdictions.


The artisanal fishery for muricid gastropods in the Ria Formosa lagoon (Algarve coast, southern Portugal) is a locally important fishing activity because the banded murex ( Hexaplex trunculus ) and the purple dye murex ( Bolinus brandaris ) are greatly appreciated seafoods with high commercial value in the Portuguese seafood market. An integrated study was implemented to monitor the muricid gastropod fishery with the artisanal fishing gear ("wallet-line") through monthly experimental fishing operations carried out during one year. The aim was to describe the fishing operations and fishing gear, to estimate the fishing yield, to characterise the target species catch composition, and to identify by-catch species and discards. The "wallet-line" is neither a species-specific nor a size-selective fishing gear, because the catches comprised a variety of by-catch species and a high proportion of commercially under-sized target species. The vast majority of the by-catch is discarded immediately on board, so mortality is presumably negligible. The CPUE of both target species and by-catch species decreased during consecutive fishing days, mainly due to declining bait attraction. Considering the overall information gathered on this fishing activity, some management measures are proposed for this artisanal fishery, which might ultimately contribute to the long-term sustainable exploitation of the fishing resource.


The world's best-selling grammar series for learners of English. English Grammar in Use Fourth edition is an updated version of the world's best-selling grammar title. It has a fresh, appealing new design and clear layout, with revised and updated examples, but retains all the key features of clarity and accessibility that have made the book so popular around the world. This edition includes an eBook which has the same grammar explanations and exercises found in the printed book, plus other great features. You can listen to all of the example sentences from the book, record your answers to exercises, highlight text, bookmark pages and add your own personal notes.


First Law Energy Balance as a Data Screening Tool. (May 2005) Xiaojie Shao, B.S., Tsinghua University, Beijing, China Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. David E. Claridge This thesis defines the Energy Balance Load ( BL E ) as the difference between the heating requirements plus the electric gains in the building and the cooling coil loads. It then applies a first law energy balance in conjunction with the concepts of analytical redundancy (AR) and trend checking to demonstrate that measured values of BL E can be compared with the simulated characteristic ambient temperature-based BL E to serve as a useful tool to identify bad data. Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis are introduced to analyze the impact of each building or system parameter to the simulated values of BL E . A Visual Basic for Application (VBA) program has been developed through this research work, which applies the methodology illustrated in this thesis to automatically prescreen the measured building energy consumption data with the inputs of several key parameters. Through case studies of six on-campus buildings, the methodology and the program successfully identified monitored consumption data that appears to be erroneous, which may result from incorrect scale factors of the sensors and the operational changes to the building that may enormously affect the key parameters as the simulation inputs. Finally, suggestions are given for the on-line diagnostics of sensor signals.


A government agenda of openness and transparency is critical to improving the quality of services to users and streamlining bureaucratic procedures. Efficiency and transparency in administrative processes, access to information, user-friendliness of paperwork, and mechanisms for resolving paperwork issues must be ensured so that citizens can fully exercise their rights when requesting a decision from the government, applying for a license, or soliciting other information or documentation issued by the State. Bolivia's Ministry for Institutional Transparency and Fight against Corruption treated user experience as a fundamental aspect of the relationship between citizens and the public sector by launching a contest in 2011 called "The Worst Bureaucratic Procedure of My Life". The aim was to solicit examples from users of extremely bureaucratic procedures as well as proposals to improve them.


Today in South Africa issues of political economy, including the land question, are necessarily coming face-to-face with a resurgent politics of difference informing long-standing histories of dispossession whose continuities with such politics of difference are frequently denied. Despite the country's "transition" to democracy a genuinely decolonial present has not, as yet, come into being. But from #Rhodes-MustFall to #FeesMustFall to the October 6, 2015, anti-outsourcing campaign there is a growing sense that the incompletion of the transition to democracy is being contested and that the interregnum is drawing to a close as something genuinely new is trying to be born.


We introduce a new class of wavelets that behave like a given differential operator L. Our construction is inspired by the derivative-like behavior of classical wavelets. Within our framework, the wavelet coefficients of a signal y are the samples of a smoothed version of L{y}. For a linear system characterized by an operator equation L{y} = x, the operator-like wavelet transform essentially deconvolves the system output y and extracts the "innovation" signal x. The main contributions of the thesis include: Exponential-spline wavelets. We consider the system L described by a linear differential equation and build wavelets that mimic the behavior of L. The link between the wavelet and the operator is an exponential B-spline function; its integer shifts span the multiresolution space. The construction that we obtain is non-stationary in the sense that the wavelets and the scaling functions depend on the scale. We propose a generalized version of Mallat's fast filterbank algorithm with scale-dependent filters to efficiently perform the decomposition and reconstruction in the new wavelet basis. Activelets in fMRI. As a practical biomedical imaging application, we study the problem of activity detection in event-related fMRI. For the differential system that links the measurements and the stimuli, we use a linear approximation of the balloon/windkessel model for the hemodynamic response. The corresponding wavelets (we call them activelets) are specially tuned for temporal fMRI signal analysis. We assume that the stimuli are sparse in time and extract the activity-related signal by optimizing a criterion with a sparsity regularization term. We test the method with synthetic fMRI data. We then apply it to a high-resolution fMRI retinotopy dataset to demonstrate its applicability to real data. Operator-like wavelets. Finally, we generalize the operator-like wavelet construction for a wide class of differential operators L in multiple dimensions. We give conditions that L must satisfy to generate a valid multiresolution analysis. We show that Matern and polyharmonic wavelets are particular cases of our construction.


The superior orders defence is a criminal law defence which allows soldiers to avoid conviction for illegal acts committed under orders. Recently the debate regarding this defence in England has intensified. Most jurists are divided between two positions: one asserts that this defence should be rejected and that English law does in fact reject it; the other argues that this defence is already the law, and further that it should continue to be so. The article argues that both sides are incorrect. It shows that current law is unclear and unjust and argues that this is due to a premise, held by both camps, regarding the need to regulate the issue based on a one-rule-fits-all policy. The article thus opines that, instead, a law should be adopted that differentiates between situation-specific categories; mainly between high-ranking and low-ranking subordinates, as well as between emergency and non-emergency situations.


Objective: To examine the effect of smoking regulations in local restaurants on anti-smoking attitudes and quitting behaviours among adult smokers. Design: Hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) was used to assess the relationship between baseline strength of town-level restaurant smoking regulation and follow-up (1) perceptions of the social acceptability of smoking and (2) quitting behaviours. Setting: Each of the 351 Massachusetts towns was classified as having strong (complete smoking ban) or weak (all other and no smoking restrictions) restaurant smoking regulations. Subjects: 1712 adult smokers of Massachusetts aged ⩾18 years at baseline who were interviewed via random-digit-dial telephone survey in 2001–2 and followed up 2 years later. Main outcome measures: Perceived social acceptability of smoking in restaurants and bars, and making a quit attempt and quitting smoking. Results: Among adult smokers who had made a quit attempt at baseline, living in a town with a strong regulation was associated with a threefold increase in the odds of making a quit attempt at follow-up (OR = 3.12; 95% CI 1.51 to 6.44). Regulation was found to have no effect on cessation at follow-up. A notable, although marginal, effect of regulation was observed for perceiving smoking in bars as socially unacceptable only among smokers who reported at baseline that smoking in bars was socially unacceptable. Conclusions: Although local restaurant smoking regulations did not increase smoking cessation rates, they did increase the likelihood of making a quit attempt among smokers who had previously tried to quit, and seem to reinforce anti-social smoking norms among smokers who already viewed smoking in bars as socially unacceptable.


Innovation in the financial market has provided more flexible choices of financial products and services to the consumers. Financial products and services are becoming more complex and not easily comprehendible by many consumers. Due to this, consumers with low financial literacy (FL) may face difficulties to make informed decisions on their savings and investments. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the level of financial literary and its relationship with risk tolerance (RT) towards savings and investments in the context of Malaysia. A total of 172 respondents have been selected using convenience sampling method through online and manual survey. Data were analysed descriptively and statistically using nonparametric techniques, which include Chi-square and Spearman's Rank Correlation to examine the relationship between variables studied. The results suggest that the overall FL in Malaysia is at moderate level. The study also found that overall FL has a positive significant relationship with the level of RT towards saving and investment. More specific analysis, however, found that only advance FL has a relationship with RT levels. Meanwhile, basic FL was not correlated with the level of respondents' RT.


proceedings. Since changes may be made before publication, this preprint should not be cited or reproduced without permission of the author. This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, or any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for any third party's use, or the results of such use, of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use by such third party would not infringe privately owned rights. The views expressed in this paper are not necessarily those of the United States Government or the sponsoring agency. INL/CON-13-28137 PREPRINT


We measured the He, Ne, and Ar isotopic concentrations and the 10Be, 26Al, 36Cl, and 41Ca concentrations in 56 iron meteorites of groups IIIAB, IIAB, IVA, IC, IIA, IIB, and one ungrouped. From 41Ca and 36Cl data, we calculated terrestrial ages indistinguishable from zero for six samples, indicating recent falls, up to 562 ± 86 ka. Three of the studied meteorites are falls. The data for the other 47 irons confirm that terrestrial ages for iron meteorites can be as long as a few hundred thousand years even in relatively humid conditions. The 36Cl‐36Ar cosmic ray exposure (CRE) ages range from 4.3 ± 0.4 Ma to 652 ± 99 Ma. By including literature data, we established a consistent and reliable CRE age database for 67 iron meteorites. The high quality of the CRE ages enables us to study structures in the CRE age histogram more reliably. At first sight, the CRE age histogram shows peaks at about 400 and 630 Ma. After correction for pairing, the updated CRE age histogram comprises 41 individual samples and shows no indications of temporal periodicity, especially not if one considers each iron meteorite group separately. Our study contradicts the hypothesis of periodic GCR intensity variations (Shaviv 2002, 2003), confirming other studies indicating that there are no periodic structures in the CRE age histogram (e.g., Rahmstorf et al. 2004; Jahnke 2005). The data contradict the hypothesis that periodic GCR intensity variations might have triggered periodic Earth climate changes. The 36Cl‐36Ar CRE ages are on average 40% lower than the 41K‐K CRE ages (e.g., Voshage 1967). This offset can either be due to an offset in the 41K‐K dating system or due to a significantly lower GCR intensity in the time interval 195–656 Ma compared to the recent past. A 40% lower GCR intensity, however, would have increased the Earth temperature by up to 2 °C, which seems unrealistic and leaves an ill‐defined 41K‐K CRE age system the most likely explanation. Finally, we present new 26Al/21Ne and 10Be/21Ne production rate ratios of 0.32 ± 0.01 and 0.44 ± 0.03, respectively.


OBJECTIVE
To characterize the clinical features, risk factors, radiographic findings, and prognosis of Wernicke encephalopathy after bariatric surgery.

METHODS
We performed a systematic review of MEDLINE, Embase, Ovid, ISI (Science Citation Index), and Google Scholar for case reports, case series, or cohort studies of Wernicke encephalopathy after bariatric surgery.

RESULTS
We found 32 cases (27 of whom were women) reported, from 2 weeks to 18 months after the procedure. Most patients had vomiting as a risk factor (n = 25) and presented with the triad of Wernicke encephalopathy (confusion, ataxia, and nystagmus; n = 21). Optic neuropathy, papilledema, deafness, seizures, asterixis, weakness, and sensory and motor neuropathy were also reported. Characteristic radiographic findings were hyperintense signals in the periaqueductal gray area and dorsal medial nucleus of the thalamus; radiographs were normal in 15 patients. One series from Brazil reported 4 patients (among 50 patients) with Wernicke encephalopathy; all presented with vomiting and concomitant peripheral neuropathy at a median of 2.5 months (1.5 to 3 months) after bariatric surgery. Another series identified 2 of 23 patients (both women) with Wernicke encephalopathy after bariatric surgery.

CONCLUSION
Wernicke encephalopathy after bariatric surgery usually occurs between 4 and 12 weeks postoperatively, especially in young women with vomiting. Atypical neurologic features are common. The diagnosis is mainly clinical, because radiographic findings are normal in some patients. Prospective studies to determine the prevalence of this problem and protocols for preventive thiamine supplementation need evaluation.


Humanity's plans to further explore the solar system requires the development of bio-regenerative life support systems (BLSS), fully incorporated into the habitat infrastructure. A Greenhouse Module (GHM) would contribute to food production, CO2 reduction, O2 production, water recycling and waste management.
It is essential to test these GHM technologies in a similar environment to space and with relevant mass flows in order to increase their Technology Readiness Level. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is planning to design and operate a GHM test facility at an analogue test site. Therefore, the Antarctic Neumayer Station III of the German Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) has been identified as an ideal testing ground.


This article draws upon the emotion at work literature to explore how workers manage their feelings in dealing with death as a routine part of their working lives. It focuses on a specific group of workers, healthcare assistants (HCAs) in a hospital setting, who in delivering direct patient care have a particularly intimate relationship with dying and death. Based upon interview data from HCAs in four English acute hospital trusts, the article argues that the emotional outcomes of patient deaths can be explained by the nature of death as an event – its structure, context and actor circumstances – and by how HCAs appraise that event through the use of cognitive change and attentional deployment.


Networked control systems are increasingly ubiquitous today, with applications ranging from vehicle communication and adaptive power grids to space exploration and economics. The optimal design of such systems presents major challenges, requiring tools from various disciplines within applied mathematics such as decentralized control, stochastic control, information theory, and quantization. A thorough, self-contained book, Stochastic Networked Control Systems: Stabilization and Optimization under Information Constraints aims to connect these diverse disciplines with precision and rigor, while conveying design guidelines to controller architects. Unique in the literature, it lays a comprehensive theoretical foundation for the study of networked control systems, and introduces an array of concrete tools for work in the field. Salient features included: Characterization, comparison and optimal design of information structures in static and dynamic teams. Operational, structural and topological properties of information structures in optimal decision making, with a systematic program for generating optimal encoding and control policies. The notion of signaling, and its utilization in stabilization and optimization of decentralized control systems. Presentation of mathematical methods for stochastic stability of networked control systems using random-time, state-dependent drift conditions and martingale methods. Characterization and study of information channels leading to various forms of stochastic stability such as stationarity, ergodicity, and quadratic stability; and connections with information and quantization theories. Analysis of various classes of centralized and decentralized control systems. Jointly optimal design of encoding and control policies over various information channels and under general optimization criteria, including a detailed coverage of linear-quadratic-Gaussian models. Decentralized agreement and dynamic optimization under information constraints. This monograph is geared toward a broad audience of academic and industrial researchers interested in control theory, information theory, optimization, economics, and applied mathematics. It could likewise serve as a supplemental graduate text. The reader is expected to have some familiarity with linear systems, stochastic processes, and Markov chains, but the necessary background can also be acquired in part through the four appendices included at the end. Characterization, comparison and optimal design of information structures in static and dynamic teams. Operational, structural and topological properties of information structures in optimal decision making, with a systematic program for generating optimal encoding and control policies. The notion of signaling, and its utilization in stabilization and optimization of decentralized control systems. Presentation of mathematical methods for stochastic stability of networked control systems using random-time, state-dependent drift conditions and martingale methods. Characterization and study of information channels leading to various forms of stochastic stability such as stationarity, ergodicity, and quadratic stability; and connections with information and quantization theories. Analysis of various classes of centralized and decentralized control systems. Jointly optimal design of encoding and control policies over various information channels and under general optimization criteria, including a detailed coverage of linear-quadratic-Gaussian models. Decentralized agreement and dynamic optimization under information constraints. This monograph is geared toward a broad audience of academic and industrial researchers interested in control theory, information theory, optimization, economics, and applied mathematics. It could likewise serve as a supplemental graduate text. The reader is expected to have some familiarity with linear systems, stochastic processes, and Markov chains, but the necessary background can also be acquired in part through the four appendices included at the end.


Objective. Beyond the exacerbation of pain in describing a flare in osteoarthritis (OA), patients and health professionals add other elements that deserve to be fully elucidated, such as effusion, swelling, and mobility limitation. To define and conceptualize the construct flare in OA, the objective was to identify the key variables, or symptoms, that worsen, and to clarify how these variables are described in the literature by patients and clinicians. Methods. A systematic review of the literature was conducted in Medline and PsychINFO. In brief, the search terms used were "osteoarthritis," "knee," "hip," and "flare." Specific characteristics of included studies were identified, including the type of study design, type of flare assessed, how the flare developed, and what definition of flare was used, including whether the definition was based on qualitative or quantitative analysis. Results. Pain was the major factor in the definition of flare within these studies. Four components of flare were identified: pain, other factors, composite criteria, and global assessment. While the majority of studies reported flare as an increase in pain using standardized outcome measures, only 1 study reported the antecedents and consequences of a pain flare using qualitative methods. Conclusion. The use of flare as an outcome or inclusion criterion in rheumatology trials is a common occurrence; however, this review highlights the wide variation in the definitions of OA flare currently in use and the emphasis on the measurement of pain. This variation in definition does not allow for direct comparison between trials and limits interpretation of evidence.


A transient test system was developed for a single cylinder research engine that greatly improves test accuracy by allowing the single cylinder to operate as though it were part of a multi-cylinder engine. The system contains two unique test components: a high bandwidth transient hydrostatic dynamometer, and an intake airflow simulator. The high bandwidth dynamometer is used to produce a speed trajectory for the single cylinder engine that is equivalent to that produced by a multi-cylinder engine. The dynamometer has high torque capacity and low inertia allowing it to simulate the speed ripple of a multi-cylinder engine while the single cylinder engine is firing. Hardware in loop models of the drivetrain and other components can be used to test the engine as though it were part of a complete vehicle, allowing standardized emissions tests to be run. The intake airflow simulator is a specialized intake manifold that uses solenoid air valves and a vacuum pump to draw air from the manifold plenum in a manner that simulates flow to other engine cylinders, which are not present in the single cylinder test configuration. By regulating this flow from the intake manifold, the pressure in the manifold and the flow through the induction system are nearly identical to that of the multi-cylinder application. The intake airflow simulator allows the intake runner wave dynamics to be more representative of the intended multi-cylinder application because the appropriate pressure trajectory is maintained in the intake manifold plenum throughout the engine cycle. The system is ideally suited for engine control development because an actual engine cylinder is used along with a test system capable of generating a wide range of transient test conditions. The ability to perform transient tests with a single cylinder engine may open up new areas of research exploring combustion and flow under transient conditions. The system can also be used for testing the engine under conditions such as cylinder deactivation, fuel cut-off, and engine restart. The improved rotational dynamics and improved intake manifold dynamics of the test system allow the single cylinder engine to be used for control development and emissions testing early in the engine development process. This can reduce development time and cost because it allows hardware problems to be identified before building more expensive multi-cylinder engines.Copyright © 2005 by ASME


The well-established notion of a "common population" of the accelerated electrons simultaneously producing the hard X-ray (HXR) and microwave (MW) emission during the flare impulsive phase has been challenged by some studies reporting the discrepancies between the HXR-inferred and MW-inferred electron energy spectra. The traditional methods of spectral inversion have some problems that can be mainly attributed to the unrealistic and oversimplified treatment of the flare emission. To properly address this problem, we use a nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) model extrapolated from an observed photospheric magnetogram as input to the three-dimensional, multiwavelength modeling platform GX Simulator and create a unified electron population model that can simultaneously reproduce the observed HXR and MW observations. We model the end of the impulsive phase of the 2015 June 22 M6.5 flare and constrain the modeled electron spatial and energy parameters using observations made by the highest-resolving instruments currently available in two wavelengths, the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager for HXR and the Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array for MW. Our results suggest that the HXR-emitting electron population model fits the standard flare model with a broken power-law spectrum ( keV) that simultaneously produces the HXR footpoint emission and the MW high-frequency emission. The model also includes an "HXR-invisible" population of nonthermal electrons that are trapped in a large volume of magnetic field above the HXR-emitting loops, which is observable by its gyrosynchrotron radiation emitting mainly in the MW low-frequency range.


For over two-hundred years, the Third Amendment has been mocked and neglected. Scholars of all political stripes have assumed that quartering was such an obvious, yet such an obscure violation that it need not be discussed or addressed. The scholarly culture of benign neglect towards the Third Amendment means that no one has ever seriously looked at the debates surrounding the quartering amendment to determine what the Founders' meant when they used the term and what they sought to ban in the amendment.A comprehensive look at the Constitutional Debates and the American quartering experience illustrates that when the Founders used the term quartering, the used it to refer to an expansive violation for the social contract by the British Army: the military enforcement of law. By banning quartering during peacetime, they barred soldiers from enforcing the law in almost all areas of civilian life. Conversely, by allowing quartering during time of war in a manner prescribed by law, the Founders allowed soldiers to take over civilian law enforcement during wartime, so long as it was approved by Congress.This revelation has profound implications for our understanding of military powers. Particularly, it questions the validity of using the Fourth Amendment to analyze military searches and seizures - particularly because the same debates illustrate that the Fourth Amendment was never meant to apply to the military - and suggests that current national security law enforcement policies, including NSA wiretapping, should be analyzed under a Third Amendment standard.


In accordance with Executive Order 13078, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in cooperation with the Employment Rate Measurement Methodology interagency workgroup, identified the goal of placing a small set of questions within the Current Population Survey (CPS) to measure disability. A set of potential questions was drawn from existing surveys, cognitively tested, and placed in the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) for testing. Based on an analysis of the NCS data, a set of seven questions was identified. These seven questions were then cognitively tested to ensure that they would work within the CPS context. This question set was placed in the February 2006 CPS for field testing. The two primary goals of the test were to compare the CPS disability rate to that obtained from the NCS, and to evaluate the effect on CPS response rates in the following month. Analysis of the test data revealed a lower overall disability rate as measured in the CPS than in the NCS, with lower positive response rates for each question. The data did not indicate that there was an adverse effect on the response rates for households that had received the disability questions.


The No Child Left Behind legislation has served to make educators throughout the country more aware of the need to increase student academic performance on an annual basis. As part of the effort to report on satisfactory performance, the Virginia Department of Education evaluates school organizations based upon the annual student percent pass rate on the Standards of Learning assessment. This evaluation may result in schools being categorized as either low or high performing. The major difference between the two categories is obviously student academic performance, but there may be other differences in the school organizations that would also account for the categorization of schools. This leads to the possibility of other variables that may play a part in the difference between low and high performing schools. Five possible variables that may have such an influence would be the condition of the school building, teacher quality, school enrollment, student attendance and participation in the free and reduced-priced lunch program. These were the five variables that were investigated in this study which sought to ascertain if there is a significant difference in the teacher quality measure when the school is rated iii as either high or low performing. If a significant difference exists, the data may indicate that the quality of the teacher influences the rating of the school. Likewise, data regarding the condition of the building, school enrollment and student attendance rates and participation in the free and reduced-price lunch program may indicate an influence that these variables may have upon the rating of the school performance. All of this could be of importance to local school authorities in making decisions relative to improving student learning. This study found there to be no significant difference between the building conditions, teacher quality, and school enrollment in the high and low performing schools; however, a significant difference did exist between the student attendance rates and in the population of students participating in the free and reduced-price lunch program in the high and low performing schools.


This report describes tests made for the purpose of determining the distribution of pressure over a model of the tapered portion of the upper wing and the aileron of a Fokker D-VII Airplane. Normal pressures were measured simultaneously at 74 points distributed over the wing and aileron. Tests were made throughout the useful range of angles of attack with aileron setting ranging from -20 degrees to +20 degrees. The results are presented graphically. It was found that the pressure distribution along the chord is in general similar to that of thick tapered airfoils previously tested. The maximum resultant pressure recorded was five times the dynamic pressure. The distribution of the air load along the span may be assumed to be uniform for design purposes. Aileron displacements affect the pressures forward to the leading edge of the wing and may increase the air load on the outer portion of the wing by a considerable amount. With the wing at large angles of attack, the overhanging portion of the aileron creates usually a burble flow and therefore a large drag. The balance reduces the control stick forces at small angles of attack for all aileron displacements. At large angles of attack it does this for small displacements only. With the airplane at its maximum speed, an angle of attack of 18 degrees, and a down aileron displacement of 20 degrees, the bending moment tending to break off the overhanging portion of the aileron will be greater than that caused by a uniform static load of 35 pounds per square foot.


Several mouse genes designated 'Pax genes' contain a highly conserved DNA sequence homologous to the paired box of Drosophila. Here we describe the isolation of Pax8, a novel paired box containing clone from an 8.5 day p.c. mouse embryo cDNA library. An open reading frame of 457 amino acids (aa) contains the 128 aa paired domain near the amino terminus. Another conserved region present in some other paired box genes, the octapeptide Tyr-Ser-Ile-Asn-Gly-Leu-Leu-Gly, is located 43 aa C-terminal to the paired domain. Using an interspecies backcross system, we have mapped the Pax8 gene within the proximal portion of mouse chromosome 2 in a close linkage to the surf locus. Several developmental mutations are located in this region. In situ hybridization was used to determine the pattern of Pax8 expression during mouse embryogenesis. Pax8 is expressed transiently between 11.5 and 12.5 days of gestation along the rostrocaudal axis extending from the myelencephalon throughout the length of the neural tube, predominantly in two parallel regions on either side of the basal plate. We also detected Pax8 expression in the developing thyroid gland beginning at 10.5 days of gestation, during the thyroid evagination. In the mesonephros and metanephros the expression of Pax8 was localized to the mesenchymal condensations, which are induced by the nephric duct and ureter, respectively. These condensations develop to functional units, the nephrons, of the kidney. These data are consistent with a role for Pax8 in the induction of kidney epithelium. The embryonic expression pattern of Pax8 is compared with that of Pax2, another recently described paired box gene expressed in the developing excretory system.


During the period since 1990 political discussions on issues concerning the organization of regional government and local self-rule have not been subsiding neither in Lithuanian parliament nor the broader public sphere. The object of these discussions has not only been the optimization of administration at the subnational level, but also dealt with issues connected to ethnographic identities of Lithuanian regions, constitutional regulation and the extent of the right to local self-rule. This article tries to take a broader look at the subject by trying to make sense of it through the application of the concept of politico-administrative dichotomy and its connection to administrative values prevalent among MPs. A semi-structured interview with the members of the parliamentary committee tasked with addressing issues of subnational governance has shown that the parliament despite its near omnipotence to regulate is reluctant to do so without the involvement of local communities which in turn lack resources to make an impact. We have discovered that there little or no a priori conceptualization about the division of functions between the administrative and executive branches of local self-rule and government at subnational level among MPs. Despite the political rhetoric surrounding local self-rule reforms and regional reform we have discovered that there is little political will to action, especially with regard to regionalization. Regional reform is understood as a drain on political capital whatever the outcome. On the main local self-rule question: direct election of mayors, there is broad agreement about the need for such reform, however no consensus even within political parties as to what powers should be given to mayors. Finally, on the subject of involving community in self governance all respondents agreed about its centrality to good governance on the local level. However, among the representatives of the ruling coalition this was countered by rhetoric more akin to New Public Management philosophy, while only one opposition force saw a role for parliament at regulating the involvement on NGOs and local community.


Classically, statistical datasets have a larger number of data points than features ( n > p ). The standard model of classical statistics caters for the case where data points are considered conditionally independent given the parameters. However, for n ≈ p or p > n such models are poorly determined. Kalaitzis et al. (2013) introduced the Bigraphical Lasso, an estimator for sparse precision matrices based on the Cartesian product of graphs. Unfor-tunately, the original Bigraphical Lasso algorithm is not applicable in case of large p and n due to memory requirements. We exploit eigenvalue decomposition of the Cartesian product graph to present a more efficient version of the algorithm which reduces memory requirements from O ( n 2 p 2 ) to O ( n 2 + p 2 ). Many datasets in different application fields, such as biology, medicine and social science, come with count data, for which Gaussian based models are not applicable. Our multi-way network inference approach can be used for discrete data. Our methodology accounts for the dependencies across both instances and features, reduces the computational complexity for high dimensional data and enables to deal with both discrete and continuous data. Numerical studies on both synthetic and real datasets are presented to showcase the performance of our method.


The significant growth in mobile data traffic and the ever- increasing user's demand for high-speed, always connected networks continue challenging network providers and lead research towards solutions to enable faster, scalable and more flexible networks. In this paper we present the CROWD approach, a networking framework providing mechanisms to tackle the high densification and heterogeneity of wireless networks. The goal of CROWD is to design protocols and algorithms for very dense and heterogeneous wireless networks, which we call DenseNets. The mechanisms we propose include energy efficiency, MAC enhancements, connectivity management and backhaul configuration to contribute to the next generation of networks considering density as a resource instead of as an obstacle.


The primary objective of the research reported here has been the development of a hybrid reference material (RM) to serve as a test of accuracy for elemental carbon (EC) isotopic (14 C) speciation measurements. Such measurements are vital for the quantitative apportionment of fossil and biomass sources of " soot " (EC), the tracer of fire that has profound effects on health, atmospheric visibility, and climate. Previous studies of 14 C-EC measurement quality, carried out with NIST SRM 1649a (Urban Dust), showed a range of results, but since the " truth " was not known for this natural matrix RM, one had to rely on isotopic-chemical consistency evidence (14 C in PAH, EC) of measurement validity (Currie et al., 2002). Components of the new Hybrid RM (DiesApple), however, have known 14 C and EC composition, and they are nearly orthogonal (isotopically and chemically). NIST SRM 2975 (Forklift Diesel Soot) has little or no 14 C, and its major compositional component is EC; SRM 1515 (Apple Leaves) has the 14 C content of biomass-C, and it has little or no EC. Thus, the Hybrid RM can serve as an absolute isotopic test for the absence of EC-mimicking pyrolysis-C (char) from SRM 1515 in the EC isolate of the Hybrid RM, as well as a test for conservation of its dominant soot fraction throughout the isolation procedure. The secondary objective was to employ the Hybrid RM for the comparative evaluation of the thermal optical kinetic (TOK) and thermal optical transmission (TOT) methods for the isolation of EC for micro-molar carbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). As part of this process, the relatively new TOK method was subjected to a critical evaluation and significant development. Key findings of our study are: (1) both methods exhibited biomass-C " leakage " ; for TOT, the EC fraction isolated for AMS contained about 8% of the original biomass-C; for TOK, the refractory carbon (RC) isolated contained about 3% of the original biomass-C.; (2) the initial isothermal oxidation stage of the TOK method substantially reduced the transfer of artifact char to the RC fraction, improving isolation capabilities; (3) the Hybrid RM was not equal to the sum of its parts, with matrix interactions inducing premature loss of EC which, however, could be quantified and minimized; (4) the three-stage TOK method provided a superior capability for carbonate quantification at the sub-micromolar level, with " reagent-free " removal of carbonate-C …


Visible light excitation of [Ru(bpz)(2)(deeb)](PF(6))(2), where bpz is 2,2'-bipyrazine and deeb is 4,4'-(CO(2)Et)(2)-2,2'-bipyridine, in acetonitrile solutions with iodide is shown to initiate excited-state electron transfer reactions that yield iodine atoms. The iodine atoms subsequently react with iodide to form the I-I bond in I(2)(-*). The resultant Ru(bpz(-))(bpz)(deeb)(+), I(2)(-*) stores approximately 1.64 eV of free energy and returns cleanly to ground-state products with k(cr) = (2.1 +/- 0.3) x 10(10) M(-1) s(-1).


This book bridges optimal control theory and economics, discussing ordinary differential equations, optimal control, game theory, and mechanism design in one volume. Technically rigorous and largely self-contained, it provides an introduction to the use of optimal control theory for deterministic continuous-time systems in economics. The theory of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) is the backbone of the theory developed in the book, and chapter 2 offers a detailed review of basic concepts in the theory of ODEs, including the solution of systems of linear ODEs, state-space analysis, potential functions, and stability analysis. Following this, the book covers the main results of optimal control theory, in particular necessary and sufficient optimality conditions; game theory, with an emphasis on differential games; and the application of control-theoretic concepts to the design of economic mechanisms. Appendixes provide a mathematical review and full solutions to all end-of-chapter problems. The material is presented at three levels: single-person decision making; games, in which a group of decision makers interact strategically; and mechanism design, which is concerned with a designer's creation of an environment in which players interact to maximize the designer's objective. The book focuses on applications; the problems are an integral part of the text. It is intended for use as a textbook or reference for graduate students, teachers, and researchers interested in applications of control theory beyond its classical use in economic growth. The book will also appeal to readers interested in a modeling approach to certain practical problems involving dynamic continuous-time models.


For many years, economists have been using statistical tools to estimate parameters of macroeconomic models. Forecasting plays a major role in macroeconomic planning and it is an essential analytical tool in countries' economic strategies. In recent years, researchers are developing new techniques for estimation. Most of these alternative approaches have their origins in the computational intelligence. They have the ability to approximate nonlinear functions, parameters are updated adaptively. In particular, this research focuses on the application of neural networks in modeling and estimation of macroeconomic parameters. Neural networks have received an increasing amount of attention among macroeconomic forecasters because of the ability to approximate any linear and nonlinear relationship with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Turkey is one of the European Union candidate countries such as Iceland, Montenegro, Serbia and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In this study eight macroeconomic indicators including gross domestic product (volume, NGDPD), gross national savings (NGSD_NGDP), inflation (average consumer prices, PCPI), population (LP), total investment (NID_NGDP), unemployment rate (LUR), volume of exports of goods and services (TX_RPCH), volume of imports of goods and services (TM_RPCH) were used for forecasting. As analysis tools, classical time series forecasting methods such as moving averages, exponential smoothing, Brown's single parameter linear exponential smoothing, Brown's second-order exponential smoothing, Holt's two parameter linear exponential smoothing and decomposition methods applied to macroeconomic data. The study focuses mainly on the applicability of artificial neural network model for forecasting macroeconomic parameters in long term and comparing the artificial neural network's results with the Traditional Time Series Analysis (Smoothing & Decomposition Techniques). To facilitate the presentation, an empirical example is developed to forecast Turkey's eight important macroeconomic parameters. Time Series statistical theory and methods are used to select an adequate technique, based on residual analysis. Turkey will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its foundation in 2023. Policies and implementations targeted for raising economic position.


Conway's law assumes a strong association between the system's architecture and the organization's communication structure that designs it. In the light of contemporary software development, when many companies rely on geographically distributed teams, which often turn out to be temporarily composed and thus having an often-changing communication structure, the importance of Conway's law and its inspired work grows. In this paper, we examine empirical research related to Conway's law and its application for cross-site coordination. Based on the results obtained we conjecture that changes in the communication structure alone sooner or later trigger changes in the design structure of the software products to return the socio-technical system into the state of congruence. This is further used to formulate a concept of a rubber band effect and propose a replication study that goes beyond the original idea of Conway's law by investigating the evolution of socio-technical congruence over time.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Latina women bear a disproportionate burden of symptomatic pelvic floor disorders (PFDs) compared with other racial/ethnic groups. Disparities have been identified across the continuum of care for diagnosis, treatment and surgical outcomes. This study assessed the knowledge, attitude, behaviors and beliefs in Spanish-speaking Latina women with PFDs to begin to understand the reasons underlying these disparities. METHODS: Spanish-speaking women with pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and/or mixed urinary incontinence (MUI) were recruited from a public Urogynecology specialty clinic in Los Angeles. Two focus groups (n=18) were conducted by a Spanish-speaking moderator. Topics addressed knowledge and cultural beliefs about PFDs, concerns regarding symptoms, determinants of seeking care, self-perception and relationships with partners. The focus group transcripts were qualitatively analyzed using Grounded Theory methodology. RESULTS: Several themes emerged from our analysis and were grouped into three categories: knowledge and beliefs, personal responses to symptom onset, and behavioral responses to symptom onset (Table 1). With regards to knowledge and beliefs, stereotypes and cultural barriers inhibit Latina women from openly discussing their symptoms; however, these women voiced a strong desire for change at both the community and personal level to increase awareness about PFDs. Personal responses to symptom onset included an undesirable emotional response, barriers to seek help, and changes in self-perception. The behavioral response to symptom onset ultimately impacted personal relationships, as well as resulted in delays in seeking care and varied treatment choices. CONCLUSIONS: Spanish-speaking Latina women with PFDs are heavily influenced by their culture and lack of knowledge of the disease process which produces feelings of shame, fear and isolation. As a result, these patients avoid discussions regarding their symptoms, and ultimately delay care and treatment until their condition is very advanced. The Latina women in our focus groups were motivated and empowered to change stereotypes regarding the disease and agreed that more public awareness is needed, specifically in the Latino community, to help educate women that it is normal and healthy to talk about PFDs. Table. No title available. Source of Funding: This work was supported by SC CTSI pilot funding program (UL1TR001855 and UL1TR000130 NCATS/NIH)


The paper presents modelling of an articulated vehicle by means of joint coordinates, which enable us to describe the motion of the system with a minimal number of generalised coordinates. We consider a model of a semi-trailer formulated using joint coordinates and homogenous transformations. Such an approach enables us to treat the vehicle as a kinematic chain consisting of three single units with an even number of wheels. This means that a single unit vehicle has a structure of an open kinematic chain in a tree form. The contact of wheels with the road is modelled by the Dugoff-Uffelman model. The model is validated by comparing the simulation results with those obtained from experimental measurements. Friction in the fifth wheel is one of the important parameters influencing the motion of a tractor with a semi-trailer. The model presented enables us to analyse different models of friction in the fifth wheel. The influence of those friction models on the results is presented and discussed.


Early assessment of infectious disease outbreaks is key to implementing timely and effective control measures. In particular, rapidly recognising whether infected individuals stem from a single outbreak sustained by local transmission, or from repeated introductions, is crucial to adopt effective interventions. In this study, we introduce a new framework for combining several data streams, e.g. temporal, spatial and genetic data, to identify clusters of related cases of an infectious disease. Our method explicitly accounts for underreporting, and allows incorporating preexisting information about the disease, such as its serial interval, spatial kernel, and mutation rate. We define, for each data stream, a graph connecting all cases, with edges weighted by the corresponding pairwise distance between cases. Each graph is then pruned by removing distances greater than a given cutoff, defined based on preexisting information on the disease and assumptions on the reporting rate. The pruned graphs corresponding to different data streams are then merged by intersection to combine all data types; connected components define clusters of cases related for all types of data. Estimates of the reproduction number (the average number of secondary cases infected by an infectious individual in a large population), and the rate of importation of the disease into the population, are also derived. We test our approach on simulated data and illustrate it using data on dog rabies in Central African Republic. We show that the outbreak clusters identified using our method are consistent with structures previously identified by more complex, computationally intensive approaches.


Urban development planning in Mexico begins with the publication of the General Law on Human Settlements in 1976, which sets up several planning instruments to regulate land use and urban development at state, municipal and urban level. Urban planning in the late seventies was characterized by being made by the state, with a rational approach, enforced from a top-down perspective, supported by planning guides made by professional planners and public consultation at the end of plan making. Current urban planning has been modifying its methods to a strategic and communicative model, a bottom-up perspective. The state has been playing a regulatory function and the participation of stakeholders has become a central issue on urban development planning and management. Therefore, this study has two main purposes: firstly, to analyse the evolution of urban planning in more than four decades and; secondly, to present Mexicali city as a good practice case study of the application of the bottom-up planning model. This project shows the changes that urban development has undertaken throughout a strategic planning view, oriented to long term perspective, organized and undertaken by society with collaborative work coming from different sectors: government, private and nongovernmental organizations. The methodology was based on the Logical Framework Approach, working along nine months with thematic groups. The results were integrated in a project portfolio, to be implemented in the short, middle and long term. Lastly, findings show successes in urban development planning and obstacles that society has faced in order to implement development projects within a political municipal agenda.


Often praised as an exceptional artistic response to the Holocaust, Steve Reich9s Different Trains adopts a documentary approach to Holocaust representation in which Reich assembled short excerpts from three survivor testimonies and published transcriptions of their accounts in his libretto for the work. This article explores the consequences that arise when fragments from very emotional testimonies are recast as purportedly unmediated documentary. The authority attributed to this sort of historical narrative has come under scrutiny in the field of Holocaust studies, in which it is called "secondary witness"—an intellectual interpretation of survivor testimonies advanced without the author revealing his or her own subjective standpoint or scholarly agenda. I argue that Reich9s use of the voices of the survivors, Paul, Rachel, and Rachella, constitutes a form of secondary witness. Analysis of the original sources reveals that as Reich worked with extracts from the testimonies, in some cases his composition took on the aesthetics of the original testimonies, yet in other cases, he altered meaning and tone and even misheard certain phrases, producing transcription errors that reframed key moments by substituting his account of the Holocaust for that of the primary witness. Such revelations prompt reevaluation of the moral and political success that has been claimed for Different Trains , since the compositional process could never have been as objective and self-effacing as Reich and his critics suggest.


Two very different articles in this issue deal with the same important  subject: workflow redesign. It's a topic that is at the same time  important and often slighted, largely because workflow – the way we do what we do day after day – tends to become such a well-traveled route that we may forget that other ways may lead us to the same end more quickly and efficiently. When workflow issues do obtrude themselves into consciousness, it's often because the current practice produces an intolerable problem. That's what seems to have produced the "proactive approach to controlled substance refills" described in the article by Deanna R. Willis, MD, and her co-authors that begins on page 22. The way their practice had handled such refills caused frustration for all concerned and occasioned patient complaints. It was the frustration and complaints that eventually led to the redesigned refill program described in the article. Unfortunately, however, not all workflow problems produce such dramatic problems that it seems essential to do something. Inefficiency can become a way of life – not causing huge problems but sifting a little sand into the gears here and there. Particularly if you've "always done it that way," the only cure for such subclinical inefficiency may be to encounter other ways of working – ways that highlight the problems with yours. That's where such articles as "Addressing Common Inefficiencies in Office Practice" (page 28) come in. Writing from the perspective of a consultant who has seen how many practices work, Jill Young addresses a range of common inefficiencies affecting the whole range of practice activities, from telephone triage, new-patient registration, intra-office messaging, chart preparation and referral management all the way through physicians who start chronically late and physicians who can't agree on standardized processes because each is intent on optimizing his or her individual practice at the expense of the group. I hope at least one of her suggestions sparks an idea that will improve your practice workflow. After all, the whole point of Family Practice Management is to help you make your practice better for your patients, your staff and you. In singling out these two articles, I don't mean to imply that the other articles in this issue have other aims in mind. I think you'll find that virtually every article in FPM is intended to help you improve some aspect of your practice, from coding to care and from computerization to claims submission. Escaping Inefficiency EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Robert L. Edsall


The Nrf2 transcription factor is crucial for regulating the cellular defense against various carcinogens. However, relationship between host Nrf2 and cancer metastasis remains unexplored. To address this issue, we examined susceptibility of Nrf2-deficient mice to pulmonary cancer metastasis following implantation of the mouse Lewis lung carcinoma (3LL) cell line. Nrf2-deficient mice reproducibly exhibited a higher number of pulmonary metastatic nodules than wild-type mice did. The lung and bone marrow (BM) of cancer-bearing Nrf2-deficient mice contained increased numbers of inflammatory cells, including myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), a potent population of immunosuppressive cells. MDSCs can attenuate CD8(+) T-cell immunity through modification of the T-cell receptor complex exploiting reactive oxygen species (ROS). MDSCs of Nrf2-deficient mice retained elevated levels of ROS relative to wild-type mice. BM transplantation experiments revealed functional disturbance in the hematopoietic and immune systems of Nrf2-deficient mice. Wild-type recipient mice with Nrf2-deficient BM cells showed increased levels of lung metastasis after cancer cell inoculation. These mice exhibited high-level accumulation of ROS in MDSCs, which showed very good coincidence to the decrease of splenic CD8(+) T-cells. In contrast, Keap1-knockdown mutant mice harboring high-level Nrf2 expression displayed increased resistance against the cancer cell metastasis to the lung, accompanied by a decrease in ROS in the MDSCs fraction. Our results thus reveal a novel function for Nrf2 in the prevention of cancer metastasis, presumably by its ability to preserve the redox balance in the hematopoietic and immune systems.


The Next generation wireless networks (NGWN) will be heterogeneous which will have different radio access technologies (RATs) operating together. The Radio Resource Management (RRM) is one of the key challenges in NGWN. The Call admission control (CAC) mechanism is one of the Radio Resource Management technique plays instrumental role in ensuring the desired QoS to the users working on different applications which are having the diversified nature of QoS requirements to be fulfilled by the wireless networks. One of the key challenges to be addressed in this prevailing scenario is the distribution of the available channel capacity amongst the multiple traffic with different bandwidth requirements so as to guarantee the QoS requirements of the traffic .The call blocking probability is one such QoS parameter for the wireless network and for better QoS it is desirable to reduce the call blocking probability. In this customary scenario it is highly advantageous to bring about an analytic Performance model. In this paper we propose a call admission control framework based on higher order Markov chains to effectively handle the call blocking probability in NGWN and to provide optimal QoS for the mobile users. In the proposed algorithm we have considered three classes of traffic having different QoS requirements. The results obtained from the Performance model are encouraging and optimistic and indicates the need of an intelligent decision making system for CAC.


Rats had a memory loss of a fear response when they received an electroconvulsive shock 24 hours after the fear-conditioning trial and preceded by a brief presentation of the conditioned stimulus. No such loss occurred when the conditioned stimulus was not presented. The memory loss in animals given electroconvulsive shock 24 hours after conditioning was, furthermore, as great as that displayed in animals given electroconvulsive shock immediately after conditioning. This result throws doubt on the assertion that electroconvulsive shock exerts a selective amnesic effect on recently acquired memories and thus that electroconvulsive shock produces amnesia solely through interference with memory trace consolidation.


BACKGROUND
Phosphate binders are used to reduce positive phosphate balance and to lower serum phosphate levels for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) with the aim to prevent progression of chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD). This is an update of a review first published in 2011.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this review was to assess the benefits and harms of phosphate binders for people with CKD with particular reference to relevant biochemical end-points, musculoskeletal and cardiovascular morbidity, hospitalisation, and death.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Kidney and Transplant Register of Studies up to 12 July 2018 through contact with the Information Specialist using search terms relevant to this review. Studies in the Register are identified through searches of CENTRAL, MEDLINE, and EMBASE, conference proceedings, the International Clinical Trials Register (ICTRP) Search Portal and ClinicalTrials.gov.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-RCTs of adults with CKD of any GFR category comparing a phosphate binder to another phosphate binder, placebo or usual care to lower serum phosphate. Outcomes included all-cause and cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, adverse events, vascular calcification and bone fracture, and surrogates for such outcomes including serum phosphate, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and FGF23.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two authors independently selected studies for inclusion and extracted study data. We applied the Cochrane 'Risk of Bias' tool and used the GRADE process to assess evidence certainty. We estimated treatment effects using random-effects meta-analysis. Results were expressed as risk ratios (RR) for dichotomous outcomes together with 95% confidence intervals (CI) or mean differences (MD) or standardised MD (SMD) for continuous outcomes.

MAIN RESULTS
We included 104 studies involving 13,744 adults. Sixty-nine new studies were added to this 2018 update.Most placebo or usual care controlled studies were among participants with CKD G2 to G5 not requiring dialysis (15/25 studies involving 1467 participants) while most head to head studies involved participants with CKD G5D treated with dialysis (74/81 studies involving 10,364 participants). Overall, seven studies compared sevelamer with placebo or usual care (667 participants), seven compared lanthanum to placebo or usual care (515 participants), three compared iron to placebo or usual care (422 participants), and four compared calcium to placebo or usual care (278 participants). Thirty studies compared sevelamer to calcium (5424 participants), and fourteen studies compared lanthanum to calcium (1690 participants). No study compared iron-based binders to calcium. The remaining studies evaluated comparisons between sevelamer (hydrochloride or carbonate), sevelamer plus calcium, lanthanum, iron (ferric citrate, sucroferric oxyhydroxide, stabilised polynuclear iron(III)-oxyhydroxide), calcium (acetate, ketoglutarate, carbonate), bixalomer, colestilan, magnesium (carbonate), magnesium plus calcium, aluminium hydroxide, sucralfate, the inhibitor of phosphate absorption nicotinamide, placebo, or usual care without binder. In 82 studies, treatment was evaluated among adults with CKD G5D treated with haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis, while in 22 studies, treatment was evaluated among participants with CKD G2 to G5. The duration of study follow-up ranged from 8 weeks to 36 months (median 3.7 months). The sample size ranged from 8 to 2103 participants (median 69). The mean age ranged between 42.6 and 68.9 years.Random sequence generation and allocation concealment were low risk in 25 and 15 studies, respectively. Twenty-seven studies reported low risk methods for blinding of participants, investigators, and outcome assessors. Thirty-one studies were at low risk of attrition bias and 69 studies were at low risk of selective reporting bias.In CKD G2 to G5, compared with placebo or usual care, sevelamer, lanthanum, iron and calcium-based phosphate binders had uncertain or inestimable effects on death (all causes), cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, fracture, or coronary artery calcification. Sevelamer may lead to constipation (RR 6.92, CI 2.24 to 21.4; low certainty) and lanthanum (RR 2.98, CI 1.21 to 7.30, moderate certainty) and iron-based binders (RR 2.66, CI 1.15 to 6.12, moderate certainty) probably increased constipation compared with placebo or usual care. Lanthanum may result in vomiting (RR 3.72, CI 1.36 to 10.18, low certainty). Iron-based binders probably result in diarrhoea (RR 2.81, CI 1.18 to 6.68, high certainty), while the risks of other adverse events for all binders were uncertain.In CKD G5D sevelamer may lead to lower death (all causes) (RR 0.53, CI 0.30 to 0.91, low certainty) and induce less hypercalcaemia (RR 0.30, CI 0.20 to 0.43, low certainty) when compared with calcium-based binders, and has uncertain or inestimable effects on cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, fracture, or coronary artery calcification. The finding of lower death with sevelamer compared with calcium was present when the analysis was restricted to studies at low risk of bias (RR 0.50, CI 0.32 to 0.77). In absolute terms, sevelamer may lower risk of death (all causes) from 210 per 1000 to 105 per 1000 over a follow-up of up to 36 months, compared to calcium-based binders. Compared with calcium-based binders, lanthanum had uncertain effects with respect to all-cause or cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, fracture, or coronary artery calcification and probably had reduced risks of treatment-related hypercalcaemia (RR 0.16, CI 0.06 to 0.43, low certainty). There were no head-to-head studies of iron-based binders compared with calcium. The paucity of placebo-controlled studies in CKD G5D has led to uncertainty about the effects of phosphate binders on patient-important outcomes compared with placebo.It is uncertain whether the effects of binders on clinically-relevant outcomes were different for patients who were and were not treated with dialysis in subgroup analyses.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
In studies of adults with CKD G5D treated with dialysis, sevelamer may lower death (all causes) compared to calcium-based binders and incur less treatment-related hypercalcaemia, while we found no clinically important benefits of any phosphate binder on cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, fracture or coronary artery calcification. The effects of binders on patient-important outcomes compared to placebo are uncertain. In patients with CKD G2 to G5, the effects of sevelamer, lanthanum, and iron-based phosphate binders on cardiovascular, vascular calcification, and bone outcomes compared to placebo or usual care, are also uncertain and they may incur constipation, while iron-based binders may lead to diarrhoea.


More than 27 million Americans today can trace their lineage to the Scots, whose bloodline was stained by centuries of continuous warfare along the border between England and Scotland, and later in the bitter settlements of England's Ulster Plantation in Northern Ireland. When hundreds of thousands of Scots-Irish migrated to America in the eighteenth century, they brought with them not only long experience as rebels and outcasts but also unparalleled skills as frontiersmen and guerrilla fighters. Their cultural identity reflected acute individualism, dislike of aristocracy and a military tradition; and, over time, the Scots-Irish defined the attitudes and values of the military, of working-class America and even of the peculiarly populist form of American democracy itself. "Born Fighting" is the first book to chronicle the epic journey of this remarkable ethnic group and the profound but unrecognised role it has played in shaping the social, political and cultural landscape of America from its beginnings through to the present day.


Introduction Today the fabric of earth's civilization is being challenged by the random forces of climate change. As far as we know from recorded history never before has there been as many people living on earth to face these ominous forces. But our resources are strong and it is our fate, working together, to face these growing obstacles to our future. As of 18:30 GMT 22 July 2008, the world population was estimated to be 6,711,751,214, the world rate of increase being nearly half of its peak value which was, 2.2 % per year, in 1963. (1) Even with this decreased rate of growth world population is expected to reach the 9 billion mark by ~2042 (23). The distribution of the growth rate by country is shown in Figure 1. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] "China and India, the only two countries to have a population greater than 1 billion, together possess more than a third of the world's population." (5) We should take note of the fact that all the countries with the highest growth rates are in Africa, the Middle East and Asia as well as Central and South America, Mongolia and Malaysia. It follows that within this uneven distribution of world population and growth is an uneven distribution of wealth as shown in Figure 2 shown below. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] Comparing Figures 1 and 2 we see that the countries with the highest growth rates and highest current populations are the ones with the least percent of world GDP. Africa, Asia, Central and South America and the Middle East house the poorest people while the developed world, the USA, Canada, and Europe hold the highest per capita percentage of net worth. (67) It's an unfortunate fact that these inequities are on a growing curve with the span becoming ever wider. Amongst the wealthy, measured in local currencies, the total in 2006 grew by 7.5 percent to reach $97.9 trillion, this being the fifth consecutive year of expanding wealth. Paralleling this growth in population and the wealth-poor divide is an ever growing list of countries suffering poverty and poor governance. Evidence for the Concern about Climate Change (8) Today scientific methods, both inductive, deductive and falsifiable lead to the conclusion that the earth's global climate is changing as a result of human activity. There is a strong consilience of evidence through both instrumental and proxy records to support these conclusions. Furthermore, the predicted effects are now being observed by measurements. All available evidence points towards the role that human activities have lead to the change with that inference being the best explanation for what is being observed. All the best scientific community standards have been upheld in making the measurements, the modeling and in reaching the conclusions and we can only conclude that the best explanation for what is being observed is the human induced change of climate. The Current Climate Situation The 4th Assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (9) states that the rate of mean temperature increase in the last 50 years is twice the 100-year mean increase of 0.74[degrees]C [+ or -] 0.18[degrees]C. It is reported that land regions have warmed faster than oceans, which was expected due to the difference in heat capacity between the air and water. However, at the water's surface, sea surface temperatures have shown a strong warming trend also. As was predicted by our climate modeling results, average Arctic air temperatures increased at twice the rate of the global average. And consistent with our understanding of the greenhouse effect, lower stratospheric temperatures have been observed to cool since 1970. Coupling with these temperature changes have also been observed changes in the hydrologic cycle. Precipitation has increased poleward from 30[degrees]N latitude from 1900-2005, while a decrease in precipitation has dominated in the tropics. Consistent with this trend, droughts have been more common in the tropics and subtropics, especially since 1970. …


The World Wide Web is a virtual world. We can't feel it or touch it, but it connects millions of people around the world - sharing information and communicating. Today, we can shop for just about anything, study, look at photos, watch films, send emails, play games or talk with friends online. We love being online, but it can be dangerous too! Do you know who started some of the biggest websites on the Internet? What other ways there are to store information? How to be safe online? This book will tell you.


Botrytis bunch rot (botrytis) can reduce grape yield and wine quality. Standardised assessment methods are needed to allow greater precision in wine making and to allow the use of disease management decision support models in grape production. This study developed a botrytis disease assessment key to assist the accuracy of visual disease assessment. Associated computer training software, designed to improve the accuracy of disease assessments, was also developed and tested. The mean absolute error in estimates of percentage botrytis severity was significantly (P<0.05) lower after eight assessors used the training software. Vineyard sample size required for estimation of disease severity was determined and a disease incidence-severity relationship for estimating severity from incidence was developed.


Why is parenting so fraught and so difficult in today's society? There has never been a time when advice was so readily available, and yet there is also a prevailing sense that parents are getting it wrong. This book examines the arguments and counter-arguments supported by research on how best to parent children, from birth to twelve years. By taking an impartial approach to the evidence and, by discussing case studies from across the world and from a number of academic disciplines, this book is designed to show how good parenting comes in many shapes and forms.


Bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated and screened from the gastrointesti- nal tract (GIT) of Thai indigenous chickens. The bacteriocinogenic activities and the primary probiotic properties were determined. The bacteriocins produced by 14 strains of selected LAB displayed inhibitory activity against indicator strains after the supernatants were neutralized with NaOH in the following species: Lactobacillus sakei subsp. sakei JCM1157, Enterococcus faecalis VanB, Bacillus sp., and Listeria monocytogenes. The antagonistic acti- vity of selected LAB was inactivated or decreased after being treated with proteolytic enzymes (α-chymotrypsin and trypsin). CR5-1 strain exhibited the highest level of activity (5120 AU/ml) in the stationary phase against L. sakei subsp. sakei JCM1157 in MRS broth at 37°C. The nine isolates of selected LAB were investigated for primary probiotic properties. The survival of the nine isolates was found to decrease approximately by 3 log CFU/ml after passing through the gastrointestinal conditions. All isolates exhibited protein digestion on agar plates but no isolates showed the ability to digest starch and lipid. Most of them showed high susceptibilities to some antibiotics (penicillin G, tetracycline and erythromycin). Thirteen LAB strains producing bacteriocin with strongly inhibitory activity were identified as Lactobacillus salivarius and only one strain was identified by 16S rDNA sequence analysis as Lactobacillus agilis.