This study was undertaken with the aim of finding out what teaching approaches the teachers of upper primary classes employ in teaching environmental education. Reasons and/or factors which influenced their choice of the preferred approaches as well as reasons and/or factors that contributed to their lack of preference for certain other approaches were sought. It was also the aim of the study to find out whether or not teachers used their various teaching subjects in teaching through, about and for the environment. The study was undertaken in seven (7) randomly chosen primary schools in Kisumu Municipality. The
latter is a cosmopolitan urban centre where many communities of different ethnic backgrounds live. There is also a big Asian community whose children share some schools with African children. The teachers
in the schools within the Municipality have equivalent qualifications and training as those in the primary schools elsewhere in the Republic.
To obtain information relevant to the purpose of the study, a total of one hundred and five (105) lessons were observed in the upper classes (Std IV-VII) of all the primary schools chosen. Lessons were observed-in the subjects: GHC, Agriculture and Science with each subject having five (5) lessons observed per standard (IV to VII) in each school. Lessons observed included those of environmental education-related
topics such as soil conservation and pollution. Information that was not forthcoming through the observation checklist was obtained through an interview with each of the teachers whose lesson(s) was/were observed. A total of twenty-three (23) teachers were, therefore, interviewed. Data collected, both through the observation
checklist and interview schedule, indicated that teachers mainly used teacher-led discussions and lecture approaches in teaching their established subjects (GHC, Agriculture and Science) in which
environmental education-related topics were found. When they came to the environmental education-related topics the teachers' approaches were not adjusted. In other words, they continued to use the same approaches of teacher-led discussion and lectures. The approaches
such as inquiry/investigation, field trips/out door lessons, debates, projects, and media which various studies have found to be effective for environmental education were hardly used. It is also to be noted that although teachers claimed, in the interview, that they used their lessons to teach through, about and for the environment this was not noticed in most of the 105 lessons that were observed. In the light of these findings it seems necessary to recommend that teachers be given an in-service course on how to use their subjects in teaching through, about
and for the environment. It is equally important that they should be given an induction course to introduce them to the most appropriate and effective approaches of teaching environmental education-related topics in order to achieve the objectives of environmental education. Further, a rich and regular supply of literature on environmental education and environmental matters should be available to the teachers. Indeed
pupils too need their relevant literature on the environment and environmental issues. The efforts of CIDA in this direction already exist in its sponsorship and supply of the children's environmental magazine, the 'Pied Crow', to the Municipality schools. This effort is commendable and should be emulated by both governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGO IS) .


The Federal Government of Nigeria in 2005 established the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) with the aim of improving access to healthcare delivery for its populace. This study assessed awareness and perception of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) among the librarian. Descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted for the study and questionnaire was used for the data collection. A total of 120 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents of the study and 108, representing 90% response rate, were duly completed and returned. The data was coded and analyzed using tables, frequency distribution, percentages and graphs. The findings of the study showed a high level of awareness of the scheme among librarians in Nigeria. The most common source of awareness about the scheme among the respondents is through radio/television. The finding of the study also shows that greater numbers of respondents are registered with the scheme. However, there is mixed feelings about the general aspects of the scheme and services delivered. Therefore, based on the findings, it suggested the need for the scheme providers to scale up their education on the NHIS especially on the components of the scheme as well as ensure healthcare facilities for better service delivery.


This document discusses the most common scenarios of connecting an enterprise network to multiple ISPs using an address space assigned by an ISP and how the approach proposed in "Enterprise Multihoming using Provider-Assigned Addresses without Network Prefix Translation: Requirements and Solution" could be applied in those scenarios. The problem of enterprise multihoming without address translation of any form has not been solved yet as it requires both the network to select the correct egress ISP based on the packet source address and hosts to select the correct source address based on the desired egress ISP for that traffic. The aforementioned document proposes a solution to this problem by introducing a new routing functionality (Source Address Dependent Routing) to solve the uplink selection issue. It also proposes using Router Advertisements to influence the host source address selection. It focuses on solving the general problem and covering various complex use cases, and this document adopts its proposed approach to provide a solution for a limited number of common use cases. In particular, the focus of this document is on scenarios in which an enterprise network has two Internet uplinks used either in primary/backup mode or simultaneously and hosts in that network might not yet properly support multihoming as described in RFC 8028.


Arachnoid cysts are relatively common and benign intraarachnoid membrane outpouchings containing CSF-like fluid. The majority of arachnoid cysts remain stable and asymptomatic and do not require intervention in the pediatric population. Here, the authors present the first reported case of an infected arachnoid cyst in a pediatric patient resulting in severe vasospasm of the left terminal internal carotid artery, left A1 segment, and left M1 branches with a left middle cerebral artery infarct. Their experience suggests that close monitoring is warranted for this condition and that the pediatric population may be at higher risk for vasospasm.


Location-based services allow users to perform geo-spatial recording actions, which facilitates the mining of the moving activities of human beings. This paper proposes to recommend time-sensitive trip routes, consisting of a sequence of locations with associated time stamps, based on knowledge extracted from large-scale time-stamped location sequence data (e.g. check-ins and GPS traces). We argue a good route should consider (a) the popularity of places, (b) the visiting order of places, (c) the proper visiting time of each place, and (d) the proper transit time from one place to another. By devising a statistical model, we integrate these four factors into a route goodness function which aims to measure the quality of a route. Equipped with the route goodness, we recommend time-sensitive routes for two scenarios. The first is about constructing the route based on the user-specified source location with the starting time. The second is about composing the route between the specified source location and the destination location given a starting time. To handle these queries, we propose a search method, Guidance Search, which consists of a novel heuristic satisfaction function which guides the search towards the destination location, and a backward checking mechanism to boost the effectiveness of the constructed route. Experiments on the Go Walla check-in datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our model on detecting real routes and performing cloze test of routes, comparing with other baseline methods.


In situ measurements were carried out on an intertidal mussel bed in the Oosterschelde estuary, SW Netherlands. Exchange of suspended particulate matter and phytoplankton between the water column and the mussel bed was measured with a Benthic Ecosystem Tunnel. In situ clearance rates of the mussel bed were compared to clearance rates of individual mussels measured in a field station under ambient conditions. Concentrations of suspended particulate matter (SPM) and particulate organic carbon (POC) in the water column above the tidal flat were affected by wind-induced resuspension. Chlorophyll a concentrations were higher during flood tides than during ebb tides, and were not affected by wind-induced resuspension. Clearance rates of the mussel bed ranged from 1.3 to 7.1 m(3) m(-2) h(-1). In situ measured clearance rates generally were comparable to rates observed in measurements with individual mussels in a field station. Uptake of SPM and POC by the mussel bed was highly variable. Under calm weather conditions, uptake rates were correlated with inflow concentrations. Net uptake of phytoplankton was relatively higher than the uptake of POC, indicating that a major part of the POC was resuspended and exported from the mussel bed after filtration. In addition, wind stress induced considerable resuspension and export of SPM and POC from the mussel bed. Chlorophyll a uptake was less influenced by wind, and high rates of uptake, caused by mussel filtration, were observed. The result of filtration and resuspension processes was a net uptake by the mussel bed of particulate matter containing a relatively high proportion of phytoplankton: the mussel bed acted as a selective filter for phytoplankton. [KEYWORDS: bivalves; phytoplankton; in situ measurements; particulate matter flux; wind Benthic suspension feeders; dutch wadden sea; mytilus-edulis-l; wind-driven resuspension; san-francisco bay; tidal flat; crassostrea-virginica; suspended sediment; seasonal-variation; feeding bivalves]


Aim/Purpose: In this paper, we address the theoretical challenges today's scientific community faces to precisely draw lines between true and false pictures. In particular, we focus on problems related to the hidden wonders of science and the shiny images produced for scientific papers or to appeal to wider audiences.

Background: As rumors (hoaxes) and false news (fake news) explode across society and the current network, several initiatives using current technology have been launched to study this phenomena and limit the social impact. Over the last two decades, inappropriate scientific behavior has raised more questions about whether some scientific images are valid.

Methodology: This work is not about analyzing whether today's images are objective. Instead, we advocate for a general approach that makes it easier to truly believe in all kinds of knowledge, scientific or otherwise (Goldman, 1967; Goldman, & Olson, 2009). This need to believe is closely related to social order (Shapin, 1994).

Contribution: We conclude that we must ultimately move away from older ideas about truth and objectivity in research to broadly approach how science and knowledge are represented and move forward with this theoretical approach when communicating science to the public.

Findings: Contemporary visual culture suggests that our world is expressed through images, which are all around us. Therefore, we need to promote the reliability of scientific pictures, which visually represent knowledge, to add meaning in a world of complex high-tech science (Allamel-Raffin, 2011; Greenberg, 2004; Rosenberger, 2009). Since the time of Galileo, and today more than ever, scientific activity should be understood as knowledge produced to reveal, and therefore inform us of, (Wise, 2006) all that remains unexplained in our world, as well as everything beyond our senses.

Recommendation for Researchers: In journalism, published scientific images must be properly explained. Journalists should tell people the truth, not fake objectivity.

Today we must understand that scientific knowledge is mapped, simulated, and accessed through interfaces, and is uncertain. The scientific community needs to approach and explain how knowledge is represented, while paying attention to detail.

Future Research: In today's expanding world, scientific research takes a more visual approach. It is important for both the scientific community and the public to understand how the technologies used to visually represent knowledge can account for why, for example, we know more about electrons than we did a century ago (Arabatzis, 1996), or why we are beginning to carefully understand the complexities and ethical problems related to images used to promote knowledge through the media (see, i.e., López-Cantos, 2017).


The use of facial recognition in classrooms to monitor students' performance is already happening in China and soon may be coming to the West. Surveilling students in their classrooms presents a number of potential harms: (1) it implicates their privacy, (2) it could have profound effects on their development and stigmatizes youth who develop differently, and (3) it might amplify current inequities in our school system. Additionally, there are societal harms from this practice to our democratic society. To the extent that educators wish to employ this technology, our current legal regime is inadequate to mitigate the harms. While some changes could be made to better protect privacy and equity, ultimately, lawmakers and schools should consider banning facial recognition within classrooms. ---


While mixture of linear regressions (MLR) is a well-studied topic, prior works usually do not analyze such models for prediction error. In fact, {\em prediction} and {\em loss} are not well-defined in the context of mixtures. In this paper, first we show that MLR can be used for prediction where instead of predicting a label, the model predicts a list of values (also known as {\em list-decoding}). The list size is equal to the number of components in the mixture, and the loss function is defined to be minimum among the losses resulted by all the component models. We show that with this definition, a solution of the empirical risk minimization (ERM) achieves small probability of prediction error. This begs for an algorithm to minimize the empirical risk for MLR, which is known to be computationally hard. Prior algorithmic works in MLR focus on the {\em realizable} setting, i.e., recovery of parameters when data is probabilistically generated by a mixed linear (noisy) model. In this paper we show that a version of the popular alternating minimization (AM) algorithm finds the best fit lines in a dataset even when a realizable model is not assumed, under some regularity conditions on the dataset and the initial points, and thereby provides a solution for the ERM. We further provide an algorithm that runs in polynomial time in the number of datapoints, and recovers a good approximation of the best fit lines. The two algorithms are experimentally compared.


Wnt pathways are involved in the control of gene expression, cell behavior, cell adhesion, and cell polarity. In addition, they often operate in combination with other signaling pathways. The Wnt/β-catenin pathway is the best studied of the Wnt pathways and is highly conserved through evolution. In this pathway, Wnt signaling inhibits the degradation of β-catenin, which can regulate transcription of a number of genes. Some of the genes regulated are those associated with cancer and other diseases (for example, colorectal cancer and melanomas). As a result, components of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway are promising targets in the search for therapeutic agents. Information about Wnt pathways is available both in canonical terms and at the species level. In addition to the canonical Wnt/β-catenin pathway, information is now available forDrosophila, Caenorhabditis elegans, andXenopus. The STKE Connections Maps for these pathways provide an important tool in accessing this large body of complex information.


Genotypic variation and nutritional quality of rice has been established, but environmental effects on the genotype are unknown. This study determines how nutritional quality, such as pericarp colour and antioxidant capacity, of purple rice can vary when grown under different environments. Nine purple rice genotypes and Khao Dok Mali 105 (KDML105, a non-pigmented rice) were grown at 2 different altitudes (330 m and 800 m above mean sea level, designated lowland and highland, respectively) at Chiang Mai, Thailand. Grain yield, Zn, anthocyanin concentration, and anti-oxidative capacity of the rice genotypes varied significantly in direction and magnitude. Grain Zn was higher in the lowland, but with differences between altitudes ranging from 16% to 50% among the purple rice genotypes, while non-pigmented KDML105 was among the lowest in grain Zn concentration at both altitudes. Some genotypes produce rice with more intense pigmentation and higher concentration of monomeric anthocyanin in the highland, some did so in the lowland, while no altitude effects were seen in others. Antioxidant capacity (Trolox equivalent) of the rice increased with increasing concentration of anthocyanin (R2 = 0.72, p < 0.01), and varied in a multiple regression with anthocyanin and Zn concentration (R2 = 0.75, p < 0.01). The effect of altitude on variation of grain nutritional quality among purple rice genotypes between the two growing conditions should be taken into consideration in efforts to enhance valuable nutrients in agronomic and breeding programmes.


Recent results from percolation theory as applied to the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media are compared with the frequently used phenomenological relationship due to van Genuchten. In applications so far percolation theory has proven to be predictive and unifying, while the van Genuchten phenomenology is intended only to be descriptive. To illustrate: the critical volume fraction for percolation is an analog to the residual moisture content, but a phenomenological result exists for the former in terms of the specific surface area, whereas the latter is intended only as a fit parameter. Second, it is recognized not to be possible to predict the hydraulic conductivity as a function of saturation using merely textural data—enough information about the pore space must be available to distinguish between various potential models. When the data are sufficient to confirm a fractal model, however, percolation theory yields a result that has several similarities to the van Genuchten parameterization. The analysis helps lead to a better understanding of the van Genuchten relationship.


Stimulation of immune cell receptors, such as the B cell receptor (BCR), can lead to multiple distinct cellular responses, making these cells excellent models for studying signal plasticity. Singh et al. found that inhibition of either release of calcium from the endoplasmic reticulum (with TMB-8) or uptake of calcium from the extracellular medium (with EGTA, a calcium chelator) produced a global dampening of BCR-dependent phosphorylation, including phosphorylation events that occurred within the first minute of BCR activation. Indeed, one of the events that was inhibited was the phosphorylation of Lyn, a Src family tyrosine kinase, which is believed to be the first enzyme activated in response to BCR ligand binding. This was surprising because calcium signals are downstream events; thus, this result suggested that calcium can feed back on the early signaling events. Formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in response to BCR activation occurred within seconds and was inhibited by pharmacological inhibition of protein tyrosine kinase activity or phosphoinositide 3-kinase activity. Importantly, ROS production was also inhibited by TMB-8 or EGTA, and inhibition of ROS production attenuated BCR-stimulated increases in intracellular calcium concentration. These effects were dose-dependent, which is consistent with a graded regulatory mechanism rather than a bistable switch mechanism. ROS can inhibit protein tyrosine phosphatase activity, and pharmacological inhibition of calcium signaling or ROS production suppressed BCR-mediated inhibition of two phosphatases, BCR-associated SHP-1 and CD45, which both exhibit a rapid and transient decrease in activity within seconds of BCR stimulation. Finally, the activity of a murine dual oxidase, DUOX1, may provide a mechanism for the regulation of ROS production by calcium, because enzymes in this family have two EF hand motifs, which are calcium-binding motifs. Using siRNA to suppress DUOX1 expression, the authors showed that ROS and calcium signaling were inhibited and that phosphorylation of Lyn was decreased. The authors suggest that low-intensity activation of the BCR produces an initial calcium signal that feeds back and regulates the amplitude of a rapidly produced ROS signal, which then transiently inhibits protein tyrosine phosphatase activity, thereby controlling the amplitude and kinetics of the BCR signal. D. K. Singh, D. Kumar, Z. Siddiqui, S. K. Basu, V. Kumar, K. V. S. Rao, The strength of receptor signaling is centrally controlled through a cooperative loop between Ca2+ and an oxidant signal. Cell 121, 281-293 (2005). [Online Journal]


We describe a case of myeloneuropathy resulting from nitrous oxide abuse. MR imaging of the spine revealed symmetric abnormal signal in the posterior columns of the cervical cord. Myeloneuropathy is caused by inactivation of vitamin B12 by nitrous oxide. This syndrome can also be seen in patients with borderline vitamin B12 deficiency who have recently been anesthetized with nitrous oxide.


In Annabel lyon's The Sweet Girl, Pythias, the daughter of Aristotle, cannot gain entry into her father's Lyceum. Even though she is brighter than her brother, she is barred from this place of higher learning because of her gender. Indeed, for Pythias, the Lyceum is a place of potential oppression. Upon Aristotle's death, she rejects the idea of seeking shelter at the school. Imagining being there under the care of the new head, Theophrastos, she thinks to herself, "And weave in my room for the rest of my life, obeying Theophrastos?" (116). Instead, Pythias navigates all the dangers of being a young woman alone with little power and even less money. For Pythias, crippling debt, the loss of house and home, and sexual threat are preferable to the care of the Lyceum. What might Pythias's cynicism toward the Lyceum reveal about academic citizenship? Although Lyon's story unfolds in ancient Greece, Pythias's situation tells us that places of higher learning may offer a refuge from worldly cares, but they can also be places that are antithetical to freedom for those who do not have full access to the rights and privileges of that social world; that is, for those who are not citizens. Even though the Lyceum appears in this novel as a site of exclusion and potential oppression, I want to suggest that the novel offers a view into the risks of citizenship rather than those of the Lyceum. Although the school is where Pythias might lose her freedom, it is her place in Athens that is the condition of that potential loss. Let us turn our cynicism away from the academy and toward citizenship. Citizenship depends upon exclusion. As Engin Isin argues, "citizenship and its alterity always emerged simultaneously in a dialogical manner and constituted each other. Women were not simply excluded from ancient Greek citizenship, but were constituted by it. Similarly, slaves were not simply excluded from citizenship, but made citizenship possible by their very formation" (4). Like citizenship in ancient Greece, contemporary citizenship also depends upon exclusions. One need only to consider the moves by the current Canadian Immigration Minister to strip thousands of people of Canadian citizenship (as of September 2012, the ministry has indicated its intention to investigate the revocation of citizenship for eleven thousand people) (1) to realize that citizenship continues to rely upon acts of exclusion in order for its consolidation. Beyond its exclusions, and its constitution upon exclusion, contemporary citizenship is also a problem in terms of the contradictions of its constitution. In "Citizen Subject," Etienne Balibar points out that the contemporary use of the word "subject" holds within it both the idea of subjectum and that of subjectus. The former is substantive and the latter adjectival. It is the difference between being a representation of the people and being subjected. Balibar demonstrates that recovering this difference enables an understanding of the antinomies of freedom and equality in contemporary citizenship: "The idea of the rights of the citizen, at the very moment of his emergence, thus institutes an historical figure that is no longer the subjectus, and not yet the subjectum. But from the beginning, in the way it is formulated and put into practice, this figure exceeds its own institution" (46). Prior to the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, citizens were subjects of the king. They were subjectus. With the rise of the republic, the "citizen is the subject, the citizen is always a supposed subject" (Balibar 45). Balibar calls this transition the "citizen's becoming-a-subject (devenirsujet)" (45). The citizen is not yet subjectum. This process of becoming clarifies the contradictions of citizenship (man versus citizen, subject of legislative power versus legislative subject, and so on), as well as those of academic citizenship (promise of equality through collegiality versus intrinsic hierarchy of the institution, the academy as a sovereign intellectual space versus its reliance upon governmental support, and so on). …


We studied variation in small-scale swimming behavior (SSB) in four clones of Daphnia galeata (water flea) in response to predator infochemicals. The aim of this study was 3-fold. First, we tested for differences in SSB in Daphnia; second, we examined the potential of differences in SSB to explain survival probability under predation; and third we tested the effect of differences in SSB on survival under predation. Four treatments were applied: one kairomone-free control, one Chaoborus- (phantom midge) and one Perca (perch)-conditioned treatment, and a mixed treatment containing both infochemicals. All of the three tested behavioral parameters (swimming speed, trajectory length and vertical distribution) were affected by the presence of the Chaoborus infochemical, and swimming speed and vertical distribution were also affected by the presence of Perca infochemical. The effect of the treatment was interfered with by a clone effect: genetic differences were pronounced in all traits. These results illustrate that clones can be responsive in only a subset of traits. The general theory that clones are either responsive or non-responsive is not valid for SSB. The outcome of the predation trial confirms that a decrease in activity is a main factor in lowering Daphnia vulnerability to Chaoborus predation.


We investigate a dynamic routing problem that seeks to plan, in the most efficient way, dynamic pickup requests that arrive in real‐time while a predefined plan of serving delivery requests is being executed. Delivery and pick up requests may be served in an arbitrary (mixed) order. We refer to this problem as the dynamic vehicle routing problem with mixed backhauls (DVRPMB). We address DVRPMB through iterative reoptimization. In addition to defining the reoptimization model, we drill down to significant aspects concerning the reoptimization process; that is, (i) how to reoptimize, (ii) when to reoptimize, and (iii) what part of the new plan to communicate to the drivers. On some of these aspects, we establish theoretical insights. To solve the reoptimization problem, we propose a branch‐and‐price approach and a novel insertion heuristic which is based on column generation and provides near optimal solutions in an efficient manner. We use extensive experimentation to test the proposed methods and analyze the related reoptimization policies. Based on the results obtained, we propose reoptimization guidelines under various operational settings. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 64(3), 214–231 2014


This study examines the effects of location inaccuracies on two movement-assisted Voronoi-based sensor deployment and reconfiguration algorithms, VEC and VOR, due to Wang et al. For the purposes of examining the extent to which the deployment and reconfiguration algorithms are capable of reducing coverage holes, a simulator environment was set up, using a custom-designed simulation tool. By integrating the environment with that of a GIS application, real-world distance and scaling can be applied, allowing the assessment of the algorithms to be performed in a virtual world mimicking that of a real-world deployment. The simulation results suggest the VOR algorithm is reasonably robust if the location inaccuracies are somewhat lower than the sensing distance, and also if a high degree of inaccuracy is limited to a relatively small percentage of the nodes. The VEC algorithm is considerably less robust, but prevents nodes from drifting beyond the boundaries in the case of large inaccuracies. CATEGORIES AND SUBJECT DESCRIPTORS: I.6.6 [Simulation and modeling] – Simulation Output Analysis


Prolonged exposure of plants to a sufficient level of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) activates the uptake and metabolism of nutrients that fuel plant growth and development, a phenomenon termed the plant vitalization effect of NO2. This study examined the effect of NO2 on the fruit yield of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. Micro-Tom). Double exposure chambers, designated ±NO2 chambers, were placed in a confined greenhouse. The air entering the −NO2 chamber was scrubbed of nitrogen oxides including NO2, and the air entering the +NO2 chamber was supplemented with NO2 (50 ± 10 ppb). Two-week-old tomato seedlings that had been grown in the −NO2 chamber after sowing were then grown in a +NO2 or −NO2 chamber for the remainder of the growth period until 96 days after sowing. Growth in the +NO2 chamber led to a significant increase in fruit yield of approximately 40% as compared to growth in the −NO2 chamber. This increase in fruit yield was accompanied by acceleration of flowering time by 3.2 days and an increase in flower number per plant of up to 60%. These results show that exposure to NO2 increases fruit yield via stimulation of flowering in tomato.


It is common scientific knowledge, that most of what we say within a conversation is not only expressed by the words' meaning alone, but also through our gestures, postures, and body movements. This non-verbal mode is possibly rooted firmly in our human evolutionary heritage, and as such, some scientists argue that it serves as a fundamental assessment and expression tool for our inner qualities. Studies of nonverbal communication have established that a universal, culture-free, non-verbal sign system exists, that is available to all individuals for negotiating social encounters. Thus, it is not only the kind of gestures and expressions humans use in social communication, but also the way these movements are performed, as this seems to convey key information about an individual's quality. Dance, for example, is a special form of movement, which can be observed in human courtship displays. Recent research suggests that people are sensitive to the variation in dance movements, and that dance performance provides information about an individual's mate quality in terms of health and strength. This article reviews the role of body movement in human non-verbal communication, and highlights its significance in human mate preferences in order to promote future work in this research area within the evolutionary psychology framework.


The empirical evidence presented in this article suggested that it is potentially possible for an informed trader in after-hours trading to earn abnormal returns from identifying and investing in stocks with a positive earnings surprise. The strategy is based on a simple (naïve) moving average time series forecast of earnings, conditional on the moving average forecast and the last analyst s forecast both being positive, and with the former being larger than the latter. These are likely firms that have been either subject to aggressive downward earning guidance or just firms for which analysts have become less favorably inclined about earnings prospects. These findings should prove useful to informed investors who trade or construct portfolios based on the information in earnings surprises.


Providing real-time communication services to multimedia applications and subscription-based Internet access often requires sufficient network resources to be reserved for real-time traffic. However, the reserved network resource is susceptible to resource theft and abuse. Without a resource access control mechanism that can efficiently differentiate legitimate real-time traffic from attacking packets, the traffic conditioning and policing enforced at ISP (Internet Service Provider) edge routers cannot protect the reserved network resource from embezzlement. On the contrary, the traffic policing at edge routers aggravates their vulnerability to flooding attacks by blindly dropping packets. In this paper, we propose a fast and light-weighted IP networkedge resource access control mechanism, called IP Easy-pass, to prevent unauthorized access to reserved network resources at edge devices. We attach a unique pass to each legitimate real-time packet so that an ISP edge router can validate the legitimacy of an incoming IP packet very quickly and simply by checking its pass. We present the generation of Easy-pass, its embedding, and verification procedures. We implement the IP Easy-pass mechanism in the Linux kernel, analyze its effectiveness against packet forgery and resource embezzlement attempts. Finally, we measure its overhead and performance.


The Experimental Flight Test organization of the Boeing Commercial Airplane Company has an onboard data reduction system known as the Airborne Data Analysis/Monitor System or ADAMS. ADAMS has evolved over the last 11 years from a system built around a single minicomputer to a system using two minicomputers to a distributed processing system based on microprocessors. The system is built around two buses. One bus is used for passing setup and control information between elements of the system. This is burst type data. The second bus is used for passing periodic data between the units. This data originates in the sensors installed by Flight Test or in the Black Boxes on the airplane. These buses interconnect a number of different processors. The Application Processor is the primary data analysis processor in the system. It runs the application programs and drives the display devices. A number of Application Processors may be installed. The File Processor handles the mass storage devices and such common peripheral devices as the printer. The Acquisition Interface Assembly is the entry point for data into ADAMS. It accepts serial PCM data from either the data acquisition system or the tape recorder. This data is then concatenated, converted to engineering units, and passed to the rest of the system for further processing and display. Over 70 programs have been written to support activities on the airplane. Programs exist to aid the instrumentation engineer in preparing the system for flight and to minimize the amount of paper which must be dealt with. Additional programs are used by the analysis engineer to evaluate the aircraft performance in real time. These programs cover the tests from takeoff through cruise testing and aircraft maneuvers to landing. They are used to analyze everything from brake performance to fuel consumption. Using these programs has reduced the amount of data reduction done on the ground and in many cases eliminated it completely.


A randomized controlled trial of two formats of a program (Women Take PRIDE) to enhance management of heart disease by patients was conducted. Older women (N = 575) were randomly assigned to a group or self-directed format or to a control group. Data regarding symptoms, functional health status, and weight were collected at baseline and at 4, 12, and 18 months. The formats produced different outcomes. At 18 months, the self-directed format was better than the control in reducing the number (p ≤ .02), frequency (p ≤ .03), and bothersomeness (p ≤ .02) of cardiac symptoms. The self-directed format was also better than the group format in reducing symptom frequency of all types (p ≤ .04). The group format improved ambulation at 12 months (p ≤ .04) and weight loss at 18 months (p ≤ .03), and group participants were more likely to complete the program ( p ≤ .05). The availability of different learning formats could enhance management of cardiovascular disease by patients.


Identifying changes in model parameters is fundamental in machine learning and statistics. However, standard changepoint models are limited in expressiveness, often addressing unidimensional problems and assuming instantaneous changes. We introduce change surfaces as a multidimensional and highly expressive generalization of changepoints. We provide a model-agnostic formalization of change surfaces, illustrating how they can provide variable, heterogeneous, and non-monotonic rates of change across multiple dimensions. Additionally, we show how change surfaces can be used for counterfactual prediction. As a concrete instantiation of the change surface framework, we develop Gaussian Process Change Surfaces (GPCS). We demonstrate counterfactual prediction with Bayesian posterior mean and credible sets, as well as massive scalability by introducing novel methods for additive non-separable kernels. Using two large spatio-temporal datasets we employ GPCS to discover and characterize complex changes that can provide scientific and policy relevant insights. Specifically, we analyze twentieth century measles incidence across the United States and discover previously unknown heterogeneous changes after the introduction of the measles vaccine. Additionally, we apply the model to requests for lead testing kits in New York City, discovering distinct spatial and demographic patterns.


Background/Aims To study the safety and effectiveness of 360° viscodilation and tensioning of Schlemm canal (canaloplasty) in black African patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). Methods Sixty randomly selected eyes of 60 consecutive patients with POAG were included in this prospective study. Canaloplasty comprised 360° catheterisation of Schlemm's canal by means of a flexible microcatheter with distension of the canal by a tensioning 10-0 polypropylene suture. Results The mean preoperative intraocular pressure pressure (IOP) was 45.0±12.1 mm Hg. The mean follow-up time was 30.6±8.4 months. The mean IOP at 12 months was 15.4±5.2 mm Hg (n=54), at 24 months 16.3±4.2 mm Hg (n=51) and at 36 months 13.3±1.7 mm Hg (n=49). For IOP ≤21 mm Hg, complete success rate was 77.5% and qualified success rate was 81.6% at 36 months. Cox regression analysis showed that preoperative IOP (HR=1.003, 95% CI=0.927 to 1.085; p=0.94), age (HR=1.000, CI=0.938 to 1.067; p=0.98) and sex (HR=3.005, CI=0.329 to 27.448; p=0.33) were all not significant predictors of IOP reduction to ≤21 mm Hg. Complication rate was low (Descemet's detachment n=2, elevated IOP n=1, false passage of the catheter n=2). Conclusion Canaloplasty produced a sustained long-term reduction of IOP in black Africans with POAG independent of preoperative IOP. As a bleb-independent procedure, canaloplasty may be a true alternative to classic filtering surgery, in particular in patients with enhanced wound healing and scar formation.


We report on the fabrication and characterization of straight dielectric-loaded surface plasmon polaritons waveguides doped with lead-sulfide quantum dots as a near infra-red gain medium. A loss compensation of ~33% (an optical gain of ~143 cm⁻¹) was observed in the guided mode. The mode propagation, coupling efficiency and stimulated emission were characterized using leakage radiation microscopy. The guided mode signature was separated using spatial filters in the Fourier plane of the microscope for quantitative measurements of stimulated emission.


Holographic recording based on mass transfer of inorganic nanoparticles doped in photopolymers is described. Through direct observa-tions of the microscopic structure of recorded holograms as well as optical measurements of the phase shift between the light interference pattern and recorded holograms it is shown that holographic exposure causes nanopar-ticles to redistribute from the bright to the dark regions, giving the periodic alignment of nanoparticles for the formation of high contrast holograms. This phenomenon can also be used to optically fabricate a nonlinear photonic crys-tal structure. Numerical analysis shows that such a structure exhibits optical multi-stability behaviors.


The Chicago School of antitrust has benefitted from a great deal of law office history, written by admiring advocates rather than more dispassionate observers. This essay attempts a more neutral stance, looking at the ideology, political impulses, and economics that produced the Chicago School of antitrust policy and that account for its durability.

The origins of the Chicago School lie in a strong commitment to libertarianism and nonintervention. Economic models of perfect competition best suited these goals. The early strength of the Chicago School of antitrust was that it provided simple, convincing answers to everything that was wrong with antitrust policy in the 1960s, when antitrust was characterized by over-enforcement, poor quality economics or none at all, and many internal contradictions.

The Chicago School's greatest weakness is that it did not keep up. Its leading advocates either spurned or ignored important developments in economics that gave a better accounting of an economy that was increasingly characterized by significant product differentiation, rapid innovation, networking, and strategic behavior. The Chicago School's initial claim was that newer models of the economy lacked testability. That argument lost its credibility, however, as industrial economics experienced an empirical renaissance, nearly all of it based on various models of imperfect competition. Students getting PhDs in economics increasingly abandoned perfect competition as a useful starting point.

What kept Chicago alive was the financial support of firms and others who stood to profit from less intervention. Properly designed antitrust enforcement is a public good. Its beneficiaries — consumers — are individually small, numerous, scattered, and diverse. Those who stand to profit from nonintervention were fewer in number, individually much more powerful, and much more united in their message. As a result, the Chicago School went from being a model of enlightened economic policy to a powerful tool of regulatory capture.


A Cox model is a statistical technique for exploring the relationship between the survival of a patient and several explanatory variables. G Survival analysis is concerned with studying the time between entry to a study and a subsequent event (such as death). G A Cox model provides an estimate of the treatment effect on survival after adjustment for other explanatory variables. In addition, it allows us to estimate the hazard (or risk) of death for an individual, given their prognostic variables. G A Cox model must be fitted using an appropriate computer program (such as SAS, STATA or SPSS). The final model from a Cox regression analysis will yield an equation for the hazard as a function of several explanatory variables. G Interpreting the Cox model involves examining the coefficients for each explanatory variable. A positive regression coefficient for an explanatory variable means that the hazard is higher, and thus the prognosis worse. Conversely, a negative regression coefficient implies a better prognosis for patients with higher values of that variable.


We theoretically demonstrate the generation and radiation of coherent nanoplasmons powered by a single three-level quantum emitter on a plasmonic nanoresonator. By pumping the three-level emitter in a Raman configuration, we show a pathway to achieve macroscopic accumulation of nanoplasmons due to stimulated emission in the nanoresonator despite their fast relaxation. Thanks to the antenna effect of the nanoresonator, the system acts as an efficient and bright nanoscopic coherent light source with a photon emission rate of hundreds of Terahertz and could be realized with solid-state emitters at room temperatures in pulse mode. We provide physical interpretations of the results and discuss their realization and implications for ultra-compact integration of optoelectronics.


Space-resolved soft-x-ray spectra of laser-produced plasmas of pure-Sn metal and its oxides were measured in the spectral range 7–23 nm. We established a comprehensive spectroscopic database of the emission characteristics of the transition array of highly ionized Sn near 13.5-nm wavelength by varying the incident laser energy and the angle between the observation axis and the target normal. We examined the narrow spectral bandwidth of the transition array obtained by use of a gas-mixed fine-particle (SnO2 powder) target proposed by Matsui
 [Proc. SPIE3886, 610 (2000) ]. We selected pure-Sn metal, SnO and SnO2 powder, and SnO2 thin-film targets with which to clarify the roles of additional constituent ions, such as O and Ar, in plasmas of the gas-mixed fine-particle targets. The space-resolved spectra show that the bandwidth of the transition array broadens dramatically and that the wavelength at peak intensity shifts slightly toward longer wavelengths with increasing distance from the original target surface or with decreasing incident laser energy. The origins of the broadening and the wavelength shift can be explained in terms of an increase in the range of ion stages that contribute to the transition array and in terms of transfer of the dominant ion stages to lower stages. The narrow bandwidth of the gas-mixed fine-particle target is probably due to the presence of a narrow range of moderate ion stages.


Connecting between standard AI planning constructs and a classical cooperative model of transferable-utility coalition games, we introduce the notion of transferable-utility (TU) planning games. The key representational property of these games is that coalitions are valued implicitly based on their ability to carry out efficient joint plans. On the side of the expressiveness, we show that existing succinct representations of monotonic TU games can be efficiently compiled into TU planning games. On the side of computation, TU planning games allow us to provide some of the strongest to date tractability results for core-existence and core-membership queries in succinct TU coalition games.


Most search methods in metric spaces assume that the topology of the object collection is reasonably regular. However, there exist nested metric spaces, where objects in the collection can be grouped into clusters or subspaces, in such a way that different dimensions or variables explain the differences between objects inside each subspace. This paper proposes a two levels index to solve search problems in spaces with this topology. The idea is to have a first level with a list of clusters, which are identified and sorted using Sparse Spatial Selection (SSS) and Lists of Clusters techniques, and a second level having an index for each dense cluster, based on pivot selection, using SSS. It is also proposed for future work to adjust the second level indexes through dynamic pivots selection to adapt the pivots according to the searches performed in the database.


The overarching purpose of this study was to improve upon critical thinking through the use of scenario-based design challenge interventions. The study was conducted within an introductory graphic arts course in higher education that focused upon Adobe Photoshop and image manipulation tools, techniques, and terminology. Twelve introductory level graphic arts students participated in the study. In addition to scenario-based design challenge interventions, a reflective practice framework that used scaffolded questioning was developed to guide students in their use of critical thinking about image manipulations. Through a mixed-methods action research design, the study explored the concepts of design challenge interventions and reflective practice in two ways. First, how do design challenge interventions impact achievement scores within an introductory image manipulation course. Second, how do design challenge interventions impact the development of critical thinking in introductory students. One overarching research question and four supporting questions guided this study. Each question was developed to examine how these interventions improve upon a students' transferrable knowledge and further connect and apply course objectives and goals with future careers. Qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques such as preand postassessments, design challenge interventions, image manipulation projects, and semi-structured interviews were used. The study revealed that knowledge was transferred throughout the study, yet a correlation between the design challenge interventions and image manipulation projects was not significantly detected. Analysis and evaluation of reflective statements produced during the design challenge interventions revealed that the students were applying prior knowledge and learned skills to their image manipulations. The semi-structured interviews also revealed that students were making connections between thinking critically about design and the basic image manipulation design processes. The variability in findings and supporting themes suggest implications for a course improvement action plan, and future research and practice. To improve upon the course design, an action plan that updates the overarching course goals, inserts active learning strategies, and uses classroom assessment techniques to improve upon critical thinking and reflection is proposed. Further research supported by educators in graphic arts in the development of critical thinking and additional 21st century skill sets in graphic arts degree programs is suggested.


Self aligning spherical journal bearing is a type of plain bearings which has spherical surface contact. This type of bearing can accommodate a misalignment problem. The journal bearing faults degrade machine performance, decrease life time service and unexpected failure which are dangerous for safety issues. Surface vibration (SV), airborne sound (AS) and acoustic emission (AE) measurements are appropriate monitoring methods for early stage journal bearing fault in low, medium and high frequency.
This paper focuses on the performance comparison between SV, AS and AE measurements in the self aligning spherical journal bearing with normal and eccentric bore faults. The dynamics of the bearing is studied to gain the generation and characteristics of SV, AS and AE, which allow the extraction of useful information for diagnosis. The results of SV, AS and AE experiments especially for self-aligning spherical journal bearing due to eccentric bore fault indicate that the spectrum can detect significantly distinct between normal and faulty bearing. The statistic parameters show that RMS value and Peak value for fault bearing is higher than normal bearing. Spectrum of SV, AS and SE showed significant differences between normal bearing and eccentric bore bearing.


Collagenous colitis (CC) is a newly recognized entity characterized clinically by chronic watery diarrhoea and pathologically by epithelial inflammatory injury and the presence of a thickened collagen band beneath the surface epithelium of the colon. Clinical and pathological data of six patients (5 women and 1 man, mean age 54 years) with this diagnosis have been reviewed. Chronic watery diarrhoea was the main symptom in all cases, ranging from 2 to 12 bowel movements a day (mean +/- SD, 5.5 +/- 2.3) lasting from 8 months to 19 years (mean +/- SD, 6.6 +/- 5.9 years). Laboratory, barium and endoscopic studies showed unspecific findings. Rheumatic and thyroid diseases as well as drug allergies were found in five cases. The cause of collagenous colitis and the mechanism of diarrhoea remains undefined, being the inflammatory and autoimmune hypothesis the most likely. Diagnosis was made by multiple rectal and colonic biopsies. Pathologic findings characteristic of CC were more prominent in proximal than in distal colonic specimens. Different treatments were applied and diverse clinic responses were obtained. A review of the literature is made.


Refusals are delicate speech acts for non-native speakers to negotiate because they require negative responses to an interlocutor's invitation or request. In addition to cultural variation, variables such as gender and modes of communication (e.g., emails) add dimensions to the complexity when performing refusals. The main objective of this study is to investigate the difference in refusal strategies between American and international college students as well as gender variation. Using a written Discourse Completion Task, six situations were developed and grouped in two stimulus types eliciting refusals to an invitation and a request. Each stimulus type involved an email refusal to professors, friends, and a staff member of an academic department. The refusals of sixteen undergraduate American students and thirty-two international students were analyzed in terms of frequency, order, and content of semantic formulas. The results of this study suggest that when using email, all groups demonstrated preference for direct refusal. American females preferred expressions of gratitude and stating positive opinions, whereas American male provided reasons and alternatives. The international students used a greater variety of semantic formulas; however, they lacked positive opinions and providing alternatives. Additionally, the international students tended to use more regret than the American students. The international students (both male and female) also tended to use more specific excuses as compared to more general excuses used by the Americans.


Abstract. This study presents a sensitivity analysis of multivariate regressions of recent springtime Antarctic vortex ozone trends using a "big data" ensemble approach. Our results indicate that the poleward heat flux (Eliassen–Palm flux) and the effective chlorine loading respectively explain most of the short-term and long-term variability in different Antarctic springtime total ozone records. The inclusion in the regression of stratospheric volcanic aerosols, solar variability and the quasi-biennial oscillation is shown to increase rather than decrease the overall uncertainty in the attribution of Antarctic springtime ozone because of large uncertainties in their respective records. Calculating the trend significance for the ozone record from the late 1990s onwards solely based on the fit of the effective chlorine loading is not recommended, as this does not take fit residuals into account, resulting in too narrow uncertainty intervals, while the fixed temporal change of the effective chlorine loading does not allow for any flexibility in the trends. When taking fit residuals into account in a piecewise linear trend fit, we find that approximately 30–60% of the regressions in the full ensemble result in a statistically significant positive springtime ozone trend over Antarctica from the late 1990s onwards. Analysis of choices and uncertainties in time series show that, depending on choices in time series and parameters, the fraction of statistically significant trends in parts of the ensemble can range from negligible to a complete 100% significance. We also find that, consistent with expectations, the number of statistically significant trends increases with increasing record length. Although our results indicate that the use multivariate regressions is a valid approach for assessing the state of Antarctic ozone hole recovery, and it can be expected that results will move towards more confidence in recovery with increasing record length, uncertainties in choices currently do not yet support formal identification of recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole.


This paper exploits rarely-used longitudinal data to examine the impacts of disability onset on benefit receipt in Britain over the period 2004–2012. Differences in the timing of onset are exploited for identification in a framework that combines propensity score matching with difference-in-differences estimation. Disability onset increases receipt of disability insurance, a wider measure of sickness and disability benefits, and receipt of non-sickness benefits by six, eight and six percentage points respectively in the first year. These effects do not vary significantly by individual characteristics, but are larger for more severe disability onset, for those who did not previously report a long-term health condition, and for those who experienced disability onset under the less restrictive pre-2009 disability benefit regime. Contrary to the perception of disability benefits being an absorbing state, disability exit has an almost symmetrical impact on receipt of disability insurance and on wider sickness benefits in the first year.


Basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic regulation of cataplexy was investigated in narcoleptic canines. Specific cholinergic agonists and antagonists, and excitatory or inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitter receptor agonists, were perfused through microdialysis probes implanted bilaterally in the BF of narcoleptic canines. Cataplexy was monitored using the food-elicited cataplexy test (FECT) and recordings of electroencephalogram, electrooculogram, and electromyogram. In narcoleptic canines, carbachol and oxotremorine (10(-5)-10(-3) M), but not McN-A-343 or nicotine (10(-4)-10(-3) M), produced a dose-dependent increase in cataplexy. In addition, N-methyl-d-aspartate (10(-4)-10(-3) M) and kainic acid (10(-5)-10(-4) M) did not have any effects, while muscimol (10(-3) M) produced a weak (P < 0.10) increase in cataplexy. In control canines, carbachol (10(-5)-10(-3) M), but not oxotremorine (10(-4)-10(-3) M), produced muscle atonia after the highest concentration in one of three animals. Carbachol (10(-3) M)-induced cataplexy in narcoleptic canines was blocked by equimolar perfusion with the muscarinic antagonists atropine, gallamine, and 4-DAMP but not pirenzepine. These findings indicate that carbachol-stimulated cataplexy in the BF of narcoleptic canines is mediated by M2, and perhaps M3, muscarinic receptors. The release of acetylcholine in the BF was also examined during FECT and non-FECT behavioral stimulation in narcoleptic and control canines. A significant increase in acetylcholine release was found in both narcoleptic and control BF during FECT stimulation. In contrast, simple motor activity and feeding, approximating that which occurs during an FECT, did not affect acetylcholine release in the BF of narcoleptic canines. These findings indicate that BF acetylcholine release is enhanced during learned emotion/reward associated behaviors in canines.


It is a general principle that in certain circumstances administrative acts and their consequences must be regarded as valid until set aside. As was said in Oudekraal Estates vs City of Cape Town 2004 (6) SA 222 (SCA) para 26."The proper functioning of a modern state would be considerably compromised if all administrative acts could be given effect to or ignored depending on the view the subject takes on the validity of the act in question. No doubt it is for this reason that our law has always recognized that even an unlawful administrative act is capable of producing legally valid consequences for so long as the unlawful act is not set aside."


In this paper, we propose a generative model, Temporal Generative Adversarial Nets (TGAN), which can learn a semantic representation of unlabeled videos, and is capable of generating videos. Unlike existing Generative Adversarial Nets (GAN)-based methods that generate videos with a single generator consisting of 3D deconvolutional layers, our model exploits two different types of generators: a temporal generator and an image generator. The temporal generator takes a single latent variable as input and outputs a set of latent variables, each of which corresponds to an image frame in a video. The image generator transforms a set of such latent variables into a video. To deal with instability in training of GAN with such advanced networks, we adopt a recently proposed model, Wasserstein GAN, and propose a novel method to train it stably in an end-to-end manner. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods.


Background/aims To compare the short-term efficacy of intravitreal aflibercept treatment according to the subtypes of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) based on indocyanine green angiography (ICGA). Methods Twenty-nine patients (29 eyes) with treatment-naïve subfoveal PCV were consecutively enrolled in this institutional study. The subjects were classified into two subtypes (type 1, polypoidal choroidal neovascularisation (CNV), 16 eyes; and type 2, idiopathic PCV, 13 eyes) based on the presence or absence of both feeder and draining vessels on ICGA. Intravitreal aflibercept was administered at baseline and at 1, 2 and 4 months. The primary outcome was the polyp regression percentage after 3 monthly injections. Changes in the best-corrected visual acuity and subfoveal choroidal thickness (CT) were evaluated at 3 and 6 months. Results The complete polyp regression percentage was higher in type 1 than type 2 patients after 3 monthly injections (81% vs 30%, p=0.008). Type 1 patients showed better visual improvement at 3 months (−0.34 vs −0.08 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR), p=0.050) and 6 months (−0.30 vs −0.10 logMAR, p=0.168) than type 2 patients. Although subfoveal CT was significantly decreased after injections in both groups, type 2 patients with a thicker choroid at baseline showed a greater decrease than type 1 patients (p=0.032). Conclusions There was a difference in early treatment response with aflibercept between two subtypes of PCV. Type 1 polypoidal CNV showed better visual improvement with a higher percentage of polyp regression than type 2 idiopathic PCV. Trial registration number NCT02597855, Results.


This paper addresses and discusses the central issues that researchers have to deal with when conducting cross-national comparative research within the area of e-government. The issues are classified into two main categories. The first category represents the issues and challenges that may affect the reliability and the quality of data being collected for comparative studies. The second category represents the remaining issues related to the research objective, the selection process of countries and the analytical strategy. The paper discusses the major alternatives of these issues and provides a rationale for the selection process among them. The paper concludes by discussing the interrelations between the identified issues and clarifying the main decisions that researchers have to take when conducting cross-national comparative research.


An aqueous Li-ion flow cell using suspension-based flow electrodes based on the LiTi2(PO4)3-LiFePO4 couple is demonstrated. Unlike conventional flow batteries, the semi-solid approach utilizes fluid electrodes that are electronically conductive. A model of simultaneous advection and electrochemical transport is developed and used to separate flow-induced losses from those due to underlying side reactions. The importance of plug flow to achieving high energy efficiency in flow batteries utilizing highly non-Newtonian flow electrodes is emphasized.


Background England has experienced one of the highest rates of confirmed COVID-19 mortality in the world. SARS-CoV-2 virus has circulated in hospitals, care homes and the community since January 2020. Our current epidemiological knowledge is largely informed by clinical cases with far less understanding of community transmission. Methods The REal-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT) study is a nationally representative prevalence survey of SARS-CoV-2 virus swab-positivity in the community in England. We recruited participants regardless of symptom status. Results We found 159 positives from 120,610 swabs giving an average prevalence of 0.13% (95% CI: 0.11%,0.15%) from 1st May to 1st June 2020. We showed decreasing prevalence with a halving time of 8.6 (6.2, 13.6) days, implying an overall reproduction number R of 0.57 (0.45, 0.72). Adults aged 18 to 24 yrs had the highest swab-positivity rates, while those >64 yrs had the lowest. Of the 126 participants who tested positive with known symptom status in the week prior to their swab, 39 reported symptoms while 87 did not, giving an estimate that 69% (61%,76%) of people were symptom-free for the 7 days prior testing positive in our community sample. Symptoms strongly associated with swab-positivity were: nausea and/or vomiting, diarrhoea, blocked nose, loss of smell, loss of taste, headache, chills and severe fatigue. Recent contact with a known COVID-19 case was associated with odds of 24 (16, 38) for swab-positivity. Compared with non-key workers, odds of swab-positivity were 7.7 (2.4, 25) among care home (long-term care facilities) workers and 5.2 (2.9, 9.3) among health care workers. However, some of the excess risk associated with key worker status was explained by recent contact with COVID-19 cases. We found no strong evidence for geographical variability in positive swab results. Conclusion Our results provide a reliable baseline against which the impact of subsequent relaxation of lockdown can be assessed to inform future public health efforts to control transmission.


This project involves the design and implementation of a platform to investigate the activation state of platelets. The �nal aim is to develop an assay to be used for diagnostic purposes.
Blood platelets play a key role in the cardiovascular system. When the en- dothelium of the vessel wall is damaged platelets adhere and become activated, leading to platelet aggregation to maintain physiological haemostasis. Any abnormality in platelet functionality induces thrombus or atherosclerotic plaques leading to life-threatening consequences such as stroke. Recent reports suggest that the detection of activated platelets in the blood may be a useful indicator of the on-set of stroke and other cardiovascular abnormalities. Hence, the detection of the functional state of platelets is of huge clinical importance.
A luminescence-based platelet bio-assay which uses high brightness silica nanoparticles (NPs) as super-bright labels is an innovative and promising tool for diagnostics. Compared to assays carried out using conventional single molecule dye labels, the usage of NPs makes it possible to enhance the detection e�ciency of the assay and to achieve a reduced limit-of-detection. In this work NPs doped with a near infra-red dye are synthesized and their interactions with the platelets are characterized. Protocols of conjugation of antibodies towards platelet surface antigens to NPs are tested.
The second part of the work studies the activation state and the morphology of platelets in di�erent environments by using single molecule dye label assays and with AFM. The con�nement of platelets in micrometer sized area using a protein patterning technique makes the analysis innovative and potentially very useful.


In this paper we present a novel positioning technique that is based on transmissions from independent ultrasound beacons. These unsynchronised beacons emit narrow-band ultrasonic pulses and do not use any other medium, such as radio frequency or infra-red. A passive mobile positioning unit locates itself using the signatures of the received ultrasound signals. This unit measures shifts in the periodicities of the signals, a form of the Doppler effect, in order to estimate its location and velocity. We have initially tested the system using a simulator; the results suggest that the device is able to position itself with a 95% accuracy of 20 cm, and a 50% accuracy of 6 cm. Our previous experience is that these figures will degrade with the use of real hardware, but we aim for a 95% accuracy of better than 40 cm. The advantages of our system are three-fold: the infrastructure contains no wiring and, as such, can be easily retro-fitted with minimal aesthetic impact; it scales to any number of mobile positioning units; and the beacons are low-power, cheap and simple to construct.


The aims of this study were to isolate and characterize Salmonella spp. from food sampled randomly from street vendors in Selangor, Malacca, Kuala Lumpur and Negeri Sembilan, and from clinical samples in a hospital in Klang, Selangor (collected from January to September 2004). A total of 24 Salmonella strains, belonging to seven different serotypes, were isolated from 129 different street-vended foods and drinks and 12 rectal swabs from hospital patients suspected with salmonellosis. The most frequently encountered serotype from street foods was Salmonella Biafra (66.7%) while the most frequently encountered serotype from clinical samples was Salmonella Typhi (66.7%). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported occurence of Salmonella Biafra in street foods in Malaysia. Other serotypes isolated from street foods were Salmonella Braenderup (25%) and Salmonella Weltevreden (8.3%), and from clinical samples were Salmonella Typhimurium (17%), Salmonella Paratyphi A (0.08%) and Salmonella Paratyphi B (0.08%). All isolates were tested for their resistance to the following 14 antibiotics: streptomycin, trimethoprim, sulphamethoxazole, tetracycline, cefuroxime, ciprofloxacin, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, rifampin, penicillin, nalidixic acid, norfloxacin and erythromycin. All strains (100%) were found resistant to the antibiotic rifampin. None of the strains were however resistant to cefuroxime. A dendrogram was generated for antibiotic resistances of the isolates, and six clusters were defined, with similarity levels ranging from 18.8% to 100%. Generally, street foods and clinical isolates tend to cluster apart. A dendrogram to cluster the antibiotics was also generated, and they could be grouped according to their classes based on mode of inhibition: cell wall synthesis, protein synthesis, or nucleic acid synthesis. The most related compounds were chloramphenicol and tetracycline (46.6% similarity), which is acceptable as they share the same mode of inhibition. Ampicillin was grouped in the same cluster at 13.5% similarity although of different inhibition mode, possibly due to cross-resistance. Out of the 24 isolates screened for the presence of plasmid, 15 harbored plasmids. The plasmid sizes ranged from 3.0 to 38.5 MDa. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) analysis were performed for the molecular genetic typing of the strains. RAPD fingerprinting with the primers OPAR3 and OPAR8 produced a combination of 21 fingerprint patterns, while ERIC fingerprinting generated 19 patterns. Cluster analysis of S. Biafra showed that similar serotypes were found in different food samples collected at different locations. The likely source of this result was cross contamination during food handling. Cluster analysis of S. Typhi showed that all the serotypes were different, even though the location of sampling was the same. The results indicate multiple source of S. Typhi infection of the patients. From this study, RAPD was found to be more discriminative than ERIC.


Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (acronym TENS) is the use of electric current produced by a device to stimulate the nerves for therapeutic purposes. TENS by definition covers the complete range of transcutaneously applied currents used for nerve excitation although the term is often used with a more restrictive intent, namely to describe the kind of pulses produced by portable stimulators used to treat pain.[2] The unit is usually connected to the skin using two or more electrodes. A typical battery-operated TENS unit is able to modulate pulse width, frequency and intensity. Generally TENS is applied at high frequency (>50 Hz) with an intensity below motor contraction (sensory intensity) or low frequency (<10 Hz) with an intensity that produces motor contraction.[3]


An elementary cellular automaton rule 110 supports universal computation by emulating cyclic tag system and its evolution starting from random initial configuration exhibits 1/ f noise. In this research we investigate the power spectra of the computation process of rule 110 emulating cyclic tag system. As a result, 1/ f -type power spectra are observed in the most actively interacting area among the whole array, while in the less active area the power spectra exhibit Lorentzian, Brownian or periodic types. These results suggest a possibility that the dynamics accompanied with 1/ f noise and the one capable of performing computation overlap each other in cellular automaton rule space.


The Electro-Hydro-Dynamic (EHD) interaction induced in atmospheric-pressure air by a surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) actuator has been experimentally investigated. Plasma Synthetic Jets Actuators (PSJAs) are DBD actuators able to induce an air stream, perpendicular to the actuator surface. These devices can be used in the aerodynamics field to prevent or induce flow separation, modify the laminar to turbulent transition inside the boundary layer, and stabilize or mix air flows. They can also be used to enhance indirect plasma treatment effects, increasing the reactive species delivery rate onto surfaces and liquids. This can play a major role in plasma processing and chemical kinetics modelling, where only diffusive mechanisms are often considered. This paper reports on the importance that different electrode geometries can have on the performance of different PSJAs. A series of DBD aerodynamic actuators designed to produce perpendicular jets have been fabricated on 2-layer printed circuit boards (PCBs). Linear and annular geometries have been considered, testing different upper electrode distances in the linear case and different diameters in the annular one. AC voltage supplied at 11.5 kV peak and 5 kHz frequency has been used. Lower electrodes were connected to ground and buried in epoxy resin to avoid undesired plasma generation on the lower actuator surface. Voltage and current measurements have been carried out to evaluate the active power delivered to the discharges. Schlieren imaging allowed to visualize the induced jets and gave an estimate of their evolution and geometry. Pitot tube measurements were performed to obtain the PSJAs' velocity profiles and to estimate the mechanical power delivered to the fluid. Optimal values of the inter-electrode distance and diameter have been found in order to maximize jet velocity, mechanical power or efficiency. Annular geometries are found to achieve the best performances.


Pigs of all ages and stages of the life cycle require amino acids to enable them for normal body function. Amino acids are the structural units of protein. During digestion, dietary protein is broken down into amino acids and peptides (more than one amino acid linked together). The amino acids and peptides are then absorbed into the body and are used to build new proteins, such as muscle, which is composed of about 21 different amino acids. Thus, pigs require amino acids, not crude protein. Diets must be "balanced" with respect to a desirable level and ratio of the 10 essential amino acids; they must also contain adequate amounts of amino acids required by pigs for maintenance, growth, reproduction, and lactation. Those 10 essential amino acids for swine are arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Two other amino acids (cysteine and tyrosine) are semiessential since both can be synthesized if adequate amounts of methionine and phenylalanine are present for cysteine and tyrosine, respectively. The other nine amino acids (aspartic acid, asparagines, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, alanine, proline, hydroxyproline and serine) are considered nonessential because they can be synthesized at sufficient rates if an adequate amount of non-specific protein is present in the diet. [3, 9, 10, 11]


The nascent marine renewable energy (MRE) industry requires robust tools to maximize power output while evaluating the potential environmental effects of marine hydrokinetic (MHK) devices. Wave energy converter (WEC) devices in particular, are in early stages of development and may deploy a wide range of technologies to harness wave energy. The technical activities and processes used to assess WEC arrays for both power production and environmental effects requires streamlining to lower the levelized cost of wave energy projects and facilitate timely, cost-effective environmental review and compliance. A robust approach using numerical models to simulate the WEC devices and array layouts is presented that simultaneously evaluates power production and assesses environmental effects. "WEC-friendly" open-source numerical tools have been developed that are capable of assessing the environmental force on and potential changes to the environment caused by the energy extraction by WEC arrays. A case study is presented to demonstrate how the changes in WEC array configurations can be mapped and quantified using a validated model. A discussion of how changes in WEC devices and array configurations are developed to provide critical information on both engineering and environmental risk. This allows for optimization of WEC deployments to maximize power capture while minimizing environmental impacts.


Krimpsiekte, also known as cotyledonosis or nentain sheep and goats, has been recognised as a disease entity since 1775. However, it was only in 1891 that Veterinary Surgeon Soga reproduced the condition by dosing Cotyledon (= Tylecodon) ventricosus leaves to goats. Professor MacOwan, a botanist, confirmed the identity of these nenta plants. From a South African veterinary toxicological point of view the date 1891 is of considerable historical significance as this was the first time that a plant was experimentally demonstrated to be toxic to livestock in South Africa. A chronological account of the history of krimpsiekte research is provided.


In this paper, we study the strategic coexistence between macro and femto cell tiers from a game theoretic learning perspective. A novel regret-based learning algorithm is proposed whereby cognitive femtocells mitigate their interference toward the macrocell tier, on the downlink. The proposed algorithm is fully decentralized relying only on the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) feedback to the corresponding femtocell base stations. Based on these local observations, femto base stations learn the probability distribution of their transmission strategies (power levels and frequency band) by minimizing their regrets for using certain strategies, while adhering to the cross-tier interference constraint. The decentralized regret based learning algorithm is shown to converge to an ϵ-coarse correlated equilibrium (ϵ-CCE) which is a generalization of the classical Nash Equilibrium (NE). Finally, numerical results are shown to corroborate our findings where, quite remarkably, our learning algorithm achieves the same performance as the classical regret matching, but with substantially much less overhead.


Objective
To evaluate physician knowledge of and attitudes about binge-eating disorder (BED) and the value and ease-of-use of the 7-item Binge Eating Disorder Screener (BEDS-7) in clinical practice.

Methods
Two internet surveys (wave 1: April 15-May 6, 2015; wave 2: August 19-25, 2015) were administered to primary care physicians serving adults (PCPs-adults) and psychiatrists. Wave 1 invitees were US-based physicians spending ≥ 50% of their time in direct patient care and reporting "no" to "some to average" experience with eating-disorder patients. Respondents completing wave 1 qualified for wave 2.

Results
Among the 1,047 physicians who responded, 313 did not meet at least 1 of the screening criteria, including 3.15% of respondents who spent < 50% of their time in direct patient care. Overall, 122 PCPs-adults and 123 psychiatrists completed both waves. Physician groups spent similar mean ± SD amounts of time providing direct patient care (PCPs-adults: 94.66% ± 8.4%, psychiatrists: 91.15% ± 12.2%). Based on composite scores, BED knowledge increased from wave 1 to wave 2 in PCPs-adults (P < .001) and psychiatrists (P < .05). Composite scores pertaining to knowledge of and comfort with diagnosing and treating BED were lower for PCPs-adults than psychiatrists in both waves (all P < .001). Based on wave 2 responses, the BEDS-7 was used by 32.0% of PCPs-adults and 26.8% of psychiatrists. All BEDS-7 users (100%) indicated the screener was "very" or "somewhat" valuable, and nearly all users (psychiatrists: 100%, PCPs-adults: 97.4%) reported it was "very" or "reasonably" easy to use. BEDS-7 users reported that important uses of the screener included assisting clinicians in identifying BED patients and encouraging/initiating doctor-patient discussions about BED.

Conclusions
These results support the utility of the BEDS-7 in clinical practice, with BEDS-7 users reporting that it is a highly valued and easy-to-use screener. Furthermore, both PCPs-adults and psychiatrists acknowledged the importance of being knowledgeable about BED.


When heterosexual pairs of gonads of fetal mice were homotransplanted in close contact with each other below the kidney capsule of castrated adult hosts, the testis developed normally for this environment, but the ovary became an ovotestis. The medulla of the ovotestis contained dilated seminiferous tubules in which spermatogenesis progressed to the point at which secondary spermatocytes were produced. Under these conditions, germ cells, genetically determined as ova, underwent differentiation toward spermatozoa. This is the second clear case of germ cell reversal by experimental means in a mammalian species.


The signing of the No Child Left Behind Act, NCLB, on January 8, 2002 made it
clear that the government's main concern in education was assessment. NCLB was designed to
hold schools accountable for every student achieving academic proficiency. Since the signing of
this important piece of legislature the mean proficiency score for the state of North Carolina in
Algebra 1 has increased only 1.4 points. Traditional assessment methods such as standardized
multiple choice tests are the current tool used for measurement of student proficiency. But, can
you really measure whether students have mastered, or are proficient, in a subject by their score
on one multiple choice test. Would a better judge of student proficiency be a semester or year
long summative evaluation? This study discusses the potential advantages of implementing
portfolio assessment into the mathematics classroom.
I investigated the achievement levels of two Algebra 1B classes in which all participants
had failed Algebra 1 at least once. Portfolio assessment was implemented in one class while the
other received traditional assessment methods. The effects of implementing portfolio assessment
were examined using the North Carolina Algebra 1 End of Course Exam scores. The results
showed that implementing portfolio assessment did not lead to a higher mean score than the
traditional assessment group. However, the two students in the portfolio assessment group who
had previously taken the North Carolina Algebra 1 EOC Exam increased their achievement level
on the exam by 30 points and 7 points respectively. Also, the mean scores were only 1.2 points
apart and both classes were over 80% proficient which leads to a strong implication for portfolio
assessment as a useful strategy for students who struggle in and/or fail Algebra 1.


Not only in its conceptual reconstruction but also in the straightforward application of Badioursquo;s thought its problems and tensions come to light. This paper thus sets out to identify a generic truth procedure in the domain of art; specifically within theatre starting out from the Meyerhold-event and tracing enquiries in the work of Artaud and Brecht. It turns out once one follows the lines of further enquiries one ends up sketching an explosive genealogy that gives rise to the concept of an art of presentation transgressing the boundaries of theatre, art and philosophy.


ABSTRACT We have investigated the ability of dexamethasone to regulate interleukin-1β (IL-1β)-induced gene expression, histone acetyltransferase (HAT) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity. Low concentrations of dexamethasone (10−10 M) repress IL-1β-stimulated granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) expression and fail to stimulate secretory leukocyte proteinase inhibitor expression. Dexamethasone (10−7 M) and IL-1β (1 ng/ml) both stimulated HAT activity but showed a different pattern of histone H4 acetylation. Dexamethasone targeted lysines K5 and K16, whereas IL-1β targeted K8 and K12. Low concentrations of dexamethasone (10−10 M), which do not transactivate, repressed IL-1β-stimulated K8 and K12 acetylation. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, we show that dexamethasone inhibits IL-1β-enhanced acetylated K8-associated GM-CSF promoter enrichment in a concentration-dependent manner. Neither IL-1β nor dexamethasone elicited any GM-CSF promoter association at acetylated K5 residues. Furthermore, we show that GR acts both as a direct inhibitor of CREB binding protein (CBP)-associated HAT activity and also by recruiting HDAC2 to the p65-CBP HAT complex. This action does not involve de novo synthesis of HDAC protein or altered expression of CBP or p300/CBP-associated factor. This mechanism for glucocorticoid repression is novel and establishes that inhibition of histone acetylation is an additional level of control of inflammatory gene expression. This further suggests that pharmacological manipulation of of specific histone acetylation status is a potentially useful approach for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.


ABSTRACT The 3 September 2016 M w  5.8 Pawnee earthquake was the largest earthquake in Oklahoma history. To determine the relationship with nearby seismic activity and whether there were any precursory foreshocks to the event, we analyze a dataset comprising regional seismometers throughout Oklahoma, including the Oklahoma Geological Survey statewide network. We use a matched‐filter technique to identify potential missing earthquakes before and after the mainshock. This technique utilizes cataloged waveforms as templates that, when correlated against continuous waveforms, are able to identify repeating or nearby earthquakes. As shown in other studies, the aftershocks roughly fall along an east‐southeast‐trending linear belt that illuminates a previously unknown fault. We utilize the augmented seismicity catalog to draw two main conclusions. From standard statistical seismological methods, we deduce that the b ‐value decreased prior to the Pawnee mainshock; previous work suggests that b ‐value and differential stress are anticorrelated. The b ‐value result suggests the differential stress along the fault that eventually ruptured was gradually increasing in the few months leading up to the mainshock. During the aftershock period, we infer an Omori–Utsu p ‐value close to 1, typical for most tectonic events. Although the prolonged seismicity in the months leading up to the event may be a hallmark of induced earthquakes and may help decipher induced earthquakes from natural earthquakes, the rate of aftershocks is indistinguishable from natural tectonic earthquakes though deficient in larger aftershocks.


This study examined the contribution of Western education as provided by Christian missionaries on the changing roles of Idakho women. The spread of Christianity and Western education in Idakho had a broad approach to reinforce evangelization and to win converts. Education, thus, became part of the new value system less identified with transmitting Christian values and belief and more with providing access to new occupational and social status. The colonial authority further introduced hut taxes and cash economy. Thus, the colonial economy forced men in Idakho to seek employment in European economic ventures and took them away from the labour responsibilities they used to have in the traditional economy. With frequent absence of men, who left their villages to seek paid employment in urban areas or settler's farms, and the decline of traditional institutions and uncertainty arising from changes in society, more and more women joined the church in search of new vision of the world as well reassurance. Women who went to school initiated the beginning of a wage-earning class of women among the Idakho and it reflected the widening transformative impact of Christianity and its agencies. Methodology for this study involved data collection from secondary sources and primary data derived from field research. Moreover, the early success of education and other programs, like health, led to the liberation of women who became agents of transforming Idakho society.


Abstract Recent research has recognized sports coaching as complex, chaotic and cognitively taxing for coaches. Against this backdrop, the present paper explores challenges faced by high-level coaches working with disabled performers. Specifically, it seeks to understand how coaches create mental models of performance in adventure sports and para-canoe. Five coaches were purposively sampled and underwent a semi-structured interview. A thematic analysis revealed conceptualizing the mental model as being mechanically related for all and as including a social construction within the para-canoe coaches. Reflection on the coaching process and on personal characteristics were perceived as important to individualized inclusive coaching. Coach training should particularly emphasize the need for critical judgement and decision-making skills within a similarly oriented social structure of coaches and support staff where applicable.


Different types of raw cotton were investigated by a commercial ultraviolet-visible/near infrared (UV-Vis/NIR) spectrometer (210–2200 nm) as well as on a home-built setup for NIR hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) in the range 1100–2200 nm. UV-Vis/NIR reflection spectroscopy reveals the dominant role proteins, hydrocarbons and hydroxyl groups play in the structure of cotton. NIR-HSI shows a similar result. Experimentally obtained data in combination with principal component analysis (PCA) provides a general differentiation of different cotton types. For UV-Vis/NIR spectroscopy, the first two principal components (PC) represent 82 % and 78 % of the total data variance for the UV-Vis and NIR regions, respectively. Whereas, for NIR-HSI, due to the large amount of data acquired, two methodologies for data processing were applied in low and high lateral resolution. In the first method, the average of the spectra from one sample was calculated and in the second method the spectra of each pixel were used. Both methods are able to explain ≥90 % of total variance by the first two PCs. The results show that it is possible to distinguish between different cotton types based on a few selected wavelength ranges. The combination of HSI and multivariate data analysis has a strong potential in industrial applications due to its short acquisition time and low-cost development. This study opens a novel possibility for a further development of this technique towards real large-scale processes.


Background: Toll-Like Receptors (TLRs) play critical roles in innate immunity. HBV can modulate the expression of TLRs and/or inhibit TLR signaling cascades to escape the innate immune response. However, the mechanism of HBV in the regulation of TLRs remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to clarify whether miR-200b suppresses host innate immune response against HBV infection by targeting TLR4 signaling pathway.
Methods: First, the expression of miR-200b in HBV-infected liver tissues and HBV-producing HepG2.2.15 cells was detected using Quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). We then examined the association between chronic HBV infection and the expression of miR-200b. ELISA assay was used to evaluate the host innate immune response. Further, the potential target genes related to innate immunity of miR-200b were also predicted. Western blot and luciferase reporter assays were performed to confirm the predicted genes.
Results: An upregulated expression of miR-200b was observed in HBV-infected liver tissues and HepG2.2.15 cells. Besides, a positive association was found between chronic HBV infection and the expression of miR-200b. A luciferase reporter assay revealed that MyD88 and IRAK4 were the downstream targets of miR-200b. Finally, knockdown of miR-200b in HepG2.2.15 cells suppressed TLR4-mediated innate response.
Conclusions: Our study revealed that miR-200b was related to HBV infection through a pathway involving the MyD88 and IRAK4 and provides new insights into the understanding of mechanisms of HBV-induced immunosuppressive strategy.


Usher syndrome is a rare inherited genetic condition which is one of the main
causes of acquired deafblindness in the United Kingdom (UK). Although the
condition is not life threatening, it is life altering and will have a significant impact on
the lives of not only the person diagnosed with the condition, but also their families,
friendship groups and new and existing relationships.
The aim of the study was to develop an understanding of the experiences of
diagnosis of and living with Usher syndrome, from the perspective of adults living in
England. Specific objectives of the study were to explore the experience of being
diagnosed with Usher syndrome; explore the transition from adolescence to
adulthood for people who have Usher syndrome; to develop an understanding of the
experience of living with Usher syndrome, including support, developmental
opportunities and the role of the Deaf community; to disseminate original findings;
inform future practice, service development, policy and education and make
recommendations for further research relating to the experience of living with Usher
syndrome.
To address these aims and objectives, this qualitative, descriptive
phenomenological study, conducted interviews with 20 males and females aged
between 18-82 years from a variety of demographic locations. To contribute to the
trustworthiness of the study, I developed a methodological innovation called
'Multiple Sensory Communication and Interview Methods' (MSCIM) which ensured
that as far as possible communication and interview methods were participant led.
Three overarching messages from findings were revealed: the importance of
ensuring communication is timely, supportive and appropriate; Usher support at the right time: providing physical and virtual support networks and essentiality of Usher
awareness: raising the profile.
This study is unique because it is the first qualitative, descriptive phenomenological
study to demonstrate new knowledge to better understand and support people living
with Usher in England.
Keywords
Usher syndrome, sensory impairment, D/deafblindness, 'Multiple Sensory
Communication and Interview Methods' (MSCIM), social work, qualitative research,
descriptive phenomenology


There is broad international agreement about the importance of increasing participation in science once it is no longer compulsory in school, particularly among groups who have been historically underrepresented in science. Previous research reflects that despite broadly positive attitudes to science in and outside of school, there is limited translation of these attitudes into later aspirations and participation in science. The ASPIRES project, a five-year longitudinal study, has sought to understand students' science and career aspirations between the ages of 10 and 14 and to identify factors that contribute to, or hinder, the development of aspirations in science. Utilising data from two cross-sectional surveys conducted with students in their last year of primary school (9300 students) and in their third year of secondary school (4,600 students), we explore who is most likely to hold science aspirations and what factors seem to be connected to those aspirations at both time points. Descriptive, multivariate and multilevel modelling analyses of the data reflect consistency in who holds science aspirations, as well as highlighting that the factors connected to these aspirations—attitudes to school science and parental attitudes—are similar at both times. However, for many students, positive attitudes to school science and positive parental attitudes to science are not translating into children wanting a career in science. We suggest that differences in 'science capital' may help explain this persistent gap.


Quantitative finance traces its roots to modern portfolio theory. Despite the deficiencies of modern portfolio theory, mean-variance optimization nevertheless continues to form the basis for contemporary finance. The term "postmodern portfolio theory" expresses many of the theoretical advances in financial learning since the original articulation of modern portfolio theory. Any complete overview of financial risk management must address all aspects of portfolio theory, from the beautiful symmetries of modern portfolio theory to the disturbing behavioral insights and the vastly expanded mathematical arsenal of the postmodern critique. This article surveys portfolio theory, from its modern origins through more sophisticated, "postmodern" incarnations, according to the first four moments of any statistical distribution: mean, variance, skewness, and excess kurtosis. Mastery of these quantitative tools and associated behavioral insights holds the key to the efficient frontier of risk management.