Longissimus dorsi muscle tissue was biopsied between the 12th and 13th ribs of 96 purebred Jersey, purebred Limousin and Jersey x Limousin crossbred calves at the age of 9 to 10 months. Fatty acids of the phospholipid fraction were extracted and analysed for sex and breed differences. Heterosis, additive and maternal variances were estimated. All calves grazed pasture in a single management group and were biopsied from the same anatomical site. Steer calves had significantly higher proportions of the 14:0, 14:1, 18:2, 20:3 fatty acids and less of the 16-di-methyl-acetal than heifer calves. Significant breed differences were observed: Limousin calves had the highest proportions of 16:0, 24:0 and saturated fatty acids (SFA), whereas Jersey x Limousin calves had the most 18:0 and elongation index. Dominant effects were evident in the proportions of 16:0, 18:0, SFA and elongation index. Additive genetic effects were significant in the proportions of 16:0, 18:0, 18:1n-9, total SFA and desaturation and elongation indices. Combined maternal and additive effects were significant for long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids 18:2, 20:3 and 20:4.


Why are poems important? What do people mean when they use the word prosody? How does a poem read and sound? How does a poem's shape--its form--help to create its meaning? "Sound and Form in Modern Poetry" provides useful answers to these questions for readers of poetry. Through careful attention to the poems of modern masters, the book offers an accessible guide to the way today's poems really work, and to the way they are linked in style to poems of earlier times. Poet, critic, and editor Robert McDowell has updated this classic text in the light of the poetic and critical developments of the last three decades. Segments on Dickinson, Robinson, Frost, Jeffers, and Lowell, among other poets, have been greatly expanded, and Ashbery, Creeley, Ginsberg, Hall, Kees, Kumin, Levertov, Levine, O'Hara, Plath, Rich, Simpson, and Wilbur added, among others. The epilogue discusses a new generation of poets whose works will likely be read well into the next century-- among others, Thomas M. Disch, Rita Dove, Dana Gioia, Emily Grosholz, Mark Jarman, Molly Peacock, Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Timothy Steele, Mary Swander, and Marilyn Nelson Waniek. Over the last ten years, the most inspiring topic of conversation and argument among poets and their readers has been the resurgence of narrative and traditional forms. The new "Sound and Form in Modern Poetry" is a seminal text in this discussion, examining not only this movement but all of the important developments (Dadaism, Surrealism, Imagism, Language Poetry, and the Confessional School) that have defined our poetry in the twentieth century and have set the stage for poetry's continued life in the twenty-first. The original "Sound and Form in Modern Poetry" enjoyed extensive classroom use as a text; the revised version promises to be even more accessible, and more essential, for years to come. The late Harvey Gross was Professor of Comparative Literature, State University of New York at Stony Brook. Robert McDowell is publisher and editor of Story Line Press, and is also poet, critic, translator, fiction writer, and essayist.


If robotic agents are to act autonomously they must have the ability to construct and reason about models of their physical environment. For example, planning to achieve goals requires knowledge of how the robot's actions affect the state of the world over time. The traditional approach of handcoding this knowledge is often quite difficult, especially for robotic agents with rich sensing abilities that exist in dynamic and uncertain environments. Ideally, robots would acquire knowledge of their environment and then use this knowledge to act. We present an unsupervised learning method that allows a robotic agent to identify and represent qualitatively different outcomes of actions. Experiments with a Pioneer-1 mobile robot demonstrate the utility of the approach with respect to capturing the structure and dynamics of a complex, real-world environment, and show that the models acquired by the robot correlate surprisingly well with human models of the environment.


Traditional attacks against anonymous routing systems aim to uncover the identities of those involved, however, a more likely goal of attackers is to block or degrade the network itself, discouraging participation and forcing vulnerable users to communicate using less secure means. Since these anonymous networks operate on known protocols and employ strong encryption it is difficult to distinguish them from regular traffic. This paper proposes a method for identifying traffic belonging to anonymous networks by examining their communication patterns. If successful the method would enable the identification of Tor usage and thus allow for more directed attacks and possible user identification.


Aim Macular traction may influence the formation and response to treatment of diabetic macular oedema (DME). The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and associations of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) evident epiretinal membrane (ERM) and/or partial vitreomacular separation (pVMS) in consecutive patients undergoing macular photocoagulation for centre involving DME. Methods A single-centre retrospective cross-sectional observational study. Results 198 eyes of 198 patients were included. Twelve per cent of eyes demonstrated pVMS and 14% ERM. All cases of pVMS had vitreoretinal adhesion located in the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study grid central 1 mm subfield. In 2/3 of ERM cases, ERM was either found in the central subfield or the thickening associated with ERM was contiguous with the thickening in the central subfield. Patients with signs of ERM or pVMS were significantly older and had significantly worse acuity than those without (mean age 67.2 vs 62.8 years (p=0.02); 0.49 vs 0.31 logMAR, p=0.0006). Macular thickness was similar in both groups. The prevalence of pVMS and/or ERM were 31% in Caucasian, 5% in Asian and 24% in Afro-Caribbean subjects (p=0.11). Conclusions ERM or pVMS was found on SD-OCT scanning in 25% of patients undergoing laser for centre involving DME. In 20% of all patients, these potentially tractional elements were either present in the central subfield scan or the traction was contiguous with the central macular thickening, suggesting a possible role for surgical or enzymatic relief of traction in their management. This requires targeted investigation.


Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy offers a noninvasive, fast, and low-cost alternative to visual screening and biopsy for skin cancer diagnosis. We have previously acquired reflectance spectra from 137 lesions in 76 patients and determined the capability of spectral diagnosis using principal component analysis (PCA). However, it is not well elucidated why spectral analysis enables tissue classification. To provide the physiological basis, we used the Monte Carlo look-up table (MCLUT) model to extract physiological parameters from those clinical data. The MCLUT model results in the following physiological parameters: oxygen saturation, hemoglobin concentration, melanin concentration, vessel radius, and scattering parameters. Physiological parameters show that cancerous skin tissue has lower scattering and larger vessel radii, compared to normal tissue. These results demonstrate the potential of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for detection of early precancerous changes in tissue. In the future, a diagnostic algorithm that combines these physiological parameters could be enable non-invasive diagnosis of skin cancer.


Do you need a release for a photo of someone you took in public? How about photos of buildings? Does it make a difference if the subject was paid to be in the picture? You can't answer these questions without more information. As the photographer, you need to understand your buyer's concerns in order to make savvy decisions about how you market your photos and to whom. Here's how to make money from all your photos, whether or not they have releases, by understanding the business aspects of the law.


Abstract Yosida´s version of the mean ergodic theorem is extended to positive Toeplitz matrices and locally convex spaces. This is used to provide extensions of the results of Albanese, Bonet and Ricker on the structure of Fréchet spaces and also Köthe echelon spaces.


SGML/XML are having a profound impact on data modeling and processing. We present an efficient algorithm to compute differences between old and new versions of an SGML/XML document. The difference between the two versions can be considered to be an edit script that transforms one document tree into another. The proposed algorithm is based on a hybridization of bottom-up and top-down methods: The matching relationships between nodes in the two versions are produced in a bottom-up manner and then the top-down breadth-first search computes an edit script. Faster matching is achieved because the algorithm does not need to investigate the possible existence of matchings for all nodes. Furthermore, it can detect structurally meaningful changes such as the movement and copy of a subtree as well as simple changes to the node itself like insertion, deletion, and update.


Abstract. Fabric (distribution of crystallographic orientations) along the full NEEM ice core, Greenland was measured in the field by an automatic ice texture analyzer every 10 m, from 33 m down to 2461 m depth. The fabric evolves from a slightly anisotropic fabric at the top, toward a strong single maximum at about 2300 m, which is typical of a deformation pattern mostly driven by uniaxial compression and simple shearing. A sharp increase in the fabric strengthening rate is observed at the Holocene to Wisconsin (HW) climatic transition. From a simple model we estimate that this depth is located at a transition from a state dominated by vertical compression to a state dominated by vertical shear. Comparisons are made to two others ice cores drilled along the same ridge; the GRIP ice core, drilled at the summit of the ice sheet, and the NGRIP ice core, drilled 325 km to the NNW of the summit along the ridge, and 365 km upstream from NEEM. This comparison tends to demonstrate that the ice viscosity change with the HW climatic transition must be associated with the shear-dominated state to induce the abrupt fabric strengthening observed at NEEM. This comparison therefore reflects the increasing role of shear deformation on the coring site when moving NW along the ridge from GRIP to NGRIP and NEEM. The difference in fabric profiles between NEEM and NGRIP also evidences a stronger lateral extension associated with a sharper ridge at NGRIP. Further along the core, centimeter scale abrupt texture (fabric and microstructure) variations are observed in the bottom part of the core. Their positions are in good agreement with the observed folding layers in Dahl-Jensen et al. (2013).


The study was carried out at four villages in Pulau Indah, Klang between December
2005 to March 2006. The data was collected by using a structured questionnaire. The
purpose of this research is to identify the constraining factors affecting participation in
outdoor recreational activities among Malay females. The objectives are to determine
interpersonal, intrapersonal and structural constraining factors affecting Malay females
level of participation in outdoor recreational activitiess at Pulau Indah, Klang, to
identify the type of recreation activities Malay females are willing to participate in and
to identify elements that would facilitate Malay females to participate in outdoor
recreational activities based on their demographics profile and constraints. Interest in
outdoor recreation and physical ability are the major factors in intrapersonal.
Meanwhile for interpersonal constraints, the factors include friend's participation,
friend's knowledge on the benefits of outdoor recreation and the respondent's concern
on accidents or injuries with the involvement of incompetent friends. Busy with
commitment, do not have own transportation, do not have strong financial support and knowledge about the type of facilities provided which suit their preference are among
the structural constraints for which the Malay females in Pulau Indah do not participate
in outdoor recreation. The most serious constraint for Malay females in Pulau Indah is
intrapersonal constraints. Respondents in Pulau Indah, Klang generally have the desire
to participate in outdoor recreational activities, which are adventurous, challenging, and
nature based such as rock climbing, trekking, jet skiing, sight-seeing and traveling. The
different age group, occupation, marital status and education level provided the
different types of outdoor recreation activity preferences. Malay females in Pulau Indah,
reported that the key measure needed to encourage Malay females participation in
outdoor recreational activities is through the dissemination of information concerning
the benefits and importance of outdoor recreation. Activities offered should also be
suitable with the Malay custom and culture, and that parks should provide good and
comfortable facilities. Besides that, the parks also need to provide complete and proper
equipments. Fitness, physical ability, the availability of time and safety also influence
their participation in outdoor recreational activities. Respondents also suggested that
Majlis Perbandaran Klang (MPK) provide quality recreational parks to attract their
participation in outdoor recreational activities.


Semiquantitative immunohistochemistry (IHC) is commonly used in combination with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to detect HER2 amplification in gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas. Most laboratories apply these tests in a sequential algorithm, using IHC as a frontline test and reserving FISH for IHC-equivocal cases. To gain a better understanding of the concordance of IHC and FISH results at our institution, we identified all gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas at our institution tested for HER2 (n=125). Matched IHC and FISH were available for 116 cases (94%). Cases consisted of adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus (22%), gastroesophageal junction (24%), stomach (43%), and metastatic sites (12%). A total of 88 cases (70%) were biopsies, whereas 37 cases (30%) were resections. Overall, 15 cases (13%) were HER2 positive (IHC 3+ and/or FISH amplified). A total of 60 cases (52%) were IHC score 0; none of these were HER2 amplified by FISH. A total of 30 cases (26%) were IHC 1+; 5 (17%) of these cases were HER2 amplified by FISH. A total of 20 cases (17%) were IHC 2+; 4 (20%) of these cases were HER2 amplified by FISH. A total of 6 cases were IHC score 3+; all of these were HER2 amplified by FISH. Although there was a high overall concordance between IHC and FISH results (96%), a subset (17%) of IHC-negative cases (score 1+) were HER2 amplified as evaluated by FISH, representing 33% of all HER2 amplified cases. This suggests that the common practice of limited FISH testing to IHC 2+ cases will miss a significant number of HER2 amplified cases.


Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), particularly deep neural networks, computer aided detection (CAD) tools can be trained to recognize TB-related abnormalities on chest radiographs, thereby screening large numbers of people and reducing the pressure on healthcare professionals. Addressing the lack of studies comparing the performance of different products, we evaluated five AI software platforms specific to TB: CAD4TB (v6), InferReadDR (v2), Lunit INSIGHT for Chest Radiography (v4.9.0) , JF CXR-1 (v2) by and qXR (v3) by on an unseen dataset of chest X-rays collected in three TB screening center in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The 23,566 individuals included in the study all received a CXR read by a group of three Bangladeshi board-certified radiologists. A sample of CXRs were re-read by US board-certified radiologists. Xpert was used as the reference standard. All five AI platforms significantly outperformed the human readers. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves are qXR: 0.91 (95% CI:0.90-0.91), Lunit INSIGHT CXR: 0.89 (95% CI:0.88-0.89), InferReadDR: 0.85 (95% CI:0.84-0.86), JF CXR-1: 0.85 (95% CI:0.84-0.85), CAD4TB: 0.82 (95% CI:0.81-0.83). We also proposed a new analytical framework that evaluates a screening and triage test and informs threshold selection through tradeoff between cost efficiency and ability to triage. Further, we assessed the performance of the five AI algorithms across the subgroups of age, use cases, and prior TB history, and found that the threshold scores performed differently across different subgroups. The positive results of our evaluation indicate that these AI products can be useful screening and triage tools for active case finding in high TB-burden regions.


Three Advanced Water Treatment Plants (AWTP) have recently been built in South East Queensland as part of the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project (WCRWP) producing Purified Recycled Water from secondary treated waste water for the purpose of indirect potable reuse. At Luggage Point, a demonstration plant was primarily operated by the design team for design verification. The investigation program was then extended so that the operating team could investigate possible process optimisation, and operation flexibility. Extending the demonstration plant investigation program enabled monitoring of the long term performance of the microfiltration and reverse osmosis membranes, which did not appear to foul even after more than a year of operation. The investigation primarily identified several ways to optimise the process. It highlighted areas of risk for treated water quality, such as total nitrogen. Ample and rapid swings of salinity from 850 to 3,000 mg/l-TDS were predicted to affect the RO process day-to-day operation and monitoring. Most of the setpoints used for monitoring under HACCP were determined during the pilot plant trials.


This pioneering work is the first to trace how our understanding of the causes of human behavior has changed radically over the course of European and American cultural history since 1830. Focusing on the act of murder, as documented vividly by more than a hundred novels including Crime and Punishment, An American Tragedy, The Trial, and Lolita, Stephen Kern devotes each chapter of A Cultural History of Causality to examining a specific causal factor or motive for murder--ancestry, childhood, language, sexuality, emotion, mind, society, and ideology. In addition to drawing on particular novels, each chapter considers the sciences (genetics, endocrinology, physiology, neuroscience) and systems of thought (psychoanalysis, linguistics, sociology, forensic psychiatry, and existential philosophy) most germane to each causal factor or motive.Kern identifies five shifts in thinking about causality, shifts toward increasing specificity, multiplicity, complexity, probability, and uncertainty. He argues that the more researchers learned about the causes of human behavior, the more they realized how much more there was to know and how little they knew about what they thought they knew. The book closes by considering the revolutionary impact of quantum theory, which, though it influenced novelists only marginally, shattered the model of causal understanding that had dominated Western thought since the seventeenth century.Others have addressed changing ideas about causality in specific areas, but no one has tackled a broad cultural history of this concept as does Stephen Kern in this engagingly written and lucidly argued book.


Radical legal innovations in intellectual property protection have been introduced by the little noticed European Database Directive of March 1996. This initiative, part of the larger institutional transformations initiated in response to the economic ramifications of rapid progress in digital information technologies, poses numerous contentious issues in law and economics. These are likely to create ambiguities for business and non-profit activities in this area for years to come, and the terms on which those issues are resolved will materially affect the costs and organizational feasibility of scientific projects that are of global reach and significance. This is the case especially in fields such as geology, oceanography and climatology, which depend heavily upon the collection, management and analysis of large volumes of observational data that cannot be regenerated. More generally the conduct of open, collaborative science – along with many of the benefits that flow from it for the developed and the developing economies alike – may be seriously jeopardized by the consequences of the new database protections. This raises the spectre of a new and different "tragedy of the commons," one created by continuing the unbalanced pressure to extract greater economic rents by means of controlling access to information. "Over-fencing," which is to say, the erection of artificial cost barriers to the production of reliable public knowledge by means of reliable public knowledge, threatens the future of "the public knowledge commons" that historically has proved critically important for rapid advance in science and technology. The paper sets out the economic case for the effectiveness of open, collaborative research, and the forces behind the recent, countervailing rush to strengthen and expand the scope of intellectual property rights protection. Focusing upon innovations in copyright law and the sui generis protection of hitherto unprotected content, it documents the genesis and analyzes the economic implications of the EC's Database Directive, and related legislative proposals (H.R. 3125, H.R. 354 and H.R. 1858) in the US. The discussion concludes by advancing a number of modest remedial proposals that are intended to promoted greater efforts to arrive at satisfactory policy solutions for this aspect of "the digital dilemma."


: The popular narrative surrounding gerrymandering frames it as a performative phenomenon—achieved through the intentional manipulations of malevolent partisan actors. Efforts to curb partisan gerrymandering —which I call countermandering—have been performative, in turn, focusing on constraining these bad actors through judicial review or mapmaker neutrality. Yet performative countermandering has had limited success. Judicial and institutional constraints are only sometimes available and are often cumbersome and costly. More important, their utility is inherently limited, because gerrymandering is not only performative. It is also structural—an inevitable product of the American electoral schema itself. This paper makes the case for structural countermandering. It explains why transformative change to our electoral schema is urgently necessary. It also hypothesizes that such transformative change has no practical chance of success unless it preserves the two-party system. Accordingly, this paper proposes a new electoral schema called MM2. It operates much like the traditional Mixed-Member Proportional ("MMP") system used successfully for decades in Germany and New Zealand, but its goal is two-party, not multiparty, proportionality. Like MMP, MM2 preserves personal, geographic representation by selecting most legislators through single-seat districts; and it implements structural countermandering by allocating additional seats to political parties to compensate for any vote-seat distortion these districted elections produce. But whereas MMP allocates these seats to achieve vote-seat proportionality for every party, MM2 allocates these seats to achieve vote-seat proportionality only for the top two parties. By preserving certain core features of American democracy, while structurally nullifying gerrymandering, MM2 presents a promising and feasible prospect for transformative change.


Background The South African health care system is guided by the primary health care approach (PHC), which is based on the principles of accessibility, availability, affordability, equity and acceptability which are the cornerstone of primary health care. The Comprehensive PHC Service Package for South Africa is the guiding document for transforming PHC in South Africa standardizing services and increasing access to PHC services. This study will focus on the "Clinic: Fast Queue/Repeats" component of the Package. This is the protocol which guides the management of chronic disease care for adults, geriatrics and paediatrics. According to the Package, this service is for patients who have been assessed previously either at a CHC or at a clinic. For repeat medicines no assessment is required except after three months, and waiting time is minimized through the use of pre-packaged drugs. Methods A cross sectional qualitative design using a descriptive method was used to explore the experiences of the clinic users of the fast queue. A two stage sampling technique was used namely cluster and purposive sampling. In the first instance cluster sampling technique was used to sample clinics in each of the three sub-districts namely south, north and west sub districts of eThekwini municipality and purposive sampling was used to select PHC facilities, those with the highest number of attendees seen over a period of three months and the users of fast queue. Results The findings of the study revealed that there were positive factors which contributed to the satisfaction of participants and negative factors which caused dissatisfaction among participants.


The value proposition of the firm to its market is not merely the result of "value extraction" across the world, by exploiting local resources and capabilities, but for a growing number of firms is a blend of value and values proposition, based on socially responsive behaviour. A values chain shift the emphasis from the practice of corporate social responsibility to the one of network social responsibility. Coordination of the network value chain is not just a matter of improving business performance, but it turns into a strategic matter of guaranteeing to final customers the respect of their expectations, including social responsibility issues.


The paper is a tribute to the late Stuart Hampshire's investigations of the ramifying role of intention in our conceptual scheme. It surveys the central argument of Thought and Action and the third chapter of Freedom of the Individual. Emphasis is placed upon Hampshire's constructive account of human agency and consequent description of the manner in which perception and action are interwoven. His analysis of the character of intentional action, self-knowledge and autonomy is described. Various lacunae in Hampshire's account are identified and an attempt is made to fill them in in a manner consistent with Hampshire's insights.


ABSTRACT In self-renewing tissues such as the skin epidermis and the bone marrow, Myc proteins control differentiation of stem cells and proliferation of progenitor cell types. In the epithelium of the small intestine, we show that c-Myc and N-Myc are expressed in a differential manner. Whereas c-Myc is expressed in the proliferating transient-amplifying compartment of the crypts, N-Myc is restricted to the differentiated villus epithelium and a single cell located near the crypt base. c-Myc has been implicated as a critical target of the canonical Wnt pathway, which is essential for formation and maintenance of the intestinal mucosa. To genetically assess the role of c-Myc during development and homeostasis of the mammalian intestine we induced deletion of the c-myc flox allele in the villi and intestinal stem cell-bearing crypts of juvenile and adult mice, via tamoxifen-induced activation of the CreERT2 recombinase, driven by the villin promoter. Absence of c-Myc activity in the juvenile mucosa at the onset of crypt morphogenesis leads to a failure to form normal numbers of crypts in the small intestine. However, all mice recover from this insult to form and maintain a normal epithelium in the absence of c-Myc activity and without apparent compensation by N-Myc or L-Myc. This study provides genetic and molecular evidence that proliferation and expansion of progenitors necessary to maintain the adult intestinal epithelium can unexpectedly occur in a Myc-independent manner.


School shootings, church shootings and even library and disco shootings are becoming more common. Counsellors are often called upon to assist, to provide comfort and solace and to help individuals cope and deal with the immense tragedy that is often unexplainable. This paper will address some of the past research in this realm, and cursorily review the literature and will attempt to address some of the research questions that need to be addressed and investigated Death is something that is difficult for many to address. The death of a close friend or a classmate in a school shooting is even more terrible. The aftermath of such an event is EVEN MORE horrible as flashing images careen across one's mind and often cause nightmares and other post-traumatic difficulties. To witness one's best friend being shot or to observe a fellow student (or a complete stranger) firing bullets into the bodies of classmates is surely an event that no student anticipates. Yet it is occurring with greater and greater frequency across the United States and literally around the world. The student is under assault in the place that perhaps he has felt most secure- in a building led by adults who seem to be protective, caring individuals. Suddenly they are thrust into a classroom filled with blood and dead bodies of their classmates or fellow athletes and they may even have seen a teacher give their own life in an attempt to save or protect his or her students.


Essentially a domestic biography whose main concern is the tragicomedy of manners enacted by a closely knit group of friends and lovers, Wives and Stunners tells the story of Janey Morris, Georgie Burne-Jones, Lizzie Siddall, Effie Gray and less well-known, Marie Spartali, Aglaia Coronio and Mary Zambacco. These women were the wives, mistresses andmuses, of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the inspiration behind the work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and John Millais. Set against the background of mid-Victorian bohemian England, Henrietta Garnett vividly evokes the world they inhabited and the lives they lived. She recounts the romances and friendships between the artists and the 'stunners' in a lively and original way and her book will appeal to anyone interested in Victorian England, the history of the Pre-Raphaelites and, significantly, to everyone who wants to read a spellbinding story of a bygone era.


This research study aims to evaluate the issues and factors for building a positive organizational CSR image that enables suppliers to create positive perception in relation to stakeholders. The study identified major challenges to improve CSR image for the suppliers. Based on the findings, it is suggested that suppliers need to improve in the following areas for changes of CSR image: (1) initiate education and measures to improve the employees' understanding and importance of CSR; (2) develop a corporate culture to give priority in building positive CSR image; (3) develop link with educational institutions for educating middle managers on CSR and its effect on company image; (4) arrange short trainings for new workers to make them understand the concept of CSR and educate them on their own responsibilities as part of the organization; (5) establish platforms for sharing knowledge between suppliers to increase compliance.


AN ETIOLOGICAL MODEL OF POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER IN FEMALE OEF/OIF/OND VETERANS: ADDING MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA AS A RISK FACTOR Erin Doty Kurtz Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology, 2016 Director: Dr. Michelle L. Kelley Studies on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have involved limited focus on the specific risk and protective factors for female veterans and how these may differ from factors identified for male veterans. Additionally, models incorporating risk and protective factors for PTSD in female veterans have yet to include military sexual trauma (MST) as a risk factor. Given the prevalence of MST among female service members, this study examined whether MST predicts PTSD diagnosis in addition to other frequently examined variables (premilitary trauma exposure, combat exposure, postmilitary trauma, and perceived social support). In addition, the degree to which social support mediated any identified relationship between MST and PTSD diagnosis was explored, as well as whether MST moderated the relationship between combat exposure and PTSD diagnosis. An etiological model for PTSD was proposed and was explored for model fit with female veterans to determine pathways among risk and protective factors for women. Data were examined from 202 female veterans and active duty service members who took part in a multi-site research study conducted through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) VISN 6 Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC). Results indicate that MST is a key risk factor to include in models of PTSD in female veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It was found that social support mediated the relationship between MST and PTSD symptoms, and partially mediated the relationship between aftermath of battle and PTSD symptoms, but did not mediate the relationship between combat trauma and PTSD symptoms; rather, combat experiences had a direct effect on PTSD symptoms. Additionally, results suggest that experiences of premilitary trauma may increase female service members' vulnerability to MST and that social support mediated the relationship between premilitary trauma and PTSD symptoms, but only through an increased vulnerability to MST. Postmilitary trauma was also found to mediate the relationship between premilitary trauma and PTSD symptoms. Results may provide key information for developing training programs and therapeutic interventions to reduce both MST and PTSD in female veterans.


We present a generalization of the scalar importance function employed by Metropolis Light Transport (MLT) and related Markov chain rendering algorithms. Although MLT is known for its user‐designable mutation rules, we demonstrate that its scalar contribution function is similarly programmable in an unbiased manner. Normally, MLT samples light paths with a tendency proportional to their brightness. For a range of scenes, we demonstrate that this importance function is undesirable and leads to poor sampling behaviour. Instead, we argue that simple user‐designable importance functions can concentrate work in transport effects of interest and increase estimator efficiency. Unlike mutation rules, these functions are not encumbered with the calculation of transitional probabilities. We introduce alternative importance functions, which encourage the Markov chain to aggressively pursue sampling goals of interest to the user. In addition, we prove that these importance functions may adapt over the course of a render in an unbiased fashion. To that end, we introduce multi‐stage MLT, a general rendering setting for creating such adaptive functions. This allows us to create a noise‐sensitive MLT renderer whose importance function explicitly targets noise. Finally, we demonstrate that our techniques are compatible with existing Markov chain rendering algorithms and significantly improve their visual efficiency.


As the workforce ages, how will the work lives of older people evolve? One way to ease into retirement is to move to the gig economy where workers choose hours and intensity of work that fit their needs and capabilities. However, older workers are often reaping the benefits of the latter end of an implicit contract while gig economy workers are paid their marginal product. We show that age/earnings profiles in the traditional labor market are different than for Uber drivers. While the move to the gig economy generates flexibility, older workers are paid less than their younger coworkers.


Objective: The objective of the study is to identify potential anti-candidal agents from natural resources and elucidate the effect of Lawsonia inermis extract on major virulent factors of Candida albicans. Materials and Methods: Plants, the most abundant and readily available resource of diverse bioactives, were chosen for the anti-candidal screening study. Ten different plants that were proven to have antimicrobial activity but not explored much for anti-candidal activity were chosen for this study. Ethyl acetate extract of these plant leaves were tested for the anti-candidal activity. Extracts with good anti-candidal activity were further screened for its effect in C. albicans germ tube formation and enzyme (protease, phospholipase, and aspartate dehydrogenase) activity. Results: Among 10 plants screened, L. inermis extract showed complete inhibition of C. albicans. On further evaluation, this extract completely inhibited C. albicans germ tube formation in serum until the end of incubation period (3 h). This extract also exhibited dose-dependent inhibitory activity against two major virulent enzymes of C. albicans, proteases (27–33%) and phospholipases (44.5%). In addition to it, this extract completely inhibited both the isoforms of constitutive candidal enzyme aspartate dehydrogenase, thereby affecting amino acid biosynthesis. Conclusion: Thus, this study confirms the anti-candidal potential of L. inermis and hence can be considered further for development of anti-candidal drug.


Published claims in 1887-1903 that the mole cricket Neocurtilla hexadactyla (Perty) occurs in Puerto Rico all seem to be derived from a misidentification made by Agustin Stahl, a medical practitioner and collector of natural history objects, published in 1882. That species does not seem now to occur in Puerto Rico and almost certainly never did. However, the opportunity still exists for it to colonize by wind-assisted flight from islands to the southeast just as we believe did the mole cricket Scapteriscus didactylus (Latreille) as an immigrant. Stahl evidently mistook the latter for the former. According to some subsequent authors, he also stated that it (the mole cricket now believed to be S. didactylus) arrived in the port of Mayaguez in a cargo of guano about 1850 from Peru and thus colonized Puerto Rico. We found no verification for that story, and we doubt it. The first detection of the presence of S. didactylus in Puerto Rico may have been by a French expedition in 1797, but this species may have been present much earlier. Two other species of Scapteriscus were later detected in Puerto Rico. One, S. abbreviatus Scudder, was detected in 1917 and likely arrived as a contaminant of ship ballast some time earlier, perhaps at the port of Mayaguez. The other, S. imitatus Nickle and Castner, was detected about 1940 and seems to have been introduced inadvertently, as a result of mistaken identity. In broad terms, S. didactylus, S. abbreviatus, and S. imitatus are adventive species (meaning they arrived from somewhere else and are not native) in Puerto Rico. The vernacular name changa in Puerto Rico is owned by S. didactylus, which is called West Indian mole cricket in the English-speaking Caribbean. Historical accounts suggest that populations of S. didactylus and of two pest Phyllophaga spp. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) surged after 1876/1877 and declined after 1920. This coincidence suggests that the cause may have been the same. The cause of the rise might conceivably have been introduction of the mongoose Herpestes javanicus (E. Geoffroy St. Hilaire) in 1877 (because it may have destroyed vertebrate predators) and the cause of the decline might conceivably have been introduction of the toad Bufo marinus L. in 1920, because it is a predator of Phyllophaga and Scapteriscus.


In spite of the still increasing number of engineered nanomaterial (ENM) applications, large knowledge gaps exist with respect to their environmental fate, especially after release into air. This review aims to summarize the current knowledge of emissions and behavior of airborne engineered nanomaterials. The whole ENM lifecycle is considered from the perspective of possible releases into the atmosphere. Although in general, emissions during use phase and end-of-life seem to play a minor role compared to entry into soil and water, accidental and continuous emissions into air can occur especially during production and some use cases such as spray application. Implications of ENMs on the atmosphere as e.g.; photo-catalytic properties or the production of reactive oxygen species are reviewed as well as the influence of physical processes and chemical reactions on the ENMs. Experimental studies and different modeling approaches regarding atmospheric transformation and removal are summarized. Some information exists especially for ENMs, but many issues can only be addressed by using data from ultrafine particles as a substitute and research on the specific implications of ENMs in the atmosphere is still needed. © 2017 by the authors.


This thesis conceptually and empirically explores how American foreign policy is changing under the domestic and international pressures brought about by social and cultural processes associated with the global resurgence of religion. It argues that in response to these pressures the American foreign policy establishment, and American diplomatic, foreign assistance and national security practices and institutions are gradually undergoing, since the end of the Cold War andespecially following September 11, processes of "desecularization". In order to explain these foreign policy changes, this thesis develops a Historical Sociological (HS) approach to Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA). This theoretical framework allows investigating the complex causal mechanisms that have led to the emergence of "desecularizing actors" at the domestic American level, which are embedded or responding to macro-processes of religious resurgence at home and abroad. These desecularizing actors have mobilized at the micro-level to challenge at critical historical junctures what they perceive is the problematic secular character of American foreign policy intellectual traditions, state practices and policy-making structures. In order to advance their preferred inherently religious policy agendas, desecularizing actors have articulated a number of principled and strategic discourses, which enable them to successfully contest and renegotiate the boundaries between "the secular" and "the religious" in American foreign policy. This thesis draws from ongoing conceptual debates in the sociology of religion on desecularization and applies this concept to that of a state's foreign policy. It unpacks how processes of desecularization have taken place at multiple levels and with different intensities across the American foreign policy apparatus. This thesis identifies two broad processes that relate to foreign policy desecularization. First, processes of "countersecularization" in terms of a growing entanglement between functionally differentiated American secular state practices and policy-making structures, and religious norms and actors. Second, processes of "counter-secularism" in terms of a progressive weakening of dominant secular epistemic, ideological, and normative ideational constructs among American policy-makers.


Undeniably drug delivery systems (DDSs) engaged take part in controlling the drug pharmacological effect along with the pharmacokinetic profile with respect to the drug release rate, the site, bioavailability and then the side-effect. Different procedures for visual medication conveyance have been reportedly considered; from fundamental strategies aimed at improving the accessibility of medications; consistency enhancers and mucoadhesives help sedate maintenance and entrance enhancers advance medication transport into the eye. The utilization of drug loaded CNC nanoengineered smart gels enabled medications can be better put where they are required for sustained release of the drugs with straightforward conveyance. Advancements in visual inserts give a way to conquer the physical obstructions that generally forestalled compelling treatment. Advancements are being worked on permitting long term tranquillized conveyance from solitary DDSs: these devices permit the release of the loaded drugs even up to 25 h. Future improvements could lead to the nanoengineering of CNC based drug loaded ODDS with excellent ophthalmic DDSs.


Historically, waterfronts developments have undergone various stages of development initiatives and become the most challenging tasks for planners and urban designers nowdays. It reflected a dynamic natural resources with special characteristics and regarded as the most important factors that influence the growth and image of the cities and had a significant impact on urbanization and modernization of the most cities in the near future, as experienced by most harbor cities in Europe, North America, Australasia, Japan and others. This paper attempts to understand the evolution of waterfront development within the framework of urban design and public spaces, as been practiced by Singapore and Turkey, and provided lesson to learn by taking Johor Bharu as a case. In future research, the urban studies on waterfronts will be important framework in cities development. The smart-partnership between local government and private should be more emphasized in order to achieve the world-class urban and cities development.


Abstract This paper presents research on South African household expenditure share behaviour. The research examines whether or not a theoretical and empirical model, which has been successful in explaining expenditure shares in Australia, is valid when applied to South African data. The primary conclusion of the research is that expenditure shares in South Africa do not conform to the assumptions set out in the model. Although there are many potential reasons for non-conformity, this paper provides evidence that the estimates produced within the AID system and the MAID system suffer from heteroskedasticity and non-normality. Therefore, in order to improve the understanding of spending behaviour by South African households, models will have to be specifically developed to deal with the idiosyncrasies of South African data.


The distributional incidence of the Chilean water subsidy scheme is revisited by analyzing its evolution from 1998 to 2015. This is one of the only means-tested water subsidies in a developing country and is frequently used as an example in policy discussions and recommendations. Many changes have been introduced in the program since its inception and at least three different targeting instruments have been used to identify needy households in the last 20 years. We find that the incidence of the subsidy is progressive but moderate, with a Gini coefficient of close to 0.3. It has also remained stable between 1998 and 2015. The errors of inclusion and exclusion have also remained stubbornly high. These incidence results are surprising given the efforts made in the Chilean welfare system to target social benefits. Possible explanations for these results are given and compared to other developing country experiences.


The concept of anchor tenant was advanced to explain the emergence of regional systems of innovation. The anchor tenant is an organisation, often a large innovative firm or a research university or public laboratory that produces knowledge externalities in the region where it is located. The anchor produces such effects by spinning off new companies and attracting other ones. This paper argues that the dynamics of the anchor may help to explain the subsequent evolution of the region. It also maintains that anchor tenants are attracted to or created in regions that possess some favourable conditions and that such conditions are industry specific.


Recently metamaterials made of periodic nanowire arrays, multilayers, and grating structures have been studied for near-field thermal radiation with enhanced coupling of evanescent waves due to surface plasmon/phonon polariton, hyperbolic mode, epsilon-near-zero and epsilon-near-pole (ENP) modes, guided mode, and wave interference. In this work, both effective uniaxial electric permittivity and magnetic permeability of a nanowire-based metamaterial are retrieved theoretically through the far-field radiative properties obtained by finite difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations. The artificial magnetic response of metamaterials, which cannot be obtained by traditional effective medium theory (EMT) based on electric permittivity of constitutes only, is successfully captured by the nonunity magnetic permeability, whose resonant frequency is verified by an inductor-capacitor model. By incorporating the retrieved electric permittivity and magnetic permeability into fluctuational electrodynamics with multilayer uniaxial wave optics, the near-field radiative heat transfer between the metallic nanowire arrays is theoretically studied and spectral near-field heat enhancements are found for both transverse electric and magnetic waves due to artificial magnetic resonances. The understanding and insights obtained here will facilitate the application of metamaterials in near-field radiative transfer.


We proceed for the first time to the evaluation of the Born cross section for J/psi+eta(c) production, namely via g+g -> J/psi+eta(c)+g, and show that it has a harder P_T spectrum than the J/psi-pair yield at Born level. If one stuck to a comparison at Born level, one would conclude that J/psi+eta(c) production would surpass that of J/psi+J/psi at large P_T. This is nonetheless not the case since J/psi-pair production, as for single J/psi, receives leading-P_T contributions at higher orders in alpha_s. We also present the first evaluation of these leading-P_T next-to-leading order contributions. These are indeed significant for increasing P_T and are of essential relevance for comparison with forthcoming data. We also compute kinematic correlations relevant for double-parton-scattering studies. Finally, we evaluate the polarisation of a J/psi accompanied either by a eta(c) or a J/psi and another light parton. These results may be of great help to understand the polarisation of quarkonia produced at colliders.


The addition of aerial firefighting resources to wildfire suppression operations does not always result in faster fire containment. In this paper, containment times of fires with aerial suppression are compared with estimated containment times for the same fires without aerial suppression. Senior firefighting personnel who had worked on each fire estimated whether fires could have been contained within a time class if aircraft were not available. Data from 251 wildfires were analysed based on four fire-containment time classes: ≤2, 2–4, 4–8 and 8–24 h from the start of initial attack. Aircraft were perceived to reduce time to containment when firefighting conditions were more challenging owing to fuel hazard rating, weather conditions, slope, resource response times and area burning at initial attack. Comparisons of containment time with and without aircraft can be used to develop operational tools to help dispatchers decide when aircraft should be deployed to newly detected fires.


Book synopsis: In the Hellenistic period (c.323-31 BCE), Greek teachers, philosophers, historians, orators, and politicians found an essential point of reference in the democracy of Classical Athens and the political thought which it produced. However, while Athenian civic life and thought in the Classical period have been intensively studied, these aspects of the Hellenistic period have so far received much less attention. This volume seeks to bring together the two areas of research, shedding new light on these complementary parts of the history of the ancient Greek polis.

The essays collected here encompass historical, philosophical, and literary approaches to the various Hellenistic responses to and adaptations of Classical Athenian politics. They survey the complex processes through which Athenian democratic ideals of equality, freedom, and civic virtue were emphasized, challenged, blunted, or reshaped in different Hellenistic contexts and genres. They also consider the reception, in the changed political circumstances, of Classical Athenian non- and anti-democratic political thought. This makes it possible to investigate how competing Classical Athenian ideas about the value or shortcomings of democracy and civic community continued to echo through new political debates in Hellenistic cities and schools. Looking ahead to the Roman Imperial period, the volume also explores to what extent those who idealized Classical Athens as a symbol of cultural and intellectual excellence drew on, or forgot, its legacy of democracy and vigorous political debate. By addressing these different questions it not only tracks changes in practices and conceptions of politics and the city in the Hellenistic world, but also examines developing approaches to culture, rhetoric, history, ethics, and philosophy, and especially their relationships with politics.


While the comparative courts literature has yielded valuable insights into confrontations between political elites and judges, we still know relatively little about if and how jurisprudential methodology affects the ability of constitutional courts to survive such crises. How does the choice between originalism versus living constitutionalism affect a court's relationship with the other branches of government? Do political elites tend to be more hostile towards certain methods of interpretation?The 2012 impeachment of Myanmar's Constitutional Tribunal presents an interesting example of the interplay between jurisprudence and politics. After fifty years of military rule, Myanmar's 2008 Constitution produced a new civilian government that appeared committed to political reform. However, when the Tribunal ruled that legislative committees did not have constitutional status, the legislature impeached all nine members, forcing them to resign. Less than two years after it was created, the Constitutional Tribunal was essentially defunct. This article argues that the Constitutional Tribunal's approach towards constitutional interpretation did not ameliorate — and might have exacerbated — the crisis. Using a textualist or originalist methodology, the Tribunal struck down national legislation in four out of the five cases it heard. However, the Tribunal's reasoning did not balance the legislature's interests, much less account for the dramatic political reforms. The Tribunal also never provided a defense its constitutional review power, and many legislators feared that the Tribunal was usurping their newfound power. Had the Tribunal adopted a more flexible approach — such as proportionality or living constitutionalism — it might have soothed the legislature's fears while still reaching similar policy outcomes.


In spite of widespread adoption, there is mixed evidence as to whether adopting genetically modified (GM) crops increases farm welfare. One possible reason for widespread adoption is the labor savings. Using a treatment effect model we estimate the time savings associated with adopting a GM crop. We find a significant savings in household labor for soybeans, but not for other crops.


Using micro-level household data for rural and urban Pakistan, this study estimates Engel equations for 22 commodity groups with quadratic spline specification, in which the number and locations of knots are determined through a search procedure. The study finds that the resulting flexibility produces many interesting patterns of changes in the classification of goods into necessities and luxuries across income ranges. This suggests that a uniform tax structure will have varying implications for budget allocation and welfare of households belonging to different income classes. This information can be gainfully utilised in preparing income transfer policies that could supplement uniform tax regimes.


Easy, Powerful Code Security Techniques for Every PHP Developer Hackers specifically target PHP Web applications. Why? Because they know many of these apps are written by programmers with little or no experience or training in software security. Dont be victimized. Securing PHP Web Applications will help you master the specific techniques, skills, and best practices you need to write rock-solid PHP code and harden the PHP software youre already using. Drawing on more than fifteen years of experience in Web development, security, and training, Tricia and William Ballad show how security flaws can find their way into PHP code, and they identify the most common security mistakes made by PHP developers. The authors present practical, specific solutionstechniques that are surprisingly easy to understand and use, no matter what level of PHP programming expertise you have. Securing PHP Web Applications covers the most important aspects of PHP code security, from error handling and buffer overflows to input validation and filesystem access. The authors explode the myths that discourage PHP programmers from attempting to secure their code and teach you how to instinctively write more secure code without compromising your softwares performance or your own productivity. Coverage includes Designing secure applications from the very beginningand plugging holes in applications you cant rewrite from scratch Defending against session hijacking, fixation, and poisoning attacks that PHP cant resist on its own Securing the servers your PHP code runs on, including specific guidance for Apache, MySQL, IIS/SQL Server, and more Enforcing strict authentication and making the most of encryption Preventing dangerous cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks Systematically testing yourapplications for security, including detailed discussions of exploit testing and PHP test automation Addressing known vulnerabilities in the third-party applications youre already running Tricia and William Ballad demystify PHP security by presenting realistic scenarios and code examples, practical checklists, detailed visuals, and more. Whether you write Web applications professionally or casually, or simply use someone elses PHP scripts, you need this bookand you need it now, before the hackers find you!


We present here a kind of novel multifunctional ultrathin aluminum foil which consists of large-area regular micropore arrays covered with nanostructures. These multiscale micro/nanostructures show underwater superoleophobic ability (contact angle > 150°) and oil/water separation function. The novel foils were realized by one-step femtosecond laser irradiation, which is a simple and promising method for preparing special micro/nanostructures due to its high precision, excellent controllability, one-step processing and compatible with various materials. In addition, the micropore arrayed aluminum foil also shows robust filtering performance for particles with different sizes, exhibiting multifunctional applications. This work provides a new way for the construction of aluminum foil-based micropore arrays which can be applied in high-efficiency oil/water separation, particle sorting, and other broader fields.


Transport provider are facing the question of how to adjust their service as part of an integrated service. For the determination of potentials for different models of multimodal tariffs, a survey was carried out among occasional and regular users of public transport in the major city of Frankfurt am Main. 43 % of all adults in Frankfurt have a mobility suitable for multimodal tariffs: They are customers of public transport and require a car on an occasional basis. Only a quarter of the customers using public transport occasionally and one fifth of all regular customers are not interested in ticketing solutions including more than conventional means of public transport. Though, the preferences for content which is integrated in a multimodal tariff, are heterogeneous. Consequently, the content shouldn't be predetermined but modularly built. This conclusion is supported by conjoint analyses: Tariff combinations with selectable contents provide higher benefits. From the customers' point of view, price strategies including the use of transportation services at a discount are more valued than a limited use at no costs.


In this project, microstructural and textural analyses of similar welded industrially relevant materials (D6AC steel, AISI-316L steel and Ti-6Al-4V) by friction stir welding is studied. Initially similar friction stir welding of D6AC steel and AISI-316L steel is performed using PCBN tool whereas similar plates of Ti-6Al-4V were welded using W-La tool. All welds are mechanically characterized by tensile strength, hardness measurement and microstructural studies are carried out using optical microscopy and EBSD analysis.
In case of D6AC steel, defect free welds are obtained with welding parameters of rotation speed 1100 RPM and welding speeds of 40mm/min and 20 mm/min. Microstructural characterization indicated formation of lath martensite in stir zone. Ultimate tensile strengths of these welded plates are higher than the base material with an increase in hardness (approximately three times of base metal) in the nugget zone.


Mastering the Nikon D5000 by Darrell Young is a comprehensive guide for of the owners of this newest, budget-friendly generation of Nikon digital single lens reflex (DSLR) cameras. The smaller, more lightweight Nikon D5000 mixes generous portions of user-controlled manual photography features with the latest technological innovations, allowing fully automatic point and shoot simplicity. Darrell's approach in helping the reader to master this camera avoids the purely instructional technique, favoring a more friendly and advisory tone. He blends his decades of Nikon camera experience with an intuitive understanding of the readers' most likely questions regarding specific camera functions and features. Rather than just list all options for the myriad of camera settings and adjustments, he explains the background behind each setting and shares his personal recommendations. Darrell understands that many owners of the D5000 may be just entering the world of DSLRs, and he takes the time to guide these new owners through the basics, while giving more experienced photographers the option of a refresher course. Also included is an entire chapter on the exciting new D-Movie function that can record high-quality HD movie clips at an amazing 24-frames per second. Mastering the D5000 is the most recent volume in the highly successful series of Nikonians Press books.


The American Academy of Microbiology convened a colloquium November 6-7, 2003, in Key Largo, Florida, to discuss the application of genomic methods to the study of pathogenesis. Professionals in the fields of genomics, bacteriology, virology, eukaryotic microbiology, medicine, clinical diagnostics, bioinformatics, and forensics contributed their expertise to discussions on the recent advancements in the field and the outlook for future research. A number of recommendations were made for ensuring that progress in the field continues. The availability of genome sequences from pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and fungi and other eukaryotes has opened new horizons for the field of pathogenesis. The genomes of over 100 bacterial pathogens have been fully sequenced, and scientists are busy investigating the mechanisms that regulate the diversity of bacterial pathogens and their myriad abilities to evade host defenses. Close to 1,200 viral genomes have been sequenced, and virologists are now beginning to examine the genomes of those viruses that cause undetected, cryptic infections. These virus-host interactions can serve as a reservoir of viral genes that later emerge in novel pathogens with the potential to infect humans, economically important animals, or crops. A number of eukaryotic microbes, including several pathogenic fungi, have also been sequenced, revealing unimagined diversity among these important pathogens. Certain themes have emerged from analyses of pathogen genome sequences, and the possibility exists that a sequence-based "common thread" may be found linking pathogens from different taxa. The results of genome sequencing efforts have also informed the study of pathogenesis, helping to identify the ways in which pathogens bring about disease. The advances of the past several years have been great, and we are closer than ever to a comprehensive understanding of pathogenesis, but much work lies ahead. If the science is to move forward, the genome sequences of many more organisms are needed. The sequences of many hosts, pathogens, their nonpathogenic relatives, commensals, as well as a diverse array of microorganisms, are all needed to complete the picture of pathogenesis and provide a phylogenetic framework for understanding the phenomenon. Moreover, improvements are needed in the two most important tools of genomics: annotation methodologies and sequence databases.


We develop a structural model for the analysis of systemic risk in financial markets based on asset price contagion. Specifically, we describe a mechanism of contagion where exogenous random shocks to individual agents in an economy force portfolio rebalancing and endogenously impact asset prices. This, in turn, creates a chain reaction as downstream agents trade in reaction to price changes. In our setting, this contagion is modulated through a bipartite financial holding network, which describes the relationships between agents and a universe of tradable assets through their portfolio holdings. Out approach quantifies the robustness of different financial holding networks to shocks propagated by asset price contagion by measuring the sensitivity of asset prices to exogenous shocks. We illustrate that leverage plays a critical role in asset price contagion. In particular, in low-leverage economies, "mutual fund" networks (where agents hold a common, diversified portfolio of risky assets) are desirable to mitigate contagion. On the hand, in high-leverage economies, "isolated" networks (where agents hold maximally diverse, unrelated portfolios) become beneficial.


This paper examines housing affordability in Ireland by looking at the distribution of housing costs across households. Using microdata from the SILC survey over the period 2006-2016, the contribution of this paper is threefold. First, the paper considers the trends in the cost of housing in Ireland across groups of households split by age, region, household structure, and their position in the income distribution. Second, we apply selected international housing affordability definitions and explorethe share, and composition, of households in Ireland that would be captured by these definitions. We do not find evidence of universal affordability difficulties in the Irish market. However, certain groups do face acute affordability challenges. Third, working towards a definition of housing cost affordability for use in Irish policy discussions, we provide some guidance as to what such a definition could look like.


The grand narrative of "The Young Turk Legacy and Nation Building" is that of the essential continuity of the late Ottoman Empire with the Republic of Turkey that was founded in 1923. Erik J. Zurcher shows that Kemal's 'ideological toolkit', which included positivism, militarism, nationalism and a state-centred world view, was shared by many other Young Turks. Authoritarian rule, a one-party state, a legal framework based on European principles, advanced European-style bureaucracy, financial administration, military and educational reforms and state-control of Islam, can all be found in the late Ottoman Empire, as can policies of demographic engineering. The book focuses on the attempts of the Young Turks to save their empire through forced modernization as well as on the attempts of their Kemalist successors to build a strong national state. The decade of almost continuous warfare, ethnic conflict and forced migration between 1911 and 1922 forms the background to these attempts and accordingly occupies a central position in this volume. This is a powerful history reflecting and contributing to the latest research from a leading historian of modern Turkey. It is essential for all readers interested in the history of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, and for an understanding of a key player in the politics of the Middle East and Europe.


Several diseases, such as anthracnose, which are caused by the fungus species Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, negatively affect the cultivation of the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). This work was conducted to measured the time-course activities and evaluate the possible roles of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and the pathogenesis-related proteins (PR-proteins), peroxidase (POX), β-1,3-glucanase (GLU) and chitinase (CHI), in the resistant (TE97) and susceptible (BR3) cowpea genotypes in response to C. gloeosporioides infection. During infection, the SOD activity was increased, while the CAT activity was decreased in TE97. The APX activity in TE97 was similar to that in BR3 at 12 to 24 after infection (HAI). These data were consistent with the increased production and accumulation of leaf H2O2 within this time period in TE97; the generation of H2O2 was also observed in BR3, but to a lesser extent. The fungal inoculation also induced changes in the PR-proteins analyzed. Overall POX, GLU and CHI activities were higher in the resistant genotype TE97 compared with those in the susceptible genotype BR3. Altogether, these results showed that H2O2 and the PR-proteins play important roles in the interactions of cowpea and C. gloeosporioides.


Eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) has been used previously to detect the number of eosinophils in the peritoneal exudate and bone marrow of mice. The present study was undertaken to determine 1) whether EPO activity may provide a measure of a change in eosinophils in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of guinea pigs, 2) whether immunoglobulin (Ig)G1 could play a role in pulmonary eosinophilia and 3) effects of pharmacological agents on the EPO response in an IgG1 passively sensitized animal model. The activity of EPO was assessed by the ability of cell lysates (0.1% Triton-100 treatment) to oxidize 1 mM o-phenylenediamine in the presence of 1 mM H2O2 for 5 min at 22 degrees C. The enzyme activity was found to be eosinophil dependent, inhibited by the EPO inhibitor 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (IC50 = approximately 0.1 mM) and relatively resistant to heat treatment (no loss of activity after 2-hr preincubation at 56 degrees C). To determine antigen-dependent eosinophil and EPO responses, guinea pigs were passively sensitized i.p. with 0.5 mg/kg of an affinity-purified antiovalbumin (OA) IgG1. Two to 3 days later, the sensitized animals were injected with pyrilamine (5 mg/kg, i.p.) before OA aerosol challenge. Aerosolized OA (0.1%) caused a significant increase in both eosinophil number and EPO activity in BALF of sensitized guinea pigs at 18 to 24 hr post-challenge. At a given concentration of aerosolized OA, the enzyme activity increased as a function of the antibody dose and time post-OA challenge.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


We study, using quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, the ground state properties of spin-1 bosons trapped in a square optical lattice. The phase diagram is characterized by the mobility of the particles (Mott insulating or superfluid phase) and by their magnetic properties. For ferromagnetic on-site interactions, the whole phase diagram is ferromagnetic and the Mott insulators-superfluid phase transitions are second order. For antiferromagnetic on-site interactions, spin nematic order is found in the odd Mott lobes and in the superfluid phase. Furthermore, the superfluid-insulator phase transition is first or second order depending on whether the density in the Mott is even or odd. Inside the even Mott lobes we observe a singlet-to-nematic transition for certain values of the interactions. This transition appears to be first order.


 Abstract—Recently, we have analyzed the convergence properties and derived the objective functions of the weight noise injection-based algorithms. In this paper, we generalize our work to perturbed gradient systems (PGS). For original gradient systems (GS), the change of a vector x(t) at time t is defined as the gradient vector of a function F(x) times a small negative constant. For PGS, it is assumed that the vector x(t) is perturbed by mean zero Gaussian noise. The noise can either be multiplicative or additive. In this paper, the corresponding energy functions for both cases are derived. It is found that their energy functions are very difference from F(x). For the case of multiplicative noise, the energy function consists of three terms: (i) F(x), (ii) a regularization term and (iii) a de-regularization term. For the case of additive noise, the energy function consists of only two terms: (i) F(x) and (ii) a regularization term. Note that de-regularization could lead to divergence behavior while regularization will improve the convergence behavior of a system. Our results suggest that special caution should be done to a gradient system with multiplicative noise.


This study assessed the effect of starvation on survival and nutritional status of newborn juveniles H. erectus (<10 days) to optimize rearing protocols, thereby helping to reduce wildlife exploitation. Maximum starvation time (MST) was estimated through the survival of juveniles continuously starved from birth. Resistance to starvation and the effect of food re‐introduction after 1, 2, 4 and 6 days of starvation on survival and metabolite concentrations (total proteins, total lipids, acylglycerides, cholesterol, glucose) were also determined. Survival amongst continuously starved animals decreased from 6.6 ± 0.5 to 0% from days 9 to 10 of starvation. Seahorses under different starvation–refeeding treatments all had 100% survival up to day 5 of experiments. After 10 days, however, a 4‐day starvation period followed by refeeding showed negative effects with <50% survival. During continuous starvation, lipids were the first energy reserve used to maintain basal metabolism, followed by proteins. Except for cholesterol, all metabolite concentrations differed between continuous starvations and feeding. Despite high seahorse survival after 5 days in the absence of food, the recovery of the metabolic status is possible after a starvation period of no more than 2 days, since irreversible physiological changes compromising the ultimate survival of the organisms take place after this time.


BACKGROUND/AIM
Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is a form of ultrasound therapy in which chemotherapeutic agents known as sonosensitizers are administered to increase the efficacy of ultrasound's preferential damage to neoplastic cells. Perhaps one of the most intriguing capabilities of ultrasound is its ability to preferentially lyse cells based on size. Cytochalasin B is a cytokinesis inhibitor that preferentially enlarges and multinucleates malignant cells, making them much more sensitive to ultrasonic irradiation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The present study investigated the extent of preferential damage inflicted by cytochalasin B on U937 leukemia/human blood cell populations. Cell mixtures were treated with cytochalasin B and then sonicated under a relatively low intensity (3W/cm(2)).

RESULTS
Cytochalasin B preferentially damages U937 cells both before and after sonication. This agent also reduces rapid proliferation as the clonogenicity of U937 cells was considerably reduced following treatment.

CONCLUSION
Cytochalasin B may have profound therapeutic applications when combined with SDT.


New sedimentological determinations suggest that Pennsylvanian sea-level change ranged from as little as 40 m to as much as 160 m, depending on which model establishes the deepest water facies of a Midcontinent cyclothem. Average sedimentological estimates of sea-level change for models of Heckel and Gerhard are 96.4 m and 86.0 m, respectively. In the Midcontinent, tectonic subsidence contributed 5% to 20% of the total Pennsylvanian sea-level change in platform areas and basin depocenters. Additional change in sea level was controlled by short-term glacial eustasy (nearly 70% of sea-level change) and long-term climate change (nearly 15% of sea-level change). These findings suggest that away from orogenic belts, climatic change is the principal driving mechanism controlling sea-level change, whereas within orogenic belts, climate becomes more subordinate to tectonic processes that influenced Pennsylvanian sea-level change, even though indicators of climatic change reportedly are preserved.


Problem statement: Several studies in other countries had shown the influence of socio demographic, knowledge, satisfaction and attitudinal factors in level of community participation in development programs. The question here is, whether these factors would also be effective on community participation in WMP in Iran? Objective: Determine the factors which are influence community participation in order to enhance their participation in Watershed Management Programs (WMP) in Iran. Approach: A cross sectional survey design was carried out for this study. Data were collected from 200 respondents which are randomly selected from three villages in Hable-Rud basin. Data were gathered through personal interviews by using a questionnaire. Descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation analysis and regression analysis were employed to analyze the data. Results: Findings of this study showed that satisfaction of prior programs had highest relationship with level of participation (r = 0.518, p = 0.000), and followed by attitude toward WMP (r = 0.489, p = 0.000) knowledge of WMP (r = 0.435, p = 0.000), total monthly income (r = 0.177, p = 0.012) and alternative monthly income (r = 0.158, p = 0.025). However multiple regression analysis discovered that, four independent variables are important for explaining variation in the level of participation. These variables were; satisfaction of prior programs, attitude toward WMP, knowledge of WMP and alternative monthly income, and these variables explained 43.6% of variation in level of participation. Conclusion/Recommendations: The results of this study indicated that high level of satisfaction of prior programs, positive attitude toward WMP, high knowledge of WMP and high level of alternative income increase level of community participation in WMP in Iran. This study also provided a number of implications and recommendations to increase the level of community participation in WMP.


Experience playing video games has been associated with perceptual and cognitive improvements (e.g., Castel, Pratt, & Drummond, 2005; Boot, Kramer, Simons, Fabiani, & Gratton, 2008; Colzato, van den Wildenberg, & Hommel, 2013; Oei & Patterson, 2013) For instance, video gamers show superior spatial abilities than non-gamers (Greenfield, Graig, & Lohr, 1994; Feng, Spence, and Pratt, 2007; Green & Bavelier, 2003). Given that such abilities have been associated with educational and vocational success in STEM fields (Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009), it is important to understand the relationship between them and video game experience. In past research, virtual versions of the Morris Water Maze (VMWM) have been used to investigate spatial learning in non-human subjects. Yet, the extent of VMWM's ability to reliably and validly assess human spatial learning is relatively unknown. We developed a VMWM within the Second Life (2015) virtual world and conducted a pilot study with 12 eighth grade students. In the experiment, the participants learned to find the location of a platform in the VMWM. We analyzed performance on the task to identify data trends indicative of spatial learning. Specifically, we compared performance between males and females with varying levels of gaming expertise. In this article, we report on an analysis of navigation strategies as measured by participants' path lengths and patterns, and we discuss the implications of these results in assessing spatial cognition.


This paper demonstrates a nine-channel waveguide grating router-based laser with low (18-22 mA) thresholds, which we believe to be a record for a monolithically integrated multiwavelength laser with a 1.1-cm long cavity and a single nondistributed amplifier. This result was achieved through a combination of techniques including reduced intracavity loss, improved router design and optimal active/passive transitions.


Introduction Health and social services are severely lacking, underfunded, and understaffed in rural areas (Williams et al. 2012).This is especially true for services with a mandate focusing on supporting people experiencing Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) (Peek-Asa et al. 2011). Support services for IPV are particularly important in rural areas because rural areas are associated with associated with higher and more chronic, and severe rates of IPV, more negative outcomes for victims, less help and bystander interventions, and poorer community responses (Edwards, 2015). However, most services are found in more populated areas such as urban and regional service centres. This project examines the challenges faced by service providers supporting those experiencing IPV in their regional service centre and surrounding rural communities


The applied sport psychology supervision experiences of student and professional members of AAASP (N = 313) were surveyed. The results revealed that of those who provide applied sport psychology consultation, students were more likely than professionals to receive supervision and to receive weekly supervision. However, both groups received equal amounts of supervision and had case management as the primary component of their supervision. AAASP professional members providing supervision were more likely to hold certified consultant and licensure status than those who did not provide supervision. Only 22.4% of professionals reported providing applied sport psychology supervision, 75.9% of whom had little or no training in supervision. No differences were found in the amount, type, and quality of supervision provided to students from physical education/sport science programs and those in psychology programs.


About half of private sector workers in the United States do not participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan at their current job. To fill the gap, a number of state governments around the country have recently launched initiatives to automatically enroll their uncovered workers in individual retirement accounts (IRAs). This article reports on the experience of Oregon, which was the first state to launch an auto-IRA program (OregonSaves). Because the program only began in July of 2017 and is in its infancy, analysts are still debating basic statistics about its operation, such as the participation rate. To advance the conversation, this study uses administrative data from OregonSaves to develop a conceptual framework for measuring participation. It then shifts the focus to pre-retirement withdrawals, tracking a cohort of employees who had funded accounts in September 2018 over a 12-month period. The study finds that participation ranges from 48% to 67% (the exact rate is uncertain because of data limitations) and that 20% of employees made at least one pre-retirement withdrawal during the subsequent year, removing $1,000 on average. TOPICS: Wealth management, retirement Key Findings • Most eligible employees participate in Oregon's auto-IRA. • Some employees will use their account for precautionary savings as well as retirement. • It is still too early to draw conclusions about the program's overall effect on household finances.


BACKGROUND
The classification of the congenital melanocytic nevus (CMN) and the magnitude of the risk of transformation into melanoma are still controversial.

OBJECTIVE
To analyse the profile of the CMN in the child and teenager at IPPMG-UFRJ according to sex, skin colour, age, clinical type, locations and evolution.

METHODS
Longitudinal study of retrospective and prospective cohort from 1994 to 2007. Aleatoric sample from spontaneous or referal demand.

RESULTS
30 children and 30 teenagers showed 74 nevi: 60,8% (small), 27% (medium), 5,4% (large) and 6,7% (giant); from these, 45,9% were in the male sex and 54% in the female sex. There were 45,9% in white and 54% in non-white. Sex and skin colour didn't influence the clinical type. Among the small and medium nevi, 27,1% were located in the trunk, 23% in the head and neck; the large and giant ones in the head,neck, back and limbs; 28,3% were attended for more than 10 years, 47,3% between three and nine years and 24,4% for a time below three years; the small and medium CMN kept unchanged. The fading of the lesion was observed in one large and in two giant CMN. No cases of melanoma were observed.

CONCLUSION
An homogeneous distribution among white/non white and male/female; the sex and the ethnic group did not influence the clinical type; the small CMN was the most frequent clinical type mainly in the trunk.


Contemporary Druidry is a religious expression that claims ties to the ancient Druids of Indo-European origin. These ties are not necessarily historical as much as they are ideological. As one expression of this form of Druidry, AAr nDraiiocht Feein (ADF) represents a vital and growing new religious movement in the United States and Western Europe. The question arises as to how people encounter ADF and what leads them to become adherents. This article analyzes field data to build a framework for understanding the various pathways to ADF. Utilizing the Lofland-Stark model of conversion, the article discusses conversion theory in light of the testimonies of adherents to ADF. The article concludes by suggesting that religious deprivation, religious identity, and religious legitimacy are factors that contribute to conversion and should be a focus of study in conversion theory.


—In this paper, we study the performance of the beaconing mechanism underlying active safety vehicular applications in presence of different levels of channel congestion. The importance of this study lies in the fact that channel congestion is considered a major factor influencing communication performance in vehicular networks, and that ours is the first investigation of the effects of congestion based on extensive, real-world measurements. The results of our study reveal that congestion has a profound impact on the most important beaconing performance metric, namely, packet (beacon) inter reception time, influencing not only the average value, but also the shape of the distribution. Congestion also considerably increases the frequency of potentially dangerous situation-awareness black- outs, with a likely negative impact on the effectiveness of active safety applications. Our study also reveals that multi- hop propagation of beaconing information can be used as an effective means of lessening the negative impact of congestion on beaconing performance.


Introduction: the resolute capability is a quality to be taken into account to improve the performance of the integrated service networks. Objective: to design a methodological procedure to evaluate the resolute capability of the basic health teams at the primary health care. Methods: developmental research study of health systems and services conducted from December 2012 through February 2013. An expert working group was created in the National School of Public Health. A literature and documentary review using Big 6 model was made. Some scales were set to analyze the results to be achieved in addition to the preparation of a questionnaire, an implementation guide and also a guide to analyze and to validate the results in practice. Results: the resulting instrument of national scope may be applied annually or biannually by the head of the basic working team and by others in the selfinspection or cross-inspection variants. The documentary evidence collected from the health situation analysis, the patient classification system and the individual medical histories were all examined. Ten medical records were selected from each group. Just one person should be in charge of filling out the model. The submitted general and specific aspects are crossed, so as to allow a contextual analysis. Conclusions: the resolute capability of the basic working health team can be measured with working tools inherent to the primary health care level. The designed procedure contributes to integrate service networks at that level and it is recommended to validate the procedure and its measuring instrument.


Variable-polarization optical feedback (VPOF) induced unpredictability enhancement in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is investigated numerically based on the spin-flip model. The chaotic unpredictability is evaluated quantitatively via an information-theory-based quantifier, the permutation entropy (PE). The role of polarizer angle on the chaotic unpredictability is focused on. The influences of feedback strengths, feedback delays, and injection currents are also considered. A critical polarizer angle, at which the PE reaches its maximum, is existed for relatively high feedback strength and injection current. The representations on Poincaré sphere are further given to provide physical insight into the unpredictability enhancement. Besides, larger feedback strength leads to lower critical polarizer angle, while larger injection current contributes to higher critical polarizer angle. These results show that, by selecting critical polarizer angles, the unpredictability of chaotic signals of VCSELs with VPOF can be enhanced significantly, which is extremely useful for VCSELs-based chaotic communication systems.


In this fast developing world of Internet, securing images is a major security concern in storage and communication. Images are prone to tampering, leakage and attacks. Hence, it is very essential to secure images in the fields of medical science, defense and law enforcement. Cryptographic techniques provide secure transmission of confidential images. Among the security requirements, authentication and confidentiality are the most essential ones. S-DES fulfills the confidentiality requirement and Reversible Watermarking provides the authentication that can retrieve the original image and the watermark. In this paper, the image to be secured is watermarked using a watermark image and then encrypted with S-DES (Simple-Data Encryption Standard) algorithm. This encrypted image is decrypted by applying S-DES decryption first and then removing the watermark. In addition to this, the image security approach confirms the secrecy of the image.


Motivated by experimental studies that have found signatures of a quantum spin liquid phase in organic crystals whose structure is well described by the two-dimensional triangular lattice, we study the Hubbard model on this lattice at half filling using the infinite-system density matrix renormalization group (iDMRG) method. On infinite cylinders with finite circumference, we identify an intermediate phase between observed metallic behavior at low interaction strength and Mott insulating spin-ordered behavior at strong interactions. Chiral ordering from spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry, a fractionally quantized spin Hall response, and characteristic level statistics in the entanglement spectrum in the intermediate phase provide strong evidence for the existence of a chiral spin liquid in the full two-dimensional limit of the model.


Finding accurate solutions to partial differential equations (PDEs) is a crucial task in all scientific and engineering disciplines. It has recently been shown that machine learning methods can improve the solution accuracy by correcting for effects not captured by the discretized PDE. We target the problem of reducing numerical errors of iterative PDE solvers and compare different learning approaches for finding complex correction functions. We find that previously used learning approaches are significantly outperformed by methods that integrate the solver into the training loop and thereby allow the model to interact with the PDE during training. This provides the model with realistic input distributions that take previous corrections into account, yielding improvements in accuracy with stable rollouts of several hundred recurrent evaluation steps and surpassing even tailored supervised variants. We highlight the performance of the differentiable physics networks for a wide variety of PDEs, from non-linear advection-diffusion systems to three-dimensional Navier-Stokes flows.


Abstract. Based on a single right cheliped from the Cape de Naze Formation (middle-upper Maastrichtian), Senegal, a new genus and species of hermit crab with capsulated setae is described. Paracapsulapagurus poponguinensis n. gen. n. sp. is characterized by platy, scale-like, non-spinose tubercles with setae arranged in curved rows. This is only the third record of a fossil hermit crab with capsulated setae. These are documented in detail using SEM-imaging. For the first time, capsulated setae are also figured for the Early Jurassic hermit crab Schobertella.


Crowding refers to the inability to recognize an object that separates from its neighbors (flankers) less than the critical spacing. One account of crowding is that features from the target and flankers are combined erroneously within the crowding zone. Currently, little is known about what happens within the crowding zone. Here, we examined whether the adverse effect of flankers is combined linearly within the crowding zone. We measured the identification accuracy of a target letter presented at 10° nasal field or 10° lower field, with two flanking letters presented along the radial meridian. We first measured the identification accuracy of the target letter for six target-flanker separations, when the separation between the inner flanker and the target, and the separation between the outer flanker and the target, were yoked. A cumulative-Gaussian function was used to fit this set of data, from which we derived the critical spacings corresponding to 30%, 50%, 70% and 90% identification accuracies. Next, we measured the identification accuracy of the target by fixing the inner[outer] flanker at one of the critical spacings determined above, but varying the separation between the target and the outer[inner] flanker. Identification accuracy was also measured when only the inner or the outer flanker was present. In general, performance was better with only one, than two flankers. When two flankers were present with one at a fixed separation from the target, the critical spacing of the movable flanker was consistently smaller than the critical spacing for the yoked condition, by 51% and 34% for the inner and outer flanker, respectively. Our results suggest that within the crowding zone, the effectiveness of a flanker on the target depends on the presence of, and the location of other flankers. The overall crowding effect is not a linear combination of the effects of individual flankers. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


This study sought to establish the level of marital adjustment among 198 students (135 male and 63 female) of the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) at the Manicaland and the Masvingo regional campuses. These students were on the B.Sc. Counselling, B.Sc. Psychology and B.Sc. Special Education programmes. The adapted Locke's Marital Adjustment Test (LMAT) was administered to collect data. The results showed that the bulk of the ZOU students were perfectly happy and only a small percentage was outright unhappy in their marriages. The former would remarry the same partner if thy were given a second-chance, while a high percentage of the latter would marry a different partner. The respondents in unhappy marriages predicted divorce, but those in happy marriages did not. Even those unhappy in their present marriages wished to remarry again if given a second chance, although, understandably, they would wish to marry different partners from those thy presently live with. Recommendations on overcoming marital maladjustment were given, and these are given as suggestions for comprehensive research studies in the area.


An intervention study was set up through the School Civic Clubs to improve Botswana Children's environmental knowledge, attitudes and practices. The underlying assumption in using this informal approach was based on the premise that the school time table is already overcrowded and that the infusion approach currently adopted in the country has not produced the desired results. Hence, the Civic Clubs were introduced into ten Primary schools in Botswana. Using this informal approach, the children were given requisite training in civic and environmental issues, and they engaged in various activities for a period of six weeks. Data was collected before and after the project activities using two hundred members of the civic clubs and two hundred non-members of the club. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive analyses. Findings indicate a significant change in the knowledge and attitudes of the pupils after their exposure to the club activities. Also, there was a significant difference in the knowledge of pupils exposed to the EE club activities and those not so exposed. The interaction of pupils' gender and class of study were also examined. Teaching children environmental issues through the School Civic Clubs was explored in the study, and the findings seem to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach as against the more theoretical classroom-based teaching currently going on in schools. The use of the Civic Clubs in promoting environmental education was therefore advocated by the study, both in Botswana and in other countries.


Both Chile and Mexico experienced severe economic crises in the early 1980s, yet Chile recovered much faster than Mexico. This study analyzes four possible explanations for this difference and rules out three, explanations based on money supply expansion, real wage and real exchange rate declines, and foreign debt overhangs. The fourth explanation is based on government policy reforms in the two countries. Using growth accounting and a calibrated growth model, the study determines that the only policy reforms promising as explanations are those that primarily affect total factor productivity, or how inputs are used, not the inputs themselves. Interpreting historical evidence with economic theory, the study concludes that the crucial difference between Chile and Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s is earlier government policy reforms in Chile, particularly reforms in policies affecting the banking system and bankruptcy procedures.