Grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is an important crop in semiarid regions of the world because of its drought tolerance. Nitrogen is one of the most limiting nutrients in crop production due to low availability and loss. We hypothesize that there are differences in physiological and yield traits among grain sorghum genotypes in response to N. The objectives of this study were to determine the responses of sorghum genotypes (hybrids and inbred lines) to N fertilizer and the relationship between their physiological and yield traits. Field experiments were conducted at two locations in Kansas for two seasons (2010 and 2011). Genotype × N regimes and year × genotype interactions were significant for leaf chlorophyll, aboveground biomass, grain yield, and seed number. Overall, the hybrids were superior to inbred lines for grain yield and total aboveground biomass, but grain yields of inbred lines TX2783 and TX7000 were comparable to hybrids. Maximum total aboveground biomass, leaf chlorophyll index, and grain yield were obtained at 90 kg N ha –1 . Across years, application of 45 and 90 kg N ha –1 resulted in an increase in yield of 13 and 48% over 0 kg N ha –1 , respectively. No strong relationship was detected between genotypes and leaf chlorophyll index or chlorophyll a fluorescence and grain yield, but there was a strong relationship between seed number and total aboveground biomass and grain yield. Leaf chlorophyll index and chlorophyll a fluorescence did not provide physiological basis for differences in N response among the genotypes for grain yield.


The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of triacontanol on cucumber production and viability. A comletely randomized design was used, consisting two factors i.e. concentration and time of application. Concentration consists of 5 levels: 0, 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, and 10.0 mg/l while time of application consists of 3 leveles: 2 weeks after planting (W AP), 4 W AP, and 2 & 4 W AP. Concentration, time of application and interaction of the two factors were not significant on vegetative and reproductive variables but were significant on seed weight index, and seed variability. Concentration of O.O1 mg/l and application of 4 WAP gave the best effect on seed viability. (p.11) Key words: Triacontanol, Seed, Cucumber


It appears to be a new approach of study that adopting the theory of nonlinear self-organization on the study of enterprises cluster. The emergence, development and growth of enterprises cluster can be satisfactorily analyzed in the theory of self-organization. The theory of self-organization originated from system theory is a result of transition from system theory to nonlinear science of complexity, and a theory of study on self-organization phenomena and laws. Dissipative structure theory deeply unearths the birth environment and conditions of self-organization and lays the foundation for the theory of self-organization; and synergetics theory intends to explain the process in which a system evolves from disorderliness to orderliness, which is essentially a process of self-organization inside the system. Synergy is a form and mean of self-organization. As a social system, enterprises cluster is a complex aggregation of multiple factors, themes and relations, has a series of conditions for self-organization, and its evolution is driven by the synergy among all the subsystems inside the system. On the whole, the process of synergetic evolution is normally the development from the evolution of competitive synergy to the evolution of cooperative synergy.Key words: Self-organization; Enterprises Cluster; Dissipativ Structure; The theory of synergetics; mechanism of evolution


Sensory and motor variables are typically represented by a population of broadly tuned neurons. A coarser representation with broader tuning can often improve coding accuracy, but sometimes the accuracy may also improve with sharper tuning. The theoretical analysis here shows that the relationship between tuning width and accuracy depends crucially on the dimension of the encoded variable. A general rule is derived for how the Fisher information scales with the tuning width, regardless of the exact shape of the tuning function, the probability distribution of spikes, and allowing some correlated noise between neurons. These results demonstrate a universal dimensionality effect in neural population coding.


Big data has managed in a very short time to dominate the interest of researchers and managers, vastly changing the way information is generated and used in decision making. Nevertheless, there has been disproportionate focus on the technical aspects of this emerging technology, and limited attention on other relevant organizational elements. Past research in IT business value has demonstrated that investments alone do not generate business value; rather, firms need to develop idiosyncratic and difficult to imitate capabilities. Drawing on the resource based view and dynamic capabilities view of the firm, this study examines the resources that are necessary to develop a big data analytics capability, identifies the organizational capabilities they enable, and determines factors that moderate or condition the value of a big data analytics capability. Employing a multiple case study approach on six international firms, we develop a deeper understanding of the importance of big data analytics resources and the mechanisms through which they leveraged towards the strengthening of organizational capabilities.


Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor AE (PPARAE) is a ligand-activated transcription factor belonging to the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily. It is expressed by cardiomyocytes and regulates gene expression of key proteins involved in myocardial lipid and energy metabolism. Accordingly, the activitity of PPARAE is an important determinant of cardiomyocyte lipid homeostasis and ATP production. Currently, animal and human data suggest that deactivation of PPARAE may contribute substantially to phenotypic changes that accompany cardiac growth in conditions of pressure overload, and the hypothesis emerges that a compromised PPARAE activity may participate in the transition from compensated left ventricular hypertrophy to heart failure in hypertensive heart disease. The availability of PPARAE activators (e.g. fibric acid derivates and statins) must stimulate investigation into the potential cardioprotective actions of these compounds beyond their hypolipidaemic effects and via restoration of PPARAE activity in the hypertrophied and failing heart.


Aims The war damages affect not only the veterans, but also their family performances including family cohesion and adaptability. Therefore, investigating the veterans' family cohesion and adaptability is very important. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between spirituality and forgiveness and marital cohesion and adaptability. Instrument & Methods In the descriptive-correlational study, 105 veterans enrolled by Shahrood and Mayamey Martyrs and Veterans Foundation and their spouses were studied in 2014. The subjects were selected using chain sampling. Data was collected using spiritual experience scale, forgiveness scale, and marital adaptability and cohesion scale. Data was analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise regression. Findings Maximum correlation coefficients were between life meaningfulness (r=0.37) and religious social activities (r=0.37) and family cohesion. In addition, maximum correlation coefficient was between religious social activities (r=0.40) and family adaptability (p<0.01). Totally, 27% of family cohesion variance was explained by connection to God (15%), realistic understanding (10%), and control and forgiveness (2%). In addition, 18% of family adaptability were explained by religious and social activities (10%), realistic understanding (4%), and control and forgiveness (4%; p<0.05). Conclusion Enhancement of spirituality and forgivness in the veterans and their spouses leads to higher family cohesion and adaptability. A B S T R A C T A R T I C L E I N F O


This dissertation is the first study to propose and empirically test a framework outlining factors that influence the choice of brand acquisitions versus brand creations in a brand portfolio expansion strategy. Drawing on research on make-or-buy decisions, a multilevel interdisciplinary conceptual model was developed, identifying three potential levels of influence: the market, the firm, and the brand portfolio. Twenty-two firms were selected from the ACSI sample of firms, and secondary data sources were utilized to collect data for the variables in the analysis. The model was tested using logistic regression. The results revealed that factors at the market and firm levels seemed to have the greatest influence. Competitive Intensity of the market has the strongest effect on the choice of brand portfolio expansion strategy, followed by the firm's Financial Leverage, Market Concentration, and Market Growth. The contributions of the study and directions for future research are also discussed.


Improved cotton fiber properties for the textile industry depends largely on genetic progress. Progress towards better fiber quality could be enhanced if breeders knew whether choice of fiber property measurement instrument affects direct and correlated responses to selection. The objectives of our study were to (i) compare heritability of a fiber property measured by single-instrument (fibrograph, micronaire, stelometer), that measure one or a few related properties, with the same fiber property measured by the integrated high volume instrument (HVI), capable of measuring multiple fiber properties, and (ii) compare direct and correlated selection response of fiber strength measured by the stelometer single instrument with that measured by the HVI. Other fiber properties important to textile processing including neps, short fiber content, immature fiber content, and fineness were measured by the Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS). Heritability and selection response were estimated in two populations derived from mating the excellent fiber quality germplasm lines PD-3-14 and PD 5363 with the lesser fiber quality germplasm LA 870222. Heritability of micronaire reading (by micronaire instrument) and length (2.5% span length by fibrograph measurement) by single-instrument was similar to that measured by HVI. Heritability of fiber strength was greater when measured with stelometer than HVI, but the subpopulations with highest fiber strength by stelometer or HVI measurement differed little for fiber strength when evaluated with either instrument. Heritability of short fiber content averaged about 0.2, fiber fineness about 0.5, and immature fiber content about 0.6, indicating the potential for genetic progress. Overall, early generation selection for fiber strength by HVI measurement resulted in desirable fiber profiles.


Purpose

This paper presents an analysis of several issues that are preponderant for the work-wear design. The purpose of this paper is to create a prototype of a women's base upper body garment, based on the information gathered.

Design/methodology/approach

All the necessary information was collected through questionnaires, anthropometric measurements and evaluation of compression forces between the different prototypes.

Findings

It was possible to conclude that to create a better design some alterations need to be made in the standard base pattern design, such as measurements across the back length.

Research limitations/implications

Despite the fact that these design changes have a great impact on the stretch ability and on the compression forces, using softer fabric, such as cotton, is always better for an increased comfort. However, in more professional situation where these fabrics should not be used, these design changes can really make a difference.

Practical implications

A test with a set of compression sensors showed that the simple alteration of one measurement in the design of the base patterns highly reduces the compression forces.

Social implications

These simple alterations allow the garments to adjust to the users' needs, promoting higher levels of comfort and lower levels of limitations of movement.

Originality/value

The designs presented in this paper can be easily adapted to a variety of garments, such as jackets or dresses, both for leisure or professional activities.


This article explores major processes that operate in new dialect formation, with a focus on the effects of various kinds of isolation of communities and their speakers. A sociolinguistic approach concentrates on competition and selection between transplanted dialect features and mechanisms such as mixing, leveling, simplification, and reallocation. With reference to the established (yet not uncontroversial) concept of the feature pool, the question is how contact between distinct systems gives rise to localized forms. From a more socially oriented perspective, the question is how the integration and segregation of groups contributes to or shapes the emergence and disappearance of dialects. Isolation as a sociolinguistic concept is not thoroughly defined, particularly at the intergroup, societal, or even national level; therefore, geographic, social, and psychological factors need to be discussed and assessed. The processes investigated here are koineization and dialect/language shift, illustrated with examples from all over the world.


Objectives: This article forms part of the findings of a thesis on the management of burn wounds by nurses. The aim of the study was to describe the current practice by nurses of managing burn wounds.

 Design: A mixed-method, quantitative and qualitative, nonexperimental, explanatory, sequential, descriptive design was used. Subjects and setting: The population was nurses providing care to adult patients with superficial- to partial-thickness burn wounds, admitted to a single burn unit in a tertiary academic hospital in Gauteng.

 Method: The quantitative data were collected initially through an integrative review, followed by the parallel collection of quantitative data through structured observations, and qualitative data through semi-structured interviews. This article presents the findings from the structured observations. Multiple dressing changes were observed, using a checklist as a data-collection tool. Data were collected from August to October 2012, and from April to June 2013. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise, categorise and order the data. The positivity index (PI) percentage was used for analysis. A total of 303 dressing changes were observed.

 Outcome measures: The outcome measure was a description of current practice according to the themes of the nursing process using a quantitative checklist.

 Results: The findings revealed that communication between nurses and patients was ineffective, with PIs of 18% for the nurses introducing themselves to patients, and 14% for giving an explanation of the procedure to be carried out to patients. Failing to heat the cleaning solution before applying it, and not washing their hands were also identified as areas needing improvement. On assessment and diagnosis, the nurses scored below the 70% mark required for a quality assessment. The lowest scores were observed for the use of the TIME (tissue management, control of infection and inflammation, moisture imbalance, and advancement of the epithelial edge of the wound) framework. This suggests that the framework had not been adopted as a frame of reference for the management of burn wounds in the observed setting. Satisfactory scores were obtained for certain elements of the dressing execution, namely the aseptic field being maintained, a logical sequence being followed throughout the procedure, and consideration being given to complaints by the patients about their pain. However, the way in which the environment was not adequately prepared prior to dressing execution, the way in which packages were not opened asceptically, the failure of the nurses to check the expiry dates of the cleaning materials, and the cleaning technique used were identified as gaps in competence. The need for a more structured approach to reporting was identified from lack of use of the TIME framework during documentation. A PI of 62% was obtained for the referral pathways, which is below the benchmarked score of 70% for quality.

 Conclusion: The results obtained from the structured observations in this study indicate that there is a need for guidelines on the management of burn wounds by nurses.


Industrial Design students are hardworking, ambitious, get-the-job-done sort of people. They conduct Industrial Design research that defines the user, the intended market, the required function, and appropriate image. This plethora of information is sufficient to define the design objectives and strike a target line through the design process to an excellent solution. However, there is often a disconnect between the information acquired in the research phase and the design issues addressed in the concept development phase of a project. This is based largely on the fact that research material presents information from different sources and formats, and students need to select, prioritize, and apply that information to their projects. It is a difficult decision for students to make, as they are learning to juggle the different facets of a design problem and trying to project the results of their decisions into successful concepts. What seems so difficult for student designers is second nature to an experienced designer. The disconnect is typically manifested in one of two ways. First, the research information presents the project as being huge and intimidating, causing students to become quagmired by the torrent of information. On the opposing side, students push a decision, focus on one issue from their research, and lose sight of other, less obvious, yet still valuable ones. Both activities result in design solutions that do not employ the research information to its fullest extent. In order to facilitate the selection/prioritization process and bridge the gap of design research to design conceptualization, students need to visualize the big picture that describes how the research categories such as "user," "marketing," "functional/mechanical research" are related. This is achieved through the use of a visual storyboard. The storyboard presents pictorially how the user will interact with the product from storage, through use, and back to storage. The storyboard becomes a communication tool, based on research information, that the student uses to focus on one portion of the design problem while not losing sight of others. In this way, students can visualize how prioritizing the functional parameters of a tall man may exclude those of a small woman. Thus, students can imagine the results of their decision making, and their prioritization of the many facets of the design problem will facilitate the development of strong final solution. In addition, by employing a storyboard, students may identify points in the process where more research information and definition is needed. This paper, through academic and industrial examples, addresses the construction of the visual storyboard from design research information, and examples its value in visualizing the many facets involved in designing a product. Designing a Rehabilitative Gait Trainer Robert Roe Industrial Design Student Georgia Institute of Technology Robert Roe is an industrious student with an interest in design research and medical product design as career directions. Given his interpersonal and design research skills, and knowing that medical rehab products often lack industrial design input, made designing the gait trainer an excellent project. His research document was very thorough. It included information on the skeletal and muscular structures of the body, typical maladies that would cause a person to require rehabilitation, and pictorial display of the products available to the physical therapist and patients. In addition, he interviewed therapists involved in this area in order to better understand their activities and concerns. The result was a very successful presentation of what the product must do and how it will compete in a selective market. The project was rich with opportunity to design innovative solutions to the many issues described by the research. Unfortunately, the time allotted for the project would not permit development of a fully finished product solution that appropriately addressed the issues. …


The size structure of zooplankton communities in the Gulf of Lion, NW Mediterranean Sea, was studied in May 2010 and January 2011. The integrated physical and biological measurements provided a 3D view with high spatial resolution of the physical and biological variables and their correlations over the whole gulf. The effects of physical processes such as freshwater input, coastal upwelling, and water column mixing by winds on phytoplankton and zooplankton distributions were analyzed using these data. During the winter, strong northerly winds mixed the water column, and the vertical distributions of biological variables were uniform over most of the gulf while there were local hot spots with high chlorophyll a (chl a) concentrations in front of the Rhone mouths and in coastal areas. During the spring, light winds and water column stratification resulted in less vertical mixing, and the Rhone River freshwater plume spread over a large part of the gulf. The nutrients delivered by the freshwater input encouraged high primary production in the surface layer. In the pycnocline, a thin layer of high particle concentration was associated with these high phytoplankton biomasses. Three habitats were distinguished based on statistical analysis performed on biological and physical variables: (1) the coastal area characterized by shallow waters, high chl a concentrations, and a steep slope of the normalized biomass size spectrum (NBSS); (2) the area affected by the Rhone with high stratification and flat NBSS slope; and (3) the continental shelf with a deep mixed layer, relatively low particle concentrations, and moderate NBSS slope. Defining habitat is a relevant approach to designing new zooplankton sampling strategies, validating distribution models and including the zooplankton compartment in trophodynamic studies.


A current concern of applied linguistics is about the degree to which teachers need to direct learners' attention to understanding grammar whilst retaining the focus on the principles of communicative language teaching and the need to communicate. On one hand, there are experts who advocate no interruption in communication and on the other hand there are those who advocate separate grammar instruction (Sheen, 2002). These two extremes were moderated by Long ( 1991 ) who made a distinction between  "focus on form"  and  "focus on forms". Thus focus-on-form instruction came into being which keeps the principles of communication at the core, and allows the teacher to interrupt only if form-based problems bring about communication misunderstandings and problems. The major points of debate include whether, how, and when we should integrate grammar instruction. In this article, experts' orientations towards meaning-based and form-based instruction are reviewed, the problems of each orientation are discussed, and at the end some hints are suggested for teachers to consider when teaching language forms.


At the nation's founding, search warrants and the concept of suspicion were well entrenched as a means of limiting governmental search power. This tradition largely explains why today's Fourth Amendment law includes two foundational black letter rules: the presumptive warrant requirement and the presumptive suspicion requirement. Unfortunately, neither of these rules is correct. Certainly they have historical support, especially in the common law. But whether they reflect the totality of our historic experience is questionable, especially when civil search practices are considered. More importantly, modern developments—such as urban life and technological advancements, the rise of the regulatory state, and post-9/11 security 1276 WILLIAM AND MARY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 51:1275 concerns—have sufficiently changed circumstances so that these rules are now unworkable. Indeed, in today's world these rules are now demonstrably wrong. Worst of all, adhering to them has prevented us from formulating a more coherent Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. This Article is a call to arms. It challenges us to recognize that a new paradigm now confronts us, in which reasonableness serves as the constitutional touchstone for all governmental searches, and where neither warrants nor suspicion can be expected to serve as primary mechanisms for protecting Fourth Amendment values. Therefore, we must confront the need to identify new ways of assuring adequate Fourth Amendment protections. To that end, the Article concludes by offering some broad guidelines to start us on the way. 2010] THE DEATH OF SUSPICION 1277


This research project explores the perception of members of a multicultural working group to communication relating to organisational change, and their response to it. For the analysis the impact of cultural dimensions such as "power distance" and "uncertainty avoidance" on this perception were investigated. A broadly qualitative approach using a case study methodology within a tertiary educational organisation in New Zealand was chosen to address the complex nature of intercultural communication issues implied in this goal. A mixed-methods two phase design was planned. In the first phase, quantitative data were collected through an exploratory survey to provide a general overview of how change communication was perceived, and an indication of possible trends relating to culture. This phase helped conceptualise the second qualitative phase, in which in-depth data were collected through a focus group and individual interviews. The findings of the study indicate that national culture may play a role in people's attitude towards hierarchy and their perceptions of managers' and staff members' communication style and cultural dimensions appear to be partly relevant. But the findings also illustrate that ethnic culture is not the only influence on an individual's perception and behaviour during change. Organisational culture, for instance, can positively influence whether employees voice their opinion amongst one other and whether they give feedback to their superiors. Moreover, the findings indicate that variations in communication style can lead to differing perceptions of a behavioural response to change. For example, voicing a critical opinion straightforwardly may be viewed as appropriate or inappropriate depending on the cultural background of the receiver. Additionally, the findings show some agreement between members of a multicultural working group such as what is important information during change, which management level should provide this information, and in what way communication should be managed in order to effectively engage organisational members. Importantly, national culture was not viewed as an additional barrier to communication during change implementation. Finally, the findings show that although intercultural communication competence is valued for all members in a multicultural organisation, including managers, other culturally independent characteristics like interpersonal competence were assessed as similar or more important. The outcomes of this study point to the need for further research to address the complexity of culture in its interplay with other major factors for efficient communication in multicultural settings.


ABSTRACT Primary school design is balancing between end-user needs and societal interests, and between traditional and innovative approaches. In current approaches, an unbalance affects end-users' performances and obstructs innovative school-building design. The institutional system of design should not only be more aware of adjusting the quality design indicators to end-users, but they should actually do it in combination with the increasing need for more innovation in school-building designs. Present guidelines emphasize objective rational societal and traditional interests but underestimate the subjective essences of individual end-user needs and the abilities of intelligent school buildings to meet important requirements for present and future learning environments. Based on universal human needs and dynamic mechanisms relationships, this article addresses a number of reasons that cause these mismatches. We present a theoretical analysis to establish Needs Centred Guidelines for primary school design as a methodological tool to improve the balance between the societal and end-users' needs, and to give more insight into underlying patterns in design processes. The guidelines are based on a variety of end-user psychological, physiological and bio-physical needs. This article explains how this analytic approach contributes to the attention for end-user physical learning environment needs and to innovate school design.


Anyons are exotic quasiparticles with fractional charge that can emerge as fundamental excitations of strongly interacting topological quantum phases of matter. Unlike ordinary fermions and bosons, they may obey non-Abelian statistics—a property that would help realize fault-tolerant quantum computation. Non-Abelian anyons have long been predicted to occur in the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) phases that form in two-dimensional electron gases in the presence of a large magnetic field, such as the ν=5/2 FQH state. However, direct experimental evidence of anyons and tests that can distinguish between Abelian and non-Abelian quantum ground states with such excitations have remained elusive. Here, we propose a new experimental approach to directly visualize the structure of interacting electronic states of FQH states with the STM. Our theoretical calculations show how spectroscopy mapping with the STM near individual impurity defects can be used to image fractional statistics in FQH states, identifying unique signatures in such measurements that can distinguish different proposed ground states. The presence of locally trapped anyons should leave distinct signatures in STM spectroscopic maps, and enables a new approach to directly detect—and perhaps ultimately manipulate—these exotic quasiparticles.


Background and rationale for the study. This study investigated whether human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection adversely affects the prognosis of patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Thirty-four HIV-positive patients with chronic liver disease, consecutively diagnosed with HCC from 1998 to 2007 were one-to-one matched with 34 HIV negative controls for: sex, liver function (Child-Turcotte-Pugh class [CTP]), cancer stage (BCLC model) and, whenever possible, age, etiology of liver disease and modality of cancer diagnosis. Survival in the two groups and independent prognostic predictors were assessed. Results. Among HIV patients 88% were receiving HAART. HIV-RNA was undetectable in 65% of cases; median lymphocyte CD4+ count was 368.5/mmc. Etiology of liver disease was mostly related to HCV infection. CTP class was: A in 38%, B in 41%, C in 21% of cases. BCLC cancer stage was: early in 50%, intermediate in 23.5%, advanced in 5.9%, end-stage in 20.6% of cases. HCC treatments and death causes did not differ between the two groups. Median survival did not differ, being 16 months (95% CI: 6-26) in HIV positive and 23 months (95% CI: 5-41) in HIV negative patients (P=0.391). BCLC cancer stage and HCC treatment proved to be independent predictors of survival both in the whole population and in HIV patients. Conclusions. Survival of HIV infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy and diagnosed with HCC is similar to that of HIV negative patients bearing this tumor. Prognosis is determined by the cancer bulk and its treatment.


Four years after the introduction of City CarShare in the San Francisco, Bay area in California, 29% of carshare members had gotten rid of one or more cars, and 4.8% of members' trips and 5.4% of their vehicle miles traveled were in carshare vehicles. Matched-pair comparisons with a statistical control group suggest that, over time, members have reduced total vehicular travel. However, most declines occurred during the first 1 to 2 years of the program; 3 to 4 years after City CarShare's inauguration, earlier declines had leveled off. Because many carshare vehicles are small and fuel-efficient but can carry several people, the trend in per capita gasoline consumption also is downward. Mindful of the cumulative costs of driving, carshare members appear to have become more judicious and selective when deciding whether to drive, take public transit, walk, bike, or even forgo a trip. Coupled with reduced personal car ownership, these factors have given rise to a resourceful form of automobility in the San Francisco Bay area.


The objective of the Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS) is to provide a unified approach to monitor national trends in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antimicrobial use (AMU) in humans and animals and to facilitate the assessment of the public health impact of antimicrobial use. CIPARS is a combination of passive and active surveillance that is coordinated by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) but is based on extensive collaborations. Stakeholder engagement has led to action based on surveillance results. This One-Health approach provides a holistic understanding of AMR in Canada and enables the evaluation of interventions.


This thesis aims to contribute to monetary policy studies by conducting fundamental research and gathering empirical evidence on the effectiveness of monetary policy in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan. The financial crisis in 2007/08 highlighted the weakness of using nominal interest rates as the main monetary policy instrument. Before the financial crisis in 2007/08, the new monetary consensus (Bernanke 1992, 1995, and 1996, Woodford, 2003) that interest rates could be the effective intermediate instrument to influence the economy was widely accepted by central banks. It had developed since the failure of monetarism in the late 1970s. Some central banks (BOE, ECB, and RBNZ) have adopted specific inflation targeting, and approach it through the short-term interest rate. However, as the short-term interest rate has approached zero in a number of countries, it has become apparent that new monetary policy instruments are needed. Quantitative variables (including measures of money and credit) have since become of greater concern again, especially since a policy of "quantitative easing (QE)" was adopted by the Bank of England in 2009. The main goal of this research is to provide empirical evidence on the interaction between financial variables (interest rates, money and credit) and economic variables (nominal GDP). Three main questions are being dealt with: (1)Are financial variables (interest rates, money and credit) appropriate to target nominal GDP? (2)Do quantitative variables (money and credit) have superior predictive abilities to the price variable (interest rate) in predicting nominal GDP? (3)Do credit variables perform better than money aggregates in explaining nominal GDP? The empirical analysis employs simple regressions, Granger causality tests, the general-to-specific modelling methodology and VARs model. The empirical results suggest that quantitative variables (money aggregates and GDP-circulation credit) have more predictive power for nominal GDP than price variables (interest rates). Meanwhile the GDP-circulation credit displays more accurate features than money aggregates to target nominal GDP. Overall the outcomes not only enrich the literature regarding the monetary policy in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan but also provide further empirical support for a modified 'credit view' of the transmission of monetary policy. They also have implications for the design of a successful monetary policy implementation regime


Purpose: analysis of clinical cases of different course of diabetic retinopathy in pregnancy.Patients and methods. The article presents 5 clinical cases of different course of diabetic retinopathy in pregnancy: absence of manifestation, stable course and progression to macular edema and aggressive proliferation.Results. The reasons for progression of diabetic retinopathy during pregnancy were analyzed. The most important were the compensation of diabetes mellitus in preconception period and throughout pregnancy, the severity of retinopathy, and the presence of concomitant pathology. It is emphasized that timely detection of progression signs of retinopathy and laser coagulation during pregnancy makes it possible to stabilize the course of disease and improve visual prognosis. Thus, the monitoring of pregnant women with diabetes mellitus requires an individual approach and careful dynamic observation during pregnancy and in postpartum period. Timely laser coagulation in progression of retinopathy can contribute to preservation of visual functions.Conclusions. Clinical course of diabetic retinopathy in pregnancy is variable: no manifestation, stabilization, progression. Progression of diabetic retinopathy during pregnancy is determined by many factors, in particular, the compensation of diabetes mellitus in preconception period and throughout pregnancy, the severity and stabilization of retinopathy as results of treatment in preconception period, the presence of concomitant pathology. Timely detection of signs of diabetic retinopathy progression and its treatment, particularly laser coagulation of the retina, during pregnancy allows stabilizing the course of disease. There may be an aggressive course of diabetic retinopathy with progression in postpartum period, in connection with which, active monitoring of patients with retinopathy after childbirth is required.


The use of thorium for nuclear power generation is an important element of the Indian atomic energy programme. The design and development of the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) is a step in this direction. Intensive design activity is underway to set up a 300-MWe AHWR. The design of the AHWR incorporates several features to simplify the design and to eliminate certain systems and components, making it economically competitive with other available options for power generation. Utilisation of low-grade or waste heat is an additional feature incorporated in the overall design of the reactor system. A proposal to utilise waste heat from the Main Heat Transport (MHT) purification circuit to produce high-quality desalinated water by the low-temperature evaporation process has been envisaged. This paper presents the proposed nuclear desalination system utilising MHT purification circuit waste heat of AHWR along with its coupling arrangement and technical details.


The doctrinal development as a prompt for this piece was the recent decision in the Supreme Court in the case of R (Catt and T) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] UKSC 9. This failure of two conjoined attempts through judicial review to have information thoroughly deleted from police databases, in relation to two rather different sets of circumstances and policy pressures, is a landmark judgment in the surveillance and privacy law field as a whole. The judgment of the Supreme Court in Catt is discussed in detail in a later Part of this piece. Suffice to say, for a quick introduction to the case, that Catt in the Supreme Court was a successful appeal by the Metropolitan Police, in the form of a 4-1 split judgment in their favour. John Catt ultimately lost his case after seeking the deletion of text-based records from databases operated by a police unit with a national anti-extremism intelligence remit. In Part 1 of this piece we aim to give an introduction to some of the tensions that arise between privacy and human rights, versus police efficacy and operational pressures, in the context of intelligence gathering, analysis and retention. In Part 2, we move on to consider the concepts of information and analysis as comprising 'police intelligence' found in some of the academic literature as it currently exists on the topic. Part 3 of this piece in turn provides a short review of concepts and practices in relation to electronic intelligence databases in operation by the police more broadly, and across different police jurisdictions and cultures; while Part 4 see us address the police use of intelligence databases in the UK context more specifically. Parts 5, 6 and 7 in turn see us address and analyse police intelligence retention and regulation as a human rights issue; the recent Supreme Court decision in Catt; and then give a broader commentary and critique of the Supreme Court decision in Catt. In Part 8 of this piece we evaluate some recent changes to guidance on the retention and deletion of police records made following the decision by the Supreme Court in Catt. Concluding our piece, in Part 9, we highlight some conclusions and recommendations we feel we can make as to i) the shifting and advancing realities of police database technology and surveillance through electronic records generally, ii) definitional and doctrinal problems presented by varying concepts in play with regard to what is meant by 'police intelligence', and iii) the need for a single national regulator in the field of police intelligence more generally.


Multicasting in the optical domain has been recently shown to provide substantial savings in terms of the network-wide average packet hop distance and the total number of transceivers in the network. Current proposed multicasting architectures [e.g., splitter-and-delivery (SaD)] employ power splitting mechanisms which have the side effect of high fabrication cost due to the large number of splitters and the need for optical amplifiers. We propose a low-cost novel architecture called tap-and-continue (TaC) for realizing multicasting. This architecture provides a natural evolution from current unicast cross-connects and is based on tapping devices. We prove that any multicasting session can be feasibly realized in networks employing only TaC cross-connects, and the problem of finding the optimal multiple-destination minimum cost trail in such networks is NP-complete. Therefore, we develop a 4-approximation algorithm for multiple-destination routing. Simulation results demonstrate that the TaC cross-connect provides a realistic, cost-effective approach for implementing multicasting with negligible blocking degradation especially in multifiber networks.


Title of Dissertation: THE USE OF FANTASIES IN PIANO WORKS FROM MOZART TO RACHMANINOFF Hea-Kyoung Mo, Doctor of Musical Arts, 2005 Dissertation directed by: Professor Larissa Dedova Department of Music The Fantasy is a very attractive genre in piano works. The main purpose of my dissertation is to illustrate how composers developed the Fantasy and used this genre in different ways, exploring both technical and musical innovations in expanding the original form of the Fantasy. Composers throughout history used existing and newly created techniques to emphasize their musical ideas. In the 19-century, virtuoso pieces were often vehicles for demonstrating musical imagination, not just for bravura spectacle. Many composers were very imaginative technically as well as musically when they used the Fantasy form. The topic and repertoire appealed to my desire in improving my musicianship while surmounting technical challenges. The Fantasy includes a great variety of forms and styles through all musical periods. The Fantasy first developed in the 16-century and was composed of fugal and strict imitative counterpoint. In the 17-century, composers added an improvisational dimension to their fantasies. Both imitative and improvisational types of fantasies reached a culmination in J.S. Bach's large-scale keyboard Fantasias. During the classical period, Mozart wrote Fantasies in the tradition of German Baroque organ music, being primarily concerned with contrasts in style, texture, key, and thematic material. Beethoven fused the Fantasy into multi-movement Sonata form thereby changing the form of the traditional Sonata. The idea of fusing the Fantasy with Sonata form was taken up Romantic Era composers in their large-scale multi-movement or multi-sectional works and character pieces. In the 20-century, the Fantasia demonstrated many historical features, ranging from old forms to newly-created ones. I feel that the works in my program express great compositional imagination. Therefore, as a performer, I was encouraged to look deeply within myself for musical growth so as to be able to best express the composers' ideas. THE USE OF FANTASIES IN PIANO WORKS FROM MOZART TO RACHMANINOFF


The partitioning of volatile dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) compounds to a discontinuous gas phase results in the repeated expansion, fragmentation, and vertical mobilization of gas clusters. This process has the potential to significantly affect the dissolution of DNAPL source zones and the characterization of DNAPL‐contaminated sites, but has not been included in common conceptual models. This study presents new observations of discontinuous gas‐phase growth above a 1,1,1‐trichloroethane pool in a two‐dimensional flow cell packed with 1.1‐mm diameter sand. In contrast to the behavior observed in coarse glass beads, these visualization results show that the gas phase evolves as a collection of macroscopic fingers, composed of multiple trapped and disconnected gas clusters, and that the growth rate of these fingers is faster at the leading edge of the DNAPL pool due to the stripping of dissolved gases. These results provide valuable information for the incorporation of discontinuous gas phases in our evolving conceptual models of DNAPL source zones.


The oxygen content of silicon-on-insulator films, formed by oxygen implantation, is shown to be responsible for the generation of high-density free carriers: thermal donors at 450°C and new donors at 750°C. The variation of sheet resistance and spreading resistance profiles is measured after successive isochronal and isothermal anneals. The initial generation rate of new donors greatly exceeds that of thermal donors, suggesting a surface-states-related mechanism.


Oil demand is estimated using price decomposition terms to analyze the effects of price and income upon world oil demand, disaggregated by product: residual oil (used primarily for generating electricity) and other oil. Equations are estimated for each of six groups of countries, using data from 1971-2006. Most of the demand reductions since 1973-74 were due to fuelswitching away from residual oil, especially in the OECD. Demand for other oil has been much less price-responsive, and has grown almost as rapidly as income. Assuming constant real prices and our estimated elasticities, we project slightly weaker near-term demand growth than the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), but much stronger long-term growth: 17% higher by 2030.


In recent decades, the subtropical edges of Earth's Hadley circulation have shifted poleward. Some studies have concluded that this observed tropical expansion is occurring more rapidly than predicted by global climate models. However, recent modeling studies have shown that internal variability can account for a large fraction of the observed circulation trends, at least in an annual-mean, zonal-mean framework. This study extends these previous results by examining the seasonal and regional characteristics of the recent poleward expansion of the Hadley circulation using seven reanalysis datasets, sea level pressure observations, and surface wind observations. The circulation has expanded the most poleward during summer and fall in both hemispheres, with more zonally asymmetric circulation trends occurring in the Northern Hemisphere (NH). The seasonal and regional characteristics of these observed trends generally fall within the range of trends predicted by climate models for the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and in most cases, the magnitude of the observed trends does not exceed the range of interdecadal trends in the models' control runs, which arise exclusively from internal variability. One exception occurs during NH fall when large observed poleward shifts in the atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic sector exceed nearly all trends projected by models. While most recent NH circulation trends are consistent with a change in phase of the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), the observed circulation trends over the North Atlantic instead reflect 1) large natural variability unrelated to the PDO and/or 2) a climate forcing (or the circulation response to that forcing) that is not properly captured by models.


The microstructural and ultrastructural characteristics of knot wood were examined and related to paper properties. Norway spruce (Picea abies) chips were laboratory fractionated and sorted into a knot containing assortment and a non knot containing reference assortment. The proportions of compression wood in these two assortments were then assessed and the two chip assortments refined in pilot refiners. The knot containing portion was divided into wood from the upper branch, wood from the lower branch compression wood and wood surrounding the branch. Fibres from the three knotwood portions and the reference chips were extracted and measurements were made of fibre properties including fibre length, fibre width and cell wall thickness. The two chip assortments were refined in a pilot plant and the surface properties of laboratory sheets were measured. The knot containing chips had adverse effects on several paper properties. However, no clear relationship was established between surface roughness and the presence of compression wood fibres in knot wood. (6 fig, 12 ref)


This Participatory Action Research (PAR) project worked with four active street-life-oriented Black men to document how a community sample of street-life-oriented Black boys between the ages of 16 and 19 frame and use "street life" as a site of resilience inside schools. Qualitative data were collected in the form of written responses on 156 surveys, 10 individual interviews, and one group interview. Data were primarily collected inside the street communities of Harlem, New York City and Paterson, New Jersey. Qualitative findings reveal the young men, overall, hold positive views of formal education and its significance in their lives. Yet they hold negative attitudes regarding previous and current educational experiences. Also, results demonstrate the young men ultimately position their street orientation as an adaptive identity to have inside schools.


Significance Ketogenic diet is an effective treatment for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Here, we present evidence that hepatic mitochondrial fluxes and redox state are markedly altered during ketogenic diet-induced reversal of NAFLD in humans. Ketogenic diet for 6 d markedly decreased liver fat content and hepatic insulin resistance. These changes were associated with increased net hydrolysis of liver triglycerides and decreased endogenous glucose production and serum insulin concentrations. Partitioning of fatty acids toward ketogenesis increased, which was associated with increased hepatic mitochondrial redox state and decreased hepatic citrate synthase flux. These data demonstrate heretofore undescribed adaptations underlying the reversal of NAFLD by ketogenic diet and highlight hepatic mitochondrial fluxes and redox state as potential treatment targets in NAFLD. Weight loss by ketogenic diet (KD) has gained popularity in management of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). KD rapidly reverses NAFLD and insulin resistance despite increasing circulating nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), the main substrate for synthesis of intrahepatic triglycerides (IHTG). To explore the underlying mechanism, we quantified hepatic mitochondrial fluxes and their regulators in humans by using positional isotopomer NMR tracer analysis. Ten overweight/obese subjects received stable isotope infusions of: [D7]glucose, [13C4]β-hydroxybutyrate and [3-13C]lactate before and after a 6-d KD. IHTG was determined by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS). The KD diet decreased IHTG by 31% in the face of a 3% decrease in body weight and decreased hepatic insulin resistance (−58%) despite an increase in NEFA concentrations (+35%). These changes were attributed to increased net hydrolysis of IHTG and partitioning of the resulting fatty acids toward ketogenesis (+232%) due to reductions in serum insulin concentrations (−53%) and hepatic citrate synthase flux (−38%), respectively. The former was attributed to decreased hepatic insulin resistance and the latter to increased hepatic mitochondrial redox state (+167%) and decreased plasma leptin (−45%) and triiodothyronine (−21%) concentrations. These data demonstrate heretofore undescribed adaptations underlying the reversal of NAFLD by KD: That is, markedly altered hepatic mitochondrial fluxes and redox state to promote ketogenesis rather than synthesis of IHTG.


Abstract Human rights have come to play a prominent role in debates about the responsibilities of business. In the business ethics literature, there are two approaches to the question of whether businesses have human rights obligations. The 'moral' approach conceives of human rights as antecedently existing basic moral rights. The 'institutional' approach starts with contemporary human rights practice in which human rights refer to rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent international documents, and in which states are the primary duty bearers of human rights. This commentary argues that the implications of adopting one or the other approach are much greater than most scholars recognize, and that we have reason to reject the moral approach and to adopt the institutional approach instead. The commentary highlights key questions that need to be addressed if human rights are to play a central role in framing the responsibilities of business.


Integrated enterprise applications delivered with SAP Business Suite software enable enterprises like yours to execute and optimize business and IT strategies. SAP Business Suite enables you to perform essential, industry-specific, and business-support processes with modular solutions that are designed to work with other SAP and non-SAP software. Organizations and departments in all industries can deploy our business applications in a step-wise manner to address specific business challenges on their own timelines and without costly upgrades. Our business applications provide better insight and visibility across organizations, improve operational efficiency and effectiveness, and increase your flexibility to address business change. You can incrementally adapt and tailor SAP Business Suite applications through enhancement packages that alleviate the need for costly and time-consuming upgrades. SAP Business Suite applications increase visibility across departments and business silos - improving your ability to make clear business decisions and eliminating process bottlenecks.


Jean Baudrillard, the scholar and critic of postmodernity, struggled with questions of postmodern ontology: representation of the real through the semiotic process of signification is threatened with the rise of simulacra, the simulated real. With this rise, seductive semiotic relationships between signs replace any traditional ontological representamen. This struggle has implications for environmentalism since the problems of contemporary environmental philosophy are rooted in problems with ontology. Hence the question of postmodern ecology: can the natural survive postmodern simulation? Baudrillard's communicative analysis of semiotic postmodernity can both support and extend ecosemiotic theses in response to these questions, questions that must be answered in order to explore our paradoxical understandings of the natural and confirm an understanding of environmentalism for postmodernity. In this paper I will argue for the merit of a semiotic understanding of postmodernity, develop the idea of ecology in this context, and then compare Baudrillard's approach to the contemporary development of ecosemiotics.


Context and Aim: Coronary artery disease (CAD) has been recorded as the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Studies indicate that participants with CAD show higher degree of pulp calcifications. Localized pulp calcifications are microscopically apparent in more than half of the teeth in young adolescents. However, pulp stones extending to the entire dentition are infrequent and need further evaluation to predict the risk of other probabilities of associated diseases. The present study was planned to estimate the prevalence of pulp stones in participants diagnosed with or undergoing treatment for CAD. Materials and Methods: The present study consisted of 300 participants within an age range of 20–55 years who were divided into the study group consisting of 150 participants, including 108 males and 42 females and 150 age- and sex-matched controls. Pulp stones were imaged using bitewing radiographs using the paralleling technique under standard conditions. The radiographs were interpreted separately by two experienced radiologists. Statistical Analysis Used: The statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS statistics version 20 Core system software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA), whereas statistical tests used were unpaired t-test and Z-test. The Chi-square test was used to check the prevalence of pulp stones in CAD participants in addition to their arch-wise and region-wise distribution while value of P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: CAD participants exhibited the 100% prevalence of pulp stones while posterior teeth were predominantly affected (P < 0.05). Furthermore, pulp stones were significantly higher in the maxilla than in the mandible in both the groups (P < 0.05). No statistically significant difference was found in gender predilection in the study group, although the control group showed a definite preponderance for the males for the development of pulp stones (P < 0.05). Conclusion: CAD participants have a high chance of being affected with pulp stones. Higher prevalence of this entity in multiple teeth may warrant such an individual, in the presence of other compounding risk factors, as a candidate for CAD to be ruled out.


Conservation science is a crisis-oriented discipline focused on delivering robust answers to reducing human impacts on nature. To explore how the field might have changed during the past two decades, we analyzed 3,245 applications for oral presentations submitted to the Student Conference on Conservation Science (SCCS) in Cambridge, UK. SCCS has been running every year since 2000, aims for global representation by providing bursaries to early-career conservationists from lower-income countries, and has never had a thematic focus, beyond conservation in the broadest sense. We found that the majority of submissions to SCCS were based on primary biological data collection from local scale field studies in the tropics, contrary to established literature which highlights gaps in tropical research. Our results showed a small increase over time in submissions framed around how nature benefits people as well as a small increase in submissions integrating social science. Our findings also suggest that students and early-career conservationists could provide pathways to increased availability of data from the tropics and for addressing well-known biases in the published literature towards wealthier countries. We hope this research will motivate efforts to support student projects, ensuring data and results are published and made publicly available.


Relic neutrinos play an important role in the evolution of the Universe, modifying some of the cosmological observables. We summarize the main aspects of cosmological neutrinos and describe how the precision of present cosmological data can be used to learn about neutrino properties. In particular, we discuss how cosmology provides information on the absolute scale of neutrino masses, complementary to beta decay and neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments. We explain why the combination of Planck temperature data with measurements of the baryon acoustic oscillation angular scale provides a strong bound on the sum of neutrino masses, 0.23 eV at the 95% confidence level, while the lensing potential spectrum and the cluster mass function measured by Planck are compatible with larger values. We also review the constraints from current data on other neutrino properties. Finally, we describe the very good perspectives from future cosmological measurements, which are expected to be sensitive to neutrino masses close to the minimum values guaranteed by flavour oscillations.


In this thesis we examine the theoretical origin and statistical features of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. We particularly focus on the CMB power spectra and cosmological parameter estimation from QUaD CMB experiment data in order to derive implications for the concordance cosmological model. In chapter 4 we present a detailed parameter estimation analysis of the combined polarization and temperature power spectra from the second and third season observations of the QUaD experiment. QUaD has for the first time detected multiple acoustic peaks in the polarization spectrum, allowing meaningful parameter analyses from the polarization data alone. In a standard 6-parameter ΛCDM parameter estimation analysis we find the QUaD TT power spectrum to be in very good agreement with previous results. However, the QUaD polarization data shows some tension with ΛCDM model. The origin of this 1−2σ tension remains unclear, and may point to new physics, residual systematics or simple random chance. Combining polarization and temperature data we find an acceptable fit, and show that our results are dominated by the polarization signal. We combine QUaD with the five-year data from the WMAP satellite and the SDSS Luminous Red Galaxies 4th data release power spectrum, and extend our analysis to constrain the tensor-to-scalar ratio and the primordial isocurvature perturbations. Our analysis sets a benchmark for future polarization experiments. In chapter 5 we outline and test a new semi-analytical approach for the estimation of the pseudotemperature and polarization CMB power spectra for experiments with incomplete sky coverage. We propose a method for constructing the mode-mode coupling matrices which connect the temperature and polarization pseudo-Cl's to the unbiased all-sky bandpowers in the flat sky approximation. We apply this method to the apodization masks of the QUaD CMB experiment and we show that the true underlying bandpowers can be reconstructed from the simulated QUaD-like pseudo-Cl's to high precision. We further investigate the possibility of extending the proposed analytical flat sky approach to the exact calculation of the PCL covariance matrices over a large range of multipoles and we find that the numerical calculation is extremely computationally expensive. The flat sky pseudo-Cl and covariances methods presented in this chapter are still work in progress and require more testing.


Biodiversity plays a major and very often critical role in the livelihoods of a high proportion of the world's population. And yet, development agencies have often undervalued the potential role that biodiversity conservation can play in poverty reduction, while conservation organisations have generally viewed poverty concerns as outside their core business. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) recently conducted an examination of the linkages between wildlife and poverty and reviewed the scope for reducing poverty through wildlife-based interventions. Four themes are addressed: community based wildlife management, pro-poor wildlife tourism, sustainable 'bushmeat'1 management and pro-poor conservation. This paper summarises the key fi ndings of that study and then explores in depth one of the ways forward identifi ed by the study "pro-poor conservation" and the issues and challenges it raises.


Background When an exclusionary criterion is an imperfect screen, some ineligible patients will remain in a study. Medical record review for outcome adjudication can reveal such individuals. Objective To ascertain the circumstances under which it is advisable to remove outcome cases first found to be ineligible on chart review. Methods The impact on the relative risk caused by removal of ineligible outcome cases was examined under different circumstances of confounding, prevalence, and efficacy of the screening criterion for exclusions. The result is illustrated by a hospital-based cohort study in which electronic medical record diagnosis served to exclude ineligible cases, and review of text notes for putative outcome cases revealed that the codes were only 95% sensitive. Other hypothetical scenarios provide further evidence. Results If a condition to be excluded is a confounder of the exposure–outcome relation, residual confounding will continue to bias a study after application of an imperfect screening criterion. Removal of ineligible outcome cases after chart review creates a new bias, distinct from residual confounding. The new bias does not depend on the magnitude of the confounder–outcome association, and will be small if the exclusion criterion has resulted in a low prevalence of the exclusionary condition. The new bias caused by removal of ineligible outcome cases is almost certain to be smaller than the confounding bias that can result if they are retained. Conclusions Outcome cases first discovered at chart review to be study-ineligible should be removed from the study, even when similar scrutiny is infeasible for non-cases.


Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is emerging and is a threat for human and animal health. This increasing resistance results into treatment failures and increased mortality in humans and animals. If there is no action to reduce antimicrobial use (AMU), it is forecasted that the number of people dying due to AMR will increase considerably in the near future. AMU in animals poses a potential risk for public health as it contributes to the selection and spread of AMR which can disseminate to humans. Therefore, at global level WHO, FAO and OIE combined efforts in a such called One Health approach to minimize the public health impact of AMR associated with AMU in farm animals. The Global Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance (GAP) has been adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2015. This plan contains five strategic objectives. WHO urged all member states to develop a National Action Plan in line with the five objectives of the GAP, and with a One Health approach. Indonesia has submitted the National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2017-2019 in the Library of National Action Plans of WHO.Although it is not clear to what level AMU in animal production contributes to the AMR problem humans, there is a worldwide urge to reduce AMU in animal production to a minimum to protect human health. The basis of this so-called 'antimicrobial stewardship' is focusing on (preventive) measures which enable animals to remain healthy and thus take away the need for antimicrobial treatment. Another pillar of stewardship is limiting and strictly regulating the use of so-called ''critically important antimicrobials for human medicine'', like fluoroquinolones. It can be difficult to change AMU practices which have become habits for farmers and veterinarians; therefore specific triggers are required. In the Netherlands the total therapeutic AMU (in mass sold) in farm animals doubled between 1990 and 2007; parallel to the EU-ban of antimicrobial growth promotors which were completely phased out by 2006. From 2005 onwards, several events triggered a series of measures and initiatives to reduce AMU in livestock with almost 70%. This reduction was followed by reduced AMR levels in livestock. Some key success factors were: clear reduction targets defined by the government, having full transparency on antimicrobial prescription and usage, the existence of a surveillance system for AMR, and a close collaboration of all stakeholders and a shared goal. Although specific contexts differ between countries and production systems, tailored approaches taking into account specific contexts and stakeholders can be effective in responsible use of antimicrobials.


Purpose: This study investigated component skills in oral language development utilizing and validating a new assessment battery in a large (N = 800) and representative sample of Greek students 4–7 years of age.Method: All participants enrolled in public schools from four geographical regions (Attica, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Crete) that varied demographically (urban, semiurban, and rural). For the individualized language assessments, we utilized mobile devices (tablet PC) to ensure children's interest and joyful participation as well as reliable administration procedures across sites. Results by confirmatory factor analyses specified and validated five different models in each grade to identify the best conceptualization of language dimensionality in the respective age groups.Results: Four-dimensional model provided a slightly better discriminant validity in language data of the preschool group. However, in kindergarten and first grades, the five-dimensional model had the best fit to the data to the four-dimensional.Conclusion: These findings support the multidimensionality of oral language ability at this phase of development and increase of factor distinctiveness as children grow.Supplemental Material S1. Data handling procedures; model testing procedures and criteria. Mouzaki, A., Spyropoulou, E., Ralli, Antoniou, F., Diamanti, V., & Papaioannou, S. (2020). The dimensionality of oral language ability: Evidence from young Greek children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-19-00008


A state-based method for learning visual behavior from image sequences is presented. The technique is novel for its incorporation of multiple representations into the Hidden Markov Model framework. Independent representations of the instantaneous visual input at each state of the Markov model are estimated concurrently with the learning of the temporal characteristics. Measures of the degree to which each representation describes the input are combined to determine an input's overall membership to a state. We exploit two constraints allowing application of the technique to view-based gesture recognition: gestures are modal in the space of possible human motion, and gestures are viewpoint-dependent. The recovery of the visual behavior of a number of simple gestures with a small number of low resolution image sequences is shown.


The increase of carbon dioxide emissions is the most important contributor to climate change. A better use of produced energy, increasing systems efficiency and using renew able sources, can limit them. A key technological issue is to integrate a thermal energy storage (TES). It consists in stocking thermal energy through the heating/cooling of a storage material for future needs. Among various technologies, latent heat TES (LHTES) provides high energy storage density at constant temperature during melting/solidifica tion of storage media. The bottleneck in the use of typical PCMs is their low thermal conductivity. To improve the heat exchange between heat transfer fluid and PCM, three methods are possible and here experimentally analyzed: conductivity systems enhance - ments; convective flows promotion in liquid phase; and improvement of PCM thermal properties including small amounts of nanoparticles. CFD models were used to evaluate physical phenomena that are crucial for optimized LHTES systems design. The study of the heat exchange mode allowed some useful indications to achieve an optimized LHTES, taking advantage by convective flows and conductivity promotion systems. The use of NEPCM, to maximize the stored energy density and realize compact systems, makes necessary the improvement of its thermal diffusivity. These will be the future research topics.


The Rosenbrock function is a well-known benchmark for numerical optimization problems, which is frequently used to assess the performance of Evolutionary Algorithms. The classical Rosenbrock function, which is a two-dimensional unimodal function, has been extended to higher dimensions in recent years. Many researchers take the high-dimensional Rosenbrock function as a unimodal function by instinct. In 2001 and 2002, Hansen and Deb found that the Rosenbrock function is not a unimodal function for higher dimensions although no theoretical analysis was provided. This paper shows that the n-dimensional (n = 4 30) Rosenbrock function has 2 minima, and analysis is proposed to verify this. The local minima in some cases are presented. In addition, this paper demonstrates that one of the local minima for the 20-variable Rosenbrock function found by Deb might not in fact be a local minimum.


A new genus of camaenid land snail, Youwanjela, is described from the Kimberley Region, Western Australia for the species previously named Hadra wilsoni Solem, 1979. The original description and genus affiliation of this species was based exclusively on shell characters. Here we describe the genital anatomy for the first time based on examination of topotypic material from the valley of the Youwanjela Creek, Prince Regent Nature Reserve, north-western Kimberley. The new genus Youwanjela is characterised by unique combination of key characteristics in shell and genitalia that is not found in any other camaenid genus in Australia, particularly not in Hadra bipartita (Ferussac, 1822) from Queensland, the type species of the genus Hadra, or other camaenids from the Kimberley. This combination of features comprises a comparatively large, thin, broadly subglobose and almost uniform brown shell, an elongated vagina with corrugated longitudinal pilasters on its inner wall, a long and tubular bursa copulatrix, an elongated penis with interlocking, rhomboid pustules in posterior and corrugated longitudinal pilasters in anterior part of the inner penial wall, lack of a penial sheath, a well developed, tubular epiphallus with corrugated pilasters on inner wall with a tiny flagellum. By removing the present species from the genus Hadra, we demonstrate that this genus is endemic to the Wet Tropics of north-eastern Queensland, including Cape York and Torres Strait islands. By contrast, Youwanjela is an endemic camaenid of the Kimberley, Western Australia. This taxonomic treatment is supported by molecular phylogenetic data and reflects general patterns of distribution in the Australian Camaenidae, which are characterised by marked local endemism on the species to genus level and by a phylogeographic divide between eastern and western Australian groups. Our finding underpins the importance of both the extreme north-east and north-west of Tropical Australia as hotspots of endemism and diversity for camaenid land snails. (© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


To study the normal cell response to low doses of radiation we have irradiated CD34+ haematopoietic stem cells with alpha particles with doses between 0.3 and 0.6 Gy. Radiation sources used are 222Rn and his daughters 218Po and 214Po previously dissolved in culture medium. CD34+ cells are exposed to alpha radiation and cultured for different times and doses, and later, survival, apoptosis fraction and total cell death (apoptosis and necrosis) are analysed. There are significant differences between irradiated and control cultures on these three parameters. Increases of survival are observed on irradiated cells with regard to control cells, and with decreases on apoptosis and cellular total death. Also we observed that the most remarkable effect was produced on an initial period of 48 hours. This fact is probably due to the major initial sensibility of cells which gradually lose their stem or pluripotential character. That shows a better adaptation of irradiated culture to the stress they suffer. This stress is mainly due to the defrost before culture and growth. Finally, the results are discussed by analysing the observed responses. General mechanisms induced by ionising radiation are analysed, and even the particular ones due to high LET radiation. The relatively low percentage of direct interaction alpha particle-cell, and the observation of an extended response to the whole culture indicates the presence of another extranuclear target. In the same way this gives evidence of intercellular effect transmission. The responsible mechanisms of this bystander effect are also discussed in the conclusions.


Social norms that look askance at people when they disclose their own personal information in "inappropriate" situations are puzzling if one believes that the free flow of information promotes better decision-making. This Article proposes a solution to this puzzle that involves the interplay between self-control, temptation, human cognitive limitations, and the theory of social norms. The solution has implications for the legal regulation of information privacy. Along the way, the Article seeks to understand how problems of willpower might come to be reflected in social norms and describes how such "willpower norms" can perform socially beneficial or harmful functions. It contends that personal information norms can develop to compensate for human failures of rationality and self-control in processing information. While personal information norms may often be efficient at mitigating these failures, under some circumstances pernicious "silencing norms" can develop. These silencing norms may be exemplified by the "don't ask, don't tell" policy about gays in the military. Finally, the Article explores whether legal regulation of information privacy could compensate effectively for human information processing weaknesses in situations, such as online commercial transactions, in which social norms are unlikely to develop.


Title: Assessment research performance and educational research needs of Iran's Dental schools-2004 Authors: Ebadifar A. Academic Staff*, Mohammadi MR. Professor**, Valaee N . Academic Staff*** Address: *Undersecretary of Research, Ministry of Health & Medical Education **Department of Psychology Tehran University of Medical Sciences ***Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences Background and Aim: Compared to the information about educational responsibilities, there is not much information about the research skills and activities of the academics in dental schools. The aim of this study was to evaluate the research performance of the academic staff of the dental schools and their educational needs to promote their research skills. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done by mailing a questionnaire to all of the members of Irani dental faculties. The questionnaires contained personal information like age, sex, place of employment, educational records, and additional questions like the workshops previously attended, and interests to attend certain workshops. To evaluate the research performance of the academic staff, the number of accomplished researches, the articles published in known national and international journals, their skills in using internet, and the number of attended workshops about research methodology were included in the questionnaire. The completed questionnaires were gathered and evaluated by descriptive statistics. Results: From the questionnaires gathered, 436 were eligible to be included in the study, which formed 58% of the academic staff of dental schools. The results showed that 7.4% of the staff had more than 10 researches conducted, 15% had 5-10, 49.9% had less than 5, and 27.7 had no researches done. Considering the articles published in known national journals, 28.2% had no papers, 51.8% had 1-5 papers, and 20% had more than 5 papers. Regarding the number of articles published in known international journals, 77.5% had no papers, and 20.2% had 1-3, and 2.3% and more than 3 papers. The "preliminary research methods" workshop had the highest percent of participation (71.6%), and "Stata acquaintance" workshop had the least (0.7%). The participants were mainly interested to participate in three workshops, "English scientific writing" (26.3%), "principles of scientific writing" (17.5%), and preparing research proposals" (16.2%), respectively. Conclusion We concluded that the research skills and performance of the academic staff, though improved in the recent years, is still unsatisfying. In order to promote it, it is recommended to organize workshops about "research methodology", "scientific writing" and "preparing of proposals"


This course pack is designed to meet the learning outcomes for Adult Literacy Fundamental English Level 3 (roughly equivalent to grades 3 to 4.5 in the K-12 system). Every chapter within the three units includes a level-appropriate, high-interest reading of between 350 and 500 words. The readings are freely available in a separate reader with convenient links to the readings in each chapter of this course pack. For students using this program in a self-paced format, there are audio clips embedded throughout the course pack. These clips narrate the denser sections of text. Font size and line spacing can be adjusted in the online view, and have been enhanced for the print and PDF versions for easier reading. This course pack has been reviewed by subject experts from colleges and universities.


The Commonwealth is the international governmental organization of states that emerged from the British empire, and since 2000 it has emerged as a focus for contestation relating to the regulation of same-sex sexualities, gender diversity, and diverse sex characteristics. Following colonial criminalizations focused on same-sex sexual acts, and later formal decolonizations, there have appeared many national movements for decriminalization and human rights in relation to sexuality and gender. The Commonwealth has emerged as a site of politics for some significant actors claiming human rights in relation to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics. This has been led by specific organizations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, increasingly with intersex people and allies, but it is also important to consider this in relation to queer people, understood more broadly here as people in all cultures experiencing forms of sexualities, biological sex and genders outside the social structure of heterosexuality, and its associated sex and gender binaries. A range of forms of activist and non-governmental organization (NGO) engagement have occurred, leading to shifts in Commonwealth civil society and among some state governments. This has required researchers to develop analyses across various scales, from local and national to international and transnational, to interpret institutions and movements.
 The British Empire criminalized same-sex sexual acts between males, and to a lesser extent between females, across its territories. In certain instances there were also forms of gender regulation, constraining life outside a gender binary. Such criminalization influenced some of those claiming LGBT human rights to engage the Commonwealth. Research shows that a majority of Commonwealth states continue to criminalize some adult consensual same-sex sexual activity. Yet the history of struggles for decriminalization and human rights within states in the Commonwealth has led up to such recent important decriminalizations as in India and Trinidad and Tobago in 2018.
 LGBT and queer activist engagements of the Commonwealth itself commenced in 2007 when Sexual Minorities Uganda and African allies demanded entry to the Commonwealth People's Space during a Heads of Government meeting in Kampala. Activism has often focused on the biannual Heads of Government meetings that are accompanied by civil society forums. A particularly significant phenomenon has been the emergence of a "new London-based transnational politics of LGBT human rights," evident in the creation from 2011 of new NGOs working internationally from the United Kingdom. Among these organizations was the Kaleidoscope Trust, which shaped the subsequent formation of The Commonwealth Equality Network as an international network of NGOs that became formally recognized by the Commonwealth. Significant developments occurred at the London Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in April 2018; Prime Minister Theresa May expressed "regret" for past imperial criminalizations while announcing funding for Kaleidoscope Trust and other UK-based groups to use in international law reform work. These developments exemplify a wider problematic for both activists and analysts, concerning how LGBT and queer movements should engage in contexts that are still structured by imperial legacies and power relations associated with colonialism, persisting in the present.


The First Amendment to the United States Constitution grants American citizens the right to free speech. However, in the case of college athletes, this right is not without limitation. In exchange for the privilege of participating in college level athletics, college athletes voluntarily agree to terms that restrict their abilities to speak freely, specifically in the context of social media platforms. This article details situations in which college athletes have made offensive statements via social media for which they later needed to delete, explain, and apologize. These examples support the notion that restrictions on college athletes' speech are not only constitutionally sound, but also necessary in light of the challenges universities and colleges may face if their athletes' rights to free speech are not restricted.


BACKGROUND
On 17 November 2001, less than 900 days after the end of one of the largest population displacements since 1945, the, Kosovo electorate voted for their new self-government. An Assembly was formed in 2001 and a Health Minister, Dr Numan Balic, appointed in March 2002. He has inherited a health service that still reels from many years of neglect while it struggles to implement an ambitious health reform programme.

METHODS
An analysis of UNMIK Regulations and available grey literature within Kosovo has formed the basis of material for this article. In addition, the authors collected, by informal interview, the opinions of international and Kosovars actively employed within the health sector. The authors would wish to acknowledge the contribution of Dr Hannu Vuori, Principal International Officer, Ministry of Health, Kosovo for his insight and suggestions.

RESULTS
The analysis reveals that the current health system is inequitable and inefficient. The health sector reforms initiated by the international community are desperately needed: it is purported that one-in-three Kosovars cannot afford to access health care when ill. However, the combined legacy of neglect, the current status of the health service and the new Assembly regulations present significant challenges to health reform.

CONCLUSIONS
Under the gaze of the newly formed Assembly, as well as the watchful eye of the United Nations Interim Administrative Mission in Kosovo, the Minister will take on the arduous responsibility of governing the Kosovo health sector. In any context implementing reform is difficult, in Kosovo it may be even more so and the international community should not exclusively focus on other world-trouble spots when many challenges remain to be addressed.


The formulation of the Partial Information Decomposition (PID) framework by Williams and Beer in 2010 attracted a significant amount of attention to the problem of defining redundant (or shared), unique and synergistic (or complementary) components of mutual information that a set of source variables provides about a target. This attention resulted in a number of measures proposed to capture these concepts, theoretical investigations into such measures, and applications to empirical data (in particular to datasets from neuroscience). In this Special Issue on "Information Decomposition of Target Effects from Multi-Source Interactions" at Entropy, we have gathered current work on such information decomposition approaches from many of the leading research groups in the field. We begin our editorial by providing the reader with a review of previous information decomposition research, including an overview of the variety of measures proposed, how they have been interpreted and applied to empirical investigations. We then introduce the articles included in the special issue one by one, providing a similar categorisation of these articles into: i. proposals of new measures; ii. theoretical investigations into properties and interpretations of such approaches, and iii. applications of these measures in empirical studies. We finish by providing an outlook on the future of the field.


Background: There is growing evidence that chronic exercise is a promising intervention for combating feelings of low energy and fatigue. Although groups with well-defined medical conditions (for example cancer and heart disease) or unexplained fatigue syndromes consistently have reported improved feelings of energy and fatigue after chronic exercise, relatively few exercise training studies have been conducted with people who report persistent fatigue yet neither have a medical condition nor reach diagnostic criteria for an unexplained fatigue syndrome. The purpose of this investigation was to use a randomized controlled design to examine the effects of 6 weeks of chronic exercise training on feelings of energy and fatigue in sedentary, healthy young adults reporting persistent fatigue. Methods: Thirty-six healthy, young adults who reported persistent feelings of fatigue were randomly assigned to a moderate-intensity exercise, low-intensity exercise or no treatment control group. Participants in each condition then visited the exercise laboratory on 18 occasions over a 6-week period. Exercise laboratory visits occurred 3 days per week. Vigor and fatigue mood state scores were obtained at the beginning of the third exercise session each week for 6 weeks. Aerobic fitness was measured before and after intervention. Results: The effect of 6 weeks of exercise training on feelings of fatigue was dependent on exercise intensity; however, the effect on feelings of energy was similar for both the low- and moderate-intensity conditions. The changes in feelings of energy and fatigue were independent of changes in aerobic fitness. Conclusions: Six weeks of low and moderate exercise training performed by sedentary adults without a well-defined medical condition or an unexplained fatigue syndrome but reporting persistent feelings of fatigue resulted in similarly beneficial effects on feelings of energy. The effects for symptoms of fatigue were moderated by exercise intensity, and the more favorable outcome was realized with low-intensity exercise. Changes in feelings of energy and fatigue following exercise training were unrelated to changes in aerobic fitness.


Over the last decade, studies of management fashions have shown that the rise and fall of the fashions can be seen as a reflection of a knowledge enterprise, where knowledge of new management techniques is selectively proposed, promoted, and propagated by different stakeholders. This research on management fashions has yielded a number of insightful research questions and a set of methods for investigating them. Like management fashions, there are many IT fashions. Testing the extent to which the theory of management fashions apply to IT fashions help us better understand not only IT fashions but also what is generic to the fashion phenomenon and what is unique to particular fashions. This study contributes to this goal by building on an earlier work that tested three hypotheses that illuminate the similarities and differences between IT fashions and management fashions: the duration of its ascent period is (1) shortening over time, (2) shortening at a rate faster than that for management fashions, (3) but yet longer in absolute magnitude than that for management fashions. The earlier work provided confirmation of these hypotheses. In this paper, we go further by first providing operational definitions of the latency and growth phases that make up the ascent phase in the fashion lifecycle and using a bibliometric study to test whether the hypotheses still hold for each of the individual phases. The result does show phase-specific differences: in particular, the hypotheses hold for the growth phase but not the latency phase. We explore explanations and implications for this finding. We also underscore the usefulness of the theoretical framework by identifying areas for future research.


A major doleritic and gabbroic sill complex, with minor microtonalitic components, cuts Ordovician strata to the east of Fishguard. Their age has long been equivocal. New geochemical data, combined with petrographic analyses, indicate that the intrusions represent an eastward extension of the Ordovician (Llanvirn) Fishguard Volcanic Complex lavas and high-level intrusions of the Strumble Head region. In addition similar doleritic intrusions crop out to the west of Strumble Head, as far as Traeth Llyfn. The data presented here confirm earlier conclusions that the FVC has tholeiitic affinities and that compositional variations largely result from low-pressure fractional crystallization. The petrogenetic relationships of the microtonalites are, however, as yet equivocal. Incompatible element discriminant diagrams indicate that the parental basic magmas were derived by melting of a slightly depleted mantle source similar to N-type MORB, to which had been added a minor supra-subduction zone LIL element component. The data are consistent with emplacement of the magmas in a marginal basin environment.


The article deals with the Norwegian legal framework related to non-secured 'instant' loans to consumers. Financial services, including the provision of credit, are subject to licensing and supervision by Norwegian authorities; this applies even to foreign credit institutions offering financial services in Norway. The Financial Contracts Act contains rules on credit contracts, addressing both 1) marketing, pre-contractual information, assessment of creditworthiness, and a duty to warn the consumer against irresponsible loans and 2) rules on the content of the credit contract. A scheme for consumer insolvency has been in place since 1992. Rules on unfair contract terms and on usury in criminal law are of scant interest in connection with instant consumer loans.


MUCH FEMINIST SCHOLARSHIP HAS GRAPPLED with the concept of love in its many forms. Modern love has been understood as a manifestation of harmful patriarchal values, a "curse"2 that confines women to rigid gender norms of femininity and passivity.3 However, love has been reclaimed and reconceptualised by some feminists as a powerful force for resisting these patriarchal norms and encouraging self-realization among women, men, and others.4 David A.J. Richards's Why Love Leads to Justice makes a valiant effort on the latter understanding.5 His thesis is simple: love leads to justice.6 In particular, love that is transgressive, which crosses the boundaries of the existing "Love Laws," leads to justice.7 He uses Love Laws to refer broadly to law aimed at criminalizing and otherwise prohibiting sexual and loving relations between certain classes of people. The book narrows in on two kinds of transgressive love: adultery and gay and lesbian love. Using the intimate stories of prominent artists and social activists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Richards draws on the linkages between their personal and public lives to demonstrate a reciprocal empowerment between the two domains. Life in love across legal boundaries is shown to be an act of resistance to patriarchal injustice. At the same time, the stories demonstrate how transgressive love has allowed for the healing of moral injury done to the protagonists by Love Laws designed to suppress and marginalize them. Groundwork is laid for these ideas in the first chapter by looking at the adulterous relationships between George Henry Lewes and Marian Evansknown widely by her penname, George Eliotas well as Harriet Taylor and John Stuart Mill. This book note is available in Osgoode Hall Law Journal: http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol53/iss3/24


Judicial self-restraint, once a rallying cry for judges and law professors, has fallen on evil days. It is rarely invoked or advocated. This Essay traces the rise and fall of its best-known variant— restraint in invalidating legislative action as unconstitutional—as advocated by the "School of Thayer," consisting of James Bradley Thayer and the influential judges and law professors who claimed to be his followers. The Essay argues, among other things, that both the strength and the weakness of the School was an acknowledged absence of a theory of how to decide a constitutional case. The rise of constitutional theory created an unbearable tension between Thayer's claim that judges should uphold a statute unless its invalidity was clear beyond doubt (as it would very rarely be), and constitutional theories that claimed to dispel doubt and yield certifiably right answers in all cases.